After Reading The Spiritual Story of Democracy
Restoring the reflective/nonreflective nature of the singularity between us
This article is listed as Discussion 2 in the Index of Articles of this series.
Next in our journey is to check the soundness of our house of knowledge. We need to be able to verify that our perception of things within and outside our circles is true, based on the principle, so that we can make others more important, without being against ourselves, in ways that are meaningful to them. This requires the oneness of our conscience (suneidesis)1 to be sound, working from the reflective/nonreflective nature of our singularity. As such, we can work from our singularity and give all our agapé, unconditional love, to Name through everyone. The Spiritual Story of Democracy shows us how to do that through our family, political, national and world-names.
First Thoughts
To the degree you manifested the spiritual essence of The Spiritual Story of Democracy, the visions you formed from it have become part of the senses of your heart. Unlike other visions, these work from the structural drama of your house of knowledge, vivifying the reflective/nonreflective nature of your suneidesis when using the principle for anyone.
The degree to which you were not able to manifest its spiritual essence is due to holding on to the temporary self-image of the image of woman or the image of man, opaque images. For since opaque images do not permeate, keeping our suneidesis in the foyer of our own house of knowledge, the reflective/nonreflective nature of the singularity in our suneidesis works behind the surfaces of appearances, unable to manifest the spiritual essence of Name in Word.
The general story of democracy is about resolving the conflict of visions between political parties and nations working in the duality name. The part of this name that designates us spiritually dead empowers false identification with the physical body through opaque self-images. Those suffering under the image of woman envision men as the problem; those under the image of man envision women as the problem. Both are right — names of light who think they are men and names of light who think they are women are the problem. The same is true for every non-heterosexual type of false identification with the body.
The Reflective/Nonreflective Nature of our Singularity
All of this divides the reflective/nonreflective nature of our singularity, preventing us from reflecting our own national singularity and others in Word’s political singularity and preventing us from stopping the practice of reflecting instead of worshiping Name as everyone’s source in Word. The problem is that, although we are all life-giving spirit, whose nature is agapé, unconditional love, loving even the enemies of suneidesis, some of us prefer blindness in our singularity, seeing it often as necessary blindness.
When recognizing division in others’ reflective/nonreflective nature, use it to check whether the agapé in your circles for them is equal to the agapé for each other in your own, excluding certain types of agapé within family-names. When the agapé is not equal, there is division of this nature in your circles, indicating that instead of worshiping Name with the nature of your singularity, you are reflecting Name away from yourselves and worshiping others or yourselves at least in part.
When your agapé is equal for those outside your circles, making other family, political, national and world-names more important, without being against your own, the oneness of the suneidesis between you is sound and you can give Name all the agapé in Word’s agapé singularity through all others. At The Givance, it is necessary to work through the reflective/nonreflective nature of Word’s singularity to permeationally possess Name in Word in our perfected oneness with them.
Strengthening Our House of Knowledge
A house of knowledge is incomplete without knowledge of current affairs in the world. However, they must be understood in terms of the spiritual knowledge of our house, otherwise they cannot be used to practice the principle. The two most important current affairs date back thousands of years, most important because they affect everyone in the world.
Word spoke of the fulfillment of the times of the nations as a deadline but in spiritual terms. It will bring about world peace, but we should not think that the world can continue corrupting itself and suddenly there will be world peace, even for survivors of any wars. The consequences for our corruption are worsening, but that does not mean we are losing our free will to choose or reject the principle. For if we choose it out of fear to avoid consequences, we will return to our corruption after the threat is gone, which will only make the consequences worse.
In knowledge of Word, when Israel was suffering the consequences of being made slaves in a foreign land due to its past choices, Name told them that a new covenant would bring them peace. They no doubt found hope in that, but when the new covenant came, long after they returned to their land, they rejected it, that being the covenant Word brought based on the principle. This is mirrored throughout the world even among Christians who do not follow it — the world has rejected the principle of loving one’s enemies.
The first current affair is the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Under the original covenant, Name gave the land of the Philistines among others to Israel, due to their immorality. When Israel reclaimed the land, citing Name’s authority, the covenant of the principle was in effect, although ignored by both sides. Neither side has the moral authority according to the principle, which is mirrored throughout the world in all conflicts of possession, including those in regard to the Iran War.
The second current affair is the conflict over the position of women in the world. Under the original covenant, woman was subjected to man’s authority due to her immorality, even though it was depicted as only slightly worse than man’s immorality. In knowledge of Word, this is explained in the garden story at the beginning, viewed symbolically or not, where both were punished. However, according to the City of Babylon symbolism at the end, where man’s immorality is the scarlet beast, woman’s immorality is Babylon riding him. Under the covenant of the principle though, gender is removed altogether as a criterion for authority; only those who use the principle have moral authority in a world that has rejected it.
The principle is our only hope of removing the vast majority of domestic violence when both partners use it and of removing sexual abuse in general when communities use it. For unconditional love does no harm and the only thing preventing its growth in us is lack of knowledge.
Other current affairs such as conflicts over racial oppression, poverty and immigrant rights are all due to the same error — allowing moral/ethical standards to govern our suneidesis rather than the principle. Science has been used to defend keeping moral/ethical standards first since it too is based on measuring appearances of primary importance. The covenant of the principle is based on recognizing that conscientious awareness alone can measure conscientious awareness through appearances. Thinking that science can bring an era of world peace is another means of choosing our corruption and thinking there are no consequences.
Loving the enemies of suneidesis can be measured only with conscientious awareness, which is not a product of neurological behavior but the laws of spirituality.
Strengthen your house of knowledge by meditating on the spiritual law of the reflective/nonreflective nature of our singularity in Word’s world suneidesis, especially after reading “The Spiritual Story of Democracy”. Do not let the current affairs of the world keep you from giving Name all the agapé in Word’s agapé singularity, especially through those blinded by such great love and to the fact that they are part of the singularity.
Suggested readings:
The Eyes of Democracy (Introduction and Index of Articles)
Our El-Elohe-Names (Concluding article of series)
Suneidesis, pronounced soo-NAY-day-sis, is a Greek word that joins our natural awareness with our sense of conscience. Click on the link for a detailed explanation. It is central to this teaching. Using this foreign word regularly in discussions helps us get accustomed to experiencing something new and positive working in our awareness itself. 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. Spiritual maturity does this naturally.
The sensibilities that you've curated here are powerful. Shifting the focus from political maneuvering to spiritual alignment holds a fundamental human energy. The ultimate goal of moving from a "democracy of words" to a "democracy of the heart," where governance is held together by the practice of unconditional love, must be our highest state.
Let's hope our number is growing.