The ABCs: U is for (Radical) Unity
We're all in it together, whether we like it or not
In many spiritual traditions, there is a practice in which a selected scriptural passage becomes the theme for the week. At Radical Spirituality, we do the same thing, but in a radical way.
Each Sunday, I offer The ABC’s of Radical Spirituality, a single, simple word distilled from the common principles of all the world’s faith and wisdom teachings that serves as the exploration for the week. They are the roots of Radical Spirituality. And because I am that person, the words are in alphabetical order. We start with A and go to Z.
It’s a simple practice to get to the roots of what matters on our spiritual path. The best part is that you will get out of it what you put into it. If you just keep the word on a sticky-note on your computer, it will still work it’s magic. But to dig deeper, delve in, dive in, and see what you find.
U is for (Radical) Unity
Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. - Ryunosuke Satoro
We hear it all the time: Let’s come together in Unity. This usually means Unity as uniformity: everyone united by thinking and believing the same thing, of one mind, heart, and soul, happily ever after, Kumbaya. That’s all fine and good, but it’s rather simplistic, especially in a spiritual sense, where Unity can mean different things to different people. In some traditions, Unity refers to a unification of the believers. In others, it includes all sentient beings. In others yet, it refers to the Unity of the Divine/God/Source, or Unity of humanity/life with God/Source/Spirit. There are as many ways to look at Unity as there are drops in the ocean.
While the root of Unity is uni/unus, or one-ness, there is a more radical understanding that considers the complexity of Unity. Unlike the assumption that we all have to believe or think the same thing, act the same way, or say the same words, radical Unity holds diversity within it. It goes back to the idea of the One being a collection of the many, a spiritual truth found in many traditions.
Homogeneity doesn’t exist in nature, and in human terms, it runs into the realm of dangerous dogma, dictatorship, and fear. Diversity, on the other hand, is what nature does. Natural diversity is based on the understanding that life needs a variety of inputs, contexts, and factors to thrive. The same is true in spirituality. There are many paths up the mountain, but the mountain holds all of them.
Comm-unity, a word on everyone’s lips these days, really means that we find the common ground - the unity - within our diversity: we acknowledge our differences but look for something greater that brings us together. The deeper root here is communis, or “in common, shared by the public.” This is key in our increasingly sectarian and divided world. Without some sense of the common things that unite us, we become enemies to one another, the exact thing all the teachings warn us about, and, sadly, that we are seeing in real time.
Unity requires that we acknowledge, accept and honor our diversity AND strive to find common ground, or a shared understanding and commitment to that which is for the common, public good. But, as many traditions have noted, it’s not easy to find unity in diversity. If it were, we wouldn’t still be struggling.
And yet, there’s a radical way to approach it: what if everything is an integral part of one inseparable, multifacted, crazy, beautiful, mixed-up, unified whole? Is there anything we can find in common in this beautiful unified mess? I actually think there is. There has to be. After all, we’re all in this together, whether we like it or not.
This week, we explore Unity: Where can we find common ground while accepting and honoring our diversity?
Deeper Roots
Most spiritual traditions have teachings on Unity, whether in terms of the unity of beings or the unity of the Divine. In addition, they all stress the importance of finding common ground, in spite of difference.
In Judaism, the unity of the People of Israel is sacrosanct. Ahavat Yisrael, means “Love of the People of Israel,” and is considered by some sages to be the foundational principle of Torah, or at the very least one of the three primary mitzvot – Love of God, Love of Torah, and Love of Fellow Jews. Because of what happened at Sinai, when the Israelites were declared one nation, one people, under one God, all Jews everywhere are considered one family and their destiny irrevocably intertwined, even though there are vast differences between Jewish sects and even Jews from different parts of the world (and Lord knows, those differences can be extreme). But the unity of the Jewish people is so embedded into Jewish culture and law, that the law even says that to save the life of another Jew, other commandments may be broken.
Christianity extends this love of fellow men to include all Christians, as Jesus was fond of saying. Doctrinally, all Christians are part of “the body of Christ,” united by their belief in Jesus. The Trinitarian belief is unification at the core: Father, Son and Holy Ghost are differentiated, but One. Unity also includes unity among all sects of Christianity, a daunting task, to say the least. According to the Christian Bible, if Christians are unified among themselves, that unity is good marketing for the non-believers. As Jesus said, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)
Islam stresses the Unity of the Umma, or the Family of Islam, and the Qur’an is adamant about unification. Allah says in Surah Al-Hujurat, verse 10: “The believers are nothing but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers.” And in Surah Al-Anfal, verse 46, it is said, “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.” Considering there are 58 Muslim countries in the world and approximately two billion Muslims (1/4 of the world’s population), this is good advice. But, as we can see in the sometimes violent differences between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, it’s not that easy.
Essentially, the Abrahamic traditions all stress unity among believers: strength in numbers. But it’s not just a demographics game, it’s a way of finding something in common with other people from vastly different places, cultures, and times. It’s also difficult. Diversity can be challenging, even amongst those who share certain beliefs, as each of these traditions has historically exemplified.
The Eastern traditions (and many Indigenous ones) take a different tack. Buddhism, Daoism and Vendantic Hinduism all stress Unity that goes beyond sect or religion. In addition to teachings about honoring the Sacred in each being by practicing compassion and kindness, these traditions see a deep interconnectedness in which there can only be Unity. It’s called non-dualism, or “not two.”
If everything and everyone are connected to everything else in such a way that they cannot be separated, how can there not be Unity in a fundamental way? In these traditions, that Unity is the underlying quality of Ultimate Reality. As the Daoists say, the undifferentiated is the source of all differentiation. At the same time, these traditions acknowledge diversity: the ten thousand things are different from one another, but no less connected. Like the ocean that contains all the drops of water, there may be distinction, but never separation.
Though we have to dig for it, within the Abrahamic and the Eastern non-dual traditions, we find a common root: the fundamental nature of God/Source/Sacred is Unity. Better put, God/Ultimate Reality/Source, as that which both is and includes everything, is Unity. All things that arise from the not-two are also inseparable from both Source and others, and thus are bound in a diverse unified whole. We are all united in one Source. Our task is to realize this, and form community through that understanding, not coercive conformity.
We’re all in this together, whether we like it or not. There’s no escaping the Unity that exists, that is existence itself. As Chief Seattle, the great Native American leader said, “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
Unity, then, is the opposite of uniformity and is rooted in an appreciation for each person’s individuality. Justice is the work of translating that idea into a reality by upholding the dignity of every person. - Rabbi Aaron Potek
Reflection Questions
What does Unity mean to you?
Where do you experience Unity?
What prevents from you from experiencing Unity?
How can you cultivate a deeper sense of Unity?
Suggested Practice
For the week, try seeing everything as part and parcel of a unified whole. Even the stuff/people/ideas you don’t like. What if Unity requires that everything – no matter what – be included? Where can you find common ground?
"What is Life? "It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. The True Peace. The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men."
- Black Elk, Oglala Sioux and Spiritual Leader (1863 - 1950)