Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) is a Member of the Mega Society based on a qualifying score on the Mega Test (before 1995) prior to the compromise of the Mega Test and Co-Editor of Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society. In self-description, May states: “Not even forgotten in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), I’m an Amish yuppie, born near the rarified regions of Laputa, then and often, above suburban Boston. I’ve done occasional consulting and frequent Sisyphean shlepping. Kafka and Munch have been my therapists and allies. Occasionally I’ve strived to descend from the mists to attain the mythic orientation known as having one’s feet upon the Earth. An ailurophile and a cerebrotonic ectomorph, I write for beings which do not, and never will, exist — writings for no one. I’ve been awarded an M.A. degree, mirabile dictu, in the humanities/philosophy, and U.S. patent for a board game of possible interest to extraterrestrials. I’m a member of the Mega Society, the Omega Society and formerly of Mensa. I’m the founder of the Exa Society, the transfinite Aleph-3 Society and of the renowned Laputans Manqué. I’m a biographee in Who’s Who in the Brane World. My interests include the realization of the idea of humans as incomplete beings with the capacity to complete their own evolution by effecting a change in their being and consciousness. In a moment of presence to myself in inner silence, when I see Richard May’s non-being, ‘I’ am. You can meet me if you go to an empty room.” Some other resources include Stains Upon the Silence: something for no one, McGinnis Genealogy of Crown Point, New York: Hiram Porter McGinnis, Swines List, Solipsist Soliloquies, Board Game, Lulu blog, Memoir of a Non-Irish Non-Jew, and May-Tzu’s posterous. Recently, we released an ebook, here (hyperlinked).
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Where does the original book’s title Stains Upon the Silence start? Who coined it? What is the idea behind it?
Richard May: Please allow me to quote one of the innumerable people who do not know Richard May/May-Tzu viz. Richard May/May-Tzu at the beginning of our second interview:
Richard May[1],[2]*: I think the expression that “each word is a stain upon the silence” originated with Samuel Beckett, who may have implied that his words were less true and beautiful than silence. The silence of pure consciousness in the moment is suggested to and by me, but not necessarily meant by Beckett, analogous to sunyata, the Buddhistic void.
“— Something for no one” anticipates that the book is unlikely to immediately be made into a hit TV series or become a popular film. Only the subset of the general population with both fairly high cognitive ability and a degree of “right-brainedness” and/or appreciation of artistic creativity are likely to value the work. These two factors probably have a correlation of about zero (0). So this is not a large potential audience.
Jacobsen: Its structure seems almost ‘damn-it-all’ as if not there, though discernible in snippets. What is the intended “structure” if any of Stains Upon the Silence?
May: I just arranged material which had been published in Noesis, and, hence in some sense vetted, sequentially in what appeared to be to me an not entirely random order by meanings. But each writing was done separately and independently of the others, so in fact there is only little order.
Jacobsen: You were the second person to earn a perfect score on the verbal section of the Mega Test of Ronald Hoeflin, the first being Marilyn vos Savant (Marilyn Mach vos Savant), which permitted entrance into the Mega Society. A theoretical 1-in-a-million high-I.Q. society based out of the United States of America, primarily, though international if considering an online environment for readers and contributors to the journal, Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society. You are the Co-Editor with Ken Shea of Noesis. Even with these, for the most part, as you note, you have avoided the media. Why avoid the media?
May: I have little respect for the rather biased main stream media today. I have no desire to be famous. How does it enhance me if I have, or imagine that I have, millions of drooling fans and even less privacy? Some may use media attention to make money, which is a different matter. My persona or false personality should not be propped up, especially by strangers or by imaginary ‘friends’ on Meta or whatever.
Jacobsen: With these decades of avoiding the media when intermittent opportunities arose for you, when I asked for In-Sight Publishing, why accept the interview(s)?
May: Your interviews with Rick Rosner had been published in Noesis, so I thought you probably would not do a drive by shooting.
Jacobsen: The interviews, so far, carried into 11 sessions, which shows commitment and patience from you. Why stick it out?
May: Maybe these interviews are my children, pathetic from a normal perspective, I suppose. But at least I don’t have to change their diapers. The shit remains right where it is — in the interview. I don’t have to pay their college tuition either. And I don’t need to have the Nature inspired delusion that I am my genes and will somehow live on in my progeny.
Jacobsen: Our first formal book production became Stains Upon the Stains. Why choose this title?
May: If my writings are stains upon the silence, then my commentary on the writings would be stains upon the stains, if I’m lucky.
Jacobsen: What can readers future-past or past-future ‘expect’?
May: My hope, of course, is that this will all be made into a major motion picture that no one will go to.
Jacobsen: Thanks, Chard.
May: I’m only a shard of chard now. But thank you and you are very welcome.