Question: Can we save our democracy?
It’s not too late.
Step One
“If your life or the life of someone you love depended on loving someone you hate, could you love them?”
The anger, fear and hatred so many Americans have for Trump is going to make us weak even sick. So in many ways, our life does depend on loving him but as an enemy of our conscience (suneidesis),1 for he says and does things that trouble even sear our conscience, especially when it hurts those we love. This is not a religious discussion. Foremost, it is knowledge on how to do it without the need for faith, in essence, something we can all learn.
It does not come natural for us to change and love someone we have been hating or feel like hating, but now is the time for knowledge on learning how to do so. With or without religion, it only takes a conscience (suneidesis)2 or the desire to feel it again, as hatred is the absence of a conscience or the lack of awareness of it.
As we know, many of Trump’s followers feel the same way about us for two well-known reasons, abortion and homosexuality. Despite their beliefs, which they have a right to have like us, they do not love us as enemies of their conscience (suneidesis) any more than we love them. We will examine these two issues, but we may never resolve our differences. Therefore, loving one another as enemies of conscience is our best hope of building a bridge over our national suneidesis. However, if we alone love them this way, we can still build it to reach them and resist their actions responsibly.
To learn this teaching, read the posts below preferably in order. Most of them are relatively short, but this is not a game, a predicament we can just walk away from. Give yourself a week. Give your country a week. Underlying all of them is the notion that the very concept of democracy is rooted in the human suneidesis, caring for one another, so loving the enemies of conscience strengthens our suneidesis and saves our democracy.
The first hurdle is overcoming our yearning for simple solutions. Yes, there is a simple aspect to this teaching, but we cannot put it into practice without understanding its depths. It is written within the common reasoning we all possess. Although we need to look at the human conscience, there is zero judgment.
Another hurdle is our social taste for writing style over revelatory content. Many of us love exquisite writing, myself included, without really searching for anything new. On the other hand, many of us do not have the formal education to completely break down the writing of ideas, while being quite capable of understanding them. For this reason, everything is written in an attempt to break down ideas for readers, so we can all be on the same page.
The final hurdle is how you may see my approach to writing about the teaching, appearing to some as though as I believe that I have mastered all of the subject. We do not listen to a teacher of architecture unless they have mastered their subject, but when it comes to the heart, we face the contradiction of expecting a teacher of the heart to have mastered the subject on some level—but not realize that such mastery may appear as arrogance to the rest of us who have not mastered it.
In our analogy, I, not I but on the shoulders of others, have mastered the subject of building a house of knowledge that is capable of two things. One, it empowers us to love the enemies of conscience (suneidesis), and two, by necessity, it frees us from addictive thinking found in prejudice on all levels. It does not empower us to be perfect, and yet, such freedom and the power to love this way gives my writing a level of confidence that may make it appear as though I think I am. Far from it.
Love and power together humble a person, but one must teach with confidence if they want others to learn. Sometimes, we put the focus on ourselves with the humility of who am I to know anything. Even though it is true that alone we know nothing, the teacher needs to stay neutral, invisible, neither liked nor disliked, like a window. This is facilitated by my remaining anonymous.
Every builder knows that you must put all your focus on the house you are building. We probably differ on some interior and exterior designs. However, this teaching is only about how to build your own house of knowledge—according to true structure, the truth of what it means to love the enemies of suneidesis. Only by loving the enemies of conscience (suneidesis) can we truly strengthen our suneidesis, giving us the best chance of saving our democracy.
The Teaching
Argument 1: The Democracy of our Conscience (Suneidesis)
Argument 2: Establishing the Principle
Argument 3: The Principle over Moral Standards
Argument 4: Democracy and Addiction
Argument 5: Blindness: Ultimately the only Enemy
Discussion 1: The Light of Democracy Reflects Back on Us
Discussion 2: The World Democracy of our Conscience (Suneidesis)
Discussion 3: Reflections in the World Conscience (Suneidesis)
Discussion 4: The Light of Democracy in our World Conscience (Suneidesis)
Discussion 5: Names of the Light of Democracy
Contribution 1: Restoring Good Boundaries to the Democracy of our Conscience (Suneidesis)
Contribution 2: Eating Addictions and Blindness in the World Conscience (Suneidesis)
Contribution 3: Abortion and the Second Stage of Democracy
Contribution 4: Information in the Democracy of our World Conscience (Suneidesis)
Contribution 5: The Two Singularities in World Democracy
Contribution 6: The Mature Mind of Democracy
Contribution 7: Capitalism in the Democracy of our Conscience (Suneidesis)
Spirituality and Democracy Plus One
Additional Articles
Fight or Flight Starts in the Heart
An Empathic Spirit of Kindness
Suneidesis is pronounced soon-eye-day-sis. After reading the link explaining it, you will see how central it is to this teaching. Using this foreign word regularly in discussions helps us get accustomed to experiencing something new and positive in our awareness. When the word conscience is used, it will refer to the aspect of suneidesis that involves right and wrong, but this aspect cannot be separated from our co-conscientious awareness of all things.
If I understand that my awareness of something as simple as a cup includes co-conscientiousness, I do not allow myself to get blinded by the cup alone but know it as part of all creation at the hands of the Creator or the universe, depending on one’s beliefs. I can easily picture people like Jesus doing that all the time and believe that suneidesis reveals that we all have the same potential.
The repetition of suneidesis is meant to challenge you to consider this dimension in your awareness. Apologies, but it will only be a necessary annoyance until it becomes natural.
George Allen - Thank you for sharing this and your mind with the community who needs it. I appreciate what you are laying down herewithin.
I hope you share your mind with me again.
All my best ~ Bronce
This is one of the most grounded and mature takes I’ve seen on the paradox of conscience. The idea of “loving as enemies of conscience” opens a space beyond agreement, where we resist without dehumanizing. It doesn’t ask us to abandon discernment, only to transcend hatred as a default setting. Powerful, needed. Thank you.