                        BEHAVIOURAL CUT-UPS AND MAGICK

                             by Genisis P-Orridge
                                   T.O.P.Y.

I. THEE KEY

My primary concerns in space and time: That situation which society informs 
us is named "being alive", or on more intellectual days, "reality"; are Control, 
Human Behaviour, and an inkling that underlying everything is a web of 
parallel causes and parallel effects upon which we can exert more 
manipulative pressure than we are led to believe by the aforementioned 
Society. Whilst is is true that we did not ask to be here, it is also true that we 
did not ask to not be here either. Birth and Death at this stage of evolution 
appear to our everyday senses to be thee only certain points in this 
maelstrom of "being alive". Thee word being is such a nice word, to be, to be 
in, being, a state of mind and/or body, it is a rather coumforting and 
seductive word. Yet like all words it has reverberations. Languages 
interfacing, wars and migrations cross fertilising, needs to do more that 
grunt, urges to express more than biological functins and pre-requisites. 
History, that which travels thee macrocosm of space and time, lives inside 
words like an ectoplasmic hermit crab in a stolen shell. Words in turn live 
inside us too, like more hermit crabs, protecting themselves from discovery 
of their secret, and words live outside us freeranging in our culture like 
viruses waiting for an appropriate host. This function has be deeply 
investigated by W.S. Burroughs in literature, and to a lesser extent through 
tape and film, and collage works earlier in his career. However, looking back 
with an overview in 1987, this first layer and its direct symbiotic 
relationship with all interpretations of control and all thee interactions and 
permutations it exposes satisfied him and occupied him enough. Brion Gysin, 
"Thee Master", who largely introduced W.S.B. to this whole scenario, saw 
further, saw thee other layers, was not satisfied. He studied languages, 
western and eastern Etymology, had devastating knowledge of European 
migrations and interactions going back as far as records allowed. He was 
aware of thee process touched upon earlier. He observed first hand for 23 
years thee threads of pulse and frequency generated through Moroccan 
music. Where thee master musician has certain phrases and sequences of 
sound that are thee equivalent of a spoken language and guide and instruct 
thee players as thee music is performed. Music that therefore literally 
"speaks" of primal roots and impulses of behaviour. That triggers endorphine 
assisted alpha-wave neurological states that inspire and reveal thee fluidity 
of occult physics. That all is light, which is nothing more than an idea, and 
that light is, within that, infinite particles exploding and racing in every 
direction simultaneously. A quaquaversatility. And that is thee nearest to a 
key we might get. And from this Brion gave us paintings and drawings which 
began with thee desert, with desert light. And then seemed at first glance to 
becoum more abstract, myriad scratchings and markings swirling until he 
showed you they were thee desert still, thee light itself, thee very particles 
of sight. And they were thee desert dwellers, thee keepers of thee music, 
thee speakers of frequency. Thee expressors of magick lore. Thee inhabitants 
of Pan, drowning in unspoken rituals.

II. THEE DOOR

In relation to this event and its primary concerns, "Thee Door" is thee cut-up. 
There is now a clear representation of thee system that concerns us. 
Contrary to thee image we are presented with by those Feudal Overlords 
that administer Control, our society is not yet part of thee 20th century in 
terms of its comman structure and behavioural inhibitors. Thee great 
majority of people are to all intents and puposes "serfs" and they exist on 
thee minimum level of potentiality expansion at which they can function to 
perpetuate thee status quo. No one conglomerate of businessmen, or 
politicians, or masonic manipulators control Control. They do however 
administer its needs. It's an obvious truism that most injustices in our 
Society are protections of thee vested interests of a minority over thee 
majority. For hundreds of years thee majority of thee population have been 
bullied, conditioned, trained, suppressed and censored into subservience. 
Into an unconscious yet massibely potent acceptance of thee impossibility of 
an evolutionary change in human behaviour patterns, in thee impossibility 
of aspiring to thee maximum growth and repossession of their own innate 
potential. Control is thee web that traps us and injures our intuitive belief in 
our selves. Thee word, literature, parallel this process. With a cut-up you can 
break down thee expected, inherited values and assumptions and retrain 
yourself to look at revealing possibilities. Describing "reality" more 
accurately than any linear system. Our languages are linear. Life is not. At 
any given moment we are recieving input to thee exteroceptors both in 
obvious ways and less obvious ways. (i.e. Sound enters our body through all 
its surfaces, via vibration and frequency, not just via thee ears). These inputs 
contribute to motivation in thee cerebral cortex. Simultaneously to this 
process memories are being compared to thee new information and thee 
cerebral cortex then modifies it and adds it to a command for thee sub-
cortical regions. In those sub-cortical regions effectors carry out the 
command response to thee stimuli. While these neurological functions are 
taking place, thee body coumtinues its metabolic functions and actions semi-
automatically. Random events outside thee Individual's body are also being 
registered and/or affecting thee Individual. Emotions are triggering and 
interplaying in thee subconscious. Thee entire nature and state of that 
Individual is in a state of flux. There is no fixed point, no definition, no finite 
answer of specific formula. Thee closest to a possibility of describing thee 
reality of things as opposed to the inherited linear materialistic model of 
thee state of being alive has to be a kaleidoscopic, integrated, non-linear 
method. It has to contain, at least implicitly, every possibility, every 
impossibility, every conscious and unconscious thought, word and deed, 
simultaneously. Thee Cut-up is a practical way-in to this. Life is quite simply 
a stream of cut-ups on every level. Given thee discovery of a means to 
describe and reveal reality, we can also identify Control. Control denies 
intuition and instinct particularly, and dreams of all forms, randomness, 
thought. All these and other behavioural and psychological perceptions 
generate impulses in Individuals to say "Why?", "No" and refuse acceptance. 
To believe more is possible than they have been (literally) LED to believe. 
That they need accept nothing until they have analysed and evaluated its 
value and applicableness to them. 

III. THEE ROOM 

A room means to have space to grow and develop. It is also a physical place, 
and like all words it is a metaphor too. Thee room is where you are, and 
where you want to be. To go into thee room is to choose to reclaim yourself. 
Until people learn to respect themselves again, to care for themselves, to 
treasure emotions and feelings. To have self-esteem and accept no one else's 
suggestion of what it is possible for them to be, what skills they might have 
and how far those skills can be pushed, to always make up your own mind 
about what is right for you, what has value to you in every aspect of Life. To 
re-learn as a new second-nature to make up your own mind and not be 
directed, intimidated or accepting of any established system of values and 
behaviour. Until all these processes are returned to an Individual's own 
control and constantly reanalysed to check against laziness and habit for its 
own sake there can be no possibility of evolution and expansio
n for thee 
Individual and, through them, society. What is needed therefore, is a 
practical, functional method that effectively deconditions, disinhibits, short-
circuits a society's behavioral taboos and control. A physical back-up to thee 
process of always asking why. Accepting nothing as true. It was this quest 
for a method that led me first towards performance art, within which 
context E attempted to set myself tasks that forced me to locate barriers and 
inhibitions related to pain and sexual thresholds, for example. Once 
identified and measured, E was able to think about whether they were 
actually useful to me, or were merely inherited. This regimen in turn 
introduced me to new mental states akin to trance and yoga, and unexpected 
blocks or embarassments that were illogical to me. Ritualisation fused with 
impulse and instinct integrated with intuition, an open-minded examination 
of my most deeply buried and normally inarticulated drives and desires and 
an approach devoid of preconceptions that re-educated my idea of what E 
was as an Individual, what my real boundaries were, and what it was 
possible for me to become. What E had been bombarded with as my self-
image by Education, Religion, Society, thee Family and thee Media in their 
various colluding forms, subtle and blatant, bore no relation to what E 
experienced and perceived. There are always levels beneath thee level of 
what we identify as a problem. Suddenly E realised that ritual, and various, 
previously named, "occult" practices were in fact methods of short-circuiting 
Control of thee Individual, destroying their coumpliance with what they are 
trained to expect, want, or aspire to. They were a parallel method in thee 
medium of Behaviour and self-reclamation to thee Cut-up in Writing, Film 
and Video and Music. So cultural methods of de-control COULD just as 
effectively be applied to ourselves. To more accurately describe both how we 
are at one point in Time, and how we can re-define ourselves from that point 
on. To be aware of all thee simultaneous factors that must be clearly and 
honestly allowed free-play for us to work in a focussed accurate manner 
towards a fully integrated character. That recognises and embraces every 
aspect of its complex self, free of any self-delusion. That finds its own rations 
with a complete re-integration of thee conscious and subconscious mind of 
sexuality, emotion, intelligence, knowledge, relationships, dreams and so on. 
Not just a developing of so-called logical perceptions, butter a genuinely 
realistic blending of thee illogical also. And recognises that nothing is fixed, 
that these ratios are forever changing and should be seen as directions.

IV. THEE PERSON

Thee person therefore could fight back. And a long-standing tradition of 
Magick appeared thee most relevant area and structure within which to 
research and express thee possibilities open to Individual and Collective re-
definition and evolution. As Burroughs said about Cut-ups, "How Random Is 
Random?". Thee picture we get from cut-ups is more accurate than any 
traditional description. What has always been presented as thee Irrational 
becoums far more accurate and plausible than thee Rational explanation we 
are endlessly urged and bullied to accept. Thee psychology of thee 
unconscious explores thee background of thee so-called rational mind both 
by disciplined investigation and hysterical dissociation of thought habits. 
There is a strong implication that thee essence of Magick is psycho-
integrative. It re-invests thee Individual with an awareness of psycho-
genetic history, lets them face and re-evaluate their own responses and 
perception of themselves. It allows them to be awake and fight subservience 
and adherence to any and all preconceptions. Thee myths and symbols of 
thee past were attempts to articulate intimations of what is possible. Thee 
themes of mythology are not just archaic knowledge- they are living 
actualities of human beings. They exist as signposts and facets of interlaced 
themes that together make up human behaviousr, character, aspiration and 
potential. To touch ourselves and respect ourselves against all thee odds is 
crucial to survival and to appreciation and effective use of thee state of 
being alive. Thee need is to find a way into thee deepest areas of thee 
psyche and how it affects and triggers behaviour and response. To redevelop 
an integrated relationship with our so-called primitive perceptions from 
which we have been alienated by Society. Western Society has built a norm 
where unthinkingly thee majority of people deny, ridicule, attack, abuse, 
trivialise, experience fear of, suppress or consign to novelty any experiences 
that provide evidence or intimations of their inherited system of 
explanations being inadequate. Fact, whatever that is, is given credence over 
dreams; acceptance by a group is paramount, deviation and rebellion 
generate fear. Those with thee courage to openly declare independence and 
hope are isolated and scorned. Fame is constantly projected as thee primary 
motivation for ambition. Every level of our Society is riddled with thee 
concept of competition, beating thee other person or side, this is reinforced 
by Capitalism, by Sport, Success in Entertainment and all fields, by Religion 
and by Politics. Compete, compete. Competition is a variant of aggression. By 
using ritual, gradually getting a clearer map of every inter-connection of 
one's conscious and unconscious mind and couming to terms with thee 
revelation that flux and constant change with no anchors or reassuring 
formulae and no guaranteed rewards or salvation one can liberate oneself 
from all thee inherited constraints that nine times out of ten directly or 
indirectly bolster thee status quo. It literally allows us to face ourselves and 
face facts. It supplies recognition that within each Individual there are many 
types and shades of consciousness with diverse intentions and values. By 
investigating our blocks, inhibitions, real desires and motivations in 
preconceived moments of Time set aside to explore thresholds of perception 
and response to check exactly what one's limits are and decide if they are 
one's REAL limits, or merely convenient or coumplacent, we can re-assemble 
and discard as we wish.

V. THEE IDEA

To heal and re-integrate thee human character. To set off psychic 
detonations that negate control. To re-evaluate and value phenomena that 
appear to defy reason. To retrieve choice in all things. To avoid separation 
and coumpartmentalism in every aspect and level of Life, internal and 
external. To always attempt to express as truly as you can what you really 
feel and think. To locate and identify one's skills and develop them. To be 
aware of human frailties and futility whilst caring intensely. To push to thee 
edge and struggle to always feel and express more. To despise all forms of 
coumplacency. To carry through one's ideas 24 hours a day for a lifetime. To 
accept nothing. To assume nothing. To encourage others to repossess 
themselves and maximise their potential. To exchange and liberate 
information. To understand and treasure thee preciousness of feelings, 
emotions and sentiment. To rebuild thee parameters and possibilities of 
relationships. To locate and choose without guilt or fear one's individual and 
natural balance of sexuality. To change and not see change as contradiction 
or inconsistency, butter actually how things are and should be. To see Time 
as an unfixed and irreplaceable resource that one receives only a limited and 
unpredictable amount of. That that Time must never be wasted or 
squandered. To try to work towards knowing that you used every second 
constructively. To seek self-improvement not self-gratification.

Control. Control needs Time (like a junkie needs junk). Time appears linear. 
Cut-ups make time arbitrary, non-linear. They reveal, locate and negate 
Control. Control hides in social structures like Politics, Religion, Education, 
Mass Media. Control exists like a virus for its own sake. Cut-ups loosen 
rational order, break preconceptions and expected response. They retrain 
our perception and acceptance of what we are told is thee nature of reality. 
They confound and short-circuit Control. All Control ultimately relies upon 
manipulation of behaviour. In culture thee Cut-up is still a modification of, or 
alternate, language. It can reveal, describe and measure Control. It can do 
damage butter that is not enough. Magick as a method is a Cut-up Process 
that goes further than description. It is infused with emotion, intuition, 
instinct and impulse, and includes emotions and feelings. It operates actually 
within thee same medium, "Behavior", as Control. It is therefore essential as 
a system to challenge, emasculate and render impotent thee source of 
Control itself.

Control Disintegrates. Magick integrates.

Thee idea is to apply thee cut-up principle of behavior.

Thee method is a contemporary, non-mystical interpretation of "Magick".

Thee aim is reclamation of self-determination, conscious and unconscious, to 
the Individual.

Thee result is to neutralise and challenge thee essence of social control. 

Genesis P-Orridge London 1987

