Discussion 3: Reflections in the World Conscience (Suneidesis)

We measure global wealth and poverty, births and deaths, and the number of democracies in the world because we have a world conscience (suneidesis).¹ Blindness prevents us from seeing what makes us human with such a suneidesis,² that being, Name in the world and the world in Name, the singularity of our co-conscientious awareness in each other.

The Paradigms of World Blindness and World Vision

Word is our paradigm-window into the world. It reveals the patterns of world blindness, addiction to appearances that distorts the reflective nature of our world suneidesis, and the patterns of world vision, our ability to perceive Name and its reflections in the world even through its appearances. We can best understand the fullness of Name’s agapé, Greek for love, in the reflective nature of our world suneidesis. Here, all restrictive boundaries are exposed, revealing that Name is agapé in Word in all its patterns.

When Name’s agapé in Word appears to be absent in our world suneidesis (it never is), hatred has twisted agapé’s reflections to confuse its meaning structure in us. Do not resist this world blindness in your suneidesis, for that is resisting illusion. It is like a shadow subjecting our mind to the blindness of fear, anger and desire—when we attribute substance to it and resist it. With Word’s paradigms, we see Name’s agapé reflecting in our world vision, which removes wholesale blindness of fear, anger and desire from our world suneidesis. Only then can we acknowledge the world’s blindness to Name without resisting it.

Suffering at the Hands of Blindness

Now it is one thing not to resist blindness and quite another to see others suffering from it in the world—at the hands of those resisting or worshipping it in themselves and each other. Not resisting it empowers us to understand what is happening in the world, alleviating the burden of deception in our suneidesis so that we help bear the suffering of those subject to such hands.

Consider how religious beliefs—in moral standards that are used to govern the conscience—interpret the suffering of others to be the result of disobedience. By not making them more important with the principle, we simply do not take the time to reason through all appearances, our best chance of finding out why we suffer.

On the other hand, consider how many of us without religious beliefs say, “How can a loving God allow this?” We see the value of life but not the transient purpose of our physical existence. Both have been provided to us by the agapé of Name (Life or God), along with a measure of will to bless each other with the patterns of agapé or curse each other with patterns of blindness to it. Envision how greatly we could bless the world if we were to restore co-conscientious awareness of our singularity, how we could diminish suffering in the world. It gives us personal hope and the hope that those who suffer without knowledge will gain it sooner rather than later. Until then, with the nature of Name in all of us, we can trust that their own world suneidesis yearns and seeks for it.

Habitually watching world blindness though makes investing time in the principle appear meaningless. Consider the resilience or flippantness that we have used in rejecting it. But we cannot take Name’s agapé by force either, not with that heroic attitude we take to conquer our problems. Agapé wakes us up after we have failed to find it on our terms. It gives us a sliver of its beauty to see what we will do with it—invest it in the least and see it blossom or in ourselves and see our perception of it wither.

Whether someone is suffering because of wrongs they have committed, their willingness to suffer for others, or anything else, our first task is to make them more important in our world suneidesis to see beyond all appearances—until we can see their beauty in the singularity of Name and its beauty in them. Then, we can decide circumspectly the best path forward to help them or wait. Are we ready to take our stand in the powerful reflections of the world suneidesis?

Can we save our democracy? (Index)

1. 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.

2. 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.