The hot sun behind thick gray clouds — which occasionally rain down on the tall grass from which insects rise in swarms as I go near them — shines with a pleasant warmth.

I see that the lush green apple trees have grown since spring, and I think it’s because of this tropical weather.

The first tree we planted in this orchard, when we were full of dreams, previously thought dead due to having been chewed on by roe deers, now sends its lower branches heavenward, green with life. Only the top half of its crown is dead.

And I sit inside the air conditioned room, working using the topmost of four stacked laptops (It’s the last week, then I’ll be using the one below it), feeling pretty good.

Feeling, I imagine, like the first apple tree I just described.

Berlin, Again

I am in Berlin this week for work.

It is probably the city I have visited more than any other in my adult life. Strangely, it is the first time I have come here because someone put a meeting on my calendar.

I first came to Berlin in August 2017. Almost nine years ago. Sometimes that feels like another lifetime, sometimes it feels like last month.

Berlin has never really been the main character in my life. More like a recurring one. It keeps showing up every few seasons, looking a little different each time.

Back then the city smelled different. I don't know if it actually did, or if memory has a way of adding its own perfume.

Pizza Funghi was five euros. A döner was four. Cash was king. The streets looked tired but never apologized for it. There were buildings that probably needed fixing years ago, but somehow they belonged exactly where they were.

I had a friend who knew Berlin better than Google Maps ever could. The kind of person who always seemed to know where the next warehouse party was, even when there wasn't supposed to be one. We wandered through parts of the city I would never have found on my own. I saw things I've never seen again, in Berlin or anywhere else.

Some cities ask you to visit.

Berlin used to ask you to disappear for a while.

A few years later I started coming here much more often. Too often to feel like a tourist, not often enough to call it home.

Somewhere along the way, the city started speaking more English. Card terminals quietly appeared where cash once ruled. There were more cafés I'd bookmarked than clubs I wanted to visit. The airport finally looked like it might actually open.

The Berlin I knew was growing up.

Or maybe it was simply becoming easier to understand.

The friend who first introduced me to Berlin had moved on by then. So did I.

The people I spent time with now liked cooking dinner together, reading books, sitting in cafés for hours, walking through parks, arguing over which restaurant to try next. None of those things are particularly Berlin. They're just good ways to spend an afternoon.

These days the city reminds me of parts of New York. Still rough around the edges, just with nicer coffee and better insulation.

Some famous clubs have disappeared. New glass buildings seem to appear every time I come back. People from everywhere have made a home here. Some arrived looking for a fresh start. Some came looking for freedom. Some simply came because this is Berlin.

Cities don't stay the same.

I don't think they are supposed to.

Neither do the people who keep returning to them.

These days I am more excited about finding a restaurant I've never tried than a club I have never heard of.

I think that's a fair trade.

But every now and then, I still find myself looking for the scent of the Berlin I first walked into.

I recently spent a week at a friend couple’s house. They go back and forth between two cities that are drivable from each other. I've known the woman for a long time. The man, I’ve only met him once or twice, just exchanging basic greetings. The first night, three of us had dinner together. It was a pleasant time. They were telling me about how they were doing as a fairly new couple. He jokingly said to me, “I like that she thinks I am always right.” She laughed. I didn’t laugh because I didn’t particularly find it funny. I found it icky. Throughout dinner, I was picking up on his fragile ego and controlling tendencies. I wished and wondered if she was aware of these qualities in him. A couple of days passed. She told me they decided to leave town a bit early. I immediately sensed he didn’t want to be near me. He knew I saw what he tried so hard to mask. Despite the cool-guy image he presented to the world, he seemed awkward and uncomfortable in his own skin. It was painful to watch. I’ve been there, too. Back then, being around someone who was unapologetically real was intimidating. I couldn’t bear it. Like they were piercing the blind spot I so desperately wanted to ignore. I hope this man heals. I hope he will learn I am not his enemy, but he is.

#stories

*Minor clarifying update: So by anarchy what is meant is voluntaryism. I forget that anarchy for most people is a trigger word meaning chaos. All it means is a society without rulers or law-givers. So what is being promoted in Genesis is not tribes killing one another to gain rulership – what many might think of with the title of this post. Instead it is promoting no earthly ruler. A bunch of peaceful tribes with the word of Eloheem (God) as their Law voluntarily associated one with another.

Like mentioned in an earlier post I’ve been slowly going through the Old Testament. I’m looking into the root Hebrew words to try and gain more understanding. I’ve run into another nugget that blew my mind. When I found it I couldn’t stop thinking about it and went back to it a few times through the day. Then I dug in again in the evening seeing if I had messed anything up. It seems to me the narrative we have been given about the “Tower of Babel” is pretty off. It is almost cartoonish in a way, sort of silly. I think people who do not believe in the Bible just look at it as “how can people believe this silly tale.”

(Please forgive if you find this next paragraph irreverent.)

You know, the story of the people trying to build a massive building that can reach into heaven. Then God comes down and is mad so he changes everyone’s language in an instant and scatters them all over the land. So is that where all the languages came from? One guy is speaking Mandarin, the other French, and another Japanese. So everyone is babbling one to another and God is laughing at them all, saying, “Good now they can’t make any more plans, Muahahahahahah!” And so forth. What if that is not at all what happened? Look into it yourself and see what you think. You can read some of the clues from the Strong’s Concordance. One easy place is the STEP Bible and there are many other tools out there Bible Hub is another good one.

Here is how I think a better rendition of these scripture might be. We’ll start with a few tidbits from Genesis chapter 10; I think it is relevant. Then we’ll go into the primary tower of Babel segment in chapter 11. You can disagree with my interpretation, but I’d urge you to think about it and look into it yourself. You might end up agreeing. I’ll leave other versions out to keep this post shorter, you can look at your favorite translation on your own to compare.

Genesis chapter 10:

It starts off with genealogies that you can read on your own if desired.

5 From the coastland these people started dispersing and developing over the land, everyone developing their own dialect, familial clan, and tribes.

Genealogies

8 Kush fathered Nimrod – he was profane and defiled the land, he became a strong man.

9 He became a mighty wild animal in front of YHWH (The Lord or self existent One) . Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod a mighty wild animal in front of YHWH.”

10 The beginning of his sovereign dominion was Babylon, Erekh, Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar.

(Note: Nimrod was likely the first man calling himself sovereign. This is one of the attributes of the kingdom of men that have continued ever since – Babylonian kingdoms have earthly sovereigns standing between its subjects and YHWH)

11 From that land he went into Ash’shur (Assyria), to build Nineveh, Rekhovot, Kelakh, and

12 Resen between Nineveh and Kelakh – that is a large and haughty town.

Lots of genealogies, read them on your own if desired.

31 These are the sons of Shem, by their familial clans, their dialect (lashon), their lands, and their tribes.

32 These are the familial clans of the sons of Noakh (Noah), according to their genealogies, in their tribes, and from these the tribes spread abroad on the land after the flood.

Genesis chapter 11:

1 The whole land was a unified body with the same word.

(Note: Much of what YHWH gives to Moshe is this word – Davar/Dabar. This means that the whole land was bound by the same word, the word of Eloheem [God]).

2 As people set out from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

(Note: This is the area that Nimrod had claimed to be the sovereign.)

3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick as stone, and tar for mortar.

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build a town and a building with an elevated stage and pulpit with the top in the sky, and let us create authority for ourselves, before everyone spreads out upon the face of the entire land.”

(Note: I believe this is a seat of authority they are building, such as a throne, capital building, or federal government.)

5 YHWH descended to see the town and their tower which the children of Adam had established.

6 YHWH said, “Behold, they are now one kingdom (or nation of man), all of them under one binding body, what they are forming is profane. Now all of their evil plans in their secret gatherings they put in order will not be stopped.

7 “Come, let us go down and confuse this binding body, so the people do not obey these citizens’ (can also mean neighbors’) binding words.”

8 YHWH sent them abroad from there upon the face of all the land and they ceased establishing that town.

9 There was authority proclaimed out of Babylon and YHWH confounded that attempt of binding the entire land. And from there YHWH dispersed them upon the face of all the land.

This all may have taken many many years, decades or even generations. There may have been a lot of struggle over this attempted usurpation of power. This was an attempt to control the whole land with one governing body with their own laws and word, not the word of Eloheem. This attempt to control all the land was likely started by Nimrod or his son Tammuz.

So doesn’t this make a lot more sense? If I’m correct here this is extremely important in my view. I’m going to keep digging; I love the scriptures. Of course you are free to disagree completely with what I am laying out here. I’m just asking you to consider. Perhaps there is much much more to these adventures than what appears on the surface. Maybe humanity’s patriotism is pointed in the wrong direction no matter which nation they reside in.

Further reading (all free):

The Bible

Christian Patriotism – Alonzo Trevier Jones

The Kingdom of God is within you – Leo Tolstoy

(Another version here)

Audio book version

What I believe – Leo Tolstoy

Audio book version

Christian Non-Resistance – Adin Ballou

Audio book version