1st Decree

Naturally, an Emperor can't just say something auspicious: he decrees it. What's the difference?

The difference is I'm an Emperor. I took this title in the year 2000, I believe, thought it may have been 2001. Upon a mountaintop, I surveyed the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito, Summerland, even Hope Ranch, and declared that they were mine. There were no other claims to the title at the time nor are there any presently, and that's who I am.

I should note that my title carries with it, at the moment, very little sociopolitical power. You need not bow and scrape, I don't get carried around in a litter, I don't receive taxes, and I do not interfere with the governance of the good peoples within my domain. Nor do I oppose others from making their own claims; I know of at least two Kings here as well, and they do not owe me fealty. Every one is free.

Since my Internal Reformation as of this summer, I am now version 2.0, hence Emperor Dave II. However, my friends just call me Dave, so you can call me Dave too.

Now that all the formalities and introductions are out of the way, let me take a moment to confide to you, the internet, that Something is Changing, that the World is Changing, that something is Happening. It's a bit too early to say what it is, but on a personal level it's starting to become rather obvious that, at long last, a stagnation is ending. The coming times are difficult and trying, but that difficulty will make us stronger when we adapt and overcome and survive. Many people are frightened of it. They think it's one thing, or the other. Some people have already broken their minds about the whole issue. Well, I won't say no to stockpiling guns and ammunition, but I won't say it's a particularly appropriate maneuver either.

Nor do I condone the talk of coming Race War, Civil War, Revolutionary War, March on Washington, Downfall of Society and Government and Humanity. That is nonsense talk, here in the USA. It is wrong-thinking and I do not approve of that.

But you must change, if you hope to survive to old age and happiness. You must untie those knots you have inside you, just like Bob realized. You must learn all you can, gain all the personal power you can, believe in magic - for it is real - be positive, help others, smile, revel in your humanity, and see the universe in the eyes of another human. You gotta get organized. Now is the time of change, the time is now! Make the most you can from the conscious hours you have here on Earth, because there is one fact, which, morbid though it may be, you cannot let yourself forget: you will die. Like Don Juan says, do not act like an immortal. You are not a deity with all the time in the world so do not act like one, or you will behave like the gods of old - petulant, petty, never satisfied, always bored and unhappy, always missing focus and wisdom, indulgent - and then you will die, the tragedy being that you might have been better than a god.

Change is the key. We evolved, and we must continue evolving, not as a species, but as persons. I shall do so, and I hope you do as well.

So I have written.