Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

SPEECH OR SPEAKING

Symbolic of the exercise of mental faculties and qualities, good or ill, as the mind is directed upward or downward.

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." - GENESIS. xi. 1-4.

At an early period of evolution, the entire lower nature of the soul is in a homogeneous condition. (This means that hitherto no special faculties and qualities to deal with externals had been evolved. The evolution, such as it was, was principally interior, that is, not directly concerned with the mental, astral and physical vehicles whose responsiveness to outward
stimuli constitutes the medium for the growth of specific mental qualities.)

As the Divine Life advanced towards its means of experience (journeyed east), it arrived at a condition of inertia (tamas), and then it abode for a time.

And now it is said that "brick is to be burned," or means are to be devised whereby further experiences are to be gathered. Superstition (brick) is to be put in place of spiritual knowledge (stone: see 1 PETER ii. 5); and craft (slime) in place of affection (mortar).

So it is proposed by means of superstition and craft to carry out a scheme for attaining knowledge through subtle devices of the lower mind. Through individualisation, and egotism or sense of separateness, it is first conceived that wisdom may be reached. Scattering of consciousness through the mass of the lower soul, or extinction of personality, is dreaded at this stage.

"And the Lord came down to see the city and tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." - GENESIS. xi. 5, 6, 7.

And the Divine nature responds to the cry from within for knowledge, however expressed. The Divine nature perceives, as it were, the beginning of separate existence for the qualities, and the multiplicity of faculties in the awakening lower life; and fore- sees that for a season the evolution must proceed solely from below.

The Divine Life therefore descends, since it is a means of causing necessary disagreement and disharmony in the lower nature, a state of soul which precedes a craving for the higher things.

"So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth." - GENESIS. xi. 8, 9.

So from homogeneity of soul-condition heterogeneity is gradually produced; and the consciousness is diverted from the astro-mental centre (city) wherefrom it had previously worked.

This "city" or centre of consciousness is known as Babel," that is, perception of difference between one quality and another. (Neither mind nor desire alone can produce confusion, it is as each struggles with the other in the emotions that confusion occurs.) Through this faculty of perception of difference the Divine nature leads the soul to see celestial similitudes, and by its means the reasoning mind commences to evolve, as the qualities multiply through the mental aspects of the lower nature.

“The Ashâdhâ (brick) is speech, and by speech the gods than indeed conquered and drove the Asuras, the enemies, the rivals, from this universe; and in like manner the Sacrificer, by means of speech, conquers and drives his spiteful rival from this universe." - Sata. Bráh., VII. 4, 2, 34.

The lower quaternary is the expression of mind in the lower consciousness, and by the exercise of mental qualities the ideals (gods) subdue the unruly desires in the soul. In a similar way the incarnate Self, by means of spiritual expression in the mind, dissipates the lower principle, and perfects the soul.

See Also

AMITAUGAS
ASHÅDHA
ASURAS
BABEL
BRICK
CHILDREN OF MEN
CITY
CONFUSION
EARTH (Ground)
EAST
EXPERIENCES
FORM AND NAME
GOAT (white)
GODS, DEITIES
LANGUAGE
LIPS
MAISHAN
MOUTH
NAME
PEACE (sword)
PEOPLE
QUALITIES
SACRIFICER
SEPARATENESS
SHINAR
TAMAS
TONGUE
WORD OF GOD