This word is the etymological equivalent of superstition, though the latter has taken on a negative aspect over the years.
Understanding simply means in English the thing that stands underneath us and gives us our life foundation.
Superstition, the Latin equivalent, first meant the same thing, but has come to mean something unreliable and fraudulent.
In both cases these words point toward the idea that ultimately the things we depend on for knowledge are at the fringes of our conscious capacity to comprehend.
