The Parable of the Tower of Babel is used to illustrate the need for Good as a common language.

“Good is the only power that can unite. All harmony is from Good. As long as Good came first, everything else did not matter. A man might hold this view or that, as best suited him, but by putting God first he was in agreement with everyone else who put Good first.” Maurice Nicoll, The New Man p64

“Unity of knowledge, being and understanding belongs only to No. 7 Man and in consequence it is said that all that class of Man belonging to category No. 7 understand one another and speak a common language. By severe contrast we should reflect on the state of things belonging to our level, and to the world in general, where no one understands anyone else and there is no common language even among those who speak the same language in a literal sense. Even from this sole reflection, which is understandable, we can grasp something of the level of No. 7 Man as contrasted with our own level. We see at once that such men must belong to another world, psychologically. Our world lives in the Circle of Babel, in confusion of tongues—not merely literal language but the confusion of our misunderstandings at our level. Here, in this Work, we are attempting to learn a common language as a first step, so that we can understand each other a little better and be able to talk in some sort of real way to one another.” Maurice Nicoll, Commentaries, p405

“If all people had Real Conscience they would understand one another and speak one common tongue, one common language. In this Work we try to study a language that will bring us together, that we can all understand, and its object is to awaken Real Conscience.“ Commentaries, p625

“The Kingdom of God is the circle of conscious humanity. It means the circle of those who have evolved beyond violence, of those whose knowledge is practical—that is, what they know, they will, and so do—of those who understand one another because they speak a common language—(and let us remember that we, in this work, are learning a common language).“ Commentaries, p35

“If all Mankind were developing, if all were overcoming their violence, their state of sleep, their negative emotions, their internal considering—in fact—doing this Work—then it would be possible. But for this understanding to begin to be possible, men would have to speak a common language. But there is no common language, and so people do not and cannot possibly understand one another. Only the Conscious Circle of Humanity—that is, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 Man—can understand one another. No. 4 men begin to understand one another—that is, people developed in all 3 centres and so balanced men. But the circle of mechanical humanity—No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 Man—cannot understand one another.“ Commentaries, p247

“There are eternal ideas, which feed you always in time: and there are man-made ideas, which are fashions of time. The eternal ideas are called in the Work C influences and they come from the Conscious Circle of Humanity. The man-made ideas—the ideas or influences created by life—such as football-pools—are called A influences.“ Commentaries, p1155

For example, “we in the Work use the word freedom in connection with an idea of great density of meaning which has the Ray behind it. It is C influences—descending from Greater Mind—from above our level.“ Commentaries, p1155 However, “the word freedom has escaped from the control of the real, esoteric ideas behind it and has, so to speak, lost its origin, its parentage, and wanders about in the world as a common danger.“ Commentaries, p1155 A danger because people and nations go to war for this word, without understanding.

“Relationship depends on a common understanding. We notice that this is today the problem. In the circle of mechanical humanity people do not understand one another. For this reason the circle of mechanical humanity is called “the Circle of Confusion of Tongues” or “Babel”. Tonight I cannot speak of relationship between mechanical people—that is, people asleep—because it does not occur as a conscious act. It depends entirely on circumstances. I wish to speak only about relationship between two people who are studying the common language of this Work and who can therefore begin to understand one another and so make a conscious relationship.“ Commentaries, p1055

I hear this as a teaching in the area of unity and differentiation.

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See A Person Awakening for a description of the of 7 levels of consciousness.

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll refer to Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Eureka Editions:2020) unless stated otherwise. 

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll’s The New Man refer to Martino Fine Books, Eastford CT, 2019