Unity in Diversity: What It Takes to Make it Real

The concept of unity in diversity can be found in many national mottos, including the European Union’s, and operates everywhere we look in our physical, social, and cultural worlds. 

When we have diversity without unity, systems break down and progress is hampered. 

We live in a world blessed by diversity, but still lacking in much-needed unity – which, the Baha’i teachings say, can bring about a new age and civilization. Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote:

Please God, that we avoid the land of denial, and advance into the ocean of acceptance, so that we may perceive, with an eye purged from all conflicting elements, the worlds of unity and diversity, of variation and oneness, of limitation and detachment, and wing our flight unto the highest and innermost sanctuary of the inner meaning of the Word of God.

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When diversity becomes harmonized and unified, it contributes to our material, political, economic, social, and spiritual well-being and happiness. Those systems not composed of or connected to diverse elements or environments tend to be more vulnerable and less effective.

Unfortunately, some have used diversity as a cause of conflict and division, of distinction and preference, regarding one people or culture as superior to others. Baha’is believe that we must free ourselves from the pernicious influence of these mistaken perspectives, and promote unity and justice while appreciating how our diversity contributes to the beauty and strength of the entire human race.

One of the central Baha’i teachings for this day – the oneness of humanity – means that we are one family, created from the same stock and belonging to the same household. In his book The Hidden Words, Baha’u’llah revealed:

Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.

Though we all belong to one human family and we mutually benefit from living together in harmony, our differences, which manifest in many forms, have been used to create disunity and injustice rather than unity in diversity. For example, our different physical features, skin colors, customs, faiths, and cultures have been used to pit one group of people against or over another. 

However, the fact that we differ in how we look, how we live our lives, and in what we believe and value can be a source for our enrichment and growth. These variations have evolved over countless centuries as ways of coping with and adapting to our differing conditions and environments. 

Though in earlier ages of human development these difference created separation and conflict, which continue to haunt us in our modern age, with the knowledge and advancement we have acquired over millennia that must change. Diversity may be viewed as a problem, failing, or threat in the human psyche, but in reality it is essential for our well-being and progress, just as diversity in the natural world allows it to function. We see this principle in play throughout the natural world. For example, our bodies are composed of many diverse cells and parts, each united and working together as one for the benefit of all. 

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 The Baha’i teachings compare the diversity in the human family to that of a garden with varied flowers:

Consider the flowers of a garden: though differing in kind, color, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm, and addeth unto their beauty.

In the same way that different flowers receive life from the same sun and rain from the same sky to make the garden more beautiful, the Baha’i teachings point out that when diverse:

… shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest.

We are not all the same, and should not want everyone to be the same. Our diversity provides our strength and beauty – but only on the condition that we are bound together in unity.