Unity

I have been studying the Baha’i faith and have been thinking about the core concept of unity. Unity implies a lot; it means equality and a lack of prejudice and discrimination.

We have all experienced discrimination in many different situations sometimes as the victim and maybe even the perpetrator.

Unity implies that every person is equal independent of race, gender, financial status, height, weight, intelligence, hair color, education, ethnicity, disability, skin color, what car you drive, appearance, or any of those other things that we as humans use to judge each other. Can you honestly say that you have never judged someone on any of these things or other categories not included here?

Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed the oneness of the world of humanity. He has caused various nations and divergent creeds to unite. He has declared that difference of race and color is like the variegated beauty of flowers in a garden. If you enter a garden, you will see yellow, white, blue, red flowers in profusion and beauty — each radiant within itself and although different from the others, lending its own charm to them.

Racial difference in the human kingdom is similar. If all the flowers in a garden were of the same color, the effect would be monotonous and wearying to the eye. Therefore, Bahá’u’lláh hath said that the various races of humankind lend a composite harmony and beauty of color to the whole.

Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them.

Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 68-69

I love the analogy of flowers in one garden. All flowers are so beautiful but so incredibly unique as shown in this very small sample of photos. Each flower has a different color, shape, size, season, purpose, and life span.

I hope the next time you meet someone that looks different than you, you can see them as a unique flower in the same beautiful garden.