THE 3RD ROOM This is the story of a man who loved music.

Its about a man and its about music, and its about the relationship between the two. Anyway... What this man loved about music was the humanity of it. He loved the passion, the soul, the anger, the fear, the love, the hate, the humour. For him, music was about being alive, and being alive was about music. He liked people for the same reasons. There were only two kinds of music: good music and bad music. Bad music is the kind of music that displays no humanity, or where the humanity has been swamped by lesser concerns. Likewise, there were only two kinds of people: people who liked good music, and people who liked bad music - or people who didnt like music at all, which amounted to the same thing. So he had a problem when all his friends started to get into what he considered to be inhumane music. This music was produced on computers with the barest input from a human operator. There was little or no pretence at any form of musicianship from the practitioners of this form, but worse, there was even less pretence at passion-soul-anger-fear-love-hate-humour. For him, the music only contained one message - YOU ARE ALL ROBOTS, AND YOU ARE ONLY HERE TO CARRY OUT MY WILL - DANCE, MOTHER-FUCKERS, DANCE! It was insidious and scary. His friends were subsumed into a more powerful will, and it was the will of a machine. He feared that he would lose his friends, and that he would be alone. In fact, so much did he fear being left alone, that he temporarily put his dislike of the music to one side, and joined his friends at the places where they surrendered their will to the machine. At first, he went along merely to observe, to check it out. And what he found was a new religion in the making. All the ingredients were there - the altars, the high priests and priestesses, the holy sacraments, the ritual costumes, the secret signs (it was, after all, a new and highly underground religion, careful to protect itself), and so on. He was put in mind of the early Christians, the Gnostics, the mythic Eleusinian rites, and of the Bacchanalia. But also of the evangelical tradition of modern Christianity, and of the fanatical fundamentalists within every major organised religion. But still - these were his friends, and he persisted, for their sakes. THE 3RD ROOM HOUSE PARTIES WHERE THERE IS MORE THAN ONE DANCING ROOM WITH DIFFERENT SOUND SYSTEMS PLAYING A DIFFERENT AT SOME SELECTION OF MUSIC IT IS USUALLY POSSIBLE TO FIND A SPACE WHERE ONE IS ABLE TO LISTEN TO THE OUTPUT - THE RESULT IS MOSTLY WHERE ALTERED STATES ARE ALTERED FURTHER - THE 3RD ROOM IS A PROPOSED WORK - IS ABLE TO SWITCH LANES IN THE TIMEWAYS OF THE CONTINUUM BRINGING STARTLING NEW INFORMATION TO ITS SERENDIPITOUS HAND - THEN WE SEE OURSELVES AS THE AVANT GARDE OF THAT FORM - AN AUTHOR WHO EXISTS IN NOSPACE IN ROUGHLY EQUAL MEASURE To begin with, he told himself that this was an experiment - an investigation into the nature of this beast, this system. He perceived some overlying principle at work - the combination of beat and drug and colour, working to some end. He called this principle rantra - one label is as good as another, and this seemed an appropriate one. He reckoned that he had to experience this thing fully before dismissing it out of hand. He had never felt attracted to any religious movement, for obvious reasons, so here was the opportunity to experience worship and faith in a setting that he could understand - that of a hedonistic party. Being a good little scientist, he took notes on the experiment: THE MAIN PART OF THE RITUAL/CEREMONY/CELEBRATION LASTS FOR ABOUT EIGHT OR NINE HOURS - ITS TRUE NATURE IS FAR TOO COMPLEX TO BE CODIFIED OR DISTILLED ONTO PAPER - AN ATTEMPT TO DO SO WOULD BE ULTIMATELY DESTRUCTIVE - THE LANGUAGE AND SYNTAX ARE UNIQUE AND NECESSARY TO THE SUCCESS OF RANTRA - THE MUSICK IS AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL ENCODED ENERGY SYSTEM WHICH BROADCASTS ITS MESSAGE DIRECTLY TO THE CENTRAL NERVOUS

SYSTEM VIA MULTI-SENSUAL PATHWAYS OPENED UP BY THE SACRAMENTS - ADDITION TO THE STANDARD DANCE FLOOR AND CHILL OUT LAYOUT OF THE MODERN PARTY SCENE - THE MUSIC OF EACH OF THESE ROOMS IS DESIGNED CAREFULLY DEDUCED BEFOREHAND - THE DESIRABILITY OF THESE STATES ROOM AS ANYONE WITH SOME EXPERIENCE OF THESE PARTIES WILL CONFIRM - CAREFULLY CHOSEN SONIC ELEMENTS ALLOWING CHANCE TO TAKE NOTIME USER/PARTY GOER IN SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS VIS VIS HIS/HER TRIP AND ONE CAN - OF EACH AVOIDING THE TERM MUSICAL AS SOME ELEMENTS MAY BE DECIDEDLY NON-MUSICAL - SOMETIMES UNDERSTAND THEN THE RESULTANT TEXT BRINGS FORTH - GNOSIS IS ACHIEVED AND MAINTAINED BY THE GESTALT FOR THE WHOLE OF THE EIGHT OR NINE HOURS INDIVIDUALS ARE FREE TO DROP IN AND OUT OF THE GNOSIS, BUT EVEN IN THEIR DORMANT PERIODS THEY ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE GESTALT - SAY IT AGAIN - BUT SOME OF US REMEMBER THAT TRIPS CAN TAKE MANY DIRECTIONS ALL OF WHICH CAN BE INDUCED BY OUTSIDE STIMULI - SOME MEASURE THE RESULT - IS MOSTLY EQUIVALENT TO LISTENING TO THE DJ FROM HELL - BUT THERE ARE ALWAYS MOMENTS WHEN THE 3RD MIND APPEARS IN A MUSICAL MOMENT AND SUCH MOMENTS CAN BE MAGICKAL - AT THIS TIME THESE ARE LIMITED TO TWO BROAD LABELS - DANCE TILL YOU DROP & SNUGGLE UP WARM AND SAFE - AS MUSIC - IF AS IS BEING MUTTERED IN SOME CORNERS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY MUSIC IS A VIABLE ART FORM WILL ENCOURAGE AND ALLOW THE 3RD MIND TO MANIFEST AND WILL TAKE ITS AUDIENCE TO NEW PLACES - THE 3RD ROOM IS WHERE ALTERED STATES ARE ALTERED FURTHER Eventually, of course, he started to become controlled. He partook of the sacraments (he liked recreational drugs as much as the next man), he danced, he wore the costumes, he started going to rantra church every weekend. And he didnt realise that it was happening to him. He was grooving on the undeniable energy of the mass, on the will of the tribe, not realising that it was, in reality, the will of rantra. The religious impulse gripped him. CHEMOGNOSIS AND ECSTATIC DANCING IN COMBINATION - OLD SHAMANISTIC PRINCIPLES THAT ARE MUTATED PERVERTED TOWARDS CHAOS CONSCIOUSNESS THE MUTATION-VIRUS IS A LIVING THING, CURRENTLY SEEKING ITS OPTIMUM SURVIVAL SHAPE - THE MUTATION IS NOW - INPUT IS NOW BEING SOUGHT - THE 3RD ROOM IS A PROPOSED ADDITION WITH DIFFERENT SOUND SYSTEMS PLAYING A DIFFERENT SELECTION OF MUSIC IT IS USUALLY POSSIBLE TO FIND A SPACE WHERE ONE IS - THE RESULTANT TEXT BRINGS FORTH IF THE WORK OF AUTHOR A IS CUT UP WITH THE WORK OF AUTHOR B THE PURPOSEFUL LAYERING - SOMETIMES CAREFULLY ELEMENTS MAY BE DECIDEDLY ABLE TO LISTEN TO THE OUTPUT OF EACH ROOM IN ROUGHLY EQUAL TO THE STANDARD DANCE FLOOR AND CHILL OUT LAYOUT - AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC TIME WAYS OF THE CONTINUUM ZERO - AT SOME HOUSE PARTIES ONE CAN QUITE UNDERSTAND THEN BEFOREHAND WHOSE WORK IS ABLE 3RD ROOM WHERE THERE IS MORE - GYSIN PROPOSED OR DISCOVERED SOME NONMUSIC - THE MUSIC USER/PARTY GOER IN SPECIFIC PARTY SCENE AS ANYONE WITH CERTAIN DRUGS BURROUGHS ROOM MODERN WITH SOME EXPERIENCE BRINGING STARTLING NEW INFORMATION EXISTS IN NO SPACE NO TIME - I HAVE BECOME A MEDIUM FOR THE RANTRA - THE FORMATION OF THE INTENT BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT - IT IS POSSIBLE THAT RANTRA DOES NOT OPERATE OPTIMALLY WITH TRADITIONAL RITUAL FORMULAE - RANTRA MORE THAN ANY OTHER SYSTEM IVE DABBLED IN SEEMS TO DEMAND THE FORMATION/CREATION OF A MAGICKAL LIFESTYLE - THE PURPOSE OF THE RANTRA RITUALS IS PRIMARILY TO MAINTAIN AND ENHANCE THAT LIFESTYLE - INTENDED DIRECTIONS AND DESIRES ARE RECOGNIZED AND MEDITATED ON AT ANYTIME - THE RATE OF THIS COGNITION RISES IN RESPONSE TO THE RITUALS - THE DESIRES BURN AT THEIR FULLEST AT THE RITUALS - A CYCLE/CIRCLE IS INVOKED - THE RANTRA IS SELF-CREATING AND SELFPERPETUATING - HENCE THE MUTATION-VIRUS IS WORKING IN IDEAL CONDITIONS THE HOT-HOUSE ENVIRONMENT -

He had always, thank God, been an atheist. He inwardly cringed when people started sentences with the phrase I believe.... Religion was for the weak - not for him. But all men are weak at some time or another. This was one of those times for him. Its another story (about a woman, a broken heart, and a Saturn return), and its an old story, and it had left him at the lowest point of his life. He felt that he had barely escaped that episode with his sanity. He thought that he had survived, however, and that he was newly reborn, that he was stronger than he had ever been before. He was, needless to say, very, very wrong. THE CREATION OF A MAGICKAL LIFESTYLE OBVIOUSLY INVOLVES THE DESTRUCTION OF AN OLD LIFE - THERE IS NO CREATION WITHOUT DESTRUCTION THE STRIPPING AWAY OF OLD DESIRES AND NEEDS - THIS PRODUCES SOME TRAUMA AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC FROM THE 3RD ROOM - ZERO APPEARS IN A MUSICAL MOMENT AND SUCH MOMENTS CAN BE QUITE - AT THIS TIME THESE ARE LIMITED TO TWO BROAD LABELS - DANCE TILL YOU DROP & SNUGGLE UP WARM AND SAFE And so, he allowed the religious impulse to ensnare him. He was converted into a disciple of rantra, as zealous as any convert. He was happy to be amongst his friends once more - and to have found so many new friends. He had the excitement of feeling that he was in the vanguard of a new movement - he had a reason to his existence. For the first time in a long time. RECENT EXPERIMENTS HAVE REVOLVED PURELY AROUND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF RANTRA GNOSIS - WHITE LIGHT FOR ITS OWN SAKE - WE WISH TO LEAVE THIS VERSION OF REALITY, TO FIND OUR OWN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE - TO ALTER OUR PERCEPTIONS UNTIL WE CAN SEE IT MORE CLEARLY - I DONT WANT TO SAVE THE WORLD - JUST TO CREATE A BETTER ONE IN MY HEAD - REVELATIONS AND INSIGHTS ARE CONSTANT FROM WITHIN THE GNOSIS TENDING TO ARRIVE IN EPIGRAMMATIC OR EVEN TELEGRAMMATIC FORM - SHORT AND MYSTERIOUS - GYSIN BURROUGHS PROPOSED OR DISCOVERED THAT IF THE WORK OF AUTHOR A IS CUTUP WITH THE WORK OF AUTHOR B THE PURPOSEFUL LAYERING OR SOMETIMES THE MUSINGS OF A 3RD MIND TO TAKE THE EQUIVALENT TO LISTENING TO THE DJ FROM HELL - BUT THERE ARE ALWAYS MOMENTS WHEN THE 3RD MIND THAT TRIPS CAN TAKE THE 3RD MIND TO MANIFEST AND WILL TAKE ITS AUDIENCE TO NEW PLACES For eighteen months he lived the life of a rantra freak. It was a warm, safe, happy existence, free from fear and responsibility - free from self. His life and his actions were determined by the life and actions of the rantra tribe, which were, in turn, determined by rantra itself. Rantra is like any other god or goddess - it foists itself upon the tribe, somehow tricking them into inventing it. It then takes on powers commensurate with the ideals of the tribe, changing as those ideals change - mutating to fit. And it feeds on the tribe. RANTRA HAS ITS DEMONS AND I HAVENT EVEN NAMED ITS GODS YET - NAMES SIGNS SIGILS ARE ONLY NEEDED IF ONE IS TRYING TO BIND OR CONTROL THE GODS AND DEMONS - I HAVE IDENTIFIED PAN - BUT SOME OF US REMEMBER MANY DIRECTIONS ALL OF WHICH CAN BE INDUCED BY OUTSIDE STIMULI SUCH AS MUSIC - IF AS IS BEING MUTTERED IN SOME CORNERS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ART IS A VIABLE ART FORM WILL ENCOURAGE AND ALLOW TO WORK IN ASSOCIATION WITH CERTAIN DRUGS The people get the god they deserve. What the people believe in will destroy them. Its hard to say what it was that eventually shook him out of his fascination - perhaps it was boredom, perhaps it was the healed and returning self, ready to face the real world once again, or perhaps the experiment was over. Perhaps it was an incident which is mentioned briefly in the last of the experiment notes:

SOME NAUGHTY RANTRA DEMON POURED A COUPLE OF LITRES OF BOILING WATER OVER THE LEG OF MY SWEETFRIEND USING MY BODY AS ITS MEDIUM - THE SHOCK OF THE EVENT QUICKLY DISMISSED THAT DEMON BEFORE IT COULD BE NAMED AND SHE AND I SPENT THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN A CASUALTY DEPARTMENT WHILST I ACHIEVED A SORT OF COMMUNION WITH HER PAIN - THE ECHOES OF THE DEMON - THE MUSINGS OF A 3RD MIND TO TAKE THE DIRECTIONS VIS VIS HIS/HER TRIP AND EACH OF THESE ROOMS ONE DANCING OF THESE PARTIES ELEMENTS AVOIDING THE TERM CAREFULLY CHOSEN SONIC MUSICAL AS THE AVANT GARDE DESIRABILITY OF THESE STATES SOMETIMES ALLOWING CHANCE TO TAKE ITS SERENDIPITOUS HAND - THEN WE SEE OURSELVES CONFIRM DESIGNED TO SWITCH LANES IN THE ASSOCIATION THAT DEDUCED THAT FORM AN AUTHOR WHO FROM THE WORK INTO US THE Whatever - the fact is that he cannot listen to that music now, at least not for more than half an hour, without experiencing severe symptoms of paranoia. He can feel rantra trying to regain its power over him, no longer the god he once knew, now a great, ugly, slavering demon. It is infinitely more insidious and scary than it ever was before. GOODBYE -