Word of the Day: Understanding
In my life I have traveled and moved around often. The places I go are determined by fate, prayer, and intuitive flow. While moving throughout the Hawaiian Islands, Arizona, and also the British Isles, I encountered many members of the sovereign citizen’s movement.
To summarize, sovereignty is supreme power, autonomy, or freedom from external control. In a biblical sense, God’s sovereignty is God’s supreme authority and power over all of creation. In a governmental sense, sovereignty means that a government has power within it’s own territory that is not subject to the control of any other government. A sovereign citizen claims to be free from external control and not beholden to the laws or regulations of any external government or power.
A word that came up a lot in conversations around sovereignty was understanding. To many of the folks I found myself in conversation with, understanding is seen as a word that isn’t aligned with sovereignty. The way this has been expressed to me by others — to understand is to “stand under” something, meaning to place oneself under a higher power. These sovereign citizens expressed feeling more aligned with using the term ”innerstanding.” This was described as knowledge from within, without an external authority.
I am always open to discussion of language and truth. I am always open to hearing other viewpoints and thoughts.
My curiosity was certainly peaked by these discussions of the word understanding. These discussions took place with various people on multiple continents and the message was always the same.
Personally, I have come to a different understanding of the word understanding. To get closer to the truth, let’s explore the meaning and history of understanding through etymology.
understand (verb) :
perceive the intended meaning of
interpret or view (something) in a particular way
be sympathetically or knowledgeably aware of the character or nature of
understanding (noun) : the ability to understand something; comprehension
understanding (adjective) :
sympathetically aware of other people’s feelings; tolerant and forgiving
(archaic) having insight or good judgement
In etymology the word understand means to comprehend. Another way to define this is “to view in a certain way.” In the word understanding, under does not mean beneath. In this word, under comes from the Old English under and the PIE root word *inter meaning “between, among.”
Other related words include:
Greek entera “intestines”
Sanskrit antar “among, between”
Latin inter “among, between”
Another way of expressing the meaning of under here is “to be close to.”
Through etymology we see that the *sovereign citizen’s viewpoint on the word understanding is not based in truth. They employ a play on words to make a point that serves a larger argument. The true meaning of the word understanding is to stand among, to stand between, or to stand close to.
The word stand means to maintain an upright position. It can also mean to take a position, or stance, on something.
If you remember from an earlier post on the word universe, all matter and all space exist as one whole. We exist among everything else that exists in the universe. Understanding is an acknowledgement that we coexist among one another paired with an effort to comprehend the feelings, wisdom, and expressions of those we coexist with.
Understanding does not imply that I am below you and you are above me. I can maintain freedom and understanding at the same time. I relinquish nothing by understanding another, except perhaps ignorance.
Though “standing under” isn’t the true meaning of understanding, I will also point out that there is some hubris in believing that we should never stand under another being. There are many situations in which other people or external forces are more knowledgeable, experienced, and wise than I am. We have a lot to learn from each other.
Humility is a wonderful virtue to call upon. Humility reminds us that we can keep learning and growing. It reminds us to have compassion and to continue to seek truth. Again, I lose nothing but ignorance and excessive pride by experiencing this virtue.
Understanding helps us to convey the true meaning of our thoughts, experiences, ideas, and intentions. It supports our remembrance of interconnection.
Words we see in the definition of understanding include: tolerance, sympathy, forgiving, comprehension, good judgement, and insight. These are valuable things to call upon as we stand among one another in community.
*Note: this refers to the member’s of the sovereign citizen’s movement that I have interacted with. I’m sure there are a variety of viewpoints of individuals within the larger movement.
