The Sleeping King

There we go, you needn’t look down to see how it is that you are moving. No, no, don’t look down, for if you should happen to catch a glimpse of what is carrying you, you may become paralyzed with horror and fall clean off the edge of the world. That scurry, scatter, pitter, patter is the sound of the busy feet of many little demons, and you, their great lord, sit atop the rigshaw being pulled along by their whim and urge, their fevered desires, their insistent directives.
They are good little demons, helpful little demons, demons that assist you in the act of passing yourself off within the society of human kind as something exactly the same as your neighbor. They move you through the big fierce world, smile for you when it is appropriate to smile, turn red in the face and storm off when it is appropriate. They pay compliments to the beautiful and readily available members of that gender opposite to your own, or even to that gender the same as your own. Whatever program it is they have learned, they execute it with lightning speed and precision so that you, oh mighty emperor, can lay back and enjoy the ride in a soft blue haze of apathy and delight.
Isn’t that ,after all, the way things have come to be all throughout this opium dream? Doesn’t the master ride like a bloated invalid upon the backs of his servants with out glancing below to see what is happening down there in the dark places below the mist enshrouded castle?
Long gone are those days when the Emperor commanded his people, and likewise suffered for his people, taking responsibility for them. We have come into the bleak and black valley of this dream in time. There are few masters worthy of their charge. Those little demons, like hordes of tiny yapping dogs drag their ward up and down the road so that they may piss on this hydrant, hump that other king’s Chihuahua, or nip this ankle over here. The great king has become a slave shackled to a wriggling animal mass doing what it does best.
The fault, you see, is all yours, you who are drowsy, and perhaps even well meaning in your hands off approach to their care. You must exercise your power, command the demons rather than leave them running the show so that you can catch a few z’s. You may well think that you are just going to settle down for a little catnap, leaving things on auto pilot, entrusted to their eager little hands. Suddenly you will find that you have snoozed away an entire life time and in your absence the kingdom has fallen to ruin. You will not be a king anymore, no, indeed you will be a vagabond, living down in the gutter, the only empire you can manage.
Don’t look down until you are ready to face the frightful truth, that you have been a complacent passenger, that much of what you have considered to be you, is in fact, your dark carnival entourage. They are like pets, like little children that have been left with all of the responsibility, they have chewed the blinds, crapped in the corner behind the sofa, jumped onto the table and eaten the chocolate cake, all in your name. There is no sense in blaming them, nor any sense in trying to cover up their wrong doings in order to hide your own negligence. When you are ready just look down and begin to give them the loving guidance they need to be truly helpful little demons.
Buckminster Fuller, of course, has said that there is no up or down in this universe, only in or out, in which case, when you are quite prepared, look inside and see what they have been doing while you were smoking in the back bed room. Of course you will have a hard time recognizing them all to begin with. Don’t worry, you’ve been asleep for a long time, as the lethargy wears off you will come to know them each. You will be able to assign them names and call them out to perform their tricks when you will it.
There may be an appropriate time to smile, and they will execute this action with your approval or they will abort the mission if you give the sign. There will be no smile, however socially appropriate it would have been, unless the emperor has nodded, likewise no red faced storming, compliment paying, nor nose picking.
If you wish to see your kingdom restored, then rouse yourself from the dreams of what was or what will be and see what is REALLY happening in there, carrying you along until death.
Awaken Oh King. Awaken and rule your people while there is still time.