City Life: Thinking Just as Much as You Have To
Audio = Stream from the bar; download from the dots
04/12/1991
Summary = See below
Condensed News Items = See Below
News Item Gallery = jcap 1990-11-14 -0802
Transcript = None
Key Words =
Summary
#802 Apr 12, 1991 – 1:00
Notes by TK
Kyroot to :13. A new division of humanity: men who want to: act; think/talk ; to understand. The last group is a nanofraction of 1% of humankind. These are quite functional divisions in life although the last group is considered by the ordinary to be part of the second group. They are not so however, for if it were, the second group would never be satisfied with reflection w/o understanding; they could never admit the lack of understanding. The second group is the land of explanations; where explanations are taken to be causes, as substitutes for understanding.
The third group has no viable supporters or opponents let alone a paucity of members. Any outspoken promoter/supporter of the third group is ipso facto not a member thereof. No activity is totally successful until it is believed to harbor a conspiracy. Such beliefs find voice in accusations of secret agendas, ulterior motives, which in effect is just saying “that’s life” (or else there would be no questions of causes etc.).
If there is a way out you’ll take it; if there is a way out you’ve already taken it. Connection to: true affection has no alternative. If an affection (definition: fondness) can in any way tolerate alternatives (“it I didn’t love my wife so much I’d have to kill her”) it is really affection (definition: pretence; affectation). If energy has any avenue of escape, it will take it. As long as you believe explanations may or may not explain things, you’re stuck with them (i.e., stuck in the first two groups). Explanations = “escape” from the circular cul de sac. Alternatives make thought possible. Only the Real Revolutionist will brook no alternatives. The only alternative to TMTYHT (thinking more than you have to) is TJAMAYHT (thinking just as much as you have to) , and a return to ordinary life.
AKS
11/14/9041)
…and Kyroot said:
In some places
they wanna know your name before they issue your name tag.
….(I was tempted to say,
“Can you believe IT”?
but knew I’d be wasting my time.)
11/14/90- (1.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Some of those who called to complain called a second time;
they did not say if they would be calling again, they didn’t have to.
11/14/90-(2)
…and Kyroot said:
One chap noted that the best dust cloth available is one’s bare hand, and he demands to know either: One; why no one’s noticed this before?, or Two; Is it that no one WANTS to?
11/14/90- (2.5)
…and Kyroot said:
One god admitted that
things were not going quite as well as he had thought, but it was all right since he’d never thought about it.
11/14/90-(3)
…and Kyroot said:
Another positive reading of the City’s Vital Signs, to wit,
that Institutions STILL do not get their “just desserts.”
11/14/90-(3.5)
…and Kyroot said:
This one chap claims,
“All it takes to present oneself as a ‘brilliant mind’ is a glib tongue,
glasses,
and excuses specific to your area of expertise.”
11/14/90-(4)
…and Kyroot said:
From the City air waves,
another Overheard Dialogue Fragment: “The cold, bright light of day is of little pertinence at midnight.”
“Hey, are you just TRYING
to give me the blues?”
“Oh, is that what you call that?”
11/14/90-(4.5)
…and Kyroot said:
As long as you believe that explanations might, or might not, ever explain anything
then that’s what you’re stuck with.
11/14/9045)
…and Kyroot said:
Line overheard over at the college coffee brain – I mean, shop, “How do they expect me to ever be a poet
where nothing ever goes wrong!”
11/14/90-(5.5)
…and Kyroot said:
If you are the only man in the kingdom with a dragon you may house him wherever you like on your property with no concern for zoning restrictions.
(It has just been formally announced,
the Official Theme Song of the
International Hermits Union shall be,
“Ah, ‘Tis Good To Be Alone.”)
11/14/90-(6)
…and Kyroot said:
One man’s explanation, “The less you think,
the less wind resistance you create.”
11/14/90-(6.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Okay, variated & spun version of an earlier notation: This one reality told some of its perturbed creatures, “Just being alive is job enough,
any other concerns you feel are just
self-added perks.”
11/14/90-(6.75)
…and Kyroot said:
Or,
as one intrepid trooper put it,
“After being alive – AND fully knowing it – WHAT could scare me now?”
11/14/90-(7)
…and Kyroot said:
The king of one kingdom would get up every morning.
11/14/90-(7.5)
…and Kyroot said:
A viewer writes to say that he
finds my reading of letters from viewers
to be the best part of the program;
(he says he trusts this won’t have any effect
on my feelings toward HIS “humble communique”;
[it’s good when one’s trust can be validated
at no expense to the validaTOR]).
11/14/90-(8)
…and Kyroot said:
On several civilly experimental planets they have outlawed religion on week-ends.
11/14/90-(8.5)
…and Kyroot said:
The speaker said, “If things were ANY plainer I would not speak about them,” and the audience all replied,
“If things were any plainer we would not ASK for you to speak to us,” and the owner of the Meeting hall thought,
“If things were any plainer I would not be speaking to a banker about a mortgage for this property,”
and a dog passing the front entrance thought,
“Wow! and Bow! – if things were any LESS plain, just think –
I’d HAVE to speak – Wow!”
11/14/90-(9)
…and Kyroot said:
One guy claimed that his
true job was that of a soldier. (He only said this when hanging out with the clowns —
[sometimes this is vicey-versy,
but not as often as
some clergymen would believe ].)
11/14/90-(9.5)
…and Kyroot said:
All man’s reasons for doing things
always follow the need for them having been done.
11/14/90-0.75)
…and Kyroot said:
Inside a certain other reality
one god told his new assistant,
“I figure your main responsibility is to help me AVOID responsibility.’
11/14/90-(10)
…and Kyroot said:
Another viewer writes to say
that he’s not ever going to write to me again…
…(In a “P.S.” he adds
that it wasn’t him
who wrote me in the first place.)
11/14/90-(10.5)
…and Kyroot said:
The Quarterback: “Everybody’s SOME body’s left-overs.”
The Tight end: “Does this include thought?”
Quarterback: “Especially thought.”
(The referee whistled, signaled,
and announced,
“Definition, third and seven:
Human Intelligence: The garbage that LIVES.”)
11/14/90-(11)
…and Kyroot said:
One guy
(with a gleam, or “something”
in his eye) – anyway –
one guy says he’s now
firmly convinced that complaining to himself doesn’t do any good.
…..(Warning; He says he’s
“looking for new faces.”)
11/14/90-(11.5)
…and Kyroot said:
This kinda stuff does not deal in satire, sarcasm, or irony
in that it does not say that any specifics are amiss,
but rather that EVERYthing is amiss in the sense that
dreams cannot be fulfilled without pathological results.
11/14/90-(12)
…and Kyroot said:
On one particularly “health minded” world
they have a legend that says once, long ago,
god told their universe to, “Bend over and cough.”
11/14/90-(12.5)
…and Kyroot said:
More from our files of, “The Environment Sure Looks a Lot Like You” dept. : If, as the temperature shifts, even rises,
you do not agreeably adapt
you will end up being even hotter than necessary.
11/14/90-(13)
…and Kyroot said:
A fellow says he’s begun to
follow local sports affairs
because their costumes have become more interesting than those of his City’s religion and court.
11/14/90-(13.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Real affection HAS no alternative.
11/14/90414)
…and Kyroot said:
A viewer writes to say that
he’s found the long suspected “missing verse”
of that great universal anthem, “Hey, What’d You Expect?” and gives the words to this stanza as follows,
“There was a young lad who constantly said,
‘What does science know? – What does science know?’ Up until the day he graduated,
After which he announced,
‘I are now a scientist – What’d you wanna know? What’d you wanna know?'”
11/14/90-(14.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Over in another locale is an up and coming little organization whose operational slogan says – “A Mind Is A Terrible Thing.”
…and Kyroot said:
Treason is possible
if you can jump above gravity; Blasphemy realized only when you can spit in your face.
11/14/90-(15.5)
…and Kyroot said:
“Do you mean just man, or all of creation?” asked a voice from the crowd,
“Aye, the latter,” he replied,
“Then what say ye about the birds and the wind?” he asked, “I have an answer for them also,” he replied,
and after a pause the voice pressed on,
“Then may we have it?”
“Nay,” he replied,
“They must come and ask for themselves.”
…..(Now, even if this didn’t actually happen in a park,
between two people,
in a dimensionally determined universe, would you believe – would you believe for one-fitting-flash
that the ole philosopher’s words represented an escaped lunatic’s description of the inner sanctum of the asylum? – would you? –
could you?)
11/14/90-(16)
…and Kyroot said:
Update of a Golden Oldie: “One guy used to talk to himself, until he realized how dumb he was.”
11/14/90-(16.5)
…and Kyroot said:
There were usually several different productions playing
in the same theatre – Yeah, that’s right – SIMULTANEOUSLY!
11/14/90-(17)
…and Kyroot said:
Whenever he was ill,
or otherwise systemically damaged,
this one chap refused to accept a diagnosis from anyone without an engineering degree.
11/14/90-(17.5)
…and Kyroot said:
One man kept borrowing stuff from his god,
and confidentially confided that his theory was
that so long as he had something that belonged to the Big Guy he wouldn’t die.
…..(in the last reality in which this tale was made public
a brand new, retreaded religion sprang from its linguistic loins.)
11/14/90-(18)
…and Kyroot said:
There was once a man who read his mail,
but would deny he’d done so;
there was another man who didn’t read his mail, but if asked, would say he did;
there was yet a third man who used to get your mail, and he threw it all away.
11/14/90-(18.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Based on the recorded transcript
the professor’s speech went like this,
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen;
the way the human mind works is actually quite simple: First it flops over this way,
then it flops over that way. Thank you so much, and good evening
to you okay,–where’s my fee? –
whose got my dough?…
…hey, you, come over
here….”
11/14/90-(18.75)
…and Kyroot said:
It was not,
he said,
hearing the voices that frightened him, but rather, periodically – understanding what they were talking about.
11/14/90-(19)
…and Kyroot said:
Graffiti found in a dead man’s ear, “A mixed metaphor
is a tasty metaphor.”
11/14/90-(19.5)
…and Kyroot said:
Another man who calls himself a viewer
had a telegram hand delivered to the office demanding to know, “Why is it easier to be faithful if you’re ugly? STOP,
And what does this have to do with thinking, any way; STOP ALREADY.”
11/14/90- (20)
…and Kyroot said:
At first he said his wisdom came from books,
then he said his understanding arose from nature,
after that he said his knowledge was from his own insight, and finally he became. smart-enough– to SHUT-up.
11/14/90-(21)
…and Kyroot said:
Because of the present lighting problems in this universe, men are not able to make out any gods who aren’t either optimists, or pessimists …. but you just wait….