Custom Writing Service http://StudyHub.vip/A-Few-Observations-On-Unity-In-Diversit 👈

1. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [1]
A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
Dr Mohammad Israr Khan
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied and Regional Economics
MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly. Email: drmisrarkhan@gmail.com
ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1116-9448
Abstract
Unity is generally considered as togetherness of sameness or as numerical
oneness- all qualities reduced to the quantitative integer one. This view,
however, usually obliterates the fact that the whole, despite consisting of
numerous sub-wholes, is the whole; and any integer is less than a true
representation of the whole. The hierarchy of the whole, sub-wholes, and sub-
sub-wholes may not necessarily be pyramidal; it might as well be a sphere i.e.
the whole being manifested in a spherical form of the pyramids constantly
rotating omnidirectional on their axes.
This discussion emerges out of the assumption that unity and diversity are non-
dichotomous in essence. A universalistic feeling coupled with unity of human
mind, body and soul with the cosmos can obliterate the seemingly apparent
diversity and difference.
The phrase ‘unity in diversity’ may, at one end, seem to represent diametrically
contesting concepts while at the other end, it may put a prismatic blend of all colours giving
way to existential space of illuminating light i.e. the light of truth (Satya Parkash) or the light
of enlightenment and divine guidance (Noor). The phrase can again be defined numerously
i.e. aesthetically, sociologically, culturally, politically, economically, and scientifically as
well. However, each of these apparently distinct perspectives will lead, in the end, to one and
only one conclusion that is, to say, ‘the unity is the diversity, and the diversity is the unity’.
Continuum of Convergence and Divergence
The notion of the continuum of continuity of convergence leading to divergence, and
the divergence coming forth to convergence, can be a representative, reliable, and valid
approximation of unity in diversity, or of the converse thereof. Viewed from this perspective,
diversity is nothing but the manifest expression of the multiple facets of the unity. Or the
unique identity of unity prefers innumerable and unending vastness of expressional
characteristics which are all linked, behind the veil, with a string of togetherness. The string,

2. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [2]
however, may not be visible to all nor the apparent heterogeneity be, as purposively as
designed, understood by the naked senses like the moonlight shadows of the full moon.
In the space of natural phenomenon, ‘unity in diversity’ is somewhat more observable
than that seen in the existential paradigm of the society of humankind. As far as mankind is
concerned, the research into the ancestral origins of homo-sapiens leads toward the
convergence of trans-generational lineage. The physiological and biological journey of man
does indicate in the same direction. However, the societal experience and social organization
of the man differentiated into families, clans, castes, tribes, races, communities, societies, and
nationalities, further bifurcating along the contours of politico-economic pursuits and
religious-cultural sets and subsets of adherence. It is, here, in this context, that the meaningful
aesthetic value of unity started getting blurred. Simultaneously, the apparent differences in
behavioural diversity kept on diversifying up to a stage where survival instinct took
dominance and the Communitarian, Egalitarian, and Unitarian man transformed itself into a
self-interested and selfish entity, blackening the beauty of heterogeneity.
Temporal Unity: Reversals and Counter Reversals
The historical journey of human civilization is characterized by reversals and counter-
reversals of unity as well as of diversity. At times, we find comprehensive acceptance of
diversity converging toward unity like in case of primitive communism, during the reigns of
Ashoka and Akbar- ‘The Great Duo’, or at times of endemic dangers or collective threat of
devastating natural calamities, disasters, epidemics etc. Yet, during most phases of the known
history of mankind, it is the dominant instinct of the forced homogeneity which reigns,
prevails, and sustains an accumulative and repetitive presence on the existential space.
Anthropological and sociological differences certainly exist amongst the peoples of
the globe, amongst the peoples of continents, and amongst the peoples of subcontinent size
countries. Nevertheless, these genealogical differences do not stop people from
intermingling, interaction, cooperation, and coexistent. It is, however, the realm of political
organization and ruler-ruled relationship which poses a division between the peoples
belonging to different identities. The rule of power which, usually, is the domain of the
victorious or dominant majority, makes extensive efforts to eliminate the divergence and the
non-conforming weaker or the numerically lesser peoples belonging to the mosaic of cultural

3. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [3]
multitudes. This paradigm of majority based dominant power hypothesizes that unity is
possible only amongst the same people. Consequently, it aims at minimizing to the maximum
extent any shades of diversity and maximizing to the maximum spread the realm of imposed
homogenization. This sort of unity, as is self-evident, consciously or unconsciously, narrows
down the all-pervasive comprehensive concept of unity to only a dominant ‘subset of unity’;
inflicting, in turn, non-reversible damage to the ‘unity of civilization’.
Institutionalized Stratification
Institutionalized stratification of human beings, based upon the opportunity and actual
possession of material wealth, commodities, assets and other means of economic production
like human and natural resources, further sets in a subset of inequality and inequity, firmly
creating divergence and distance among the people unnaturally arranged along the
hierarchically designed socio-economic ladder. Conceptualization of equality among the non-
equals and equity among the top to the bottom layers of economic hierarchy seems,
apparently, to be a non-reconcilable and essentially contested paradigm. Economic lust, of
those occupying material superiority and consequently constituting conspicuous
consumerism, translates the relatively permanent subjugation of the larger sections of the
society into a vicarious reality where the people at the bottom level cannot aspire for luxuries
of comfortable survival, identity, expression, accumulation, ownership, vertical mobility etc.
Struggling with bare survival, these people accumulatively get moving into, or thrust into, a
world where loss of consciousness- the consciousness of the society, the consciousness of the
self or even the consciousness of one’s being- eliminates any possibility of the potential to
revive, revolt, repulse or reverse the historical subjugation of and for many centuries.
Here, in this institutional structuralization and stratification, we find a non-preferable,
and perhaps a more non-aesthetic, instance of unity which feeds itself on a part of itself. This
is a kind of ‘conspicuous’ and ‘vicarious’ unity which is made visible only at the cost of the
loss of diversity. The process of economic development of non-sustainable dimensions, for
example, has resulted in immense loss of human diversity as well as of biodiversity- i.e. the
endemic danger and extinction of flora and fauna, along with survival crisis for aboriginal
people. It does not shrink the space of diversity only. It, indeed, does aim at shrinking the
space of unity.

4. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [4]
However, when, along the time path i.e. the historical time, unity feeding upon
subordination, exploitation, and appropriation comes under threat of scrutiny for any
rationalist plural reason, there might be a crisis leading to anarchical revolution of diversity,
which, when it gets settled, often tends to respect the thesis that unity is not singular,
numerically; rather, it is the plurality of unity that gives meaning to the concept of unity.
The contemporary world is at the point of ambiguity coupled with contestable
precision. It wants to diversify. It wants to unify. It wants to diversify the realm of
knowledge, science, technology, materialism, consumerism, means of expression and
existence etc. This sort of utility-oriented diversification thinly laying down, as deftly and as
orderly as possible, a utilitarian landscape magically attracting the narcissist-selves and
expanding itself into an infinity of directions, yet, constituting the basic unity of man, of
nature, and of man and nature im-probably probable. Can’t it be termed as the emergence of
the ‘global world’, the ‘global country’, the ‘global village’ or the ‘global man’!
Ideological Obsessions
At the same time, the forces of ideological obsessions and fundamentalist rigidities,
whether these are religious, social, political or economic, are at large, with all vehement
intensity, to homogenize the globe and paint it with their own set of colours to the exclusion
of any shades of ‘the others’ or of ‘the other-selves’. The new social, political, and economic
imperialism, with the instruments of finance and capital, firmly gripped and governed by the
‘Washington Group’ and the designers of ‘The Washington Consensus’, has become, at once,
all set to impinge upon, to embrace upon, and to impress upon the whole world a subjugation
and subordination of non-precedential proportions and never-seen magnitudes. It
encompasses nearly all walks of life only in a phrase of ‘trinity’ that is the trinity of
liberalization, privatization, and globalization backed by polito-economic militarization.
This trinity overshadows all aspects of human civilization- economic, social, cultural,
political, religious etc., all at the same time. This, again, is a very narrow view of unity
favouring only a privileged few while eliminating ‘the others’. There are also the seeds of
discomfort in this paradigm, unleashed by the technology and the production process.
Decentralized media- the print, audio-visual or virtual, for example, is becoming more de-
concentrated and variously controlled; it is taking multiple forms of interaction and

5. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [5]
expression giving voice to diversified groups of society. It is, even, can we say, being
individualized. The sort of imposed unity, therefore, may not reach the aimed destiny of the
outcome, as designed by the architects of the new global imperialism.
Gender
The classical dimension of unity in diversity, which is the gender-specific relationship
of man and woman has always been changing along the continuum of historical progression
and movement. These are two, only purposively, distinct biological identities, yet, the fusion
of the two– again of all sorts, physical, social, cultural, economic, political etc. is most
definitely inevitable. The unification of this diversity, essentially, fulfils the purpose of the
human civilizational construct, without which the landscape of the homo-sapiens would have
remained devoid of any meaning. Man and woman are not competitive rivals. Rather, they
are ‘complimentary duals’ of each other’s existence.
The Essence
There is, in the realm of the universe of the ‘ordained necessity’, the single most
important facet which is the true essence of ‘unity in diversity’. It is the place and the relation
of man, the individual identity, with the ultimate identity, say, if you please, The Almighty
Creator. Alternatively, one may even prefer to call it the manifest expression of nature, in the
form of universe, along it’s beyond imaginable counts and varieties of cosmic order of
galaxies to subatomic organization, including what lies within and out of them.
An individual can be taken as an atom and human society as an elemental entity. The
achievement of perfection of integration of individual to the society and nature, then, requires
the order and orderly discipline of perfect integrity and oneness. It is the unitary integration
of the body, mind, heart, and soul- all taken together, which yields a near perfect non-dual,
non-contesting personal experience of both the internal and external behaviour. One may
relate it to spirituality or to the spirit of belongingness; the spirit of taking along and being
taken along by. This sort of fusion of eternity with externality generates a personality that
only can be termed as a unified identity. It manifests convergence of diversities into unity.
This type of individual personality focuses upon collectivity, and eliminates individual
identity, on its own will and volition. Here, we find an elimination of negativities and
inclusion of positivity. This is a unity that is void of rivalry, competition, conflict, clash,

6. A Few Observations on Unity in Diversity
M I Khan, MJPRU: [6]
stress, strain, and so on. It is the basic building block of coexistence, cooperation, care, and
sharing, with the maximum degree of probability, of all sorts of existential space. It is the
state of the realization, recognition, and representation of all others’ respectful presence. It is
deep rooted in the value of negation of pervasive self for the good of others and other-selves.
Bringing the Gardens of Heavens on to the Earth
The world, in general, and India, in particular, are juxtaposed with a conflicting
scenario of unification of varying magnitudes to constitute an organically integrated structure
of mankind and its configuration into national blocks. Though the term nation and national
need to be in harmony with the concepts of diversity, plurality, heterogeneity etc., it is, quite
much, the non-contesting unified personality on a much larger magnitude that can,
universally satisfactorily, resolve the issues confronting the very existence of human
civilization. So, the conforming change needs begin with the individual self and pervade the
global space for the construction of the harmonious existence of ‘unity’. It is not the
elimination of diversity; rather, it is the respectful and purposive coexistence of diversity, in
its most beautiful manner, which is inevitably necessary for bringing the gardens of heavens
onto the earth!
****************************************************************************************************