Diversity: A Problem in Common

Abstract

The more we live in densely populated environments in which we regularly encounter people of different ethnic origins, classes, sexual orientations, and gender identities, the more we tend to feel that we have a sophisticated relation to diversity. Being exposed to diversity and embracing it, however, are different things. The latter depends on a level of self-acceptance and self-understanding that can also develop in a less overtly diverse environment. Further, celebrating diversity is not the same as experiencing the essential oneness of humanity, including oneness with people whose political views we do not share. C. G. Jung's theory of psychological types offers a deep approach to embracing diversity, since the eight types of consciousness that Jung felt created differences between people also occur within each of us. Learning to identify each of the types within ourselves can be a step toward accepting both the psychological diversity around us and the inevitable limitations in being comfortable with the differences that all of us share.