Unlike John O'Loughlin's first collection of abstract poems, simply called 'Abstracts' (1983), this later project, divided into three volumes with a total of nearly 400 poems, is non-readerly and hence abstract in a patterned and completely formal way such that requires nothing more than contemplation, as suggested by the title, of its lower-case monosyllabic structures. One could argue that these abstract poems, which the author regards as a form of 'word art' or, better, 'word sculpture', are primarily intended to assist one in developing a contemplative frame-of-mind at the expense of...

If the essayistic aphorisms and aphoristic notes of John O'Loughlin's eight prior volumes of 'supernotes' (from 'Devil and God' to 'Last Judgements'), are of indeterminate length, then what follows here, dating from 1993, is of an aphoristic purism which allows for little or no deviation from the basic form. One could say that he had passed through the heavy darkness into the full light(ness) of Truth at this point, and the result is a vindication not only of the aforementioned 'supernotational' volumes, but of his entire philosophical quest to-date. Comprised of 707 maxims which have been...

Following on from the 1993 volume of maxims entitled 'Maximum Truth', this project was written on a slightly more straightforward though no less truth-intensive basis, and extends beyond most of the material contained in its predecessor. It is also comprised of 707 numbered maxims, without, however, the 'a/b' subdivisions of before.

This 1994 project is comprised of some 323 notational maxims of variable length and quality, most of which are nevertheless significantly more complex than anything previously attempted by John O'Loughlin in the genre, with subjects ranging, as usual, right across his philosophical spectrum ... from science and politics to economics and religion.

This title, comprised of over 170 maxims of which not a few are virtually essayistic in length and treatment, is in effect largely a refutation of 'Occasional Maxims', its predecessor, as we move from a philosophical bias to one that is effectively theosophical and, in the process, develop an enhanced sense of logic which both contrasts with and complements a number of the contentions previously put forward.

This collection of maxims, dating from 1993, continues from where 'Truthful Maxims' leaves off, and does so in a similar, albeit less stylistically intensive vein, achieving what John O'Loughlin holds to be the elaboration and exploration of a conceptual comprehensiveness quite unique to philosophy. Comprised of nearly 600 maxims, some of which are slightly longer than in the earlier compilation, 'Informal Maxims' is not for the faint-hearted or those who shy away from philosophical acumen.

The text of this work of aphoristic philosophy is not only stylistically less formal but thematically more complex than its predecessor, 'Informal Maxims' (1993), as we proceed through some 1133 maxims, including an appendix/coda, of disparate length in what is, by any standards, a demandingly mind-expanding philosophical adventure which, despite its aphoristic informality, is not without specific directionality.

Unlike John O'Loughlin's first collection of non-readerly abstract poems and/or poetic word art, simply called 'Contemplations' (1985), which was uniformly lower-case in its monosyllabic structures, this later project, which dates from 1993 and has been entitled 'Supercontemplations', is comprised of mixed-case monosyllabic structures that are also intended, albeit on a more flexible and arguably imaginative basis, to facilitate a contemplative frame-of-mind at the expense of readerly norms, thereby transcending the intellect in what could be regarded as a mode of literary salvation akin to...

Conceived in loosely cyclical form, this 1994 project harks back to the author's 'supernotational' works, which date from the mid-80s, comprising essayistic aphorisms and aphoristic notes, in respect of the greater variety of length and treatment between the contents, some of which are arguably aphoristic, others essayistic, but all of which thematically follow from John O'Loughlin's previous philosophical titles, including the four volumes of maxims beginning with 'Maximum Truth' (1993), in a no-less comprehensively methodical vein.