AKS/New Item Gallery = TBD
Condensed AKS/News Items = See Below
Summary = TBD
Diagrams = None
Transcript = See Below
And Kyroot Said…
As City People use the past as a weapon, they fail to notice
it is a sword with a second blade for a handle.
***
Those who don’t keep their distance soon have none.
***
If asked why he did, or did not do a particular thing, an
Enlistee’s safest bet is to reply, “I don’t know.” (Don’t even
THINK about the most truthful bet.)
***
When it gets down to certain important Revolutionary
matters, if it’s not too late, then it’s too early.
***
To really speak ill of someone is akin to posting one of
those parking lot notices that say, “Do not back up; severe tire
damage possible.”
***
Was once said to a certain Revolutionist, “We would like to
do your story,” and thought he, “You know, I don’t HAVE a life
story.”
***
In the City most attempts at self examination result in a
form of self immobilization.
***
The past is the eternal rest stop for the useless.
***
For those in the City who periodically ask, “Is that all
there IS?”, at that particular moment the answer is “YES.”…
well, you shouldn’t have asked.
***
Just because you “understand” something in the City doesn’t
mean it’ll do you any good.
***
Even if you fall short of a majority, you will still have a
formidable army if you can just attract all the fools to your
side.
***
No need to study time tables; no reason to hang around the
depot, watching, I can tell you now that eventually all extremes
meet. (It might be best if you personally were not the point of
convergence.)
***
It is truly hard to succeed on a City team when no vacancies
exist at your position. (Or when Life seems loath to even
recognize your league.)
***
In the City ’tis been said that, “Were it not for his
imagination, a man would be as thrilled in the arms of a
chambermaid as with a duchess,” and as valid as that may seem,
let me clarify it by adding, “Then again, maybe not.” Hello,
hello I say. Is the fun-forum now taking calls from the lower,
doing molecules, or is it speaking with the higher, more
sophisticated thinking ones?
***
If mere talk is real encouragement then we’re ALL Norman
Vincent Peale’s grandmother.
***
Should a City politician ever accidentally say anything of
significance, by all means hold your peace, and do not encourage
him further.
***
All Men, even the Revolutionists, hear the voice of their
molecules, but are you bound to heed their directions only?
***
In that faded City area where some yellow meets a certain
shade of blue, it is continually taken as an achievement for a
Man, after fifty years of study and meditation to declare that,
“All religions are one.” Yeah, but one WHAT?
***
Never trust a god who’s ugly.
***
The only differences worth mentioning aren’t worth
mentioning.
***
Excursion
For New People: What is one thing whereby you’d rather die, than say?
Transcript
THE CONTINUITY CLASS
Copyright (c) Jan M. Cox, 1988
Document: 375, August 5, 1988
THE CONTINUITY CLASS
Life, for a particular purpose, keeps what is loosely referred to as the “upper classes.” In times past it was actually royalty. Let me just call it the Continuity Class, because as always I mean more than what sociology, history and your own nervous system would tell you regarding so-called class structures. The Continuity Class is a kind of semipermanent dominant strain in the DNA of Life as reflected in Man. This continuity is otherwise lacking in the transient powerless people who come and go — us. (I might as well get that out in the open. The powerless is us, unless some of you are holding out on me. It’s pretty hard to hide, though, because I can spot even deposed royalty.)
But lest any of you take that strictly as an external matter: in individual humans there is that same kind of permanent DNA strain and it reflects itself in the attempt, wired into humans, to feel as though you have a permanent self — an “I.” That is your upper class. The rest of you comes and goes. Look how your tastes and opinions can change. That is your transient population, your powerless. The way in which I am using the Continuity Class (you should at least suspect) has nothing to do with out-there governments, royal blood, or social standing.
One thing about the Continuity Class is that Life only needs a very small number therein. The powerful, throughout history until today, constitute a very, very small number of people in comparison to the rest of us. They have always been way out of proportion to what you would think. It is three or four people dancing and ten million people dancing backwards. And there is something else about this group: there are only two ways, besides being born into it, to get into the Continuity Class. One is that the King has to grant you the favor for some service. Like with the old royalty of England: The King or Queen would make someone a duke and give him land for a brave deed done in battle. The second, and only other way, is by revolution. That is, to overthrow the sovereign and set up a new line of power.
If you are listening with a third ear, here’s a quick aside. Revolutions are always of two types: either they immediately take hold or they don’t. If it takes hold, what that means is that the previous ruling power died. They are not coming back. If the revolution doesn’t take hold, the ones who attempted the coup will get couped themselves shortly. Life tried to establish a new DNA strain and it didn’t work. Does that sound familiar? I know…you try things and they always work, right?
I might point out that if the King grants you a favor in your lifetime, you’re not really “in.” If you don’t know this, and you don’t know history, then look at movies. As far back as Shakespeare (I know his movies are hard to come by) the bucolic lad who by a fluke becomes rich or is otherwise taken in by the power establishment has been a favorite theme. By the time the story or movie is over he comes to his senses and realizes that the real nobility has been laughing at him all along. And for good reason: he is not really one of them. In one generation you cannot actually become one of the powerful by being granted entrance.
The only way you can literally move yourself in one generation is by doing This. By an internal revolution to become your own Continuity Class. That is why I am here, and why you need me. It is a quiet revolution, and it is not necessary that anyone else even have any notion of what you are doing. Anyone. But notice: everyone else who believes that they should struggle to become a new, better person believes it can be done by the first method, by another granting you entrance into power. What do you think religions are? “I swore allegiance to the church, therefore, the Big Enchilada is going to grant me entrance into the circle of the powerful after I die.” But the real thing cannot be granted. There is no king of the true gypsies. There is no king of some great secret work.
On the 3-D level, people can’t perceive the possibility of an internal revolution. That’s why such are so infrequent. When they do happen, they do not “take”; they last a week, a month. Then there’s another one and another one.
Another aside: Now listen, this is really pregnant if you’ve got pregnant ears. There is a particular phenomenon in the Continuity Class which does not exist in the masses. Inside the Continuity Class is the only place in human life where the sons consistently want to be like their father. Everywhere else it is a generation rebellion. Always has been. It is somewhat valid with daughters but the stronger blood example is with sons — they almost push their fathers away. On a large scale it is a constant turnover with the powerless. They are transient; the next generation almost leaves the parents behind. But that is not true in the Continuity Class. There, children do not rebel. It makes headlines if it’s otherwise. Now, wired into the powerless is the desire for continuity. All fathers want their sons to follow in their footsteps, but there is no basis for believing it will happen. None. All you have to do is look around. It is only in the Continuity Class that one generation faithfully follows the previous one. As I said, there is something quite pregnant in that.
I’m going to try and expand your vision of all this a bit. Historically, sovereignty has been viewed as being exercised in one of two ways: through “might” or through “right.” “Right” was for years considered to be a kind of divine authority, which I assume many of you helpless people can laugh at. Many of the helpless people back then laughed at it. “Might” authority is simply sovereignty by raw power. Now can you jump inside quickly? Can you see, inside the state of individual Man, the same situation? It has never been noted in this manner, but you should be able to feel that inside, you are being run from somewhere. That is, “I” or, “me,” and there is an authority to it. Conversely, you should also be able to feel a distinction .pabetween that and the feeling of being run on the basis of simply “might” — that there is some power and you simply follow it.
There is a way in which you can use this by trying to see and feel the inner reality of it. Then I can present to you further queries. Can you see that by most City standards, an individual human is adjudicated and accepted as one who has an internal private monarch? If otherwise you are not considered sane. There should be somebody on the throne and in charge inside. Assuming this should be the condition of an archetypal middle class human, the single ruler would be one of two things: a sophisticated, benign monarch (the ruler by right), or a narrow-minded, egocentric tyrant (the ruler by might). Those are your two choices, right? In the City they are. If it were anything else, whoever is on the throne ain’t going to be there long; there will be a revolution.
The benign monarch would rule by right. In other words, a good king: benevolent, tolerant, gives you some freedom. The only other choice in the City is a tyrant, who (surprise, surprise) would be just the opposite. He would be touchy and intolerant; he is serious business, and you don’t fool around with him. A tyrant, then, is operating simply on the basis of “might.” Well, now I ask you, to what end are things divided in such a way that my description about seems, as always, to wrap it up? What is the difference between “might” and “right”? To what end has Life given this apparent obvious division?
While I’m here, how about another aside? This is equally pregnant to my last aside. A few words about those ever popular people — fanatics. There are types of fanatics who are not recognized as fanatics. A fanatic is someone wired up in such a way that he or she believes that anyone not wired up similarly is mis-wired. They have immovable, extreme and blindly established frontiers between themselves and everyone else. And people feel a genetic, molecular attraction to a fanatic at the right time and place, because he is the one person who seems absolutely to know what the hell he is doing. But the benign monarch is an unrecognized twin brother of the fanatic.
A benign monarch must also possess and display absolute self-assurance. He too has a self-centeredness to him or he won’t last. But such a sovereign (remember, this is figurative speech) is never looked upon as being a fanatic. In fact, he is perceived as a marvelous, enlightened ruler. Those whom you feel to be threatening are obviously ruled by a tyrant, while those toward whom you feel empathy are surely ruled by an enlightened monarch, right? But a benign monarch has all the characteristics of a tyrant; they are called by nom de guerres, that’s all. Instead of self-centered, ego driven and intolerant, he is said to be self-assured, clear-eyed, stable and predictable. You are talking about the same thing.
Back to the main topic. Along with the question as to, “Why does might and right about cover it?” — let me ask you this: Which would you rather be ruled by? If your nervous system has an immediate response to that question, ignore it and consider further. At least be curious as to why the response seems to fit. How do you want to feel that you are running yourself? As a benign ruler, or as a despot? Don’t think there is an obvious answer to this. If you actually began to ignite your nervous system and ceased being tied to the past, ceased being a part of the walking dead, don’t discount the possibility of being a tyrant. What’s wrong with a tyrant if he knows what he’s doing? Are you sure you want to be a kindly monarch?
I am trying to get you to see that “right” and “might” are the same thing. In the City it is another matter, of course. It strikes everyone’s City nervous system as being a proper and adequate division. But there is no valid distinction between the two. They overlap and there’s really no difference.
Except for the mutant strain in Life — that is, This Activity — it is so arranged that everybody is divided into two distinct classes: the powerful and the powerless. It is not sociological and not financial. It is simply Life. A very few people dominate everybody else. Having said that, try this. In the last hundred years, a new term came about, although the idea has been around for longer. It is what is called “the middle class.” I refer you to a great piece of Life’s misdirection, because there is no such thing as the middle class.
No such thing. Those in the middle class, so-called, may have nice houses and cars, but they are as powerless as those living under bridges and in cardboard boxes. Do you hear me? If several credit card companies and the bank call in all of a middle class person’s loans, you’d see what the “middle class” really is. The so-called middle class, throughout the world, is very close to being what they would think of as the lower classes. This misdirection by Life gives the impression that the powerless can in some way gain some amount of power. It keeps energy moving in the powerless class because the lower class and the middle class perceive themselves to be in a kind of struggle. It is a kind of soothing mentholatum rub for the irritation of standing in the slaughter queue. You were born helpless, and by the time you realized that you could walk, they put you in line. And you’re in line with people who don’t know where they’re going. You’re in line and they push you around and say, “Move here, and move there.” And not only do you obey, but everybody around you does also. But you keep seeing this other group; you hear about them, that they have some ability to get out of the line. They seem to have some power that you don’t have. It is the great illusion of the middle class — the illusion of the possibility of moving from the powerless group to the powerful.
It’s impossible. All you have to do is look around to see that. Now, as always, let’s go where it counts — where you might be able to do something about it. I do not give out general instructions about the way you people should live, unless you individually approach me. I don’t normally offer this, and it may be an illusion that I am offering it now, so just listen fast. Everyone is wired up to feel a struggle: an attempt to fight your way from a less powerful position to one of more security. That is, more power. In the City all of you are subject to it. All of you believe that you are “middle class” at the very least. The very least. And some of you at times have considered that you may be on the verge of breaking into the upper class. What I’m about to tell you can be of great practical value because it is a simple observable fact. I’m not going to make up many examples because you either hear me or you don’t. But consider the times you are driving around and somebody drives by in the world’s most beat-up pickup truck — no fenders, and you can see the air through the tires — and the people are poorly dressed, and there is “low class trash” written all over the little kid’s face — and a feeling of superiority comes over you. You feel closer to the upper classes at that moment, even if you originally came from such a poor milieu.
But listen. You have not a god damn bit of kinship with the upper classes. None. Your kinship is with that “lower class trash” in the pickup truck, because as far as the upper class is concerned, it’s them against both of you. To those in power there is no middle class; they know it’s a joke. They know you’re not going anywhere and that the only difference between you in your Mercedes and that guy in the pickup is a credit card. Your kinship is to the dirt people of this earth. And you would benefit by realizing that. The powerful is a different line of DNA, and liver cells do not become lung cells in one lifetime. It is a waste of energy and a slow bleeding every time you feel superior to an apparent example of extreme powerlessness. There is your kinship. You have no kinship to the other extreme, and any feelings you have of such are delusion.
To understand that is not really part of This revolution, but I assure you that at Line level the realization of your true kinship would allow many of you to finally catch your breath. You would realize that you’ve been trying to run with truck tires tied to your ankles. It is as though you have been willfully in debt. You might as well drop that illusion. I understand that many of you feel that you may have to let This go for a while when you get your “big break,” and I don’t want to give you the blues, but the chances of that happening are very, very slim. And even if you do get very rich, you still have no kinship with the powerful.
(Do you know why all the religions badmouth the rich? Religions are for the powerless. Somewhere they all say, “Woe unto a rich man who tries to better himself.” The reason is that in the City, he can’t better himself. He’s already as good as he can get, with what’s possible in the City.)
Now take all of this internally. Where does your allegiance lie inside? What is your attitude toward a sense of duty and responsibility to This? Are you trying to develop a new sovereignty over “you” on the basis of being a benevolent monarch? Or could it be a new understanding of what “might” is? The only place change can occur is internally, but you must realize where your present kinship lies. Your kinship internally is with the powerless, not the prevailing ruling powers. If you were able to change internally it would not come about through a granting of favors by the king. And it would not be an entree into the so-called middle class.