Building Towers, Bridges, Puzzles

The Tower of Babble has always intrigued me. I have a theory. My theory is that it is a true story:

Long ago, man kind was much more advanced than we are today. During this time, we could provide anything we wished for ourselves. We decided to build a tower to reach heaven. 

But we were not worthy nor able to experience heaven. We had not learned the importance of harmony, love, generosity, sharing, stewardship. Our minds were brilliant but our hearts were vacant. So we destroyed ourselves. 

And when the world was made new, and we began again, we evolved with only fragments of the knowledge we once had, so that, this time around, we would have to learn to work together, no man could be an island, and therefore, our hearts would grow along with our minds.

The Talmud says "if you save one life, you save the whole world". This is because each of us sees things a little differently. Although we share the same space, each of us has our own interpretation of events; experience is as singular as our fingerprint. Each of us is but one piece in a giant puzzle, and without each of us - with our unique shape to fill - the puzzle is incomplete.

There is another Jewish saying, by Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlov "All the world is a very narrow bridge...". I've always heard this interpreted as: life is this fragile place in which we are precariously balanced, like a crumbling rope bridge from an Indiana Jones movie, escaping death with every step.

But maybe that's not what it means. Perhaps "the bridge" in this case is the bridge from one individual to another. From one person's reality to another. Connecting our worlds together.

The next part of the quote says, "...the main thing is to have no fear". Each of us reaching out to one another, going into uncharted waters, fear all around us, but we will surely make it if we have no fear. Fear builds boxes, walls, fortresses against the world, against empathy, against connection. 

If I have no fear, and I can look into your eyes and see your pain, your hopelessness, your despair and say without fear, with an open heart "yes, me too, I feel you, I share this, you are not alone," I am building a bridge. 





You are free from your box, you can see the world through my fearless eyes if you like. You can reach out to someone next to you, until we are all connected.

Perhaps, this time around, instead of building towers, we must build bridges. Bridges from one world to the next, from my island of reality to your island. A bridge of love. A bridge of unconditional honesty and respect. We are putting the great puzzle together. Perhaps this is the path to heaven. Perhaps we are already in heaven, once we see it through the right eyes.

Just after I wrote this, a friend of mine shared this video with me. 


Building bridges indeed!