“Unity, not uniformity….Oneness doesn’t mean sameness.”
~ Ernest Holmes (1887-1960).
I find this quote to be as relevant today ~ if not more so ~ than when Holmes first penned it. I want to shout from the rooftops “People, people! Celebrate your diversity. Yet please Stop using it as a weapon!” Yup, a weapon ~ one that’s either handed over willy-nilly so others unlike you can beat you up, or a weapon you use on others unlike you to beat them up. Really?? How’s that workin’ out for everybody? (For the good of all? Yea, right.)
Notice the Operative word above: ‘You’ and ‘your ‘ Your’s may not be their’s. That’s ok. Their’s may not be your’s. That’s ok, too. That’s why there IS diversity. That is the beauty of the whole frickin’ planet!
So come on, let’s look at the planet ~ and all its neighbors. What about this solar system Earth inhabits with multiple others? Do Saturn’s rings make it “better” than Jupiter’s mass? By HUMAN standards, the average daily temperature on Mercury would bake a pork roast (or, for the vegetarians reading this, an acorn squash [if you can ever get the sucker cut in half without a chainsaw]) in an Earthly hour-and–a-half at 354 degrees. Average. A Day. Whoa! Now, Neptune is a frigid bugger, Uranus has jokes made about it’s name, and tiny Pluto got kicked under the bus, because OTHERS didn’t like its makeup. However … Each. One. has its distinct characteristics and makes up the fabric of this ‘place called home.’ Oneness doesn’t mean sameness.
If you could tap into the conversations in a wildflower garden, would you hear the delicate-looking columbine bitchin’ at the cornflower for hogging more sun? Does the jack-in-the-pulpit lord it over (hahaha) the anemone? They are all wildflowers ~ each gorgeous in their own right. Short. Tall. Robust. Slender. The bees don’t care. Purple, blue, yellow, orange. The birds are delighted. (Moreso than you and me, as they see more colors in the spectrum than humans!) So all together, flowers, birds, bees … they make up the perpetuation of a beautiful garden. Unity, not uniformity.
{Lin being Lin, here’s a side note just about the wild violets…..there are well over 400 species to the genus. Do you think they care what you think of them? What about amongst themselves? Do they condemn each other? Which continent on this planet they come from? Their shapes and sizes. Their color? (Too dark. Too light. Too much purple? Not enough blue?) Stingy with their seeds? Propagating with wild abandon?. (Hussies! What will the HOA think?) Oh yeah …. Oneness does not mean sameness.
What does this all mean? It’s an open invitation from me with no strings attached. An invitation to discern your truth (not ‘theirs‘). Stand in your truth. Speak your truth. Support your truth with your thoughts (as thoughts become things. Ask Ernest!). Not their’s. Support and move in unison with your truth. (Not against someone else’s!) Oooohhh….and biggest challenge of all …..Don’t give away your power (energy, time, focus) to what is not your truth. Do not weaponsize that truth-that-is-your’s. Or weaponize someone else’s.
Remember those planets and gardens. Remember:
“You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars.
You have a right to be here.”
Max Ehrmann. 1872-1945
Truly. Namaste’.
Lin