Human Bonds and Existence Ethics: The Philosophy of Unconditional Love Beyond Conditions

A Reflection from Soyo's Existence Ethics

The Meaning of Human Bonds, the Place of Cause and Condition

Human bonds are formed at the intersection of cause and condition. From the moment a person is born and meets their parents, life enters into the stream of bonds. Meeting a teacher at school, brushing past a stranger on the street, these are all manifestations of human bonds. Yet behind each of these lies a cause and a condition. The bond between parent and child is shaped by biological conditions; between teacher and student, by the conditions of learning; between friends or lovers, by emotional causes and situational conditions.

Thus, human beings live within conditional bonds. To regard a bond as merely a “special coincidence” is to misunderstand the foundation of human relationships. Bonds always arise upon conditions, and those conditions are both the root and the limitation of the relationship.

Conditional Bonds and the Beginning of Suffering

The problem begins when human beings cling to conditional bonds. We assign meaning to a relationship, seek to preserve it, and fear its loss. From this moment, suffering begins.

Soyo’s maxim states:

“A bond is called a bond because it carries countless stories and reasons. Human existence on this earth is inseparably woven into ethical life, and every relationship we encounter is already a bond. There is no life outside of bonds. A bond is not something extraordinary. Just as existence itself is ethics, so too every bond is but a fragment of ethical life. When one clings to it, suffering begins. Life and bonds flow on, like water that runs or wind that blows.”

This maxim shatters illusions surrounding bonds and situates them within ethical life. Every meeting and relationship is already a bond, but not a special destiny. Only by letting go of attachment to bonds can one find freedom from suffering.

The Question Beyond Conditions

Yet philosophy does not stop here. Human beings ask deeper questions:

If conditional bonds are all there is, are all relationships inherently unstable? If bonds collapse when conditions change, where do love and friendship find their meaning? Is a bond beyond conditions possible? This question arises from the deepest place of human existence. While living within conditional bonds, humanity nevertheless longs for unconditional bonds.

Unconditional Bonds: The Meeting of God and Humanity

Soyo’s Existence Ethics responds: Conditional bonds are always tied to causes and reasons, but when one follows the ethics of conscience and lives in deep reflection, one may encounter a bond beyond all conditions. This is not merely a human connection, but a bond that unfolds within the love of God.

Such a bond appears only where calculation, condition, reason, and interest vanish. Soyo’s Existence Ethics expresses it thus:

“God = Humanity = Condition = Unconditional Divine-Human Bond.”

Here, bonds are no longer bound to worldly conditions. They are the seat of unconditional love, the place where human beings rediscover their existence before God.

Metaphysical Bonds: The Bridge Beyond Existence

Conditional bonds remain within the empirical and existential realm, but unconditional bonds extend into the metaphysical. They are not merely theories of relationships, but bridges uniting existence and ethics.

Conditional bonds are relationships tied to cause and reason. Unconditional bonds are relationships of love that transcend cause and reason. Metaphysical bonds lead humanity from the world of conditions to the world of the unconditional. This is not idle speculation, but a philosophy of love that surpasses existence itself. Only love can dissolve conditions; only love can transfigure bonds into eternity.

The Declaration of Bonds in Existence Ethics

Ultimately, Soyo's Existence Ethics declares, bonds are not special. Every meeting and relationship is already a bond.

Bonds are fragments of ethics. Just as existence itself is ethics, so too bonds are part of ethical life. Conditional bonds are unstable when their conditions vanish; the relationships collapse. Unconditional bonds are the love of God: a love without reason and a bond that endures into eternity. Thus, bonds are not merely relationships, but ethical vocations of love. When bonds are understood only as conditions, suffering begins when they are embraced as unconditional love; humanity experiences freedom and peace.

Flowing Water, Passing Wind, and the Flame That Remains

Life and bonds pass like flowing water or a passing breeze. Yet within their passing, something remains eternal: the flame of unconditional love, the bond beyond conditions.

Soyo’s Existence Ethics regards this flame as an everlasting testimony. It is not born of human strength, but of the love of God. By living in that love, human existence completes its ethics within bonds and finally stands as a witness to eternity.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo Existence Ethics, Author of The Silence of Existence, The Flame of Truth

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