The Being Who Smiles at Competition – Conscience Ethics and Transcendent Love – Chapter 76

Soyo Existence Ethics (Existence itself is Ethics)

The Civilization of Competition and the Lost Eyes of Humanity

Human lives compete without ceasing. Education, careers, politics, economics, and even love itself have become an arena of rivalry. Humanity evaluates each other, compares, and plants within itself the instinctive anxiety of having to stay ahead. In the heat of competition, humans harden, language loses sincerity, and the heart forgets ethics.

Yet a being who lives by the ethics of conscience sees the world of competition differently. That being smiles at the race of the world. It is not a smile of mockery, but a smile of transcendence, the peaceful expression of one who has already stepped out of the battlefield. The world insists, "You must win to survive." But Soyo Existence Ethics declares:

"To win is not to subdue another, but to govern oneself through the depth of love."

Competition always begins with "I," but conscience always starts with "you." Because the directions of these two words differ, the world's philosophies lose the "Other" and the ethics of God.

A Philosophical Anatomy of Competition – How the Self Obscures God

Human competition is not merely a social mechanism. It is a spiritual phenomenon that clouds the conscience. One who competes does not truly see the other; instead, they see only themselves through the other. For such a person, the world exists as an endless series of "opponents." When the opponent smiles, envy arises; when the opponent fails, relief arises. This is the saddest way humans lose to one another.

Within competition, humans cease to see the face of the Other. Even Levinas's ethics of alterity collapses inside the logic of rivalry. There is only one reason the self seeks to place itself above the existence of another. But Soyo Existence Ethics proclaims:

"A being who stands upon another has already destroyed itself."

The essence of competition is not the other person but the greed of the self. When humans begin to see others not through God's eyes but through the eyes of their own desires, they have already lost the language of God.

The Ethics of Conscience – The Power of the Smiling Being

A being who lives by the ethics of conscience no longer resides in a world of winning and losing. They step away from the center of struggle and view the world from the quiet outskirts of love. Their eyes do not see the faults of the other. Their heart embraces the existence of the other. They understand this truth: Every human is a being formed in the image of God, and the same blood flows through all. Such a being smiles at the world's frenzied competition. That smile is not contempt but compassion, not judgment but the ethics of forgiveness. While the world rushes into madness, this being stops gently and listens to the breath of God. Their silence is calm, yet within that calm breathes a life that can save the world.

Transcendent Love – The Restoration of Human Solidarity

A being who lives by conscience has already transcended the self. The center of their life is no longer "I" but "you." They choose not the victory gained through rivalry, but the peace completed through love. They know this truth: Competition is the law of humans, but love is the law of God. Before the truth, they confess: "I do not seek to go ahead of others.

I draw closer to God by embracing others." This is the ethic of the one who transcends competition, the very essence of the transcendent human in Soyo Existence Ethics.

The Smiling One Saves the World

A world driven by competition is fast, but a world lived in love is deep. Humanity, intoxicated by speed, has lost its direction, but a being who lives by conscience always finds God's direction in silence. A generation of competition consumes one another, but a generation of conscience completes one another. The world is crowded with contenders, yet in God's eyes, one smiling being can save the world. That smile is God's peace, that peace is the ethics of existence, and that ethics leads human beings back to God.

Soyo Proposition

"Human competition blinds the conscience, for the competing person sees only their opponent, allowing the opponent's every movement to govern their whole being.

Thus, the self is forgotten, and the heart is consumed solely by the desire to defeat the other. This is the root of why humanity has lost God. Humans must not treat one another as objects of rivalry but as kin who share the same blood to live in love, embrace, and mutual ethics."

Existence-Ethical Declaration

"Competition separates human beings, but love binds existences into one. The one who smiles changes the world."

Soyo (逍遙)

Founder of Soyo Existence Ethics, Author of The Silence of Existence, The Flame of Truth

2025 Soyo Philosophy. All rights reserved.

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