Here are some articles I wrote for Legends Magazine in the late 1990s (or maybe early 2000s). Legends Magazine hasn't been active for some time, so I'm placing the entire text of the articles on this page for now.
Brion Gysin and His Wonderful Dream Machine:
A dreamachine is little more than a perforated tube of paper placed on a spinning platter with a light bulb positioned in the tube. Holes are cut from the tube according to a specific pattern. You sit in front of the dreamachine at eye-level with the bulb, with your eyes closed. If constructed correctly the dreamachine should emit a pulse of light between 8-13 Hz, which is the precise rhythm of alpha-waves in the brain. Alpha-waves are dominant during the "alpha state," which occurs during deep meditation or the early stages of sleep. Alpha-waves are associated with a healthy mind and a stress-free life. For those of us with mentally taxing jobs and stressful lives, the dreamachine can restore order and relaxation, with the bonus of some interesting visual effects.
Dream MachineThe first dreamachine was imagined and constructed by Brion Gysin sometime in the early 1960's with the aid of mathematician Ian Sommerville. Gysin, an occultist, artist and writer living in Paris, was a close friend of William S. Burroughs (who often receives credit for the invention). Burroughs and Gysin experimented with the dreamachine extensively. Both men were familiar with British neuroscientist W. Gray Walter's discovery that flashing lights quickly altered brain activity and not only the visual cortex, but the whole mind.
Aside from relaxation and increased mental abilities, dreamachine users report seeing otherworldly colors, swirling intricate patterns and dream-like images.
Subjects report dazzling lights of unearthly brilliance and color. ...Elaborate geometric constructions of incredible intricacy build up from multidimensional mosaic into living fireballs like the mandalas of Eastern mysticism or resolve momentarily into apparently individual images and powerfully dramatic scenes like brightly colored dreams. - William S. Burroughs
You could achieve the same "alpha state" after learning and practicing meditation, or by training yourself with bio-feedback machines, however the dreamachine offers you a fantastic light show and relatively quick alpha-wave production. People find that dreamachine therapy and other alpha-wave related therapy lead to decreased anxiety, overall calmness, increases IQ scores, increases in brain hemisphere coordination and overall intellectual function. All this without drugs!
I built my own dreamachine following plans which you can obtain for free from the links at the end of this article. I bought a $5 turntable at a garage sale, a 24" x 48" sheet of heavy white paper and some tape. Using a marker, ruler and razor I cut the paper according to the directions and bent it into the shape of the tube. After ripping the tone arm off the record player I glued the tube to the platter and dropped a drop-light down through the middle of the tube. With the light turned on, the room lights turned off and the turn table set to 78rpm, I sat in front of it with my eyes closed. At first I was restless, expecting an immediate effect. Within minute or so I was rewarded with soft geometric patterns, like a swirling storm of pink, white, yellow and green cherry blossom petals. These visions also appeared as if I had full 360 degree vision - as I was seeing with my mind and not my eyes. I relaxed and enjoyed the images. It was like dreaming - while I was awake.
I'm not going to claim that the dreamachine works for everyone, although it should. If you do decide to build one, I recommend mellow instrumental electronic music to augment the experience. I also must caution epileptics not to use the dreamachine, as the flickering lights may trigger a seizure, not unlike a strobe light or TV. Otherwise try it: it's a cheap thrill for less than ten dollars and it looks cool sitting in the corner of your dorm room.
Resources:
Mega Brain Power by Michael Hutchison, Hyperion Books
William S. Burroughs and Cut-Up
Inspired by Pan's review of WSB's Interzone in the June issue, I decided to write a piece on the Cut-up technique of writing utilized and pioneered by Burroughs and his associate Brion Gysin.
For the uninitiated, the Cut-up technique was inspired by the collage technique used by artists and photographers. Often the greatest photographs and artwork happen by accident. An unexpected pedestrian walks into your shot, or an odd glob of paint scars your painting, and rather than tragedy you have something unexpected and spontaneous. Take this concept one step further and the artist can juxtapose various visual fragments with great and unexpected results. Gysin and Burroughs wanted to introduce the spontaneity and chance of the collage to the written word, and so they developed and utilized the Cut-up technique.
The technique is simple. Take any page of writing. Take a scissors and cut it into four parts; cut straight across, down the middle, on angles, whatever. Now reassemble the parts at random. You now have a different text. Meaning, time lines and narratives are changed. The result may be quite similar to the original or shockingly different. The more cuts you make and the more sources you use, the more fun you'll have. The beauty of the Cut-up method is anyone can do it, and should do it; anyone can now be a great writer, if only by chance. Unfortunately this technique works better with paper than computer text, because you cannot easily (if at all) make vertical cuts on an electronic page. One method you could use would be to capture your screen as an image, and then use image editing software to cut it up, and OCR software to return it to text form.
Here's some ideas for you:
Experiment #1:
a. Go to Police headquarters and grab up some scary pamphlets on drug abuse, deer ticks, cyber crime, domestic violence. Read them for kicks and then get some scissors and cut them into chunks.
b. Go to your poetry notebook, or that file where you keep the first chapters to the half dozen or so short stories you plan on finishing one day. Get a scissors. Cut them up. Or, photo-copy them, and cut up the copies.
c. Arrange the chunks at random, but not consciously at random. Many times in our conscious effort to be random or spontaneous, we achieve the opposite effect.
d. Now read the results. Prepare to laugh, or at the very least impress yourself.
Experiment #2:
a. Collect an assortment of text sources: your writing, your diary, a few web pages printed out at random, a newspaper, a famous book, some pamphlets from the rack in the lobby of the supermarket, anything!
b. Next time you have a campfire place them at the edge of the fire so they become partially consumed.
c. Sift through the ashes, find the remaining fragments, and you have your story. Granted, this technique is a little extreme and you may end up with nothing but ash, however, imagine the results otherwise.
Music was the final form of art to embrace the power of the collage. David Bowie, inspired by Burroughs and Gysin, used the Cut-up technique to form the lyrics to his songs. Later artists like Gary "Cars" Newman, Throbbing Gristle and even U2's Bono confess to using the Cut-up technique. If it were not for Throbbing Gristle's adaptation of Burroughs techniques and philosophies to music, there would be, without question, no Industrial genre today. Obviously sampling is being used to quite the same effect: creating something new from multiple sources. Sonic terrorists like Negativeland take snippets of found sound, TV broadcasts, and music of many genres and weave the pieces together to a wonderful, insightful and often hilarious effect.
Burroughs states correctly that all writing is in fact Cut-ups. As a writer, in particular a fiction writer, your inspirations come from many sources: a description of a woman's face comes from the cashier at the post office, a character's name taken from your friend's cat, a line taken from an issue of Legends and a plot twist from Shakespeare. All your experiences, whether first hand or taken vicariously through a book or a friend's story, add up to form the text of your next tale. If you want to read more about Cut-ups, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle, pick up the book RE/Search #4/5.
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