Unity in Diversity

In the human body, each organ, limb and member performs different tasks. There is division of labor: the heart pumps blood, the lungs breathe air, the eyes and ears see and hear. Not all organs can do the same thing, nor any single organ do everything. Each part of the body has a specific set of capabilities and functions. The organic oneness of the human body would not be possible if every part were uniformly identical. Rather, the organic unity of the human body emerges because of the great diversity of its constituent parts. If, like the human body, humankind is also a single organism, then it follows that the same must be true of diversity in human civilization. Diversity is thus an essential requirement in order for unity to appear in humanity. If everyone was alike, the wonderful division of labor that makes civilization possible would disappear. Nobody can do everything, nor can everybody do the same thing.

The need for diversity even has biological origins. For any organism to survive, its constituent parts must be diverse enough to carry on a wide variety of very different tasks. Where there is a loss of diversity, weakness necessarily results. In plant species such as rice, for example, the most rugged and strong plants are ``hybrids'' that result from the interbreeding of different varieties. Although there are exceptions, the general rule is that inbreeding eventually leads to weak or malfunctioning individuals. Unfortunately, many people have not understood this simple truth. Hitler and the Nazis, for example, thought that they could engineer a ``super'' race of human beings by breeding human beings that are genetically uniform and ``pure.'' Little did they realize that such uniformity, far from leading to a super-race, actually leads to inbreeding and loss of diversity in the human gene pool. Had such misinformed people known that diversity should be cultivated rather than destroyed, for example, they might have conceivably encouraged racial, religious, ideological and other kinds of diversity, instead of stamping it out. Alas, alas.

Diversity has also been stamped out in other, more subtle, ways. In many cultures, young men and women are discouraged, rather than encouraged, to marry outside their own race, nationality, caste, or religion. Similarly, people sometimes are prohibited from consorting, worshiping, or having fellowship with people of other backgrounds. Rather than appreciating the differences between us, they are taught to shun those who are different.

Prejudice can take many forms. Thus, racism leads to discriminatory treatment of people of another race. Excessive and unbridled nationalism can similarly cause harm to people of other nationalities. Religious intolerance is yet another example of a prejudice that can stifle diversity. As long as prejudices afflict humankind, it will not be fully able to appreciate the principle of the oneness of humankind, so racial, national, and religious prejudices will continue to undermine our collective efforts towards a truly nonviolent civilization. In the worst cases, violence and even death occur due to the perpetration of hate crimes motivated by attitudes of intolerance and extreme prejudice.

Over 20000 Bahá'ís were massacred in the first century of the Bahá'í Faith, and since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, several hundred Bahá'ís have been executed, murdered, or gone missing. In Bahá'u'lláh's native land (at the time of writing of this book), Bahá'ís still have their very basic rights denied to them on the basis of religion. The root cause of such problems is a lack of understanding of the fundamental principle of the oneness of humankind. Notwithstanding how they may be treated by others, and perhaps as a preemptive measure to help eradicate prejudices of every sort, Bahá'ís make a determined effort to consort with all peoples and the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendship and fellowship. In fact, Bahá'ís are commanded to do so by Bahá'u'lláh.[10]

Examples of prejudices addressed by Gandhi in his own country include the spectre of untouchability and caste-related discrimination[11]. Gandhi tried hard to integrate the untouchable community into the rest of society. Bahá'ís unhesitatingly agree that caste and all other prejudices should be abandoned. After all, if humankind is a single organism, then rigid and hereditary caste divisions make little sense. Even worse, in practice such a system can easily lead to prejudice and disunity. In this light, it is interesting to note that while Gandhi was an uncompromising enemy of untouchability, he did accept, at least on a philosophical level, the ancient caste system of India. He would, no doubt, have found it difficult to reject the caste system because it has Lord Krishna's explicit approval in the Bhagavad Gita, Gandhi's most cherished book.[12,13] Like Jawaharlal Nehru[14] and many other Indian contemporaries, Gandhi appears to have believed that the caste system was a good way--maybe the best way--of harmonizing the diverse elements of society into a unified and cohesive social organism. According to this view, the ancient Indians already had an understanding of the organic oneness of human society, so they applied this knowledge to achieve unity in diversity through the caste system. In Mahadev Desai's The Gita According to Gandhi, for example, we find the following description of the harmonizing aspects of the caste system:

There was a system which existed in ages gone by, which served the then existing social organism magnificently, which was elastic and hence made it possible for a number of different groups of the same race and several races to live together in amity and peace. What we see today [the caste system] is its travesty, a fossil formed out of the incrustations of customs and practices of several centuries

The division is no division into water-tight compartments   The division was entirely vocational, in order that each might serve the best interests of the organism. If men devoted themselves to tasks for which their character and aptitude best fitted them, they would be able to give of their best to the community.[15]

division of the social organism is based on what gifts and what special abilities one can bring to bear for the service of the organism.[16]

Bahá'ís believe that unity can only be achieved through the preservation--nay, cultivation--of diversity. However, they believe that the caste system is hopelessly outdated by several thousand years and incapable of solving contemporary social and economic problems, as should be expected according to the principle of progressive religious revelation. We thus need a new system for managing diversity. The Bahá'ís have offered to the world--as a model for study--a new approach for achieving unity in diversity. By 1992, they already had in their worldwide religious community the representation of over 2100 nationalities and tribes.[17]

The fundamental principle that unity can only be achieved through diversity is a cornerstone of the Bahá'í Faith, as Shoghi Effendi eloquently explained in 1931:

Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the world-wide Law of Bahá'u'lláh. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity such as `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself has explained: ``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. How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and color! Diversity of hues, form and shape enricheth and adorneth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof. In like manner, when divers 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. Naught but the celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men.'' The call of Bahá'u'lláh is primarily directed against all forms of provincialism, all insularities and prejudices. If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine.[18]

It may interest the reader to note the similarities in the following statements belonging to Bahá'u'lláh and to Gandhi respectively:

Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean.[19]

We are all leaves of a majestic tree whose trunk cannot be shaken off its roots which are deep down in the bowels of the earth.[20]

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