Diversity. A Different Perspective.

We are living in a time when the emotions of anger, rage, and hatred are visible and the increased intensity in these emotions are having serious consequences. It seems about the right time to bring up diversity.

Have you seen this video? For some this video brings anger, rage, and hatred alive because there are different religions, different abilities, and different sexual preferences. (Consider that a warning that you may not like what you see.) You might choose to go away before reading this entire post because of the video. I hope you might take a step back, skip the video if you wish, to follow me through to the end.  Experiment with being open, for you can always leave what I write here and not take it with you.

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This video reminds me that we might all desire love and want to feel safe and have space where we belong, contribute and receive value from our community. If we are all made up of the same thing: bones, tissue, fluids, and a brain, then ultimately aren't we all the same? And if we are all the same then don't we all deserve respect?

The latest physiological and neurological research shows us that we aren't the same.  Thinking we are might be exactly what makes diversity so difficult.

Maybe this idea of diversity being the same underneath our appearance isn't the best approach to bringing about change around the violence and expressed/repressed hatred and rage our culture is experiencing right now.  

Even our emotions and how we experience them aren't the same, contrary to what we have been taught. Emotions make meaning out of our experiences and sensations in our bodies. Meaning is culturally defined, and since the people we interact with the most are immersed in a similar culture, this leads us to believe our emotions are the same.

It is our brains and our emotions that make us diverse.

We really can't help it! Understanding this might help create a pathway to tolerance. Our brains have evolved to be different. When we can harness the power of many brains we become more: more intelligent, more creative, more collaborative and create stronger, healthier communities.