Rich Norman's Books, Papers and Music
Books:
Enough, the continuation of Ever Deeper Never Better, holds a unique and special place within the body of my work. This is the finest, most profound and image rich piece of fiction I have ever created, a work so far above its author, that it stands alone as the single most beautiful and insightful piece of fiction you are likely to own. Written as a piece of music, the most important topics which plague and enrich the human experience are asked, and answered. In the life of a creative soul, sometimes a piece of work emerges which in and of itself, justifies the entire life of its creator. This is such a work.
What evil springs from our good? What violence do we crave, and even savor, to become… moral? What wish, what perverse wish is within the holy? What wish is hidden beneath our devotion? Do you know the truth––?––that our Gods are daemons! Have you seen the black glistening fangs of Hope, and the drawn cheeks of Contentment? Have you heard death's true name spoken aloud––?––How profane and sacred is this name, this last ugly word: "Happiness?" Can we find the impossible is simple, our pain is but light, but a folded knot of light darkening the mystery, a blackness feigned, once poured out to become––everything? Yes! Our Pain is our Light––but for one thin error! Can you guess it––?––can you see it––?––the diamond of our pain, our treasure spilled into Life and silver laughter but for this? And do you know who––Who has destroyed the world?
James and Carolyn are as God and Goddess living in the voluptuous bliss of the Alaskan wilderness, until seduced to foolish hope by a broken Mad Man. As the truth unfolds, the lovers are initiated into the most sacred, beautiful, inaccessible and dark recesses of the human soul, until at last, the ultimate answers, the heart of human abomination, horror and hope are revealed. Through the vehicles of parable, song, science and story, our most poisonous daemons and gods are brought into the light of day and known. Once vanquished, the final human question remains, our last and deepest hungry doubt rises up, and in gratitude, brightly falls away: What of human suffering?
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Rich Norman/Enough
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
This New Day––Self-Creation: The Wisdom of an Idiot
Born in Philadelphia in 1963, Rich is a painfully introspective and humorous man with a lifelong interest in psychology, music and composition. Norman, a bandleader and composer of over twenty years turned recluse, now surrenders to his thoughts to write on topics which only experience, illness and irreverence can teach. Rich has taken the liberty of composing a few self-grandiose and if not humble, scrupulously honest lines of promotion (below) to encapsulate the charms of his first book–––This New Day.
This New Day is a philosophical, psychological narrative which takes 45 years of life experience and distills error, farce and truth into the sort of scathing insight and humor which makes non-fiction books worth reading. The psychology behind the myth of hell; the genesis of the creative drive in man; the modus-operandi of all mono, poly, and non-theistic religions; the nature of obsession, addiction, and the identity of God are just a few of the topics now finally unearthed in this ground-breaking new work.
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Rich Norman/This New Day
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
The Tangible Self:
Psychoanalysis offers the only sure permanent cure without drugs for certain potentially severe types of mental illness (the transference neuroses––certain types of hysteria and obsessional neurosis, aka OCD), as well as a way to improve the overall mental health and mental functioning of healthy people. With a new psychoanalytic technique which I have named, "Native Psychoanalysis," the earliest memories and impressions from childhood and other contributors to neurosis and symptom producing repressions can be more quickly accessed and returned to consciousness. One is led by way of clear examples through the specific steps which will uncover the unconscious roots of neurotic illness.
Chapters on the cycle of libidinal energy, the interpretation of hysterical and obsessive symptoms and the discovery of their infantile component as well as other uncomfortable topics are dealt with in a hands-on concrete fashion. This is a book for the very few, but those few, both necessity's serious student of psychology and therapists alike will be glad to have it! A new approach to revealing the repressions responsible for the transference neuroses! For those few who are invited into the depths of such topics and need this knowledge, this book will become indispensable.
Click here for a full table of contents.
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Rich Norman/The Tangible Self
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Time Saw a Fly:
The human mind contains a mystery, a mystery which unlocks the reasons for the inexplicable things we do, our true soul, hidden in darkness and twice unknowable: The Unconscious. Here in the invisible heart of Man lies his impossible unspoken truth, a truth forever sealed away from his view but always turning silently within him, the unknown hand which his reasons never manage to explain––dark, omnipotent and invisible...until now. Sam Lessing can see into the hidden unconscious theatre in the minds of his fellow Americans. What he sees reveals a hopeful terrible truth, our truth.
This novel tackles the big questions, the purpose and meaning of life––the huge, impossible existential questions. If you have an appetite for humor and beauty, a hunger for the oldest questions and the answers they crave, you will enjoy this book. Through means often beautiful and poetic, sometimes clear and direct, the nature of our hidden soul is laid bare amidst an overarching examination of the human spirit and potential. Touching, funny, hopeful and shocking, Time Saw a Fly is a photograph of our unflattering human "truth," and the creative answer to the meaningless question we see.
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Send $15 per copy:
Rich Norman/Time Saw a Fly
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
The Black Mirror:
The Black Mirror is psychology, philosophy and wisdom become play and pleasure. Through parable, saying, song and story we plumb the depths to questions our "whys" and discover humor, tenderness and candor to be an undercurrent which invites us into our reflection, into the question behind the answer which lies on the surface. Wisdom is a laughing, weeping god who knows play best!
This is a beautiful book, a book with its wisdom tastefully hidden, a book of parables, verse and over 600 aphorisms and epigrams. Serious subject matter approached playfully. The entire book is psychology made beautiful, handled with philosopher's gloves. Each parable is ripe for interpretation, each epigram or aphorism a thought confection, multi-layered and condensed, rich with many meanings, some pointed, some unexpected, but none left to chance. Epigrams and parables are psychology at play!
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Rich Norman/The Black Mirror
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Mind Map: Psychological Topography and an approach to a new creative psychology or... The Secret of Happiness:
This small volume is perhaps the world's most hopeful, and so the world's most dangerous psychology book. It contains no less than the psychologist's philosopher's stone: how to transform the neurotic into the creative. Understand the secret of happiness to finally see Beauty caught with her skirt up – discover how to unwire the guilt which holds you back by removing the teeth of conscience – try mental exercises which free unconscious energies to increase intellect and creativity – recover the mental elasticity and bruised happiness of youth in later years, but be warned: Psychology with the gloves off is blood-sport, and not for the intellectually weak, timid or squeamish! A small book with large thoughts. Approach with caution.
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Rich Norman/Mind Map
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Ever Deeper Never Better:
Ever Deeper Never Better is an action novel based around the transformation of James Holdsworth from an average young American, "one of us," into the us we do not see. War makes invisible allegory come alive as we are swept in its tide toward survival and our unknown animal self–––the shadow self we all hide. James Holdsworth moves from morality to immorality and madness by way of action and humor, until the enormous tensions are resolved in a sumptuous liquid ending which offers up the answer sought by every divided soul. Ever Deeper Never Better is Action, Allegory and Answer.
This novel approaches our American psychology via allegory. The essential fundamental elements of the American personality are explored as we watch its construction in James Holdsworth. As a society, we can see our hidden but omnipresent unconscious aspects emerge in war. Here the root unconscious fantasies which make the American economic system, foreign policy and national character tick are exposed. The unconscious is given vent in war so be warned––this book contains violence! Gasp! Many aspects of criminal psychopathology are authentically produced for your examination! The main theme of the novel is the genesis of morality and immorality, both so deeply mistaken. Then the disorder is dissolved, and James Holdsworth is healed in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. The end is the answer. If you read Mind Map first, you will see I turn James into an "Emotive Rationalist," the psychological ideal presented in Mind Map.
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Send $15 per copy:
Rich Norman/Ever Deeper Never Better
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Papers/CV:
Rich Norman's CV and partial publication list
Music:
Time Travel and other illusions -- Rich Norman's 2009 release and companion to This New Day. A composition of many years depth, taking over five years from conception to completion, Time Travel explores new musical avenues and allows the listener to escape into strange perfect worlds past, present and future. The climax is a twenty minute voyage into the nature of self-discovery, music which is both dark and ascending. An explanatory essay ranging over topics from chord theory to the philosophy of perception is included in the liner notes.
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Rich Norman/Time Travel
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Rich Norman & The Kind Live at Parker's, Amsterdam 1994 -- An astounding romp through familiar standards live with his band of aces, where play is the word! Fun at ridiculous tempo is the hallmark of great jazz, which is comedy at its best! Norman plays his impossible solo around the bar room, spitting rolls and licks out onto ashtrays, glasses and tables while never losing the form of the song. High silliness for all!
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Rich Norman/Live at Parker's
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534
Blood on the Rim (1991) -- A top-quality recording out of Prairie Sun Studios in California, featuring Norman's one man show, and band The Kind, playing his arrangements of standards and original material including Norman's first original composition, "Sisyphus was a Musician." "Sisyphus was a Musician" was soon recognized as a work worthy of note, winning the Jazz category in the Songwriters Association of Washington's 13th annual national competition.
Send $20 per cd:
Rich Norman/Blood on the Rim
PO Box 387
O'Brien, OR. 97534