Not long ago, when I was a professor, there was a lot of lip service paid to diversity. The last college I worked at infused all aspects of their institution with initiatives that touted their supposed commitment to this noble principle.
From the creation of “diversity committees” and “inclusive excellence councils”; to sponsoring extremely politicized racial events and programming; to conducting slanted surveys testing for alleged instances of “microaggressions” committed by students and faculty; to mandating “equity” training for all employees—the college administration went to great lengths to appear tolerant of diversity.
However, despite their best efforts to do so, their whole initiative came across as something akin to a phony corporate indoctrination campaign by an ever-growing and vocal minority of critical thinkers on campus. Though perhaps well-intentioned, the reality was that such policies were motivated by an image-conscious administration to appeal to a diversifying American population and boost enrollment. Worse than the phoniness, though, was the shocking divisiveness that these initiatives caused on campus due to the myopic focus placed on our external identities.
Misguided efforts
What I and many others came to derisively call “the diversity agenda” insisted on classifying everyone into “oppressor” and “oppressed” groups, based solely on one’s gender, race and sexual orientation. Drawing on real historical instances of injustice (such as the savage institution of slavery and the appalling repression of women) all white males at the college were summarily depicted through college-wide diversity programming as closet racists and sexists.
Sadly, one of the unintended consequences of shaming those who presented as white and male was that these administrators ignored the moral character, spirit and deeds of all those individuals that they lumped together into the group of “oppressors.” The college leadership even created their own lexicon (that they mandated faculty to learn under the threat of termination) to reinforce their division of the campus population into the highly dualistic oppressor and oppressed camps.
For example, white males (even those with strong liberal ideologies) were portrayed with one swipe of the “diversity” paintbrush as afflicted with “white male privilege” and as suffering from “white fragility” (in modern-day diversity slang, white fragility is the perceived discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice).
On one such occasion, I overheard a very high-ranking administrator storm into the office of my department chair and berate him for his alleged “white privilege.” My former department chair, I should note, is truly one of the most tolerant and kind people I have ever met. He is also an avowed and open social liberal who has participated in numerous civil rights demonstrations and counts the inspiring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as one of his greatest heroes.
On another occasion, I personally went to the office of the college’s then chief diversity officer to voice my frustrations over the divisiveness of the diversity initiatives. I respectfully shared my opinion that dividing people into groups solely based on their external features runs the risk of breeding more disunity and (inadvertently) winds up making a mockery of diversity and inclusion. I then looked that administrator in the eyes and said: “When I look at you, I don’t see your race. All I see is just another wonderful soul.”
In response, this administrator looked back at me and said: “Well, when I look at you all I see is your whiteness.” No matter how much I raised my concerns, I couldn’t get college leaders to see that their efforts to promote diversity were misguided. The primary reason why I felt this way was because I saw how these initiatives fed into the illusion of separateness that the mystics of every spiritual faith have long warned about.
A deeper understanding of diversity
Now, for the record, I do believe that racism, sexism and especially classism (which is badly overlooked in modern capitalist nations like America) all remain as problems that we still have to address as one human family. However, it’s vitally important that we tackle these complex and serious issues through encouraging the natural evolution of our innate capacity to love, not through authoritarian top-down approaches.
From my own humble perspective, a deeper understanding of diversity transcends all our external features and brings us back to the here and now, to that sacred place where we’re all one behind our seeming differences. From where I stand, real diversity is to look into the eyes of another person and say: “I acknowledge you for the beautiful soul you are, and I accept all your unique quirks, neuroses and personality traits as just another expression of the One in form.”
Rama Krishna, the great 19th century Indian saint, perfectly captures the essence of this deeper meaning of diversity:
I have now come to a stage of realization in which I see that God is walking in every human form and manifesting Himself alike through the sage and the sinner, the virtuous and the vicious. Therefore, when I meet different people, I say to myself, “God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous.”
Crucially, a more authentic and fuller understanding of diversity also honours the universal celebration of our distinctive paths we journey on to oneness. For example, some connect to the One through Kirtan, the Hindu devotional practice of chanting the names of God. Yet others connect to the Supreme Source through dancing in Sufi whirling dervishes. Still others connect to the Great Mystery through communing with nature or by invoking the names of Christ, Buddha or Mohammad in the depths of prayer and meditation.
Huston Smith, the renowned American philosopher and close friend of such 20th century spiritual luminaries like Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary, once said the following, in reference to the exquisite diversity of the world’s faiths and religious practices: “It is possible to climb life’s mountain from any side, but when the top is reached the trails converge.”
To playfully expound on Smith’s metaphor of the world’s faiths and mountains just a bit more (you know how much I love all things mountains!) consider the following parable that I wrote for the Mindful Word on July 11, 2021 (in full disclosure, I hadn’t yet heard Smith’s quote when I penned it):
Picture hiking up a great and formidable mountain. Then take note of the numerous routes that can be travelled to the top. Some routes up are smooth and direct. Others, more jagged and circuitous. Still, some paths are exceedingly difficult and may be even borderline daunting to the novice climber. Yet, all routes end at the same majestic peak.
Here’s the catch, though: You aren’t aware that there exist alternative routes, until you arrive at the summit and see other climbers emerge from different trails. It’s only then, atop that rarefied peak, when you realize that all paths lead to the same breathtaking pinnacle of blissful unity.
Our world’s diverse spiritual faiths are those paths, and the mountaintop is the same divine kingdom that they all lead to. There is no correct way to IT. There isn’t only one saviour. All faiths ascend equally to the same exalted peak of peace and stillness.
Spiritual beings first and foremost
In the end, the way we think about and practice diversity should reflect the foundational basis and perennial wisdom of all human existence. Before taking form in these bodies, we’ve always been, are now and will always be spiritual beings first and foremost. We are incarnating souls or “God in Drag” (to borrow a humourous phrase from Ram Dass) who took birth in these bodies to work out our unique karma.
To lose focus of this fact by narrowly focusing the lens on divisive external features diverts attention from what, in truth, is our fundamental mission for being here in the first place. That fundamental mission is to break down all artificial barriers between self and other and to realize our innate oneness with God. And since God is omnipresent, any human-made scheme (whether well-intentioned or not) that serves to reinforce our barriers is not, in practice, anything close to a true expression of diversity.
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