TOWERS OF BABYLON
Dr. Gregory T. Lawton
Towers of Babylon A Collection of Photographs from the Work of Dr. Gregory T. Lawton First Edition, November 2012 Second Edition, July 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from Gregory T. Lawton. Copyright 2012, 2017
Dr. Gregory T. Lawton 2040 Raybrook Street, SE Suite 104 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 616-464-0892
Introduction This book is a collection of photographs, quotes, and prose that views modern architecture as a metaphor for mankind’s spiritual blindness and separation from God. For me writing a book is an intensely creative process, and especially so for me, because my “process” involves spontaneous design, formatting, and creative writing – all in the same creative space and time. I approach every page, its design and the words written upon it as both a piece of art and a creative conversation with God, and this conversation has not ended.
"Does the trumpet sound in the city without the populace becoming alarmed? Does misfortune come to a city if God has not sent it?" Amos 3:6-7
Towers of Babylon The concept for this book was created several years ago and like many of my photography projects it has been executed and developed over many photographic seasons. I have somewhat “jokingly” said that I can no longer understand the world and what I see of it without the aid of a camera lens. In fact, it is only through the perspective of a camera lens that I believe that I can view true reality, and so it has happened that when I view buildings through the lens of a camera I see them leaning, tilting, and careening at oblique and absurd angles that defy the laws of gravity. When I am shooting images my camera becomes a “dowsing rod” that tugs at my hands until the “true” photographic perspective is achieved. Within my mind and through my perspective this is truly how these buildings exist and like the Leaning Tower Pisa they are destined to fall – one and all. Dr. Gregory Lawton, November 2012
Let us build towers to the sky
"Were Babylon to scale the heavens, or reinforce her towering citadel, destroyers would still fall on her at my command, it is God who speaks." Jeremiah 51:53
These ladders to heaven will pierce the mysteries of the clouds
Can you not see that these towering monuments to man’s ego are nothing more than sand and clay? This is not life. From the moment they are erected they are falling into the earth.
While standing in the morning mist the earth betrayed me
Fall to Ruin Look, are we not all molded from the same clay, And generation to generation Our cities collapse and fall to ruin, Our houses burn and fall to ruin, And our flesh rots and falls to ruin. The King of this world is the worm That feeds upon the leavings of this mad feast.
"Look at the land of Kittim... they have set up towers." Isaiah 23:13-14
Let this darkness be a warning, God’s true attire is a sky of clouds, a shimmering waterfall, a forest of verdant leaves - and not these towers of rusted iron and crumbling rock. The mountains laugh at the effort of man to build citadels to the sky. The mountains are the stepping stones to heaven, not these ant hills of man. • “There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine.” Rumi
Clouds of glass and mirrors of sky
The towers of man, they shatter like broken mirrors‌
Our story will be told by lighted lines of time
These passing days will be gone, and of them, little remembered. Yet those that follow shall read of us through lighted lines of time. โ ข "Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." Bahรก'u'llรกh
Behold a light like unto a diamond appeared
“Unto none is given to quaff even a dewdrop thereof unless he entereth within this city, a city whose foundations rest upon mountains of crimson-colored ruby, whose walls are hewn of the chrysolite of divine unity, whose gates are made of the diamonds of immortality, and whose earth sheddeth the fragrance of divine bounty.” Bahá'u'lláh
Escape then into the mist above
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.� Proverbs 18:10
Leap upon the clouds and fly to the heavens
These high citadels stand at the whim of God and the indulgence of the earth. Gravity is the true master here.
There is no glory in height, even the eagle falls from the sky
Congregation of the Dead In this wind of heedlessness sins mount like sand And bury the congregation of the dead, Who lay in graves dug out by hands adorned with gold And are danced upon by endless legions of the poor. This sacred trust advances towards their mansions, That are now a mausoleum for the congregation of the dead. â€œâ€Ś.He has brought low those who lived high up in the steep citadel; he brings it down, brings it down to the ground, flings it down in the dust; the feet of the lowly, the footsteps of the poor trample on it." Isaiah 28:4-6
“.…and the sun burned away the dragon”
"Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key of the Abyss in his hand and an enormous chain. He overpowered the dragon...Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years." Revelations 20:1-2
We are but mirrors of solitary reflection
“Yea, the sunbeam falls alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet differ they in reflection even as doth the star from the earth: nay, immeasurable is the difference!” Bahá'u'lláh
Thus, stand our graven images of God, our pitiful idols of iron and stone. If we would but open our hearts we would see Him colored in a paint brush of light, reflected in a moonbeam, and unveiled as a mist vanishes in the heat of the day. Oh, if I only had more time to love Him in a manner worthy of His creation and in a way never thought of by another man. • “In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” Rumi
As if we could trap the light
“Through that Word the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation, and revealing, in the unseen realms, the signs and tokens of Thy unity and oneness.” Bahá'u'lláh
Prayers for Mending Clay All these walls made by earthly hands Will crack and crumble to the ground, And the sincere will find they have been Saying prayers for mending clay. Instead, send your mending prayers To the howling wind and shaking ground, And beg the elements of the earth to Cleanse your heart of clay.
Dr. Gregory T. Lawton is a writer and the author of over one hundred books. He is an award-winning artist and photographer. About his photography he says, “It begins with light. Whether you are an artist or a photographer - art is a reflection of creation and creation is light. The artist sees light, perceives it, and embraces it with the faculties of creativity and imagination, and through the marvelous instrument the human hand translates light perceived into light captured in paint and on canvas.” “The photographer shares this same sacrament with the artist and captures reflected images in a box and on the "flypaper" of light, a film negative or a silicon sensor.” Dr. Lawton has been a member of the Baha’i Faith since 1970 and follows the Faith’s principles related to the promotion of world unity and peace.
This book is a collection of photographs, quotes, and prose that views modern architecture as a metaphor that represents mankind’s spiritual blindness and separation from God. For me writing a book is an intensely creative process, and especially so for me, because my “process” involves spontaneous design, formatting, and creative writing – all in the same creative space and time. I approach every page, its design and the words written upon it as both a piece of art and a creative conversation with God, and this conversation has not ended.
Copyright 2012, 2017