Treetop Manifesto
This is a manifesto for the already free, a rebellion against the tyranny of effort and belief.
Effort is a Delusion: Life effortlessly unfolds. Effort is a delusion, the imaginary self's futile attempt to control the uncontrollable. When death comes, the absurdity of effort is revealed. Wisdom is recognizing this now.
Effort is Futile, Ceasing Futility is Freedom: To exert effort against the effortless is the source of misery. It's like a child with a toy steering wheel, believing they control the car. Society urges us to escape the predicament created by effort, with more effort! This is absurd. Recognizing the futility of effort is freedom. It is the instant cessation of struggle, liberation from the illusion of control.
Truth is Obvious: Everything worth understanding is apparent. It requires no preparation, no knowledge, no guru. Complexity obscures the simple truth.
Knowledge is the Smokescreen: This complexity is knowledge—the innumerable "facts" we carry, clouding our perception. Knowledge cannot clarify; it can only obscure.
The Gurus are Naked: Gurus and experts prey on the vulnerable, offering solutions to non-existent problems. They add to your knowledge, obscuring the truth. There is no secret knowledge, no hidden path. If you are searching, you are lost. Stop searching, and you have arrived. This requires autonomy—disregard all guidance and trust yourself.
Truth is Universal; You Are Already Free: Truth operates in you as in everything. You are already free. Liberation is not achieved; it is your reality. You are like the sun shining, always free. But you insist otherwise because you know—or rather, what others told you—that you are not. This insistence, fueled by uncritical knowledge, blinds you.
Education as Enslavement: Education, as it exists, is a potent mechanism of enslavement. It strips away autonomy, leaving individuals unable to trust their perceptions and formulate their understanding of the world. Instead, they are left-leaning on "experts" to provide interpretations of what only they can indeed observe.
Time is the Enemy of Insight: Knowledge tells us that progress happens in time – that mastery, understanding, and even liberation are achieved through gradual accumulation and dedicated practice. But what practice do you need to see what is already there? This belief creates the illusion of a gap between you and reality, a distance that needs to be bridged through effort and learning. Even when presented with undeniable truth, the mind, conditioned by the illusion of time, seeks to delay, analyze, and "meditate on it later." This is how you get lost in the mires of complexity and miss the immediacy of liberation.
The Pavlovian Loop of Society: Most people are stuck in a Pavlovian loop, climbing one mountain peak after another, driven by a false sense of progress. They chase external goals, seeking validation and happiness in achievements that ultimately leave them empty. True wisdom would allow them the foresight to know that what lies after the next peak is simply the next valley and that the cycle of striving and dissatisfaction will inevitably continue. Yet, they fall for it repeatedly, hoping the next peak will be different and the next time will be the ultimate.
Question Your Heroes: A person who has successfully climbed thousands of mountains, accumulating vast illusory wealth, and never learned that it's not the answer is not a successful, genius man. A genius would have recognized the fallacy of climbing mountains without even climbing a single one simply by observing others.
Beyond Belief: The mind clings to beliefs, mistaking them for truth. But belief, by its very nature, is an assumption, a mental construct. It is not grounded in direct experience but in interpretations, opinions, and second-hand knowledge. True seeing requires the ability to discern belief from direct experience, to recognize the limitations of thought and the immediacy of what is. When you can see the difference, the grip of belief loosens, and the truth reveals itself. This should be the fundamental role of education: cultivating the capacity for critical thinking, self-awareness, and direct experience, empowering individuals to break free from the chains of belief, and embracing the freedom of truth.
