Reflection
Nature abhors uniformity. Nature produces individuals. Nature not only produces species diversity but also individual diversity. No two days are the same, no two snowflakes, no two flowers, trees, or any other of the infinite life forms. To wantonly destroy a living species is to silence forever a divine voice. In the universe to be is to be different. The mystery that lies behind the void must have an awesome imagination; it must have an amazing capacity to dream in order to come up with such an extraordinary self-manifestation.
Thomas Berry
Prayer
How manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
Psalm 104:24
Action
Reflect on the diversity of creation. Consider that all has come from the same Source, that all is connected yet individual. Consider how human beings are divided by their differences, fearful of differences, and hurt one another because of differences. How does this shape your attitudes? How do you see this in light of the awesome Mystery beyond the void?
Suggested Reading
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
Psalm 89:11
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
1 Timothy 4:4
Diversity is a richness and must never become a reason for exclusion and discrimination.
Pope Francis
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
Maya Angelou
Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.
Jacqueline Woodson
Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
Stephen R. Covey
Diversity is the magic. It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity. The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.
Thomas Berry
Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
Albert Einstein
I feel my heart break to see a nation ripped apart by its own greatest strength–it’s diversity.
Melissa Etheridge
Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been – and will always be – our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States.
Michelle Obama
Each finite creature can reflect only a fraction of the divine nature; thus, in the diversity of His creatures, God’s infinity, unity and oneness appear to be broken into an effulgence of manifold rays.
Edith Stein
One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things
like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.
Franklin Thomas
Life lies in diversity, not in monotony.
M.K. Soni
Nature has provided two great gifts: life and then the diversity of living things, jellyfish and humans, worms and crocodiles. I don’t undervalue the investigation of commonalities but can’t avoid the conclusion that diversity has been relatively neglected, especially as concerns the brain.
Theodore Holmes Bullock