Learn to Unlearn

“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.”

~ Antisthenes (Philosopher of Athens, disciple of Socrates 445-365 BC)

So...how do we unlearn that which is unTrue? How do we learn to unlearn? How do we learn to learn that which is True? How do we learn to learn? Anyone?

If we are not consciously aware of "how" to learn at the beginning of life, then it would be impossible to intentionally learn to learn at that point in development. And then, it follows logically that learning to learn NEVER becomes intentional or necessary even while it seems that it does become so necessary to the adult mind. And...we do learn. Do we not? And we do so under the delusion that we have had something to do with the act of learning. So, clearly, learning does not begin as an act of intention. And then it would seem, that learning to learn is quite unnecessary because, obviously, we already do learn. And, we do so quite without our own consent. So what IS this experience we call "learning" after all? From where does it come? What is its source?

 

Can we learn to learn? Can we learn to unlearn? Can we unlearn to learn? Can we unlearn to unlearn? Can we learn to unlearn that which we have learned? Can we learn to learn that which we have unlearned?
Can we unlearn to learn that which we have unlearned?
Can we unlearn to unlearn that which we have learned?
Can we unlearn to unlearn that which we have unlearned?


And finally...and this is the interesting one...

Can we learn to learn that which we have learned? But wait...why learn to learn something we've already learned?

But then, here we are later in life as adults wanting to learn how to learn something. Or to follow the lesson of Antisthenes, we may wish to "unlearn" something that we have seemingly learned.

The question comes...

Perhaps we're not aware of all that we have learned. Maybe, we are not aware of all that we have unlearned.

And perhaps, learning at all is a great hoax of the mind. From consciousness comes all things...even those so-called "things" we learn and relate to as knowledge we have obtained. Consciousness is unarguably and incontrovertibly omnipresent and omniscient. Do we not all experience consciousness? And, if we all experience consciousness, does it not follow logically then that all knowledge is already available without this "learning" thing ever becoming necessary?

So, if "learning" is not the access...what is?

Personally - and I'm certainly not alone in this - I'm of a mind that Antisthenes hit the mark by suggesting that the "MOST useful piece of learning is to unlearn that which is unTrue." If by suggesting that "unlearning what is unTrue" is the "most useful" element to humans, does that not suggest further that most, if not all, of what humans learn is then unTrue? And, if this is the case, it then follows that focusing our life's resources upon learning is the greatest travesty of all. Could it not be that unlearning what we THINK is true is the real access to Truth?

Whew...well that's quite the list, is it not? What if we were to wake up of a morning only to discover that ALL that we think we have learned - ALL that we believe...is unTrue? What would we do? Could we go on? And, how would we proceed from there?


So...how do we do it? How do we unlearn all this stuff? Actually, it's a fairly elementary process. When attempting to remove anything from anywhere, first we must see it. Yes? First the thing to be removed must be identified. Then, in the case of removing that which is unTrue, we must first identify it's fallacy. In order to even summon the willingness to remove an idea from our belief structure we first have to identify the "untruth" in that which we believed to be true. As humans, we have to be comfortable with its removal. We must feel that we are correct in doing so.


Mind Syntropy is a very simple method developed at 18mind that effectively simplifies the process of identifying "untruth." Does it fly in the face of conventional wisdom? Yes. Does it conflict with that which you believe to be true? Undoubtedly.
But, what of this...
What if there was no doubt that intentionally abandoning all that we believe to be true was the only access to genuine Truth and Enlightenment. Could we do it? Well, yes...we could. The question is...would we?
Fact is though, there is no way that we are aware of whereby we can convince anyone that most, if not all, of what we are taught to believe is true, and now do believe it to be so, is anything but true. This is a threshold that must be crossed. It cannot be discussed in any way effectively enough such that it can become something of which we are now aware via mere explanation. It must be experienced.
And that - to coin a phrase - is the Truth.