A Symphony of Diversity

The universe is a symphony of wonder and beauty, simplicity and complexity, elegance and extravagance. Yet those of us living here in the miniscule sector we call home wrestle with fear and survival, discontinuity and incompleteness, life and death. We feebly reach for something beyond this small space but remain firmly entrenched.

We humans live for what we do not see and die for what we do. We fight for what we want to believe rather than live into the strange, dimensional, and fractal nature of the cosmos and the symphonic entities we were intended to be. We live in a state of discord.

Imagine, if you will, attending an orchestral performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major. This particular orchestra is known to have members who are quite opinionated on the topic of Bach. Some are quite adamant as to which scores of the concerto best represent Bach’s intentions. In their pursuit of the purest form of representation of the Master, they limit themselves to these scores.

The conductor raises his baton and the audience is hushed. Then all hell breaks loose. Scores from the beginning to the end of the concerto are played simultaneously! The din is overwhelming. Yet, the musicians do not flinch. They each know they are playing the right score. The conductor feverishly taps his music stand. The members, however, are not even looking at the conductor. Some look at other performers angrily for being on the wrong page! The chaos continues.

This scenario sounds preposterous, but in reality plays itself out every day on earth. It is what we have done for millennia. Music that would otherwise overwhelm us with beauty, if played symphonically, is now a most displeasing sound. We depreciate variation rather than pursue truth in harmonious relationship. We have failed by letting our complexities divide us rather than use them to build a larger and more complete symphony that pursues truth without hesitation.

This is not simply a religious problem. We are fragmented philosophically, racially, politically, scientifically, geographically, economically, and culturally. Still there is beauty in the fragments. It is found in giftedness, in perception, in color, and in tradition, among other diversities. Can the pieces play in harmony once again? I believe they can. I believe our call is to resonate in diversity. Diversity is the symphony.

– Sam Augsburger