Unburden Ethos
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What We're About
Regenerative Futurism consists of communities engaging with each other in recognition of one another's value, truth, vulnerability, and strength. We seek regeneration over harm reduction. The Unburden Community exists between adequate and abundant and is solely focused on health. Our central conceit is that all have the right to make the most informed choices for themselves that do not interfere with another's choice. Cooperation and co-creation are practiced. We use the power of our group to empower individual autonomy. Consistent practice is our commitment -we seek non mastery. Our focus remains on continuously incorporating feedback for best practice and accountability for impact. We exist between adequate and abundan. Giving is the practice of abundance.
Courage: for Quantum Change -
American education, a failing system:
The inherent sexual, racial, and capitalist bias of the American educational standards are undeniable. From the time of colonial America to the turn of the 20th century education was based on teaching behavioral compliance, reading, writing, and executing commands. Eventually biased standards emerged around collegiate entry. In the early 20th century corporations such as Ford, Standard Oil, and Carnegie Steel began to heavily invest in education, drastically changing the system; “students” would now be eligible for factory work.
Beyond capitalism and racism, ableism is also ever-present in American schools. It’s hard to overstate the effect of “standardizing education” on those who cannot tolerate standardization. The feeling of invisibility, irrelevance and irritation that one experiences in the school system is perhaps best evidenced by the levels of known abuse. Individual uniqueness cannot be monetized within the American education system, save now for athletes. This renders individuals’ talents, ideas, progress, methods, and practices seemingly irrelevant for the vast majority of humanity. In short, America’s education systems are profit motivated thereby only truly serving the top 1%. Individuals are suffering because their uniqueness has no validation in the education system. ​
Clarity: Context for Our Approach-
Privatization and diminished individual autonomy:
Privatization serves a small group of people while exploiting the work of the majority. The corporate complex depends on cheap labor, often found internationally, to keep profit margins high. This has resulted in human exploitation and suffering.
The current corporate government complex is focused on profits rather than incorporating real time advancements and best practices for health. Individuals are starving for a source of education, health and community absent the inherent bias of profit motivation. Individuals and providers are focused on symptom management rather than improving overall wellness.
The world’s current economic and social structures are not supportive of health. A small minority of greed ridden myopes are using personal fortunes for personal gain causing catastrophe and calamity on a massive scale. The global majority is removed from the levers of power that control our lives and cannot ensure our own survival. We simply must act as a group without the use of force and coercion. This requires informed consent and individual empowerment which are at the core of Unburden's values.
Nuclear family fallacy:
Underpinning our current paradigm, the nuclear family is commonly regarded as an aspirational ideal, a symbol of American success. This model is rooted in marketing and abuse. Environments that idealize the nuclear family and limit community support, exacerbate the trauma experienced by individuals. For many, basic knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology including hormonal drivers and cognitive development, are repressed, allowing for abuse and control using blame and shame. No one is entitled to another’s body, time and labor.
Housing Crisis (Oklahoma City exemplar):
The centerpiece of safety for the nuclear family model is owning a home. Between 2015 and 2019, increases in housing prices have outpaced income growth by 38 percent in the US. This pales in comparison to median housing prices, which have spiked at four times the rate of household income in the last 50 years. Notably, these numbers are pre-pandemic.
Owning your own everything has led to financial dependence on debt. From student debt to car payments, most Americans have substantial monthly payments outside of housing. Those who lack support and options find themselves in an endless cycle of chasing the dream of housing security and financial stability for their family. Working multiple jobs to meet bare minimum needs has become the new normal for many families. According to a 2021 Housing Affordability Study, 42% of renter households and 19% of owner households spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing. Just one emergency can set a family back or even destroy what security they had built, depleting their savings and potentially costing them their home. When someone is already living paycheck to paycheck, how are they expected to save for a home down payment or break the cycle of debt?
Through co-operative housing with economical semi-furnished studio bedrooms, shared living, dining, kitchen and yard spaces, residents will be empowered to take control of their future by providing individually cost sustainable and community inclusive spaces. With common-sense household responsibilities shared and rotated amongst resident “pods,” the burden of maintenance, cleaning, cooking, etc. can be spread over many helping hands. Residents can share resources, skills, and services with one another, building a community that supports personal growth.
The Irrelevant and Authoritarian role of Executive Power in American Government, the Role of Government:
In order to justify war, you must be able to create an enemy with the intent to destroy. This is a top-down problem in “executive culture” that leads to autocracy and genocide. In order to enforce othering, you must use executive force. That force is used to display the consequences of being othered which are dire. Unburden rejects this entirely. Self discipline and healthy leadership are our curative practices. Punishment is prohibited.
Our perspective is owing to; AFRICA, Ancient East Asian Practice of Qigong and Kugfu, Shared Indigenous Culture, and our humility to Native Americans.
We implore the government complex, as it exists, to dedicate itself exclusively to the rehabilitation of the Earth's environment, via infrastructure. Unburden commits to providing an alternative governance with feedback and the following services to meet the needs and dreams of our community: education, health and community (including work).
Toxic Spaces and Practices:
Health is suffering due to the toxic load of metals/ petrochemical pollution. Air, water, crops, livestock and nature writ large are rapidly adapting to this toxic load. Further, we lack a healthy social practice of “work”. Across the globe, communities and individuals are using every mechanism they can to build collective power (social media, unions) to lead ethically and end capitalist war. Americans are currently treading water for a survivable and sustainable exchange of time, money and effort.
In our current method of exchange we are reliant on corporations and income is required. Daily, Lunar and solar cycles, shorter shifts and three-day workweeks should be utilized to improve quality of life as well as increase performance. Basic income should be provided for every human.
Night must be restored for communal rest and sleep. Light and noise pollution must be mitigated to reinstate night.
Clarity (The Issue)-
Unburden holds that the failures of our current systems are due to their focus on consumption over physical health, community and education. The insistence on hyper individualism and the current pathos of greed has caused states of being, marked by sadness, loneliness and hopelessness. We support a practice of regeneration, harm reduction, non-judgment, boundaries, patience, and joy. Unburden seeks to decentralize power and control in favor of autonomy and individual empowerment.
Top down leadership has been a complete failure. The top 1% are disconnected from the needs and dreams of their communities, while the masses are struggling under the current system. This, in conjunction with inflammatory rhetoric and social media reach has led to the least qualified leadership gaining power. Unburden engages from the bottom up, those most in need inform our use of resources.
The lack of informed, emotionally and cognitively mature leadership is evident in all systems, including our bodies. No matter where you live or how carefully, you are exposed to environmental toxins which contribute to your total body burden. Total body burden refers to the amount of toxins present in a person and how long it may take for them to clear from the body. This unavoidable burden contributes to disease from asthma to cancer. Unburden offers measures you can take to reduce your exposure and enhance your body's ability to cope and regenerate. Exposure can come from multiple sources. Consider gasses, molds, metals, pesticide sprays; air pollution; plastics et al. toxins, trauma and stress are huge toxic loads on our systems. Trauma and stress are unavoidable and must be constantly individually managed. It is the responsibility of the collective to manage toxins, toxic practices and cycles. Blame and shame offer no hope or change. We must push past the fear that compels us towards judgment and intolerance by engaging in community, health, and education.
Cure: Unburden, an approach -
Unburden is an approach to life that aims to lower total body burden through empowering health, community, and education.
We must collectively, courageously and compassionately endure the consequences of removal, slavery, internment, imprisonment and genocide.
Unburden’s central conceit is that all persons are entitled to make informed choices for themselves that do not interfere with another person’s choice. Our inception requires a viable alternate choice. We ensure choice.
Providing for informed choice requires: community, education, and health. Moreover, community, health and education are interdependent and cannot stand alone.
Our experience is that healthy individuals depend on a healthy community. Healthy community depends on empowered individuals. Individuals and communities are dependent on education and practice in order to maintain health.
Absent the bias of profit or power, our nimble membership model stays up-to-date with informed current practices. Unburden is not beholden to any government, shareholders or agency, and instead seeks to serve the individual and their community.
