It is very common to hear a spiritual teacher break down a word. So let’s play. Understanding is under (neath) standing. The opposite would, therefore, be over-standing which is over the standing. Other standing words would be out-standing vs in-standing. Up-standing vs Down-standing.

The stand part is harder to break down.

stan- which isn’t in all dictionaries is a relatively new word having to do with liking someone who is a celebration often in extreme

In the 1828 Webster Dictionary,the definition of the word is a bit confusing

STAN, as a termination, is said to have expressed the superlative degree; as in Athelstan, most noble; Dunstan, the highest. But qu. stan in Saxon, is stone.

So the breaking down of stand seems to reveal little. So we need to work with the sound ‘stand’ as a whole.

Here I took a look at the google search’s breakdown of the word and found this:

noun: stand; plural noun: stands

1. 1.

   an attitude toward a particular issue; a position taken in an argument.

   “the party’s tough stand on welfare“

So perhaps ‘Understanding’ does not exist without a viewpoint. Understanding may have to do with ‘a position taken in an argument’ and not technically the act of standing. I realize it is up to the individual to define stand as a verb or by the noun definition.

Yet it is ‘under’ a position taken on an argument. It is deeper than the standing. The standing could not occur without what was underneath it.

As I see it, there is a whole lot of standing going on in the world and few look at what is under the oppositions feet. It is true we are standing on a different ground.

I try to look past the person standing and into the ‘understandings’ that make them decide it is important to take a stand. I may not agree with the standing, but I can get under the standing without having to agree.

Yet, if you look at standing as a verb the ground under all our feet is Gaia. But for a few who have walked on the moon, the Earth is where all understanding stems.