Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12)
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 12
Issue Numbering: 2
Section: A
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 30
Formal Sub-Theme: None.
Individual Publication Date: February 15, 2024
Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Word Count: 605
Image Credits: Richard May.
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Abstract
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. May discusses: Daoist influence; uncertainty principle and “the map is not the territory”; macrobiotic Taoist teachings by Michio Kushi; Yin-Yang dynamics and energy production; ephemeral phenomena and constant change; polarity and attraction within the universe; the 12 theorems of the unique principle and the 7 laws of the order of the universe; Neo-Daoism’s historical context; Dao as both noun and verb; the indescribable nature of the Tao.
Keywords: Antagonism, Centrifugal, Centripetal, Complementary, Daoism, Energy, Ephemeral, Macrobiotic, Neo-Daoism, Phenomena, Polarity, Tao, Uncertainty principle, Universe, Yin-Yang.
Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12)
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When it comes to the poetry and written work by you, I’ve always encountered a great deal of Daoist influence on you, or maybe the other way around. Regardless, let’s start with defining, potentially the undefinable, but we can flail! How do you characterize the Dao?
May-Tzu: I have written an exhaustive disquisition on the Tao below following the number 1 and preceding 2.
1.
2.
I cannot fully appreciate the Tao of Lao-Tzu and Juang-Tzu , because I do not read or speak Chinese. — — Perhaps if one could synthesize Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle with Alfred Korzybski’s formulation that “the map is not the territory” …
I used to go to lectures by the “macrobiotic” Taoist teacher Michio Kushi in Boston, when I was in my thirties. (He once referred to me as “great thinker,” I think because I sat in the back of the room, which was “yin,” and have a large head.) Mr. Kushi said that he would teach everyone how to live to be 120 years old. He also said that “cancer is our friend.” He died at age eighty-eight of cancer. His philosophical predecessor, George Oshawa, unintentionally caused the death of his infant child by feeding it highly excessive quantities of salt, NaCl. The subtleties of the Tao could not fail to impress me.
“The Twelve Theorems of the Unique Principle
- Yin-Yang are two poles which enter into play when the infinite expansion mani- fests itself at the point of bifurcation.
- Yin-Yang are produced continually by the transcendental expansion.
- Yin is centrifugal. Yang is centripetal. Yin and Yang produce energy.
- Yin attracts Yang. Yang attracts Yin.
- Yin and Yang combined in variable pro- portion produce all phenomena.
- All phenomena are ephemeral, being of infinitely complex constitutions and con- stantly changing Yin and Yang compo- nents. Everything is without rest.
- Nothing is totally Yin or totally Yang, even in the most apparently simple phe- nomenon. Everything contains a polarity at every stage of its composition.
- Nothing is neutral. Yin or Yang is in excess in every case.
- The force of attraction is proportional to the difference of the Yin and Yang components.
- Yin repels Yin and Yang repels Yang. The repulsion is inversely proportional to the difference of the Yin and Yang forces.
- With time and space, Yin produces Yang, and Yang produces Yin.
- Every physical body is Yang at its center and Yin toward surface.
The Seven Laws of the Order of the Universe
- What has a beginning has an end.
- What has a front has a back.
- There is nothing identical.
- The bigger the front, the bigger the back.
- Every antagonism is complemen- tary.
- Yin and Yang are the classifica- tions of all polarization. They are antagonistic and complementary.
- Yin and Yang are the two arms of One (Infinite).”
The 12 theorems of the unique principle and 7 laws of the order of the universe are from the 1962 French edition of “The Atomic Era and the Philosophy of the Far East” as translated by Michael and Maria Chen. https://ohsawamacrobiotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/macrobiotic-principles-2013.pdf
Jacobsen: How do Daoism and neo-Daoism define the Dao?
May-Tzu: “The term “Neo-Daoism” (or “Neo-Taoism”) seeks to capture the focal development in early medieval Chinese philosophy, roughly from the third to the sixth century C.E.”
— The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Jacobsen: I’ve read Dao can be read as a noun or as a verb. How does this work?
May-Tzu: Don’t recall.
The Tao that can’t be Taoed isn’t the Tao.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12). February 2024; 12(2). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2024, February 15). Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12). In-Sight Publishing. 12(2).
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 2, 2024.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2024. “Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (February 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12.
Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2024) ‘Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(2). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12>.
Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2024, ‘Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 2, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12.
Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Conversation with Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) on Daoism and Neo-Daoism: Co-Editor, “Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society” (12) [Internet]. 2024 Feb; 12(2). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/may-12.
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