OPERA D’OEUVRE
THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN O'LOUGHLIN
With
an Introduction by the author
Copyright
© 1973-2009 John O’Loughlin
________________
INTRODUCTION
To anyone who can only
conceive of literary work in the context of books, or possibly even
audio-cassettes and/or audio CDs, this major compilation of assorted electronic
texts originally intended for CD-Rom but now also available over the Internet
may seem a trifle bizarre; but, to me, it signifies the culmination of a
process of creative and ideological evolution that began several decades ago
and that, frankly, would not be served to best advantage on anything short of the
chosen medium.
For the Internet is the ideal choice, it seems to me, for anyone
who not only has a large oeuvre - spanning well over a quarter of a century
- to present to the critical judgement of others, but who believes, moreover,
that it is a highly appropriate medium, given its universality, in which to
publish or, rather, freely disseminate works of a truly philosophical and
therefore truth-loving order.
Such works, it must be said, can only be aphoristic, or of a
notational brevity that defies prolixity, and it is because the greater and
most significant part of my literary oeuvre happens to be such, that I have
taken the trouble of putting it on the Internet, so that its true stature as
something germane to a higher and more subjective order of literature, not to
say civilization, than that pertaining to books (with their printerly,
rectilinear, voluminous, structural, and other limitations owing more to
worldly criteria than to what is genuinely otherworldly in the synthetic
artificiality of its urban universality), is granted due recognition.
Obviously there were stages to my becoming the radical
philosopher that the above comments might indicate, and such stages are
arguably more apparent in the earlier parts of my oeuvre, when I had
yet to exclusively dedicate myself to philosophy but was still endeavouring to
pursue a more conventional literary path based around both poetry and, in
particular, fiction.
At that time, back in the 1970s and early '80s, I had no idea
that one day I would unequivocally transcend these more conventional genres in
the interests of a consistently methodical pursuit of moral or rational truth; though I always knew, deep down, that
I was more truth-orientated than, say, beauty- or knowledge-orientated, even if
I had yet to discover that an enhanced sense of and commitment to higher
knowledge, to what should, in genuinely religious terms, be called truth per se, or Truth
(with a capital 'T'), could only be upheld on the basis of a sort of aphoristic
purism that would both confirm and enhance one's entitlement to effectively
consider oneself - over and above pedantic concessions to academic convention -
a true philosopher, as opposed, for instance, to a poet or a novelist who
occasionally dabbles, essayistically or otherwise, in
philosophy.
All things take time, and my growth as a writer in the process
of becoming ever more intensely philosophical, and thus effectively Messianic,
was no exception! I am only glad that I
kept at it, and thus discovered my true vocation, the sphere of creativity
where I would peak and eventually achieve something close to if not actually
constitutive of literary perfection.
In that respect, my slow rise to literary enlightenment could be
said to resemble the gradual progress of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim' towards the '
No, one cannot get to the Truth overnight, and if I have got to
it, that is to say, to an accommodation with a species of higher knowledge
which, on account of its sensibly metaphysical orientation, I can logically
call true, then that is only because of the initial and intermediate stages of
literary creativity which, whilst falling demonstrably short of the Truth (as,
incidentally, they had every right to do) kept me on track for the goal that
destiny was seemingly preparing for me all the while - a goal of consummate
philosophical fulfilment such that made it possible for me to declare my
pursuit of Truth to have effectively reached its culmination and for me to take
upon myself certain Messianic presumptions and responsibilities, whereby it
might reasonably be inferred by anyone who becomes sufficiently well-acquainted
with my works that, through what I advocate, I am the resurrection of the 'dead
in life' to the 'Life Eternal', and that no-one, but no-one, can enter the
heaven of 'Kingdom Come' (as explained in rather more contemporary terms in my
later texts) except through me, which is to say, through a careful study and,
ultimately, acceptance and, more importantly, implementation of my mature
teachings, whether with my assistance - as would seem more logical - or
otherwise.
However, such teachings would not be all that accessible without
a painstaking progress, as chronologically as possible, through my entire oeuvre; for to fully
understand the terminological implications of a later work it helps to have
ploughed through an earlier one, to have climbed from a lower rung, as it were,
of the literary ladder to a higher rung, no matter how erroneous or mistaken
some of its earlier contentions or assumptions may happen to be or prove, in
retrospect, to have been, and thus gradually come to an understanding of the
way my mind works and how, inevitably, things only develop and improve
gradually ... as the fruit of unremitting effort carried on over an extended
period of methodical time, given the immense complexities of the task before
one.
Clearly, this possibility of chronologically progressing through
a large oeuvre
would not materialize without the help of a medium like the Internet, which can
accommodate far more material than a book and thereby enable the reader to
climb, ladder-like, from work to work, opus to opus (the product, in part, of a
musical bias and background, though the 'opera' of the overall title is
strictly a plural of 'opus'), and thus
acquire a deeper insight into the development of a complex philosophy
than would otherwise be possible.
Then, too, no-one can point a finger at such and such a work, or
particular aspect thereof, and say: "That is surely wrong; therefore he is
a waste of time," when they are only at the half-way stage or
three-quarters of the way through the oeuvre rather than at or near its end,
where (even if I had been 'wrong' before, as I for one would be only too ready
to concede) the conclusions about metaphysical truth, and lesser though related
concerns, are often so radical and contrary to what convention or tradition
might have led one to expect ... that one would never be able to take them
seriously without having had the benefit of formative or inconclusive
philosophical developments - some of which one might, on the contrary, have
erroneously believed to be true - en route
to that definitive destination.
For then one will be in a better position both to understand and,
hopefully, relate to them!
Truth does not reveal itself to people who have not placed
themselves cautiously and diligently at its metaphysical feet, having come to
it by whatever circuitous or rambling paths.
It took me, I repeat, over three decades of painstaking endeavour,
during which, for a variety of reasons, I was obliged to modify my approach to
philosophy time and time again. Now
although it may not take any prospective pilgrim through my literary works
anywhere near as long to get to the end of this particular intellectual
journey, still he will be 'on the path' longer than a few months before he
begins to understand even a fraction of the complexities involved!
Nevertheless progress can and, I hope, will be made; for at the
end of the 'journey' it is the reader who should confirm me in my endeavour,
thereby deciding whether or not the promise of sensible deliverance from
worldly vices it contains will be realized by the (phenomenal) Many rather than
simply continue to be hogged by the (noumenal)
Few.
For the philosophy I have developed, under the rubric of Social
Theocracy, is an ideological philosophy, a philosophy with social implications,
and it appeals to those whom I have specifically earmarked, or 'chosen', to
consider well the potential for radical change it promises and to act,
democratically and responsibly, to help bring about such change in due course,
so that the dream may be turned into reality and the reality bear all the
hallmarks of the transmutation of this ideological philosophy into a sort of psychological
theosophy - in short, of theory into practice.
I am, in a way, the judge of metaphysical truth, but I must also be
judged, or recognized and acknowledged, else it will not bring to pass
something approximating to that which has been anticipated and expected for so very long and which the Church has made it its responsibility to uphold faith in - namely the establishment and furtherance, under messianic auspices, of 'Kingdom Come', a sort of 'Kingdom Union' of all the countries that become involved with it, which, if my theories are true, should eventually encompass the entire world, making global civilization a unified reality ultimately capable of space-centre apotheosis.
John O'Loughlin,
London 2009
NB.
Some common acronyms frequently occurring in the texts include:
CD(s)
- Compact Disc(s);
CND
- Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament;
CNS
- Central Nervous System;
CPU
- Central Processing Unit;
DVD(s)
- Digital Versatile Disc(s);
ESP
- Extra-Sensory Perception;
IUD
- Intra-Uterine Device;
LP(s)
- Long Player(s);
LSD
- Lysergic Acid Diethylamide;
PVC
- Polyvinyl Chloride;
VDU - Visual Display Unit.
