Unity, a tree with many branches

Unity, a tree with many branches

By John Phillips

This is the first of two articles on cultural diversity and how it relates to conflict and unity in a country.

YOGYAKARTA (JP): At first I was perplexed by the Indonesian idea of "unity in diversity" because the word "unity" has a positive connotation whereas the word "diversity" can be negative due to its association with conflict and difficulty.

Although diverse societies are fast becoming the norm in the world, this has often resulted in an unfortunate increase in internal and external discord.

The discord is leading to isolated, hostile states even as geoeconomics pulls the world closer together. The question is: Will humanity adapt to or be destroyed by diversity in a chain reaction of hatred, prejudice and, at the root of the problem, ignorance?

And yet, diversity is also something that countries in their most lucid moments celebrate. In Eastern philosophy, diversity may be seen as contrasting elements that are profoundly complementary, as in the yin and yang symbol.

Here lies an important idea that opposites can be complementary and symbiotic. So understanding and protecting diversity may ultimately be what makes each of us whole and healthy.

But how can something be at once many and yet one?

And then it struck me, in Indonesia, a basic principle of the country -- the third law of Pancasila -- is the idea of unity in diversity and is symbolized by the banyan tree.

In another diverse country, India, the Buddha sat under the bodhi tree and gained enlightenment. And finally, Judeo-Christian and Islamic cultures uses the symbol of the "Tree of Knowledge."

The tree perfectly represents the essential social relationship between unity and diversity. The leaves, stems, branches and roots cannot grow on their own. Unfortunately, though, trees are much more a part of the natural order of living things than are people.

A tree never competes with and destroys a part of itself nor damages its naturally balanced environment without harm to itself. Humanity has not yet learned this simple fact of nature, but we must do so if we are to continue to grow and be fruitful.

In this task, three diverse societies, American, Indonesian, and Indian, have had a head start on the world and can teach us something about how to live together harmoniously. They can teach other countries how to keep their cultural roots from rotting by cropping current social diseases and replanting promising seeds. The task is to preserve the old-growth forests of cultural diversity while nursing new ones.

The U.S. cultural ideal is a "melting pot" society in which diverse cultures blend easily into a unified one. While this ideal may never have been fully realized, it is so strongly held that it is enshrined in the basic documents outlining the perfect society, the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. The former declares:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident...all men are created equal ...endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights."

The latter constitutional laws are even more specific in how to protect diversity and the rights of minorities and individuals. Even the use of the hyphenated-American (like Asian- American) often celebrates unity in diversity by linking it to a new symbol -- the salad bowl -- distinct elements mixed into one.

Historically, however, convulsions in U.S. society, caused in part by economic problems and regional factionalism, have resulted in ethnic or religious conflicts that have eroded the society's cohesiveness. One lesson learned is that people, not governments, make diversity a strength.

Even though both Indonesia and India are younger countries, they are much older societies and have more experience with diversity. They too have well-developed cultural and ideological bases for adapting to diversity, such as Indonesia's tradition of gotong royong (mutual help) and in its state ideology of Pancasila. They have also had social convulsions as a result of ethnic and religious conflicts. Economic disparity, internal factions and religious intolerance add to the potential for social unrest.

As a result, all three countries are at a critical point in developing diverse but cohesive societies. Only if diversity is seen to strengthen society can "unity in diversity" have any meaning. Since only people can truly make diversity work, it is up to us to learn how and then "to make it so".

People, however, remain largely ignorant and unappreciative of one another and this ignorance has bred contempt and conflict.

What does this mean?

So, if we fail to learn about one another and how to live together peacefully, we will all understand better and suffer from it; "We all hang together or we'll all hang separately."