Ah Diversity.

Ah Diversity. Aren’t we all different and can’t we all celebrate our differences and create unity? Well no. Yes it sounds all lovely jubbly and ‘Unity in Diversity’ has a nice ring to it but two thousand years of history have only proved the truth of Confucius’s earlier statement that, “All men are the same in spirit, only their beliefs divide them.” A cornerstone of human cognition is an awareness of difference; our very survival depends on it. If one can’t differentiate between a lion and a tabby one may well find oneself taken for a portion of ‘fresh meat’ Sheba. Another cornerstone is tribalism. It’s the same differentiation process applied to other people. We need a tribe to confirm and comfort our sense of self, and, as night follows day, those outside this confine are ‘the other’ if not ‘the enemy.’ So div-ersity is the recognition of div-ision. Thus ‘unity in the recognition of division’ is somewhat counter intuitive. It’s like Millwall and West Ham expressing their mutual love of football by beating each other up. Obviously not to mention Judaism, Christianity and Islam who have got it down to a fine art and use the latest weapons the planet has to offer. But it’s a simple cart before the horse mistake. The phrase should be, ‘Diversity within Unity.’ There is always a greater unity above our petty squabbles over divisive beliefs. When football supporters can see themselves as lovers of football, men and women, humans, participants in this glorious living planet, then these greater unities will bind them together in the pub after the match. Actually this has largely happened in football, all we need now is for religions to follow their lead.