Towers and Thrones: Building Purpose on Power

                        

The ruins of the Tower of Babel still speak to us of its ancient ambitions. This history of our ambition isn't buried in sand, it's built into skyscrapers, carved into boardroom tables, and coded into our social media algorithms. From Eden's first grasp to Babel's final collapse, humanity keeps building the same tower with different blueprints.

When Unity Becomes Uniformity

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” - Genesis 11:4 (NKJV).

The Tower of Babel wasn't just architecture; it was identity construction. Here was humanity's second great attempt at meaning-making through power, the sequel to Eden's reach. But notice what they sought: not God's glory, but their own name. Not divine connection, but human consolidation.

Babel represents the ultimate cultural project: using collective power to construct collective identity. Social psychologist Henri Tajfel's (1979) social identity theory reveals how group membership shapes self-concept, often through comparison and competition with other groups. Those present at the Tower of Babel weren't just building up; they were building against—against scattering, against insignificance, against the vulnerability of dependence on God.

From this view, their unity was actually uniformity. One language, one location, one ladder to the heavens. True unity celebrates diversity within relationship; uniformity demands conformity within its control. Demonstrating the difference between communion and corporation.

The Architecture of Ambition

Every culture builds its own Babel. The Roman Colosseum declared imperial power through spectacle. Medieval cathedrals reached heavenward but often served earthly authority. Today's Silicon Valley towers house digital empires that reshape global consciousness.

Galinsky and colleagues (2006) found that power tends to increase a sense of psychological distance from others while also boosting confidence in one's own viewpoint. This phenomenon—often referred to as the "power paradox"—mirrors the story of Babel: the higher one climbs, the more diminished others seem. As control becomes more centralized, genuine human connection tends to weaken.

In a similar way, today’s social media platforms can be seen as modern-day Towers of Babel. While they claim to foster connection, they often lead to unhealthy comparisons. They give users a voice, yet mostly reinforce existing beliefs through echo chambers. Like Babel, they centralize influence and control, while breaking down real community, creating a kind of digital “confusion of languages.”

Solomon's Skyscraper

Centuries after Babel's collapse, another tower-builder emerged. King Solomon constructed temples and palaces, accumulated wisdom and wealth, controlled trade routes and international relations. If Babel was humanity's attempt at collective significance, Solomon represents the pinnacle of individual achievement.  However, listen to his conclusion: “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NKJV).

Solomon realized, just as modern psychological research has shown, that people quickly adapt to pleasures and successes, causing even the most impressive accomplishments to lose their emotional effect over time (Brickman & Campbell, 1971). The throne room that once thrilled becomes routine. The crown that once gleamed grows heavy. Power structures, whether personal or systemic, cannot bear the weight of ultimate meaning.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. - Ecclesiastes 1:14 (NKJV).

The Exposure Effect

Both Babel and Solomon's reign reveal how cultural exposure shapes collective and individual ambition. Bandura's (2001) social cognitive theory, referenced in this blog's previous entry “The Garden and the Grasp: Where the Search Begins”, explains how observational learning doesn't just inform behavior, it transforms identity. Those at Babel observed their growing city and imagined themselves gods. Solomon observed his expanding kingdom and forgot his dependence on the true King.

Current neuroscience supports this understanding. Mirror neurons fire both when we act and when we observe others acting, creating neural pathways that blur the line between observation and identity (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). We become what we behold. The towers we observe become the thrones we desire.

This is why environments matter greatly in spiritual formation. Proverbs warns: 

Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them - Proverbs 24:1 (NKJV). 

This warning isn’t about moral strictness, it reflects God’s wisdom even in neurological insight, as consistent exposure to those chasing power can rewire our brains to follow the same path.

The Paradox of Permanence

Both Babel and Solomon's achievements sought permanence through selfish ambition. Yet Ecclesiastes reveals the fundamental flaw in this approach: 

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven - Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV).

Permanence cannot be grasped; it can only be received. The things that truly last—love, truth, beauty, justice—cannot be built like towers or worn like crowns. They must be cultivated like gardens, tended through relationship, sustained through surrender.

Viktor Frankl (1946), writing from the concentration camps, observed that meaning emerges not from power over circumstances but from purpose within them. Those who survived the camps weren't necessarily the physically strongest but those who maintained connection to transcendent purpose beyond their immediate control.

Building Down, Not Up

The Gospel presents a different architecture entirely. Jesus, who possessed ultimate power, made 

Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men - Philippians 2:7 (NKJV).

The Kingdom of Heaven operates by inverse physics: the last become first, the servant becomes greatest, the one who loses life finds it.

This isn't passive resignation but active redirection. Instead of building towers to reach heaven, we receive heaven's reach toward earth. Instead of making names for ourselves, we bear the Name that is above every name. Instead of grasping for the throne, we kneel before the One who left His throne for us.

The Better Foundation

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. - Psalm 127:1 (NKJV).

The alternative to Babel isn't building nothing, it's building differently. Purpose-driven construction requires divine blueprints. Meaning emerges not from the height of our towers but from the depth of our foundations, not from the span of our control but from the strength of our surrender.

The garden still calls us back to dominion, not domination. To stewardship, not sovereignty. To cultivation, not control. The earth still needs tending, communities still need leading, and problems still need solving. But the power required for such work comes from above, not from within; through relationship, not through rebellion.

Perhaps the real question isn't whether we should build, but how we should build. Not whether we should lead, but how we should lead. Not whether we should influence, but how we should influence.

The choice remains the same as it was in Eden, as it was in Babylon, as it was in Solomon's court: Will we grasp for power or receive purpose? Will we build towers to our own glory or foundations for God's kingdom?

The blueprints are before us. The choice is ours.

Darnell Sheffield

References

Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. Media Psychology, 3(3), 265–299. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0303_03

Brickman, P., & Campbell, D. T. (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. In M. H. Appley (Ed.), Adaptation level theory: A symposium (pp. 287–302). Academic Press.

Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man's search for meaning. Beacon Press.

Galinsky, A. D., Magee, J. C., Inesi, M. E., & Gruenfeld, D. H. (2006). Power and perspectives not taken. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1068–1074. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01824.x

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. (1982). Thomas Nelson.

Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 169–192. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230Tajfel, H. (1979). Individuals and groups in social psychology. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18(2), 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1979.tb00324.x