RULE NUMBER ONE: THE FUTURE IS AS BLINDING MIRAGE
1. Nothing follows as a matter of course.
2. There are more possibilities in every situation than we could be bothered to think about, or be able to imagine
3. Only when we consider an event in the light of other possibilities which did not materialize, do we begin to sense how chancy the past was when it happened.
4. What we assume about nature's behavior is what we have already experienced, what we have become accustomed to.
5. Every event is the outcome of other events occurring at the same time and place but otherwise unconnected. The addition or removal of one single occurrence would have totally changed the nature and effect of the combination.
5. The convergence of otherwise unrelated events = time + place = chance The decisive cause of every event is pure chance. Events do not develop, they are born out of chaos.
6. Our confidence in foretelling and Influencing events increases in inverse ratio to our ability to do so.
7. We continually extend the logic of the momentary situation into the future, with little thought for the countless possibilities which materialize changes faster than we can blink.
8. Governments
can perpetrate horrors (with a great deal of popular approval)
on the basis of their sincerely
held but nonetheless brazen delusion that they know what would happen in
the future of infinite Possibilities.
RULE NUMBER TWO
POWER WEAKENS AS IT GROWS
1. THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF YOUR WILL TO ACHIEVE YOUR AIMS DIMINISHES WITH THE EXTENSION OF TIME
2. THE NUMBER
OF POSSIBLE AND ACTUAL OCCURRENCES INCREASES WITH TIME, SO THAT THE EXTENSION
OF TIME ALONE WILL INVOLVE PROGRESSIVELY MORE PEOPLE AND EVENTS OVER A
WIDER AREA.
3. TIME CUTS
DOWN EVERYBODY'S POWER--TIME IS ON THE SIDE OF CHANCE
4. POWER INVOLVES
ITS LUCKY POSSESSORS IN EVER-EXPANDING SITUATIONS OVER WHICH THEY CAN EXERCISE
EVER DECREASING CONTROL.
5. TO SUCCEED
(GETTING POWER) YOU MUST DOMINATE MORE PEOPLE, YOU MUST DOMINATE THE SITUATION,
THE SUM TOTAL OF EVENTS
6. PEOPLE
MAY WISH TO PLEASE YOU MORE, BUT THE VERY FACT THAT THEY/RE SCARED AND
NERVOUS IS LIKELY TO IMPAIR THEIR PERFORMANCE.
7. FAR FROM
SECURING ORDER, TERROR INTENSIFIES DISORDER AND SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION.
TERROR, THE MOST EXTREME FORM OF POWER, IS THE LEAST EFFECTIVE, AND RULERS
EMPLOY IT TO THE DETRIMENT OF THEIR OWN AUTHORITY.
8. DYNAMICS
OF ATOMS AND THE DYNAMICS OF HUMAN AFFAIRS OPERATE SIMILARLY: EVER EXPANDING
IN TIME AND PLACE
9. HUMAN POWER
OR WILL LOOM LARGE AT THE BEGINNING BUT THEN WILL CAUSE TO EXPAND THE SITUATION
BEYOND ITS CONTROL.
10. VIOLENCE
WRITES A SELF-DEFEATING TENDENCY INHERENT IN ALL OUR ATTEMPTS TO IMPOSE
OUR WILL ON EVENTS WHICH IS THAT OUR ACTION EXPANDS THE SITUATION AND INTENSIFIES
IT.
11. POWER
WEAKENS AS IT GROWS, BECAUSE THE LEVEL OF CHAOS RISES AS A SITUATION EXPANDS
12. HUBRIS IS THE MENTAL EPIDEMIC OF OUR AGE, AND ITS GERM IS THE UNIVERSAL DAYDREAM THAT WHATEVER WE REALLY, INTENSELY BELIEVE TO BE RIGHT AND WISH AND WORK FOR MUST AND WILL HAPPEN
.