The Imporance of Diversity in Existence

The need for diversity is often overlooked in our culture. We’ve become quite accustomed to standardization of all things. Most people want to be comfortable, knowing that they will get precisely what they expect, no matter where they are. If they go to a Barnes & Noble and get a coffee at the Starbucks, they know that it will taste the same as the coffee at any other Starbucks and so forth.

Surely it seemed like a good idea to do this, at first; but this trend towards standardization steadily eliminates possibilities, due to its viral nature. Just look at all of the Wal-Marts, McDonalds, etc… What innovations have these stores done, that has benefited mankind? Sweat shops? Rain forest beef? Hydrogenated oils?

At this point in the progression of events, our culture is so deeply absorbed by this hyper-standardization paradigm, that many of us don’t know of alternative ways of conducting our affairs, nor are we likely to ever be exposed to such alternatives during the normal course of our lives. It has gotten to be so extreme, that many of our people are not even willing to the thought of acting in a novel way, that has not been laid down by the authorities.

Standardization, when done to the extent that it is in our society, tends to take the personal touch out of things. Consequently, most of the food is bland and tasteless, and everything is catered towards the least common denominator in a one-size-fits-all fashion; but its really, one-size-fits-some, since we all have our own unique physical and spiritual needs, though we often ignore this.

Cultural and spiritual diversity opens and expands our lives into a myriad of possibilities, so that we may grow into more aware beings.