Survival is not continuity.

An institution may survive by shrinking, hardening, and forgetting what it was for. The walls remain, the name remains, the legal form remains — but the life that justified the form has departed.

Living continuity requires something more. It requires that what is carried forward remains alive to the reality it now serves. A residence must still be inhabited. A collection must still be read or seen. An enterprise must still know what it is for. A foundation must still correspond to the purpose that created it.

The House therefore asks not only whether a matter will survive the next transaction, but whether it will remain alive after it. If the answer is no, the House has a duty to say so — and to prepare the alternative that preserves continuity rather than the one that merely completes the transaction.