I must admit that I have really enjoyed watching the fantastic televised coverage of the Olympics over the last couple of weeks. This event which takes to the world stage every four years is a tribute to the determination of the human spirit. When you think about the hours of training that each athlete has undergone in order to get to the level required to compete at the Games it is mind boggling to most of us.

The Olympics is really representative of the rich diversity of humanity – culture, ethnicity, religion, patriotism, creativity and spirit. Yet it is also indicative of the boundaries that also separate us. It is interesting to see the dynamic contrast between individual athletes competing in the spirit of friendly competition on the one hand and the unbridled nationalist fervour shown by their supporters and home countries on the other. It is the latter which has the effect of distancing us from our global human family. It has been and is also the cause of much continued suffering in the world.

Nationalism and patriotism are well and good if used for a greater good however when they operate to divide and distance us from each other they can be manipulated for evil. There is no better example of their positive effects than the 2012 London Olympics where Great Britain used both these to great effect and as a result has staged one of the most successful Games in current times. From the tens of thousands of volunteers without who the whole event could not have taken place to those responsible for organising the biggest show on earth – it all required unparalleled levels of  synergy and co-operation fuelled by a high level of good old fashioned patriotic fervour.

On the darker side however nationalistic, religious and ethnic fervour can result in the crisises we are currently witnessing throughout other parts of the world where even countries have become divided and neighbour is pitted against neighbour in the ongoing struggle for power and control. These divisions have been a long time in the making and unless a groundswell of people capable of imagining a different world can work together for the common good it looks like humanity will either take an even longer time to overcome these divisions or destroy itself in the process.

In the closing ceremony of the London Games the voice of John Lennon sang out the beautiful words of “Imagine” at the Olympic stadium – 

“Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You, you may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one.”

Peace, harmony and freedom and the brotherhood of man are beautiful sentiments yet how close are we really in making these our reality right now?

One of the primary hurdles to achieving such a reality is the idea that because we live in different countries with heavily policed borders that we are different and separate from each other. How does this fit with the haunting lyrics -“Imagine there’s no countries. Imagine there’s no religion. Nothing to kill or die for.” Can you imagine that?

That is the global challenge we all face right now in 2012. If we are unable to imagine it then it will not happen. If the Gold Medal winning athletes were unable to imagine themselves winning a Gold Medal do you think they would have won one? Of course not. Yet somehow in the face of our being constantly exposed to media reports of unprecedented violence and war we do have to imagine a world capable of living in peace and harmony.

There is nothing wrong in our celebrating our rich diversity and unique cultures as it is these many flavours that add to the spice of our lives. However if we allow this diversity to superimpose itself upon everything that we do then we quickly head down the slippery slope of separation, righteousness and judgment.

Let us imagine for one moment the whole global community as one Olympic Stadium full of every last man, woman and child in the world today and let us celebrate the human spirit that has been so evident over the last few weeks in London. It must surely be easier than what we are currently imagining for our selves?