The plague of division
– Jahnabi Borah
The planet Earth was once a single landmass. Over time, it was divided into continents, then into nations, states, districts, subdivisions, and etc. etc. Human societies also drew boundaries based on geography, language, ethnicity, tribe, religion, customs, and traditions. These divisions helped organize societies and preserve distinct cultures. However, despite these countless boundaries, humanity continues to inhabit the same planet. The challenge begins when these identities become reasons for separation, superiority, or conflict rather than coexistence. If people define themselves solely by their religion, tribe, caste, or region, they risk forgetting the deeper truth that they belong to one human family. Diversity can enrich civilization, but it should not become a justification for division or hostility. The ultimate measure of a society is not how many boundaries it creates, but how peacefully people with different identities can live together while respecting one another’s equal dignity and rights. Similarly, people began to divide themselves. Humanity was once united, but over time it fragmented into different religions. Yet even after this division, people did not find peace. They introduced further distinctions within religions, leading to more sects and internal divisions. What follows next? After religion come caste, lineage, and social hierarchy. Even within the same religion, people distinguish themselves by clan and ancestry, your lineage is different from mine, your caste is different from mine. Then come notions of higher and lower status. People begin to judge one another by profession, wealth, or social standing, asking who is superior and who is inferior.
People separate themselves by skin colour. Every difference becomes another basis for division. If this process were to continue indefinitely, humanity would keep fragmenting until only two individuals remained. Yet even then, they would likely find reasons to distinguish themselves from one another. Ultimately, one may even begin to divide the self recognizing that the individual is not a single, indivisible entity, but a composition of many parts: the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the brain, and countless others. In that sense, even the individual is not truly one; the self itself is made up of many components. The tendency to divide, if carried to its extreme, has no natural end. What is the final destination of humanity? If people continue to divide themselves at every stage of history, what group will ultimately remain? After passing through endless layers of division, where will human beings finally belong? Will there be any groups left at all, or will every individual stand alone? As humanity keeps fragmenting by geography, nation, religion, caste, ethnicity, language, class, profession, and countless other identities, the number of groups increases while the sense of shared humanity diminishes. If every distinction becomes another boundary, the process of division has no logical end point. It continues until each individual becomes a separate category, defined only by their own unique identity. Yet every person enters the world alone and ultimately leaves it alone. If individuality is the final reality, then what does unity truly mean? Is unity the absence of differences, or is it the ability of unique individuals to coexist without allowing their differences to become barriers? Perhaps the deepest form of unity is not uniformity but the recognition that, despite our countless identities, we all share the same humanity. If division is endless, then unity cannot mean becoming identical; it must mean remaining connected despite our differences.
The idea of’ division’ itself is not always negative. It can be useful for organization or understanding differences. However, when these divisions are used to create inequality, discrimination, or conflict, they become harmful.