Article February 10, 1997 ISSUE

The beauty of diversity

E. T. Wolfe

Suppose the rainbow was all one color, the garden one color, the mountains one size and shape, the forest one color, one height, one length of limb? Reality, God's creation, is not like this. Spirit is expressed in diversity—in contrasts, different colors, shapes, hues. Diversity gives scenes beauty.

For many years I thought of people's differentness from me as something to fear, something that could hurt me, and this state of thought produced constant intensity, defensive alertness, and competitive strife. The ideal solution? If everyone thought as I thought and acted as I acted, everything would be fine. Then I realized how boring and unnecessary so much in life would be if everyone were exactly like me! For the first time I became grateful for differences—different viewpoints, approaches, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This diversity hints at the infinitude of the one Mind, one Love, one Life—our Father-Mother God. I recognized more fully the glory of God and His handiwork.

Then followed the most remarkable change in my thinking. I felt a oneness with God and thus with the universe and with my fellowman. This feeling of oneness brought a marvelous spiritual light and a warm sense of completeness—of being in and of God's diverse universe.

In mathematics, the numeral 1 is different from 2, 2 from 3, and so forth, yet each is absolutely necessary to the practical use of arithmetic. Just so, each individual idea of God, regardless of how different, is absolutely essential in God's kingdom. God "saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31 ). This absolute viewpoint is a law of annihilation to the hostility and conflict arising from the human mind's fear of diversity.

E. T. Wolfe
Vero Beach, Florida

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