"SF" sent us an article comparing Illumination with Taoism:

Taoism as Illumination

While Taoism is sometimes considered more of a philosophy than a religion, I think it comes close to many of the ideas of Illumination. Here I will try to describe the general principles of Taoism as I understand them, and note the ways I see it as similar to Illumination. All references to the Tao Te Ching, the first and most fundamental book of Taoist literature, cite the Mitchell translation, which is available online at: http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html. (I have also begun writing commentaries on each verse of the book, which - should you be interested - can be found on my journal page in Beliefnet: http://community.beliefnet.com/shawnf/blog).

The basic concept of Taoism is that everything which exists is connected to -- and an expression of -- a single underlying reality called the Tao. This reality is too vast to describe in concrete terms because by incorporating everything, Tao leaves no "outside" perspective from which to observe and categorize it. Moreover, since words convey meaning only inasmuch as they distinguish one concept or thing from another, they are insufficient for describing the unity of all things. This point is made clear in the very first lines of the Tao Te Ching:

So, unlike the western "book" religions, Taoism does not begin with a clearly defined God that is separate from creation and who establishes rules for humanity to follow. The real Tao is beyond knowing. In Taoism it is impossible for mankind to be separate from the divine, because the Tao is creation, including humanity. It is the source from which the universe springs, and in the absence of which the universe would not exist. This means there is no external judge, no concept of sin & redemption, no need for intercession of any kind.  

I believe this is similar to Illumination's idea of God as "a being who existed outside of space and time, a being of infinite power, of infinite spiritual and intellectual energy" (AC - Divine Suicide). But unlike the Divine Suicide of Illumination, Taoism pays little attention to explaining precisely where the Tao -- and the world it generates -- comes from, or what its purpose or intention might be. Where the origin of the Tao is considered, it appears to point to something similar to the r = 0 realm:

-Tao Te Ching, verse 4

In Taoism, everything is one thing. This reality is also recognized in the perspective of quantum physics, wherein things of the universe and the spaces between them are considered to be a single vast sea of granular quantum particles. Of course, the Taoists weren't aware of quantum theory, but they did understand that there was a fundamental level at which everything that exists is one thing, one continuous reality. That one reality was likened to an inexhaustible well out of which all things emerge. This manifestation is brought about through an ongoing interaction of female and male, receptive and active principles, called Yin and Yang that together make up the Tao.

The ongoing interaction of Yin and Yang means the Tao, like the True God of Illumination, is a principle of becoming; it is an ongoing dynamic process. But while this corresponds somewhat to the dialectical evolution of the True God, the Taoist perspective holds that there is no evolution necessarily happening. The Tao simply is what it is, with no need for advancement. So if the Tao can be called a God, it is closer to the sleeping Brahma of Hinduism. The conflict of good versus evil is not a transcendent reality that is mirrored in creation, but rather a sort of illusion that appears only within the dream, or within the perspective of an individual who is conceptually separate from the whole.

As the first verse of the Tao Te Ching suggests, separation only comes into being when we distinguish particular things from the totality of Tao, by applying names to them. Naming or defining a thing automatically limits it, by excluding all the processes that are continually interacting with and changing that thing over time. For example, it would be impossible to talk about the concept of a tree if we did not distinguish "tree" from the other things in, on, around, and affecting it -- the wind passing through its branches, the leaves decomposing on the ground in front of it, the tiny insects living on and within it, the turning of the seasons and their impact on it, etc. All of these additional things are essential aspects of any real tree, but are ignored in the generic concept of "tree." In naming things, therefore, we create abstractions that do not completely correspond with reality; we ignore the fact that everything is a single ongoing process and cannot really be separated from that process. So the myriad separate items and entities that we perceive in the Universe (what the Tao Te Ching calls the "ten thousand things") exist conceptually, rather than fundamentally; their fundamental reality is as part of an indivisible whole.  

This conceptual universe is similar to the Demiurge's version of creation. It is inherently limited and composed of separate elements, yet each of these elements is intimately connected to a larger divine source. In Taoism however, this separate universe is specifically identified as a mental construct that emerges from the conceptual process they call "naming." There is no outside entity (Demiurge) trying to maintain it, but rather it comes into existence from our own mistaken tendency to reify the symbolic/conceptual world. So the Demiurge is a product of the psychological development of mankind, rather than a stage in the development of God --although this distinction dissolves with the Gnostic realization that we are God.
 
The naming process also automatically creates the opposite of the things we are naming, because in order to separate a thing from the whole, it is first necessary to define its characteristics. We can then apply the same name to all things that share these characteristics. But once we do this, it then becomes easy to distinguish other things that have contrasting characteristics. Thus we create opposing poles or forces. From the Taoist perspective, these opposites are still interrelated because they define each other; their meaning is only evident in the relationship between them.

        -Tao Te Ching, verse 2

Problems arise when we get too caught up in the conceptual abstractions - the "ten thousand things" - and lose awareness of the underlying oneness of Tao. This begins when we assign value to certain groups of "things," thereby devaluing everything else. We decide that one pole is good and desirable, and thus define the other as bad and undesirable. As a result, we try to manifest one aspect of reality and eradicate or exclude its opposite. But this is impossible -- just as it is impossible to have only the "heads" side of a coin without the "tails" side -- neither can exist without the other. This idea is expressed in the "yin and yang" symbolism of the T'ai chi. Complete eradication of one side can only happen through the eradication of the other side as well. When we try to express only one side of the duality we generate unbalanced action, which cannot be maintained indefinitely because it does not accord with the true nature of Tao.   

"Unbalanced action" is the closest Taoism comes to the concept of evil. It's not a question of an objective judge of our morality, but more a question of how much our actions correspond with the underlying, unified reality that is the Tao.  

To some extent this alludes to the idea of "Sin for Salvation" in Illumination. Sin for salvation recognizes that it is unhealthy -- and ultimately impossible -- for people to devote themselves entirely to just one side of a moral spectrum. It therefore permits engagement with the other side in a controlled way. Similarly, the Taoist perspective recognizes that one side cannot exist without the other. However, Taoism is more explicit in stating that even this distinction between balance and imbalance is merely conceptual; it exists only within one's limited individual perception -- the Tao itself cannot be out of balance.

The long-term result of unbalanced action is to generate dialectical conflict until balance is re-established. To minimize or avoid this conflict, the best approach to life from the Taoist perspective is to maintain balance and let things come, rather than trying to bring about specific outcomes based on conceptual notions of value. The Taoist term for such an approach is wu-wei or non-action. This does not mean failure to act; rather it means taking appropriate actions that are in harmony with the Tao. In simple terms, it is maintaining awareness of the Tao and not falling into the conceptual world of value judgment and separation.  
 

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

There is a similarity here to the idea that the Demiurge seeks to prevent the culmination of the dialectic (synthesis) by luring people to opposite poles (thesis/antithesis). In Taoism, this can only happen within the conceptual "ten thousand things" world - a world that corresponds to the Demiurge's version of creation. The futility of such an effort is quite overt from the Taoist perspective.

Given that the Tao cannot be fully described, the philosophy of Taoism offers no moral authority upon which to base our actions. If the Tao has its own will or desire, it is beyond mankind's ability to comprehend. But the nature of Tao can be apprehended by examining the way it is manifested in the natural world, where human judgments and preconceptions do not play a role. In this regard, water is considered an excellent model for Taoist action. It does not seek to remain in elevated positions, but is content to flow down to the low places. Yet by simply following its nature, it provides nourishment to all living things. It yields to outside force, but has the persistence and strength to erode mountains:

Unlike most religions, Taoism doesn't focus on the afterlife. Death is neither feared nor desired, but is accepted as a natural part of the cycle. The basic concept of the Taoist afterlife is that after death, the soul returns to the Tao, where it returns to the endless but ever-changing cycle of manifestation, existence, and de-manifestation. The soul combines with and separates from myriad other souls in its process of migration from life to life.   

On a deeper level, the individual human soul is believed to be composed of two parts, an earthly, Yin aspect called p'o, and a spiritual, Yang aspect called hun. These two polarities interact throughout a person's lifetime then separate after death, resulting in the dissolution of the human personality. The p'o aspect returns to the earth, while the hun returns to the realm of spirit to be re-manifested. Unlike other Eastern religions, karma does not enter into this process because reincarnation is not a question of upward spiritual evolution but of an ongoing process of manifestation. However, over the years, Taoism did incorporate tenets from other religion, such as Buddhism. Some Taoists believe in "Diyu," a place where the soul goes to be prepared for reincarnation by atoning for the transgressions of its previous life. In some versions of Taoism, Diyu holds punishments that closely approximate those of the Christian Hell, but while the torments of Hell are eternal, the punishments of Diyu are only temporary -- leading souls ultimately back to the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. This idea holds forth the prospect that even those who slip completely into the Demiurge's conceptual world will ultimately be redeemed.  

Many Taoists believe it is possible to transcend the cycle of reincarnation altogether and live in eternity -- though there are differences of opinion as to whether this means physical immortality or something more spiritual. Alchemical techniques similar in principle to western alchemy are used to achieve this immortality. The process involves integrating the body's essences - called the "Three Treasures": Jing (life essence), Ch'i (vital energy) and Shen (spirit) - to attain spiritual integration of the authentic self. This integration leads to a state similar to the Buddhist Nirvana, in which one achieves perfect harmony between life and the universe. In achieving this state of harmony - which is called Tao - the individual transcends death, or in a sense transcends the whole duality of the ongoing process of life and death and becomes the Tao itself. This would seem to correspond with entering the r = 0 realm of Illumination. There, the individual mind remains intact, and exists in a timeless state with the other immortals. Although achieving immortality is a difficult process -- requiring a great deal of study and practice, as well as living a moral life -- the important point for the Taoist is that it is within the grasp of any ordinary person because we are already a manifestation of the immortal Tao. Therefore, unlike western alchemy, which focuses on using spirit to transform base matter, the Taoist alchemical process focuses on realizing that matter holds spirit within itself, and then working to transform matter so as to fully manifest that inner spirit.  

Thus, Taoism holds that divine perfection is already our natural state. The prospect of eternal happiness and transcendence is not something to be sought after in the next world or in another life, but rather something that can be realized right now, in this world. As the Gnostics say, we are Gods. Like Illumination, the goal of Taoism is to manifest the divinity indwelling everyone and all of reality, and by so doing, to transcend the limitations of the physical world. In Taoism, this is not a future possibility, but rather an existing reality that only needs to be embraced. What other religions put such a profound transformation within reach of everyone?  

 Though I can't claim to have an absolute understanding of all aspects of Taoism - nor certainly of Illumination - from what I do understand of each, I think there are some close overlaps. I hope I have been able to shed light on some of these. I'll close as the Tao Te Ching closes, with this final verse:


Our Comment: We thank SF for this enlightening paper in which he has expertly conveyed the essence of Taoist thought. There are certainly parallels between Taoism and Illumination, as there are between Illumination and all of the Eastern religions of enlightenment. It may be said that Illumination is a Western version of Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Although we reject specific teachings of these religions and place different emphasis on a number of concepts, the underlying framework in all four cases is essentially the same: there is a transcendent reality with which we can attain union through becoming enlightened, and this can be accomplished over a number of lifetimes. We have always existed in some form or other and we will always exist. 

These religions of enlightenment provide a radically different view of reality from that of the Western "book" religions of faith. In the Abrahamic religions, we did not exist prior to the creation of our soul by God, we get only one mortal life of "three score years and ten" that will decide our eternal fate - never-ending torment in hell or paradise in heaven until the end of time. God stands completely outside cosmic existence. We may enter his presence, but we can never become one with him. The Abrahamic God is the supreme mystery of existence. How is it possible for such a being to have any reality? He is completely beyond the reach of science, mathematics and philosophy. He is perfect, has always been perfect and will always be perfect. He didn't evolve. He just IS. No other mind will ever understand the Mind of God or unravel the mystery of God. There is infinite distance between God and us, an existential gap that can never be bridged.

The enlightenment religions, on the other hand, are much more compatible with Western science, mathematics and philosophy. The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra famously draws parallels between quantum mechanics and relativity theory on the one hand, and Eastern religions on the other. This would have been an impossible exercise with Abrahamism.

Of all the religions in the world, the one most compatible with science is Illumination, for the simple reason that, from its formal inception under Pythagoras, it approached reality mathematically rather than as the words of bearded old prophets clutching a book personally dictated by "God". Books of "Revelation" are invariably and inherently ridiculous and have no connection with science, mathematics or philosophy. Faith is contrary to science.

If you want to be both scientific and religious then, in truth, you only have one choice - Illumination. There would be no wide division in the West between religion on the one hand and philosophy and science on the other if the West had never succumbed to the toxic ideas of bearded prophets and the "sacred" texts of "revealed" religions.

A great and good task is to bring about a great union between Eastern and Western religious thinking, and this can only be accomplished via Illumination. The Abrahamic religions must be consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong. They have proved a catastrophe for humanity. Think how much pain humanity would have avoided and how much more advanced we would have been if there had never been any Jews, Christians or Muslims, if the world had always remained pagan.

The ancient Greeks were almost supernaturally intelligent. If ancient Greek pagan religions had been allowed to evolve without the interference of the Abrahamic faiths, the human race would be at least a millennium ahead of where it is now. The backward Abrahamists have put a massive brake on human evolution with their retarded beliefs. Abrahamism is a confederacy of dunces; the triumph of the stupid.

If the world turns to religions of knowledge and enlightenment rather than place faith in dusty books and fanatical prophets, the vast divide between science and religion will at last be healed. We can enter a Golden Age of human thinking and spirituality.

The roadblock to progress is, as always, Abrahamism. Western science has rightly rejected religion in the sad shape of the Abrahamic faiths. No thinking person could buy into Abrahamism; it is a creed of insanity and psychopathy starting from the moment that Abraham's "God" ordered him to make a human sacrifice of a little boy, his own "son" Isaac.

Western science has divorced itself entirely from religion and created a new belief system of reductive, soulless materialism that has infected the Western mind with angst, and played into the ruthless and equally soulless economic creed of capitalism, the ideology encapsulated by the grotesque mantra of "Greed is good".

The ills of the world are easy (in principle) to resolve. Get rid of Abrahamism. Get rid of materialism. Get rid of capitalism. Unite East and West via Illumination. Restore humanity's spiritual sense. Turn away from objects and money. Emphasize community rather than selfish, self-interested nuclear families engaged in a ruthless zero-sum game. We are all better off helping each other, not cutting each other's throats. Overcome racism, sexism and discrimination. We are all human beings containing a divine spark. Let's burnish all of those individual sparks. Let's become the gods we have it within us to be.   

As we have shown on this website, Illumination embraces the most advanced scientific, philosophical, psychological and mathematical knowledge. There is NO dichotomy between science and religion. The apparent divide is the product of the ludicrous religions of Abraham, which are utterly contemptuous of science and contain no scientific content whatever.    

Let's build a new world. Let's free ourselves of the followers of Abraham, that appalling would-be child killer. Anyone who is prepared to kill his own son for God is evil. There's no other word for it. Anyone who does not repudiate Abraham is equally evil.

We must rid the world of the evil of Abrahamism. Therein lies the salvation of humanity.

Half of the world's population have been subjected to the brutal brainwashing of Abrahamism. New governments must break the brainwashing. Parents must not be allowed to poison their children's minds - this is the worst form of child abuse, destroying their minds for life. Children must be allowed to freely choose the ideas that will shape their lives. They must be individuals in their own right - not the property or puppets of their parents. Faith schools must be abolished. The stranglehold of popes, priests, preachers, pastors, rabbis and imams must be ended.

A single idea will change the world, that of ensuring that children are ends in themselves and not a means to an end, that they are protected from brainwashing from any direction, that they have the absolute human right to be allowed to form their own opinions according to their own values, character and knowledge.

Any government that enshrines that right in law will transform the world.

The brainwashing of children must end, and, when it does, Abrahamism will end. The only reason this disease survives is that, like the most virulent virus, it is allowed to keep re-infecting humanity, generation after generation. Brainwashed parents pass on their brainwashing to their children and they to theirs. This deadly cycle must be broken once and for all. The State has the absolute right to take the strongest possible measures to ensure the end of the brainwashing of any of its citizens.

There can be no real universal human freedom until all children are free to make up their own minds about what is important to them. 

If there is one practical idea with which the Illuminati would wish to be forever linked, it is that children must be given an absolute guarantee by the State that they will be treated according to their own merits and natures, and not those of their parents. The sins of the fathers will NOT be visited on the sons. The brainwashing to which parents have been subjected will not be allowed to be transmitted to their children. Parents have NO RIGHT AT ALL to poison their children's bodies or minds. Parents would not be allowed to feed their children arsenic. Why are they allowed to give them mental arsenic in the shape of Abrahamist beliefs, deadly to any child's healthy development?  

Children must be FREE. They are not the glove puppets of their parents. They are not "mini me's". They must not prosper or suffer because of who their parents are and how their parents fared in life. They are individuals with rights. They have the right to participate in a meritocracy rather than a system of nepotism, cronyism and privilege. Inherited wealth should play no part in any human society. No child should be the beneficiary or victim of parental advantages or disadvantages. The success or otherwise of the parents should be irrelevant to that of the children. It is the absolute duty of the State to implement a fair and just society based on a fair, just and meritocratic system.     

The task of parents is to love, protect and nurture their children, to provide the environment in which they will flourish and reach the maximum actualization of their potential. It is not the job of parents to force their children into a rigid mould of parental, religious and social expectations. It is not the job of parents to bring up their children in their own image. It is not the job of parents to be dictators and tyrants over their children. Rather, they must be helpful guardians, guides and mentors.

Every parent should be forced to read Philip Larkin's poem This Be The Verse:

It is not the job of parents to "fuck you up", to fill you with faults, to pass on misery, to repeat the garbage they were subjected to by "fools in old-style hats and coats". Nor is it the job of parents to sabotage others in order to help you (via the system of privilege; preferential treatment for some that is denied to everyone else).

Revalue all values!!!! Starting with the role of parents. Parents are the key to changing society. Religion cynically uses parents as the means of re-infecting every new generation with the toxic bullshit virus of fanatical, deluded faith. If just one generation of parents refused to pass on the disease of Abrahamism, the nightmare would at last be over. That's all that's needed - one free generation that will not pass on the brainwashing and mind control that they endured as children. The hippies were supposed to be that generation - they failed. So, it is left to a new generation to break the mould.

It's the task of government to create this one golden generation of parents that brings the past to an end and thus creates the foundation for the divine future of humanity.

It is the task of government to know what freedom truly means. Who can possibly deny that freedom lies in the right of a child to be given equal, unbiased access to humanity's major schools of thought of the human race and to freely choose, without any disapproval, pressure or threats, the way of life that is in most accord with their character, nature, personality and talents? Children are unique human beings. They are not appendages of parents. They are not "chips off the old block". They are new blocks, and they can carve their own sculptures, not use the second-hand ones of their parents.

CHILDREN ARE NOT PROPERTY. THEIR PARENTS DO NOT OWN THEM. THEIR PARENTS ARE NOT FREE TO DO WHATEVER THEY LIKE TO THEM. CHILDREN, LIKE NATIONS, SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE SELF-DETERMINING.

Life is really incredibly simple. Do you support freedom, or don't you? If you are a parent, do you think it is your right to indoctrinate your child in minority, extremist views to which you subscribe? Every religion on earth is a minority, extremist sect. The Catholics, the largest sect, comprise about 16% of the world's population. So, 84% of the people of the world reject the message of the most "successful" religion. Catholics are therefore a tiny minority of fanatics, who believe that the 84% of unbelievers are going to hell. Ditto the Muslims. As for the Jews - God's "Chosen people" - they are one of the smallest sects on the planet, just a few million strong.  

What right does an Orthodox Jewish father have to mutilate his new-born son via circumcision, to dress him in a certain way, expose him to extremist minority opinions, force him to obey hundreds of ludicrous Jewish rules and laws, force him to have a certain diet, to go to certain schools, to mix with certain people and avoid others, to be completely alienated and cut off from the world at large? Is that what we call FREEDOM? Is parental brainwashing of their children what we define as an expression of true freedom? If not, then shouldn't we be doing something about it? If we do not intervene then we are no better than those who disapproved of the slave trade but raised not one finger to stop it. ALL children are enslaved. It's time we liberated them. Just as we ourselves ought to have been liberated when we were children, but no one came to help us.

Freedom doesn't mean allowing parents to be "free" to enslave their children. Freedom means freeing all children from any type of slavery or indoctrination, particularly that of their own parents since that is the most pernicious of all. If every "Christian" child were raised in an Islamic household they would all be Muslims. If every "Muslim" child were raised in a Christian household they would all be Christians. In other words, religion is totally irrelevant. The important factor is the brainwashing. Anyone can be made to believe anything through parental brainwashing.   

Once every child on earth is brought up freely - without brainwashing of any kind - then it can finally be said that the human race has attained freedom. Until that divine moment comes, humanity is not free. 

It's the job of radical, new governments to secure that future of freedom. And if it means trampling evil religions into the ground, so be it. Freedom has to be fought for. A war has to be won. The advocates of slavery never surrender without a fight. The Confederacy went to war on behalf of keeping black people as their slaves. Is that a "noble" cause to defend with your life, for which to kill others? Or is it sick and perverted? Yet still many Americans fly the Confederate flag. What does that say about them?

The government cannot pussyfoot around. Abraham Lincoln didn't. The intolerable must be confronted and combated. Principles must be upheld. Government must defend freedom. Hence it must take on and defeat, once and for all, the religions that demand, via parents, the right to brainwash children.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the supreme battle. The religions will mobilize everything to defend religious brainwashing, just as the Confederacy raised armies to defend the indefensible.

Only when the power of brainwashing - from whatever source it originates - is forever smashed can humanity be authentically free.

We must wage war on all sources of brainwashing, and the main culprit is religion. Would any little Jewish baby boy freely choose to be circumcised, to be isolated from the rest of the world by his parents' peculiar beliefs? Wouldn't he like to be given the opportunity to make up his own mind and reach his own conclusions? But he is never given that opportunity. As soon as he is born, his parents set to work to control his mind, to make him a "perfect" Jew. He has no choice in the matter, no say, no influence, no freedom. He is forced into the mould chosen for him by his parents and made to conform to their beliefs. He is a victim. He is a slave. He has been denied freedom. His right to be himself has been wilfully ignored. How can any government worthy of the name stand by and let this happen? Is it because the governments of this world are themselves slave masters who have no interest at all in human freedom? They simply want to control us, and that means that they too want to brainwash us. They are in alliance with the brainwashing parents and the brainwashing religions and all the systems of mass control. A free human race would be their worst nightmare because it would bring their reign to an end.

So, we need an entirely new form of government - meritocracy - that is absolutely dedicated to the maximisation of human freedom, and to destroying brainwashing forever.

It's time to REVALUE ALL VALUES. The final war is beginning and its central issue is the one that human history has always revolved around - freedom, or not, for all of humanity. Which side are you on? Will you stand with the brainwashers, the slave masters, the mind controllers, the indoctrinators, the kings and queens, the nobility, the Abrahamic religions of mass control, the privileged, the Power Elite, the Old World Order?

Or will you fight for freedom?

Adam Weishaupt, the most controversial and radical of the Grand Masters of the Illuminati, sought to spark the war of all wars that would overthrow all of the tyrants, monarchs, elites and religions of control. The American and French Revolutions were the first battles. But the real war has not yet been joined. It is only just starting. And now you are called to the front line.

The Illuminati's revolutionary agenda has not altered one jot since Weishaupt's time. The Power Elite are still in charge. The mass of humanity is still enslaved, still treated with contempt, still denied a fair chance. Its immense potential is still ignored. The best jobs are still awarded to the privileged few. Merit is still irrelevant in this society based on privilege.

The West is in decline while the star of the East is rising ever more rapidly. China will overtake America as the world's hyperpower within a few decades. Europe is stagnant, devoid of energy and ideas. The Power Elite are looking to transfer all of their business concerns to the lands of cheap and plentiful labour, such as India.

The West is at the crossroads. If it continues on its current path it is doomed. It will soon be eclipsed and it will never recover. If it wishes to stay in the game, it requires a whole new paradigm of quality and excellence, of harnessing the talent, fresh ideas and dynamism of the ordinary people. Capitalism and Abrahamism must be replaced. It's time to form the Society of the Divine, the Community of Gods. It's time for HyperHumanity, for the human race to finally realise its divine potential.  

The Old World Order or a New World Order? Your choice.

"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Isn't it time for the Bell of Liberty to ring louder than ever before? Who will toll the bell to rouse the people from their long sleep?

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED

THE KNIGHTS OF THE MOVEMENT

THE TAKING OF THE LIBERTY BELL

THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE REVOLUTION

 

R Faction [freeverse] - Pho' (Produced by OneTake of AnnoDomini Beats)

 *****

"KZ" sent us the following article:

Introduction:

In the present day, the word "Revolution" has all but lost its meaning. It is now mostly used as a catchy advertising slogan for companies that merely wish to make a profit from the word. Teenage kids throw it around and so do hippies who wish to seem rebellious in order to attain a higher status in their peers' eyes. However, such hipsters and status-oriented people lack the drive and passion to carry out tasks other than complaining and creating small usurpations. Such actions do not constitute a Revolution.

It is not by coincidence that "Revolution" and "Evolution" are similar in sound. Merriam-Webster defines Evolution as, "The process of development or change," and states that Evolution is not restricted to development or change in strictly a biological sense. Merriam-Webster defines Revolution as, "A change in a system." So, Revolution and Evolution can be synonymous in certain instances.

[Our Comment: Evolution and Revolution are indeed both concerned with change, but the timescale involved is the critical factor; evolution implies slow, gradual change while revolution indicates an abrupt and rapid change. Also, evolution is associated with improvement, with better adaptation to the environment, with "positive" change. A revolution on the other hand is certainly capable of bringing about negative change - if the Tea Party swept to power in the USA, it would be a catastrophe, undoing the evolution of civil and human rights in America.] 

Two examples of true revolutions are the American and French Revolutions. These were not graffiti markings under an overpass; they were milestones in human history. Real revolution denotes passion, idealism, struggle, and all the additional attributes attached to these such as courage, freedom of thought, and perseverance.

And did these revolutions not bring about great advances in the evolution of society and the rights of ordinary people? If viewed through the perspective of freedom, a value which is universally appealing and universally pursued, Republics of the People were created from the ashes of monarchy and empire. 

Revolutions and evolution in this sense may just as well be called "Movement", for this  indicates motion, which in turn implies change. This leads to the point of this introduction: to understand that The Movement may as well be called The Revolution or The Evolution, and yet retain its meaning. The Movement should be understood as a radical, revolutionary group seeking to implement change, evolution and dynamism into the contemporary world.

The Movement strives for ever-increasing Freedom and Knowledge. It prizes the values of the Enlightenment, which inspired the American and French Revolutions, and wishes to build upon them and see them implemented worldwide. The Movement is a Revolution of the People, by the People, for the People. And it is an Evolution of the People towards a new, higher kind of humanity. The Movement is about a change from impurity and imperfection to increasing purity and perfection. It is about social, political, psychological, economic and religious alchemy - turning lead into gold. The Movement pursues the maximization of human potential. It is a Movement for all of humanity; it is a Revolution for all of humanity, it is an Evolution for all of humanity.

Political Faction: Meritocracy

The Movement endorses a fair and just government that promotes the growth and development of its citizens. Thomas Paine famously stated that "Government is a necessary Evil," and so The Movement has come to the conclusion that the People should strive to create the least evil government possible. [Our Comment: No, government in its proper sense should never be associated with the "least evil" option; the aim is to produce the best government, not the least bad. A proper government should be a shining beacon, leading the People ever onwards to more glorious horizons.]

 

A Meritocratic Republic is undoubtedly the best system of governance that can be created in today's world while taking into account the flaws of human nature. It will cure the problems associated with the alternative forms of government that are described below.

Anarchy:

If government is viewed as a "necessary evil" then it makes sense to minimize government and, preferably, have no government at all. This is what anarchists strive for. [Our Comment: But, conversely, if proper government is viewed as a positive good then it makes sense to maximise it, hence arriving at the opposite of anarchy. The Tea Party are anarchists and who in their right mind would want to throw their lot in with them?] 

Anarchy would be a viable system if people were naturally communitarian, cooperative, unselfish, altruistic, free of corruption, vices and criminality. Anarchy would be the logical answer in a world of angels, not in this world. Here, where the dark side of human nature thrives, the law of the jungle would come to the fore in the absence of government. The only law followed would be the most primitive Darwinism of the strong dominating the weak.

How would anarchy help in times of a natural disaster such as a tsunami, earthquake or hurricane? The drowning of New Orleans by hurricane Katrina showed that even when a government is in place, help is slow to come. Imagine how much worse it would have been without any government at all. In a world without legitimate control there would be chaos. The person wielding the biggest gun is king. 

In an Anarchy, how would food, water, shelter, aid, and protection be organized? People would be forced into factions for support and survival. The entire population would follow a gang mentality. The bartering system would return and eventually those with the most power (those with the most followers, most resources, most guns) would assume power. In other words, anarchy would not long remain free of government; it would quickly degenerate into a tyranny. In time, the tyranny would seek to legitimise itself and place itself on a hereditary footing and would become a monarchy. And so humanity would have gone backwards, back to the dark, feudal past. Anarchy, given the selfish and cutthroat human nature we witness every day (the human as rat in a ferocious rat race), would be a catastrophe. Anarchy has to be resisted at all costs. The Tea Party are the face of modern anarchy and they are repellent in every regard.

Communism:

Communism, and its slightly less extreme cousin, Socialism, both focus on the equality of People and the destruction of a class-based society. Communism is based on a noble idea, but is inherently flawed. This flaw is exactly what its greatest contribution is: Equality for all. The system would be amazing if everyone were honest and hardworking. Unfortunately, human nature doesn't work that way.

Communism is such a delicate system that one dishonest or apathetic individual can ruin it. Picture the situation: a businessman, factory worker, doctor, lawyer, garbage man, and carpenter are all paid the same salary. The doctor who works long shifts and is under tremendous stress realizes at some point that he might as well just stop working so hard and he would be paid the same. If he worked even longer shifts he would be paid the same as a carpenter working the usual hours. The businessman realizes that it does not matter how much of the product he sells, the government-owned business will still pay him as much as a businessman that did not sell anything. So why sell? Why should the doctor work longer hours? Why should the carpenter spend his life outside toiling in the sun when he could be a lawyer, and sit in a cool office and in a comfortable chair for the same salary?

Communism does not offer explicit benefits to the individual; it works for the benefit of the nation as a whole. In order to work effectively, every individual must find a passion for the betterment of the nation. One individual who does not follow suit can throw the entire system off. One bad apple spoils the barrel. Communism, despite its noble principles of human equality, cooperation and community, is a fragile system that's almost impossible to bring into practical, efficient reality.

Socialism provides for a "mixed" economy - the State controls a significant proportion of the economy while capitalism provides the remainder. In practice, socialism has proved disastrously inefficient and anti-competitive. However, a "meritocratic socialism" that creates competition, that rewards the hardest working and those with the best ideas and that penalises inefficiency would provide a platform for a new type of economy where wealth is shared much more evenly amongst the people, and the extremes of capitalism are avoided.

Democracy:

Western nations pride themselves on this form of government, supposedly run by the People. They claim that the citizens of democracies are freer than those in other political systems. However, the claims of democracy and the reality are two quite different things. Democracy is a "smoke and mirrors" system. 

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were idealists seeking to establish a model for a fairer world, free of the shackles of crown and empire. Perhaps the most outstanding was Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had this to say about democracy: "A Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the People may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." Interestingly, democracy isn't mentioned once in the American Constitution.  

One is therefore entitled to feel a little nervous when contemporary American politicians rant and rave about the benefits of a democracy, and proclaim it the best system of government on Earth. Jefferson saw its dangers, and these have never faded away. Democracy is often a dictatorship of the majority.

One wonders if today's politicians have studied the Constitution or the lives of the men who placed their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor at stake for the creation of the United States.

The United States was actually designed to be a Constitutional Republic - note a Republic, not a democracy - bound by Law (the Constitution). The Constitution was explicitly designed to protect the rights of the people against any force, including a democratic majority, that might seek to subvert them. In this light, America is arguably not a democracy at all, just as the United Kingdom certainly is not (it's a monarchy where the people are technically subjects rather than citizens).

In truth, no nation on Earth is a pure democracy. Most are Constitutional Republics (like America) or Monarchies (like the UK). Additionally, the democratic elements of such nations are "representative" rather than direct i.e. government is by elected politicians rather than the direct democratic vote of the people on every issue. In the age of the internet, the technology now exists for direct democracy, but, unsurprisingly, no so-called democratic politician has ever suggested implementing true people power. Which must surely raise the suspicion that they are not genuinely committed to democracy at all.

The Movement refers to Democracy as "De-Mock-racy." Democracy is bad joke, a mockery of what it ought to be. The ordinary voter has no idea that the joke's on him. Real democracy does not exist, and, if it did, it could lead to innumerable problems. If one's opinions do not match those of the majority, they do not matter at all. Such a person would feel as if he were being subjected to a wicked tyranny.

A democracy, despite the relentless propaganda of its advocates, is by no means guaranteed to be the type of system one would like to live under if one valued freedom of opinions and the freedom to live as one wishes. Many of the greatest thinkers of antiquity such as Plato and Aristotle were strenuously opposed to democracy. It has never been favoured by intellectuals who typically regard it as a dumbed-down, lowest common denominator ideology for hysterical, ill-educated mobs.

Monarchy:

This is government by one person, and the power is passed down through the family in perpetuity. Monarchies are supported by those close to the summit of power, those who enjoy the royal favour. 

They are also supported by weak, submissive people who enjoy being led and dominated, being at the whim of a master in front of whom they must grovel, a master often less capable of governing well than even the pathetic people bowing before him.

Countless thinkers have condemned the abominable rule of monarchs: Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams being to the fore. Under a monarchy one is at the mercy of one person. What if that person is actually insane such as Caligula, Nero or Henry VIII? How is one to exercise freedom in such an atmosphere? Many monarchies claim to be "Constitutional" - a perfect oxymoron. A true Constitution would ensure a Republic, a government of the People, by the People, for the People. In a constitutional monarchy, are the People truly running the government or is it simply a joke? If the government is not a joke than the monarchy must be a joke.

Why should one family be given extra privileges? This immediately means that the State is not a meritocracy and the people are not all equal before the law. Privilege is enshrined.

Constitutional monarchies make no sense. Monarchies limit the freedom of the People. It was the desire to overthrow monarchic tyrannies that gave birth to the American and French Revolutions.

Republic:

A Republic dispenses with monarchs. However, beyond that it is not well defined. Communist, Socialist, Democratic, Meritocratic, Capitalist, Anarchist and Libertarian republics are all possible.

The American Republic is based on the democratic election of Senators and Representatives who meet in Congress. The head of State is an elected President who must work with Congress to pass new laws. The system is designed to provide checks and balances on agencies of the Government by other agencies. This results in branches of the Government that have similar amounts of power. No one person or group can become overly powerful, in theory at least. However, the consequence is that it often leads to hopeless muddle and compromise, and no clear leadership or vision.

Such a Republic is held together by compromise, whereas a monarchy is held together by fear.

Meritocratic Republic:

This type of Republic is dedicated to ensuring that only those people that are qualified, or have earned a position, receive it. There is no patronage, favouritism, cronyism, nepotism, privilege or discrimination. Merit is the only criterion for success. There are no deals under the table, rigged cartels or means of corrupting the government. Government must be as transparent as possible. Just as justice should be done and be seen to be done, so should government. All of the financial dealings of the members of government, Congress and lobbyists should be a matter of public record. 

Unfortunately the ideals of the Republic are faded and almost lost in today's world. Where is the system in which everyone is given an equal chance to succeed? Did George Washington become the President of the United States because he was wealthy and the son of a prominent politician, or did he become President because he led the Rebel army to victory, thus earning his seat at the head of the new-born nation?

It is time for a New Republic, based on Meritocracy. If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, and saw how far America had deviated from his great vision, what would he do to put things right? He would unquestionably turn to meritocracy. Privilege has destroyed the Old Republic. Meritocracy is the antidote to this cancer.

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Many thanks to KZ for his perceptive analysis.

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We previously wrote an article concerning Hinduism and Buddhism. Following SF's paper on Taoism, we should also say how we regard this important Chinese religion and philosophy.

Prior to the advent of Communism, two philosophical schools dominated Chinese thought, : Confucianism and Taoism. Over the centuries, the latter took on a few Buddhist influences, but still represents a clear and distinct alternative to Buddhism.

Confucianism

Confucius wasn't interested in the universe, the self or salvation and is usually considered an agnostic. His emphasis was on social harmony, right living, duty, ethical behaviour, and practical knowledge rather than metaphysics. He advocated moderation, ritual, harmony and family values, seeing in the family a microcosm of the state. He did not believe in spirits or gods, but was attracted to the idea of fate. He encouraged people to focus on the present rather that the future and, as far as the past was concerned, to venerate ancestors via ritual.

We might say that Confucius was associated with "folk wisdom", common sense and pragmatism. He encouraged conventionality, conformity and strict social etiquette. Although he unquestionably has a few wise sayings to his credit, his outlook, method and general philosophy are not admired by the Illuminati. He is regarded as a conservative figure of the establishment, an advocate of the status quo, and supportive of the powers-that-be. He was no kind of radical thinker, and lacked the extraordinary vision and ambition that the Illuminati expect to see in any great figure.

Much more interesting in terms of Chinese thought is Taoism, which is commonly regarded as complementary to Confucianism. Where Confucianism is rational, active, dominant, pragmatic, unyielding, and masculine, Taoism is intuitive, passive, submissive, mystical, yielding and feminine. It is the yin to Confucianism's yang. 

Philosophically and religiously, Taoism embraces far more interesting and challenging ideas than Confucianism, although it certainly suffers from a disturbing lack of clarity, and perhaps it seems more profound than it actually is. (For example, when Lao Tzu teaches that by "non-action everything can be done", is that a statement of genius or absurdity?) Vagueness is usually helpful when someone is unsure what it is they're trying to say but still wishes to appear to "know". That's why mathematics is so useful. A mathematical assertion will be either right or wrong. Mathematics provides absolute precision. There is no hiding place, no room for vagueness. Bullshitters are always ruthlessly exposed when it comes to mathematics, which is why any credible religion or philosophy should have a firm mathematical grounding if it is to be taken seriously. Thanks to Pythagoras, only one religion on earth has such a grounding - Illumination.

The Illuminati respect Eastern religious and philosophical traditions because these contain intuitive seeds of the truth, but they are nevertheless pale shadows of Illumination.

The Illuminati despise the Satanic religions of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These religions are false and unpardonable in almost every regard. They are contemptuous of science, mathematics and philosophy so every scientist, mathematician or philosopher should be equally contemptuous of them (and most are). We look forward to the day when these backward and evil religions are just a distant memory that wakes us up in the middle of the night now and again to remind us of the Devilish nightmare humanity once had to endure.

Illumination is the religion that can unite East and West, that can heal the divide between religion and science, that can have appeal to atheists and agnostics. It is the sole dialectical religion, the only religion capable of driving humanity onwards towards divinity: the Omega Point of evolution. It is a religion that also embraces psychology, philosophy, mathematics and science. Any credible religion must provide a Grand Unified Theory of Everything. Only Illumination does so.

Taoism

Taoism (also called Daoism) is over 2,500 years old and was founded by a sage and mystic called Lao Tzu (a name meaning "Old Master") who was a contemporary of Confucius (and both were contemporaries of Pythagoras). Tao Te Ching - the Book of the Way - is the central text of Taoism.

As the name indicates, the focus of Taoism is the Tao. The ultimate goal of Taoism is to achieve perfect harmony with the Tao. The whole Taoist universe can be considered alive and in service to the Tao.

Although Tao is usually translated as The Way, it has a much wider meaning. It embraces several concepts such as: a) the supreme creative principle of the universe in which all things are unified and to which everything is connected b) the source of creation c) the universal energy that makes and maintains everything we see manifested around us d) the right and wise conduct of an individual life, bringing it into harmony with the universal whole e) the ultimate, all-embracing reality f) the universal law that underlies all phenomena g) the principle that unites, activates and governs the dynamic, polar opposites of yin and yang h) the natural order i) the ultimate j) the inexpressible and indefinable k) the unnameable l) the absolute m) the natural universe as a whole and the way of nature as a whole. 

The Tao may perhaps be defined as both the way things truly are - the fundamental reality - and the way to be in proper accord with it. The Tao is not grasped in a conceptual or intellectual sense, but through experience and observation. It cannot be defined. No one can say exactly what it is.

To define the Tao as both the ultimate creative principle and "the Way" is rather like saying that Christianity (the vehicle for worshipping Jesus Christ) IS Jesus Christ. But, of course, practising Christianity doesn't make you Christ. Taoists, however, are indeed saying that practising the Tao makes you the Tao i.e. brings you into full identity, understanding and union with the Tao. It is a similar idea to Illumination's concept of "becoming God". Illumination teaches that by practising the ways of God you become God when you have reached the highest level of understanding - gnosis.

But Illumination makes a logical distinction between the vehicle, the journey and the destination. (Illumination is the vehicle; the journey is our ever-increasing knowledge and spiritual awareness, and the destination is gnosis when a person experiences the sublime moment of breakthrough and enters into union with God.) In Taoism, the vehicle, journey and destination are treated as essentially the same thing. This is a holistic rather than reductive approach, typical of Eastern thinking. Clear distinctions are not drawn between things; everything flows seamlessly into everything else. In Taoist thinking, if you travel towards the destination in the right way then you are already experiencing the destination - or at least getting a glimpse or foreshadowing of it. This, in turn, will inspire you, help you and bring you closer to the destination. The vehicle, journey and destination are all part of an interconnected process, each indispensable to the other, each continually interacting with each other. It is an immense synergic process, all of the parts helping to bring about the Whole. This type of thinking is profound, but it is also difficult to grasp, especially for beginners.

The culture of the East has developed a different way of thinking from that of the West. Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism are much easier for Easterners to understand because they reflect millennia of thinking in a holistic way. Westerners make many mistakes when they approach Eastern thinking because it is alien to reductive, scientific Western culture. By the same token, Easterners often struggle with Western thinking.

Eastern thinking focuses on the underlying Oneness. It has a preoccupation with the timeless realities that sit behind mere appearance. In Kantian language, it concentrates on noumena rather than phenomena whereas Western science does the opposite, regarding noumena as mystical mumbo jumbo and phenomena as the true reality.

It's not a case of West or East being better or worse, right or wrong. We should all strive to think in both styles - holistically where that is more useful, and reductively when that provides a more productive way forward. We have to break out of the boxes we have become familiar with. It is never a "bad thing" to have as many different approaches to thinking as possible. If one doesn't work, try another. Don't keep futilely banging your head against a wall using one inflexible approach.

Taoist practices include such things as meditation, feng shui, fortune telling, reading and chanting of sacred scriptures.

Taoism suffered greatly during the Communist Revolution in China and the numbers of practitioners went into a steep decline, though is now starting to recover. There are few Taoists outside China.

Wu-Wei (1)

In order to follow the Tao it is necessary to practise a method called wu-wei. This is a paradoxical concept since it is usually translated as "non-action". The Tao Te Ching says, "When nothing is done, nothing is left undone." This seems to suggest that it is advisable to do nothing. In fact, is this enigmatic and seemingly profound statement anything other than ridiculous mumbo jumbo? We might scornfully call it pseudo-philosophy or fake wisdom. Isn't an alternative formulation rather truer? - "When nothing is done, everything is left undone." (Which is what the pragmatic Confucius may well have said.)

This example highlights an enormous problem concerning Eastern thinking in general. The cryptic remarks on which it is mostly based are so vague and imprecise that almost any interpretation may be attached to them. They rely on a host of nuances to convey their meaning, and these are only truly available to those raised in the relevant Chinese culture with its very particular language and mode of expression. 

"When nothing is done, nothing is left undone", implies, perhaps, that when everything is left to do its own thing, the best results are obtained. Any interference with the natural flow is potentially disastrous. But what does that actually mean in terms of practical advice? What constitutes doing "nothing"? Taken literally, it would result in a rapid death for a human being. So clearly it is not to be taken literally but metaphorically. But what is the relevant metaphor? Does it mean obeying the "natural" order? But what is the natural order? Does it mean never resisting the powers-that-be i.e. it's a formula for complete cowardice, submissiveness and passivity. Does it mean not emotionally engaging with people, not getting involved? Does it mean letting sleeping dogs lie? Does it mean "let it be"? Frankly, it can mean virtually anything you want it to mean, which actually means that it's an empty formula, devoid of real meaning. It's akin to a Rorschach inkblot test - you project onto such a statement the contents of your own psyche. There is no discernible universal principle involved.

Wu-wei is sometimes translated as "uncontrived action" or "natural non-intervention". Does that make anything clearer, or even more confusing? Wu-wei is said to mean living by, or going along with, the true nature of the world, doing nothing to obstruct the Tao, letting things take their natural course. But what does "obstructing" the Tao mean? How do you know if you're obstructing it or not? If you're doing absolutely nothing wouldn't that be an insult to the Tao, and lead to endless problems? If you do something and fail then presumably you have obstructed the Tao. But if you have succeeded then you may have been in tune with it. But how will you know until you try?

Taoists seek to live lives of balance and harmony, finding their way through life in the same way as a river does through the countryside. But human beings aren't rivers. They have an entirely different nature. They are conscious minds. It is surely not their Tao to imitate non-conscious entities. That would be to abuse their unique attributes, and to be out of tune with the Tao.

The Tao Te Ching says, "The world is a spiritual vessel, and one cannot act upon it; one who acts upon it destroys it." Again, this sounds like a recipe for passivity, submissiveness and non-action. Doesn't this come across as a somewhat pathetic ideology, fit only for those with no guts, no desire to make something of themselves and the world? 

The world is a mould for us to shape; it is not a mould to shape us. We are gods in the making. We are not rocks and rivers. We will smash rocks to build places. We will divert rivers to irrigate dry land. The world will do our bidding. Is that not the real expression of the human Tao?

It is said that wu-wei shouldn't stop a person living a proactive life but that's exactly what it seems to achieve. 

It is said that wu-wei should make people frame their activities within the natural pattern of the universe, that they should perform these activities in a detached, disinterested and non ego-driven manner. No action should be taken that is only for our self-interest or that is contrary to the Tao. We should refrain from any activity that does not comply with nature. But if no proper definitions of nature and the Tao are given, how can we ever know whether we are in harmony with it or not?

"Non-action does not mean doing nothing and keeping silent. Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally does, so that its nature will be satisfied."

"Those who follow the natural order flow in the current of the Tao."
 
Acting in a non-egotistic way is frequently lauded. But is that not to ignore the Tao of humanity, so to speak? How can ego-driven people, as all humans are, behave in a completely non-egotistic way? Ego means "I". We are all I's. If we weren't, we wouldn't be human. 

There is nothing wrong with enlightened self-interest. There is nothing wrong with egotism except when it becomes excessively self-regarding and destructive of others.

Much of Taoism seems intellectually incoherent. There are profound ideas buried within it but they are expressed so murkily as to be verging on the meaningless. Virtually anything can be read into the contents of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching says, in one instance, "Perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark." But the beautiful objects created by the jade worker are the "tracks" he has left behind, the evidence of his work. If he left messy marks all over the jade, he would lose his trade. So, we could say rather more bluntly: skilled workers are good at what they do, and unskilled workers aren't. But isn't that a statement of the totally obvious? What's profound about it?

A great novel may seem "perfect", but you will invariably discover that it is underpinned by several drafts in which the "tracks" are all too evident. Perfection is dialectical; it doesn't happen out of thin air, like magic.

Taoism implies that the world always functions properly and healthily if left to its own devices (a bit like the Gaia hypothesis). Humans should therefore not interfere with it. But if humans have interfered and are screwing things up, what then? In order to get back to the Tao's proper functioning, humans will have to do something. But what will they do? How will they do it? Anything they do will seem like yet more interference, hence further destabilising the Tao. But how can humans destabilise the Tao if we are part of it and an expression of it? 

Taoism often seem to be nothing more than the sentiment that whatever will be will be; live and let live; go with the flow; don't rock the boat. It seems to encourage people to live with detachment and calm, resisting getting too bothered by anything and merely smiling at the vicissitudes and vagaries of the world. Consider these comments by Russell Kirkland (in Responsible non-action in a natural world):

"The constant and unmistakable teaching of the Tao Te Ching is that humans are indeed capable of intervening in life's events, but the evidence of life, which humans constantly ignore, is that such intervention is destructive to all involved, and that we therefore have a moral duty to refrain from taking such actions."

The moral of Taoism would therefore seem to be - DO NOTHING (because it will only make things worse if you try). Isn't that the gospel of the despairing, the cynical and the supremely lazy?

Taoism encourages people to be humble and unambitious, to be reactive rather than proactive, to have modest plans (if any at all), to accept that not only are they not obliged to make the world a better place, but that it would be foolish to make any such attempt.

Taoism even teaches that having any goals is to go against the Tao because, in the natural course of things, the Tao sets no such targets.

Taoism is associated with intuitive rather than rational knowledge, but the best approach should employ both. Taoism turns its back on hard logical analysis and is actually contemptuous of reason. Its starting point is that the human mind can never comprehend the Tao. The Tao is thus similar to Kant's noumenal world - unknowable. 

Chuang Tzu said of the Tao, "The most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it; reasoning will not make men wise in it. The sages have decided against both these methods."

Illumination teaches the precise opposite. Reason and knowledge, aided by intuition, are the central means of understanding reality. The word cosmos means "order" and is based on principles of reason and logic, ultimately enshrined in the laws of mathematics. 

Since the underlying reality is mathematical it is ludicrous to say that the human mind, which is also grounded in mathematics, cannot grasp it. "As above, so below", says the ancient wisdom. The essence of this profoundest of statements is that we need only look to ourselves and our own world to understand the entire cosmos. There are no laws of the universe in which we are not fully immersed. The laws of the universe aren't different elsewhere. In one microcosm the whole macrocosm can be seen. 

Wu-Wei (2)

Taoists seek to achieve the state of wu-wei (meaning non-action/non-doing), a condition of so-called controlled abandonment not dissimilar to the Zen idea of "positive inaction". It implies "going with the flow", being in the zone, not resisting the natural power coursing through you. It is also described as "effortless effort", a state of acting in true accord with one's nature. Since no real effort is expended, one achieves a state of doing yet not-doing.  There is a similar Hindu concept called nishkama-karma: karma performed without any attachment or desire for the fruit of the deeds, a spiritual condition where the doer is not invested in the deeds i.e. they are egoless, disinterested, pure acts of the spirit.

In wu-wei, you become the vessel of the Tao, channelling its power because you are at one with it. Lao Tzu said, "The way to do is to be." This may be interpreted to mean that when you become what you truly are - when you are self-actualized, when you are You - everything becomes effortless. Such a thing is seen most often in the sporting context. The finest athletes and players are at one with the activity they are engaged in. A soccer player becomes one with the ball; it is an extension of him; he has complete control over it. The sprinter turns from being a runner into running itself - the optimal movement flows through him, making every limb, muscle and breath work in perfect harmony. The basketball player scores with every shot from anywhere in the court. He, the ball and the hoop have become a single, unified system. The chess player sees an entire game unfolding. Putting him in a blindfold makes no difference. He is at one with the board and its evolution. He sees all the best moves. Every path through the game is visible to him.

Western visualization techniques of positive thinking have a similar function. You mentally rehearse an activity beforehand and, when the action is for real, you find that your body knows exactly what to do. It wastes no time asking questions or wondering what to do. No conscious obstacles are created. Your subconscious takes over and performs the task effortlessly.

The game is to be at one with the cosmic flow, in rhythm with the pulse of the universe. Its heartbeat is yours. Its infinite power is at your disposal. Your fingertips crackle with potential energy waiting to be actualized.

Some people characterize wu-wei as a passive state of methodical calmness in which the minimal action necessary in a situation is taken. In this state, you would never be guilty of overdoing anything. We prefer to think of it as an active state but one where you do not have to work hard at it, where everything is easy. You do not have to put in effort or think too much about it. Everything comes naturally and straightforwardly, without resistance. Because you are so at one with the action it is as if you are barely doing it all. Even the most difficult undertaking can be accomplished with the minimal exertion required to execute the task perfectly. You have found the perfect answer for the problem posed by the particular task. You are "doing" something and yet somehow not doing it since it is not resisting you. Water flowing uphill has to work at it, to struggle; water flowing downhill is not subject to any resistance; it's doing what comes naturally.

To follow the way of the Tao is to exercise the power of the Tao. To exercise the power of the Tao is to practise wu-wei. You are at one with the cosmos, tuned into it, flowing with it and meeting no resistances. You feel weightless. You are never tired. Your energy is always at a maximum. You are yourself.

Yin and Yang

In Chinese thought, yin and yang are the two polar opposite but complementary principles, from whose interaction everything in the manifest cosmos originates. They constitute and govern everything we experience. Yin is dark, negative, passive and feminine while yang is light, positive, active and masculine. For health and harmony, yin and yang should be in balance. An over-abundance of one will lead to a stress in the system that will only be rectified when equilibrium is restored. In humans, disease and illness result from yin-yang imbalances. 

Any imbalanced action generates an excess of yin or yang, thus leading to conflict since the process to restore balance is automatically triggered. Therefore, the wise seek "inaction" in action. This is the concept of wu-wei (nonaction).  This does not mean taking "no action," but ensures that you do not act beyond what the Tao requires. You must not exceed the action required for the task because them you will enter the domain of  unbalanced yin and yang. You must not indulge in calculated, self-interested action. Your task is to be disinterested, neutral, impartial, flowing naturally and effortlessly with the Tao, not generating any conflict or disharmony. You are in yin-yang harmony. You are balanced. You are healthy. You are in the Tao.

Yin and Yang drive the universe. But, unlike the dialectic, they seem to just go round and round forever: an eternal thesis and antithesis. There is no synthesis to raise up these principles to a higher level, to allow the system to evolve and reach an Omega Point of perfection.

This is a huge deficiency in Chinese thinking. It means that there is no such thing as progress; there is just eternal recurrence. Yin and yang stay stuck in their immortal game. They are never transformed into something higher and better. Taoism is not evolutionary. It is not becoming perfect. It is what it is and will always remain that. It's a dead-end.

Any religion without an engine of progress is sterile. A creative, future-oriented, progressive religion must allow for evolution, and for reaching an optimal state. 

Taoism, Buddhism and Abrahamism all fail in this regard. Taoism and Buddhism are about acceptance, about being in harmony with prevailing reality. As for Abrahamism, its starting point is the perfection of a flawless God, to whom nothing and no one can ever come close. Hinduism, on the other hand, allows for the possibility of entering into union with the Cosmic Soul: Brahman.

But only Illumination is centrally concerned with the evolution of a mind from the state of maximum potential to that of maximum actualisation in God. All minds that achieve gnosis become God, literally. The Divine Mind is, finally, a collective mind in which the Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Minds that achieve gnosis think the thoughts of God and experience all the infinite power of God.

What could ever be a higher aspiration or culmination than that? There is no higher state. It is the end of the road, the summit of evolution, the Omega Point of existence.

God

The Tao isn't God. It isn't worshipped. Taoism does acknowledge many deities and they are worshipped in Taoist temples, but they, like everything else, depend on the Tao. There is no omnipotent being standing outside the cosmos, creating and controlling the universe. The universe originates in the Tao, but the Tao is not any kind of personal force; it is more like the impersonal laws of Western physics.

The Tao is thus the ultimate ground of being from which the gods themselves spring. The Tao creates gods, but is not God. Contrast this with Illumination which teaches that the arche, the fundamental substance, is God as potential and, through dialectical evolution, becomes God as actuality. In Taoism, the Tao does not change, although it manifests itself in ever-changing ways. In Illumination, the arche is permanently "becoming". Unlike the Tao, it is always changing, always evolving, always trying to express itself to the maximum. Its Omega Point, the summit of its actualization, is God.  

Taoism is about achieving harmony and union with nature; Illuminism is about achieving harmony and union with God. 

Taoism pursues spiritual immortality.  Illuminism pursues the transformation of a soul from an imperfect to a perfect state.

Taoism promotes virtue (but not in an ostentatious way). Illuminism does the same. People should be virtuous as a matter of course; they do not need to be SEEN to be virtuous like those who ostentatiously and publicly contribute to charity or make sure they are seen going to church in their best clothes and grandest car. 

Taoism is about self-development. So is Illuminism. Illuminism seeks to bring about maximum self-development, maximum actualization, maximum transformation of base matter into spiritual gold.

The Tao

The Tao cannot be described in words. Human language is inadequate for defining it conceptually. The mind can only provide hints and approximations, similes and metaphors. Philosophical speculation about the precise nature of the Tao is essentially futile. Much more important is living with the Tao in a practical way, becoming fully attuned to it, sensing it, intuiting it.

Thinking about the Tao becomes much harder when it is said not to be a thing or a substance in any conventional sense. It is not an object. We are told that we cannot touch it or perceive it, and yet its effects may be observed in all the things of the world. It is the ground of being and yet it does not itself have being.

Taoists often accuse Westerners of trying to convert the Tao into a metaphysical reality; some sort of noumenal substance or an Absolute Being, or God.

It has been suggested that the Tao should be considered as a system of guidance. "Achieving union with the Tao" thus means to live in perfect conformity with the teachings of the Tao. 

However, is this type of thinking truly productive or is it in serious danger of becoming vacuous? The central problem with Taoism, and indeed much of Eastern thinking, is that it is much keener to say what things are not than what they are. Eastern thinking has a fallback position of: "Reality is beyond our human minds to comprehend. Indeed, our human minds are the central problem - the source of the delusion." This is akin to the Abrahamic statement that finite human minds cannot understand the infinite Mind of God, or the Kantian assertion that the noumenal universe is forever unknowable by the human mind. Humans can only be aware of the effects of the Tao as they affect human minds; they cannot be aware of the Tao's reality, which stands outside human thinking. Wittgenstein's declaration, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", is suitably Taoist.

Hegel, on behalf of Illuminism, sought to demolish this type of thinking and to show that everything is ultimately fully knowable by the human mind. Reason will finally reveal every secret of the cosmos and illuminate the Mind of God. Why? Because the cosmos is rational and minded and we are rational and minded. As above, so below.

Ch'i

In Taoism, Ch'i or qi is the vital energy that animates human beings. It is also the basic energy of the cosmos, implying that everything is alive at some level. It is the "breath" of the universe. To attain spiritual immortality, Taoists must refine their qi to its most subtle and rarefied levels. This finer qi provides the pure spirit through which Taoist masters will become transcendent spirit-people, no longer subject to death.

Conservation of sexual energy

When it comes to sex, Taoism proves rather hypocritical. Orgasm is the "Tao of sex" - i.e. the natural outcome for a man, yet Taoism advocates a Tantric approach to sex known as karezza involving the deliberate withholding of ejaculation for mystical and magical purposes. Sexual energy is deemed life enhancing, hence must not be dissipated. It concentrates the vital energies of the man, whereas orgasm dissipates them. Women, on the other hand, are said to be blessed with an inexhaustible supply of sexual energy, so women are encouraged to have as many multiple orgasms as possible (they should be so lucky!). And men should have as much sex as possible to tap into the beneficial release of female sexual energy.

Whatever the inconsistencies, this is a refreshing change from the sex-hating attitudes of Abrahamism.

Alchemy

Taoism has a branch concerned with alchemy, the transformation of humans into beings more closely attuned to the Tao, and with longer lives - ultimately becoming immortal. The supreme aim of Taoist alchemy is to create an unbreakable "diamond body" that will serve as an immortal vessel for the soul. Unlike a mortal body, it can never degrade, disintegrate or perish. The culmination of the alchemical schools of Taoist thinking is a concept called Ultimate Transformation. This, the final stage of enlightenment, is where a Taoist master creates for his soul the pure, imperishable vessel known as the "diamond body". His soul can then travel throughout space and make its way through wondrous otherworldly paradises to the realm of the Immortals where it will then reside.

Thus, in this view, enlightenment is not simply mental and psychological. It also brings about physical change: the perfecting of the body so that it is no longer subject to mortal frailties. Finally, the body is alchemically changed into pure, timeless light. Enlightenment is thus a literal process: becoming one with light. Flesh, blood and bone are transubstantiated into divine light. A person attains a deathless condition through the alchemical transmutation of his ordinary fleshly body.

Apart from "diamond body", this new and permanent vessel for the soul can also be referred to as the light body, solar body, astral body, or resurrection body.

Those who have already achieved immortality are said to live in the Isles of the Blessed. If you ever encounter one of the Immortals, they may reveal their great secret to you if they deem you worthy.

Taoism advocates physical activities such as breathing exercises, martial arts, massage, yoga, ritual and meditation. These are designed to transform a person both mentally and physically, bringing them into closer harmony with the Tao.

Some followers of Taoism adopt an esoteric path and become like monks in a monastery. They seek to harness the magical power that can be attained by those most in harmony with the Tao. Taoist masters have demonstrated some of the most astounding powers ever exhibited by human beings.


The shamanistic teachers - the so-called Eight Immortals - in whom Taoism is said to have its most ancient, prehistoric roots were said to be immortals with superhuman powers. They could fly and possessed a host of magic powers such as invisibility and super strength. Their adventures were of the sort that now feature in comic book tales of superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman.


Alchemists wish to transform the less valuable into the more valuable. The Illuminati wish to create a Society of Alchemy, dedicated to the transformation of humanity, raising the quality of the human race, removing the impurities and defects, turning it into something of infinitely more value. We seek to covert the "lead" of present-day humanity into the ultimate gold of divine humanity. We seek the psychological, philosophical, political, social and religious elixirs that will effect the changes required to liberate humanity from ignorance, trivia and low quality. It's all about spiritual transformation. Alchemy seeks to give people superior energy, to allow them to feel the true, irrepressible energy of the cosmos flowing through them, to overcome all of the negatives and the obstacles that block healthy energy flow.

The Afterlife

Like all religions, Taoism has different versions and a variety of teachings regarding the soul, hell, the afterlife and so on. The main ideas are as follows: 

The soul is eternal in Taoism, but it is not said to be reincarnated. Rather, it "migrates to another life" but without any continuity of the Self. In most versions of Taoism, there is no equivalent of karma. The karmic function is instead performed by various spirits and demons that punish sin.

Rather than let their soul be drawn back into the Tao and "reallocated" to a brand new life, Taoists seek to attain immorality in the current life by achieving Tao, the ultimate goal of Taoism (at which point they are said to have cut the Thread of Life in the sense that they no longer have to be thrust back into the Tao). If they don't achieve Tao, they continue to participate in the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the soul simply moving on from one existence to the next with no relationship to its previous existence. Sometimes it is said that a Drink of Forgetfulness is given before the soul is returned to the world. 

Achieving Tao and immortality is not easy and various tasks must be successfully accomplished during your lifetime. You must boost and nourish your vital energy as much as possible, rid yourself of impurities and anything in your life that would diminish your vital energy. You must lead a moral life in accordance with the strictures of wu-wei.

The path to Tao is similar to the Buddhist path to Nirvana, and indeed there are many links between Taoism and Buddhism. Taoism, like other religions, has absorbed teachings from other schools of thought and rival religions, leading to the religion splitting into various sects and teaching different things. There is no single, unambiguous version of Taoism, just as there is no pure Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism or Islam.

There is said to be an Inner Light that guides a person in the right direction. Personal desires, ego and self-interest must all be forsaken if the Inner Light is to show a person the way to eternal bliss.

The path to Tao is unique for each individual and comes from within, according to the Inner Light.

Conclusion

Taoism may suit a certain type of person with a certain type of psychological profile. The Illuminati see it as a valuable repository of ideas, but expressed in an entirely unsatisfactory way. It encourages inaction, passivity and lack of resistance to tyranny. It is not supportive of scientific, mathematical or philosophical clarity. It comes close to being nothing but a vague form of nature worship.

Like all of the Eastern religions, it is old and decrepit, well past its sell-by date. These religions should be updated and made into something with real contemporary meaning, or they should be left to wither and die.

Religions aren't supposed to become ossified and petrified. They must live and breathe. If the cosmos is evolving, why isn't religion? The only acceptable religion is a dialectical religion, one that moves with the times, one that reflects current reality and is not stuck in the ancient past. 

Mainstream religions are always conservative. They always look backwards. They are always obsessed with tradition.

Away with it all! Religion must be of its time, and always looking to the future. It must be dynamic and progressive. It must welcome and encourage change.

The cosmos never stands still, and nor should religion.

Traditions should inform present thinking, but not dictate it. Traditions should be respected, but not worshipped. We are not, and never have been, bound by the past. We are the race of the future, the coming race, the becoming race.

Get on board the vessel that takes us into the future, not the one that takes us back to the past.

The victory of Illumination, the only religion that looks forward rather than backwards, is certain.

Shinto

Many Japanese people practise a combination of Taoism, Buddhism and, especially, Shinto (derived from the Chinese characters "Shin" and "Tao," and meaning "The Way of the Spirits"), showing that there's no need for religious exclusivity. The Abrahamic religions would never tolerate this enlightened, eclectic approach.

In Hinduism, Brahman (meaning "to grow") is the great, eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, transcendent and absolute reality. It is the Divine Ground of being: of matter and energy, time and space. The Supreme Being is a personification of Brahman, and manifests himself in the three forms of the "Trimurti" meaning "having three forms" and depicted as a single-bodied, three-headed man. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the three gods who comprise the Supreme Being. This is similar to the Holy Trinity concept of Christianity; the Supreme Being is God who has three aspects: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The divine triad of the Trimurti represents all the aspects of the Supreme Being. All acts of creation, preservation or destruction in the universe cannot happen without the mutual agreement and approval of the Trimurti. The three gods, the Great Trinity, can never act independently as it would destabilise the cosmic balance.

Brahma is the god of Creation, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Shiva the transformer of destroyer.

The Trimurti may be said to represent a personalization of the dialectic.

Brahma is linked to the thesis (an act of creation).

Shiva is associated with the antithesis (opposing and trying to "destroy" the thesis).

Vishnu takes the role of the synthesis, preserving what is best from the thesis and antithesis, and uplifting those elements to provide the material for Brahma to create a new thesis, thus allowing the cycle to begin again.

The Hindu Brahman, the Chinese Tao, and the Buddhist Dharmakaya are all similar concepts.

The Meritocratic Republic's most fundamental responsibility is to its children. It offers a Freedom Guarantee to every child, consisting of the following terms:

1) Every child must be provided with a supportive, loving, safe environment where it can flourish.
2) The Republic must seek to identify the child's strengths and weaknesses. It will remove the child from activities of failure that will harm the child's confidence and self-esteem. It will instead provide the child with environments of success where the child is happy, confident and can demonstrate the highest merit.
3) The Republic will guarantee the child the "10,000 hours" said to be required to make someone an expert in their chosen field.
4) No child should be "forced", for the sake of an inflexible curriculum, to do something that they instinctively resist. There is no point in force-feeding advanced mathematics, for example, to a child with little aptitude for the subject. You will only make them miserable, make them feel like failures, and dent their confidence.
5) Every child must be protected from any brainwashing or mind control from any source.
6) Every child must be exposed to a wide variety of ideas. The child will decide for itself what religious, philosophical and political views it wishes to subscribe to, depending on the child's own nature, character, personality, intelligence and talents. No one but the child may choose. No one is allowed to choose on behalf of the child or to force the child in any desired direction. 
7) Every child must enjoy the same opportunities and treatment as every other child. No child should benefit from privilege, or suffer from underprivilege.
8) The fate of a child should in no way be linked to that of its parents. Each child must stand on its own merits. The merits (or otherwise), the wealth (or otherwise), of others to whom the child is related are entirely irrelevant. 

The aim is to ensure that when every child has become an adult ready to contribute to the Republic, they will be happy, confident, full of self-esteem, knowing what they are best at and where their weaknesses lie, with the skill and merit to immediately start making a positive difference to the world. They will not be judged according to sex, race, creed, parental wealth and status, or any discriminatory criterion, but according to merit alone. They will go as far as their merit takes them. They will never have to worry that they don't know the "right people" or don't have the "right connections".  There will be no nepotism, cronyism or privilege in the Meritocratic Republic. Inheritance Tax will be set to 100% to ensure the destruction of all systems of hereditary privilege. Wealth will never again be used as a weapon against the People. No one will ever again become powerful by virtue of excessive wealth. In the Meritocratic Republic, the Age of Privilege will be definitively over. There will be no monarchs, nobles, aristocrats, elite families, family dynasties, cartels or cliques. The super rich will not exist.

The Meritocratic Republic provides maximum freedom for the maximum number of people at the expense of those - the Old World Order - who have hitherto enjoyed the maximum freedom at the expense of the People.

Religions will no longer be "free" to brainwash and physically mutilate children.

Everyone will have the space and freedom to think for themselves.

The Meritocratic Republic is the culmination of history, the Omega Point of the dialectic of freedom.

The people who call themselves "libertarian" are the enemies of freedom. Senior members of the Tea Party have openly said that white business people should have the freedom not to serve black people. That is not "freedom"; that is denying others the freedom to go where they want and be treated with full respect. That is oppression and discrimination. Freedom for one person can never be tied to slavery and contempt for another. It is freedom for all, or it is not freedom. But when some people choose to resist freedom for all then, in the tough, unapologetic words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, they must be "forced to be free". Sometimes people have been so badly damaged by brainwashing that they will never subscribe to true freedom, but they can't be allowed to ruin it for everyone else.

Libertarians want to be "free" to brainwash their children as they see fit. Where is the freedom of the child in this equation?

There are right-wing anti-abortionists who talk of a child's right to life. These very same people do not consider that a child should be free to develop in its own way, to think for itself, free of parental brainwashing and mind control. They think they have the absolute right, and indeed religious duty, to brainwash their children. For centuries, Catholic theologians declared that unbaptised babies that died at birth went straight to hell, or, at best, Limbo at the edge of hell. So, all of those children with the "right to life" also had the "right" to go to hell for eternity if not baptised as Catholics. Where's the logic?

No one has the right to brainwash another person. That is the antithesis of freedom.

The Final War that is coming will be between two views of freedom. The Meritocratic Republicans will fight to free children from brainwashing. The "libertarians" will fight for the "freedom" to brainwash their children.

Soldiers of the Confederacy gave their lives in the cause of depriving other human beings of their freedom. Libertarians will, likewise, give their lives in the cause of depriving children of the right to think for themselves.

The Final War will be a religious war. The Jews, Christians and Muslims will fight to the death for the right to brainwash their children as they themselves were brainwashed when they were children.

Humanity will never be free until the brainwashing of children is stopped forever.

The Final War will be about the fundamental rights of children. Why? Because children are the future of the human race, and humanity will never change until children are free of toxic religions, of toxic political and economic ideologies, and of the toxic system of nepotism, cronyism and privilege.

This is the war to end all wars because once children are free then the master-slave dialectic will have reached its appointed end. There will be no more masters and no more slaves, just a human race with a divine future.

The Old World Order, the Power Elite, the super rich, the Abrahamic religions, the ultra capitalists and the Tea Party libertarians are the unholy alliance that represent the final coalition opposing human freedom. 
 
They are the Final Antithesis. Beyond them lies Freedom and Dignity for humanity.

Politicians talk of hope and change, but things never change and there is never any hope.

You want real change? The only free future of the human race lies in the Meritocratic Republic.  

We swear this in the name of the highest freedom. We are The Plan. We are The Future. We are The Illuminati.

*****

We have received a message from a bright young adult that encapsulates all of these issues and shows the urgency of the hour:

Anger

"I know you probably are tired of getting these kind of messages all the time but I need to tell someone who at least understands. It started when I was in the 4th grade. I don't know what prompted me to ask my teacher and family those questions that are answered on your website (except one). I heard them say it was just ignorance because I was so young. They didn't give me any real answers but "put your faith in God" and that didn't seem right to me and since my family is  Baptist I was forced to go to church every Sunday. So I just became quiet and thought about the questions to myself, which led to me being alone all the time (during this time I figured I couldn't depend on God for answers but had to find them on my own). Before I got to the age where I am at now (16) I asked the questions again at age 12 and they thought now that I'm older I can be "punished" for my doubting in their God. After that I fell into a deep depression. I felt so alone (lost my friends and I couldn't say I loved my family; I still can't) and almost committed suicide. Later I came upon your website in my search for the truth and now they're trying to keep me away. I don't expect you to reply but the fact I'm not alone in my quest for knowledge helps me in my search."

*****

We do indeed receive many messages like this, and they reveal exactly what's at stake. Why should a smart, freethinking, thoughtful and sensitive person  like this be forced, by parental dictat, to believe what they believe, to stop asking awkward questions, and to be warned off  from visiting sources of potential knowledge? We don't for a moment tell anyone not to read the Bible, the Torah or the Koran. In fact we actively encourage it. Why? Because we think that any clever person who reads these "holy" books will be nauseated by them and see through them for the lies and nonsense they are. Yet these Abrahamists are vehemently opposed to their kids being allowed to read our material, and they threaten severe punishment if their kids dare to seek alternative knowledge. Why? Because they are terrified of the Truth, and they know they have no answers. They are in utter denial, clinging to "belief" even though they themselves no longer believe. If they did, they wouldn't try to prevent their children from thinking for themselves.

We can't repeat it often enough - children and young adults are unique human beings deserving to be uniquely cultivated. They are the future. They are not anyone's property. No one has the right to interfere with them against their wishes either physically or mentally. They must be protected, they must be nurtured, and they must be allowed to become what they have it within themselves to be. No one on Earth has the right to stop them.