Divine Definitions: (1) Knowledgeable; discerning; (2) The source of the power and ability to think and to know; intelligent judgment; (3) Friendly or harmonious relationship; an agreement in feeling; (4) Helpful in the adjusting of differences; (5) Fully aware of meanings and implications; (6) Patient and tolerant of growth; sympathetic
Comment: To understand is literally to stand under. In this way God is the one who supports all reality with His empathetic knowledge: omniscience.
UNDERSTAND
Definitions: (1) the power to think and learn; the ability to make sense; intelligent judgment; (2) comprehension of knowledge; discernment; (3) fully aware not only of the meaning or nature of something but also of its implications; (4) a friendly or harmonious relationship; an agreement of opinion or feeling; an adjustment of differences; (5) patient and tolerant of growth; sympathetic
Consequential Quality: tolerance
Poetry:
Knowledge, so full of itself, flies
beyond the cosmos, while Wisdom,
only as ancient as the earth, tries
to follow, but staggers and stumbles,
held back by the short-legged pace
of Understanding, still merely a child.
— Katherine Solomon (1944 -) American Poet
Sayings:
• Damnant quod non intelligunt (Latin): “They condemn what they do not understand”
• Tout comprendre c’est pardonner (French): “To understand all is to forgive all.”
• Walk a mile in another person’s moccasins. (American Indian)
Note: This saying is encouraging us to see things from someone else’s perspective. Even though you will then be better able to see things how they see them, the common misunderstanding is that you will then agree with their point of view. As always, you will retain your own unique point of view. You cannot “become” the other person no matter how accurately you understand them. Knowing is not agreeing.
Quotes:
• The hardest thing to understand is why we can understand anything at all. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American Physicist
• It is good to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding. — Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) The Prophet
• Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. — Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) Austrian Neurologist, Psychiatrist, & Holocaust Survivor
• Master: In time, you will understand how
Student: And when I learn?
Master: Then you will understand how much you have yet to learn.
— Warren Burton Murphy (1933-2015) & Molly Cochran (1949 -) Grandmaster
Consideration: Oftentimes it is advisable to suspend your position to begin to understand someone else’s. It is important to do both: know what your understanding is, and allow for the other person’s understanding. If you can do both, you will be able to incorporate some of the other’s ideas, feelings, and sensibilities into your own. It is only fair to get a good idea of the other side, if for no other reason than to know where to draw the line.
Comment: When someone does or says something from out of left field, it is your left field you are referring to. It may be their pitcher’s mound.
Colors: indigo, yellow
Symbol: a silver key