This is an excerpt of 1 of 4 of the Personal Reality Essays
from Cyber-Psychos AOD #6.
Pounce, Intl: Musical Realities And LSD-25
By Paul W. Campbell
Pounce, Intl (ex Martyr Colony) is a band which seeks to provide a tool for those who are leading their lives on their own path. The music has an esoteric bent due to the fact that it is an exploration of abstract pure form, and does not adhere to traditional melodic structure. It does, however, have a percussive structure, and should lead to the ability to trance or tantra to it. That is especially true of the more ambient pieces. There is, on my part particularly, a bit of traditional Thelemic thinking involved in our pursuit of creating a musical reality that we are pleased with. Too few people take credit for the fact that they are in fact creating the world around them. The microcosm is in the macrocosm. The universe is in the smallest thing. The DNA pattern for a whole person is in every cell. The tree doesn't make a sound when not heard. My personal response to the issue of personal reality, not so much alternate reality (as I don't know what it is alternate to, other than concensus reality, which is miserable), has also involved the use of the LSD-25 state in order to do personal reprogramming.
Following the guidelines as set forth by writers like John Lilly, and a few metaphysical writers, I removed some of the early imprinted metaprograms. The result of the LSD-25 state in controlled conditions and with the proper knowledge of what I was doing is that I removed my fear of heights and numerous other very personal inhibitions. The trademark of such metaprograms is that they are usually inhibitors, and that is the reason they may be doing your reality a disservice. I have unendingly fought for the removal of prohibitors in my life. The related argument is... if you argue for your negatives, you get them. The music has a curious relation to all of this. It has been described (during Martyr Colony days) as having E3 as its purpose. That is to entertain, educate, and energize. We refer to people and things we find important in the struggle to have a free and willful personal reality. Also, we do want to entertain. As for the energy, the type of person who knows how to tap into the energy we are providing is the type of person interested in personal reality. To quote the Church of the Subgenius, "If you are there, we can show you how to stay there, if you are not there, we can't show you how to get there." We cannot convert anyone, and the music is left intentionally difficult to ensure that only certain types of people can key into the kinds of tools that we are providing. Those folks who appreciate the command over raw power that Pounce, Intl. has can draw from that energy to fuel themselves. There are strong tools in the music visible only to those who would know how to use them.
As Crowley had actually defined magick, it's more a matter of having a person do something and affect a change. He had said that it was not so necessary to believe in empirical other beings as it was to know that you could do one thing and cause another to happen. Magick is action, and action with purpose, to move you along on your own true path. The music we do aids us in going down our path, but relatedly provides a source of energy and more for those doing the same. It is purposely not so much a "political" band or a "cause" band as it deals with the human issues. There is no single appropriate response to the interaction of man and machine. Do not forget that, although the old tools of the magicians used to be sticks and mud, they are now television and cameras and other electronic gear... and why wouldn't they be? To reconsider man's contest in the man created world is an aspect of what we do. The empirical world of man is unavoidable, and I don't know how changeable it is. I don't know if the appropriate response is to change it or enjoy the ride to its inevitable demise. The predictability of the average person is underrated. The future of that world is easy to see. A history book will provide all the necessary tools for seeing into the future. As for personal reality, I have found unending value in adhering to the ideas of responsibility and honesty, which by themselves are enough to lead a person on his/her own path. Most folks don't have a strong enough will and character to be both honest and have a real personal responsibility. I expect some of your definitions of personal reality will be nothing more than immature escapist drug stories.
There is little to envy or emulate in that. We in the band conversely use the music to build ourselves up, strengthen ourselves. We find that the energy in the music is powerful enough to re-energize ourselves. We can use the music in an LSD-25 state. As Timothy Leary had said, you will want to eventually consider what you let come in contact with your nerve endings. You may find that you become intolerant of the so-called real world and "the way things have always been". You may find yourself dropping out, and controlling what stimulus you allow in, and we use the music as part of our newly controlled personal reality. E3. Every man and woman a star. Love is the law.