Robert M. Larsen passed away suddenly in the Spring of 1993, in a hotel room in Laramie, Wyoming. He hated Wyoming. Why he was there we will never know. Among his affects was an envelope filled with lined notecards. On the cards were a series of poems, maxims and notes.
This set touches on a diverse range of topics: from isolation to mathematics, poetry to economics, classical literature to absurdity. There is a thread through them all that holds.
Included here is a selection of the notes.
Quick note: formatting was very important to the lyricism of Robert’s notes, often with Elliot-like staggering of lines. Unfortunately it’s a level of formatting that is beyond this medium at present.
3-6-93
Homage to Shelley
Thou art Peter and in thy name I shall
construct My Fraud.
And in My Name thou shalt construct
My Fraud.
As I invoke you, so too shalt thou invoke
Me.
So shall it be, now and forever.
4-10-93
Andre Maurois, Bernard Quesnay , tr. Brian W. Downs
(NY: D. Appleton Co., 1927)
Bernard; “the absurdity of all of this twaddle is easily
proved.”
Monsieur Pascal Bouchet; “No, my dear
Bernard, no: Nothing is more difficult to
refute than what is utterly untrue… Don’t you
know the affair of the soldier Vibulenus? No?
Ah, These young men have got there ‘indigo
base.’ Well, my boy, read it in Tacitus before
going to sleep to-night…And you will see how
a Roman general got into The greatest trouble
for putting to death a legionary who never
existed.” (pp 98-99)
… …
Roger Lecourbe: “The marionettes have come to understand the play, and yet go on playing.” (p 283)
4-14-93
Blaise Wagering
Before the Light
If you betray X, perhaps X will come after you
I you do not betray X, perhaps X will betray you
If you do not betray X, perhaps X will come after you
you falsely believing in your betrayal.
If you do not betray X, perhaps X will come after
you for other reasons.
4-17-93
The Will; The Absurd 7
Among; between The Master, The Slave, there is nobody present. It is pure Will to Power. There are perhaps various selves visible but these selves are only present as actors under the play, strictly directed, of the dominant Will to Power.
The onlooker cannot tell what is going on from a glimpse, a snapshot. Cannot even determine which person is ‘dominant.’ But there is no dominant person on the stage, only actors. the Dominant Force, The Will to Power, is not visibly present on the stage.
It is only be viewing the Complete drama, which is impossible, that one can determine where the play was headed, the meaning of the sweep of the action. Nor is this limited temporal perspective the only limitation on determining the meaning of the WP. It is also the case that no individual is purely an onlooker but is also an actor caught up in The Play.
Thus, Nietzsche’s Will to Power is The Creative Force. Nietzsche discovers God in the Artistic Process. This Creative God is always at Work/Play. The rational design we have is the false snapshot. Creativity is not rational. And it is largely unknowable per se. Similar to Sophocles’ Zeus.
(Cf The Birth of Tragedy)
4-20-93
Hi-Voo Conversion
(Cf The Law of the Illusion Covering Reality)
This is again from experience
The point of Voo Doo being the breakdown of the subjects reality to produce a mental/nervous break in the subject and the strict obedience to Voo Symbolism. Making the subject a Slave or a suicide or both.
Phase 2: Wherein the subject does not succumb to the Voo processing, does not ‘wash,’ does not ‘break.’ To the extent the Subject practices Voo-avoidance, his behavior is suspect. It takes a form of hyper marginalization as part of the Voo process and as part of Voo avoidance.
If the subject ever mentions the Voo processing to anyone the story fits the clinical descriptions of delusional madmen.
The reality of the Voo Processing either is successful leading to madness, suicide or hypnotic slavery or
The reality of the processing if it is unsuccessful creates the illusion on the part of onlookers ( abetted by Voo skills among the onlookers ) that the subject is mad.
The subject who avoids the Voo Process then becomes entangled in the Illusion of his own madness which has been created.
4-20-93
The Illusion of the Madman
(See Hi-Voo Conversion)
See the strange man—No! don’t go near him, darling. See him looking out of the corner of his eye at the passing cars, as though someone was looking for him, following him, hunting him. He has no friends, such a strange man—is it any wonder ? Don’t let him see you looking or he’ll give you the evil eye. Some say he’s done something very evil and is haunted by the ghosts of his crime. Others that he’s simply a bedlamite, persecution mania and whatnot. I don’t know about you, but he scares me. Just not normal. People say he believes his clocks, car, water, electricity and heaven knows what else is tampered with. Just imagine! Who would take all the trouble !? If you ask me, he must have done something very evil and he’s punishing himself. Lets go shopping, dear, its ever so much fun.
4-20-93
Zen Will 2
The Zen State is Created in such a fashion as
to Deny the Possibility of Creation.
The Zen State is a Created (Creative) state of
Non-Creativity. [As creation per se is impossible,
this would be a harmonious condition]
It is as though the Will (Creativity) is a force
field and the structure, shape etc. of this field (and other
forces etc.) is the Individ.
The Zen State is then not the Purity of this Force Field as
such (The Meta-Individ. as before). Rather the Zen State is
achieved by a redefinition of the Field so as to ‘destroy’ the
Individ. as previously defined.
A // field say. Or lines radiating in all directions from a
fixed point of awareness.
But all of this is just metaphor. Analogy looking for a hook.
All of this Force Field nonsense being the result of some
Individ. Act of Will (Creativity) some One Hundred Years Ago.
How naive.
4-21-93
Zen Power
The notion being it is non-manipulative, non-interventionist. In this view it is pure Will to Power w/o the absorption (enslavement) of The Other.
It would be in this respect akin to Artistic creativity. Something as to The Purpose (‘Direction’ is too mechanistic) of the WP. In Artistic Creation it is Inner/’Imaginary.’ In Power (per se) it is Outer/Other. [This vocabulary is poor; redundant] In Zen it is neither Inner nor Outer. It is like Artistic Creation in being non-Other Enslaving. It is like Power in being Meta-Individual and ‘indifferent’ in The sense of ‘cool’/’cold.’
This returns to Awareness; Will. In Artistic Creation, Awareness is as in sleep—it is there but the individ. is completely ‘unaware’ of it. In Power, Awareness is palpable as a device for the purpose of controlling The Other; Predator Awareness. (Again, a cold Awareness) In Zen, there is something of a fusion of The Will, Awareness. An Awareness of Awareness, a Will to Awareness, a meta-awareness. This meta-awareness may well be cosmic, all encompassing. The ‘vision’ in this state is certainly unnormal. Similarly the ‘vision’ in Artistic Creation. And the ‘vision’ of Power… (The Vision of Power is = to that of Sex per se.) These are different Universes.
Among his less savory qualities, he's a poor sport, a sore loser and ill fitted for honest labor. He makes bad friends and worse decisions. Animals avoid him and children despise him. He's been known to drink to excess, carry on with seditious talk and leer at women. He's a coward, a card cheat and a known liar.
Mrs. Call's second grade class said perhaps all that needed to be said about Larsen.In a moment of vindication and possibly clarity, Call would add to Larsen's permanent record that he was a bit of a dreamer and that Larsen was "an excellent student but his grades trailed off in the final semester."True, Larsen was filled with promise and saddled as starry-eyed but one can't help but notice that Call's inability to chisel this raffish diamond-in-rough wasn't also a clerical trick to distance herself from the responsibility of the 'Nurture' debate.She also said he was "prompt".She wasn't wrong.
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