the Institute of Unlearning, editorial 28

Now is the time of year when people celebrate some of their most cherished holidays. Whether it is Chanukah or Christmas, Kwanza or the New Year, humans will come together and renew their ties of friendship and love. With all that good spirit flying around the planet, it might be an appropriate time to consider what positive things we can do internally and externally to enhance the lives of us all. As you shop around deciding what gifts are suitable for you and your loved ones, perhaps you would consider spreading the gift of unlearning? Here are a few ways that you can advance the cause of Human Freedom in the upcoming days and months.

1)	Abandon Your Religion. Even though religious beliefs are largely responsible for creating these holidays, we can always create new reasons to celebrate once we jettison these tired and troublesome philosophies of living. After thousands of years of preaching holy "truths" and forcing populations to conform to their moral codes, where have religions truly gotten us? The three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam continue to disregard the rights of women and all of them are politically inciting violence in many places throughout the world. They all believe that their desired dream of making "heaven on earth" can only occur through a climatic confrontation with "evil", which has been largely interpreted through the centuries as meaning one type of holy war or another. In the name of their "all-loving and all-merciful" god, countless humans have suffered all kinds of brutality, exclusion and death. The places of the world where Hinduism and Buddhism thrive are no better off. Hundreds of millions of people continue to wallow in substandard living because of a belief that it is their karma to do so. Despite their teachings that promise to alleviate suffering, we must someday soon come to see these religions as a failure in human thinking or highly effective mind control of alien origin. Only then can we free the spirit and create the world of its imaginings.
2)	File a Refund for Your Taxes. Those in other countries may have to do research to see if the arguments described here apply to them. For citizens of the United States, if you have not worked as a government employee or engaged in any trade or business with the government, then it is more than likely that the taxes taken out of your paycheck belong rightfully to you. Under current laws, you can file a claim for refund as far back as three years ago. The reason why taxes have been taken out of your paycheck your entire life is that you signed, and continue to sign, government forms such as the W-4 and your tax return. You also failed to challenge your employers when they filed W-2's and 1099's about you. All these forms, in one way or another, create a legal paper trail that says you are a government employee or engaged in trade or business with the US government. By failing to challenge these claims, made unknowingly by you and your employers, you have subjected yourself to every IRS code in the book. Why not empower yourself now at the expense of the government that has been robbing you through chicanery all these years? We all know that money is a form of power. Claiming your money back will send a signal to the government that you are its master. As long as we live in fear of the tax man and the government, human freedom is not possible.
3)	Protest Vote in 2004. In all truth, you would be much better off not voting at all in the upcoming presidential election. It will save you time and spare you from all the meaningless talk about which candidate you support. Unlearners know that the leaders of the world are decided by moneyed powers long before any election is ever held. Elections are done to create the illusion that people are in control of their governments. Humans who desire true freedom have already freed themselves from this kind of mental masturbation and spend their energies circumnavigating government antics while pursuing their dreams. If you are still living the conditioned belief that "your vote counts" and insist on voting, then truly make your vote count by writing in a protest vote. In doing so, you will be sending the message that you are unhappy with all of the choices laid before you and that you are on to their childish con-games. If tens of millions of Americans did this one simple act, you can be sure the Illuminated ones would begin to feel that they are losing their grip on the world. I know this is tough for supporters of Democratic candidates like Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich to read. However, until either of these two candidates speaks out about the US government's involvement in 9/11 and the politics of Peak Oil, they are showing themselves to be as manipulated and powerless as the rest of the presidential field.
4)	Drop Your Identification with Country/Ethnicity. Unlearning your supposed identity is a tough yet incredibly empowering action. It will provide you with the moral compass necessary to make decisions for a more humane world. As long as we continue to see each other as members of a particular race, culture or country, we stumble blindly in the world. These labels are advanced by societal programming because they aid in the "divide and rule" tactics of the powerful. Once we see each other as simply human beings sharing OUR planet, we can begin to work on creating an equitable experience for us all. You might be surprised to see how different "common sense" is once you have dropped the common programming of our world controllers.
5)	Tell Your Truth. The world is as it is because deception rules the day. The ethics of lying dominate all fields of human endeavor from science and medicine to religion, education, the economy and politics. It is a tenuous dam that holds these lies in place. When humans make the choice to tell the truth about their lives, both in word and in action, the dam will crack greatly and fall to pieces. From that bursting dam all kinds of creativity and happiness will rush forth. The only thing holding these lies together right now is fear. We fear speaking out and we fear what life will look like if we speak our truth. The decision to face this fear becomes an easy one once you understand where all the lies are leading humanity to. Did we incarnate on this planet to live the life of slaves or did we come here to live the life as masters of ourselves? The conditioned reality leads to the former and the unlearning path leads to the latter. Find your truth and live it.

For millions of conditioned minds, 'tis the season to be jolly because of some ridiculous savior-god myth. Humans love to hear stories of one super-heroic person saving the day for countless others. We've been telling them and passing them around as true stories long before the reigning Christian version. These stories absolve us of any responsibility to improve ourselves, except for the one decision to accept the myth as true, which guarantees salvation in some vaguely defined afterlife. We pay the price for such myths in our daily trials and tribulations of serving the All-Seeing Eye and her pyramid builders. When humans finally realize that a myth's power comes from themselves and not the object of the myth, the yokes we carry will disappear. Walking straight and tall, it won't be too long before we truly learn to fly.