“I now argue that entry into Upper Palaeolithic caves was probably seen as virtually indistinguishable from entry into the mental vortex that… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“For the makers, the paintings and engravings were visions, not representations of visions.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The principal aim of a vision quest is to ‘see’ a spirit animal that will become the quester’s animal-helper and source of… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“To understand the ‘wounded men’ of Upper Palaeolithic art, I now consider somatic hallucinations; these include attenuation of the body and limbs,… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the most striking feature of the west European Upper Palaeolithic, one on which many writers comment, is a sharp increase in… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Improved memory made possible the long-term recollection of dreams and visions and the construction of those recollections into a spirit world.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Under certain social circumstances, which may have varied from time to time and place to place, certain people (shamans) saw a relationship… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Primary consciousness is a state of being aware of things in the world – of having mental images in the present.But it… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Once human beings had developed higher-order consciousness, they had the ability to see mental images projected onto surfaces and to experience afterimages.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The ‘wounded men’ may, I argue, represent a form of shamanistic suffering, ‘death’ and initiation that was closely associated with somatic hallucinati” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Certainly, the sensory deprivation afforded by the remote, silent and totally dark chambers, such as the Diverticule of the Felines in Lascaux… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Sexual arousal and penal erections are associated with both altered states of consciousness and sleep.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“San religion is built around belief in a tiered universe. As do other shamanistic peoples throughout the world, the San believe in… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The notion that an image is a scale model of something else (say, a horse) requires a different set of mental events… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The first two-dimensional images were thus not two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional things in the material world, as researchers have always assumed. Rather,… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Entering a cave” or rock was a metaphor for a shaman’s altered state; therefore, caves (and rocks more generally) were considered entrances… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“In altered states of consciousness, the nervous system itself becomes a ‘sixth sense’ that produces a variety of images including entoptic phenomena.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“According to Martindale’s view, as we drift into sleep we pass through: – waking, problem-oriented thought, – realistic fantasy, – autistic fantasy,… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“In Lascaux and other sites, hoofs are depicted to show their underside, or hoofprint.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The cerebral cortex, the outer ‘skin’ of the brain, contains as many as ten billion neurons. This complexity is daunting. Yet it… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Shamanism is not simply a component of society: on the contrary, shamanism, together with its tiered cosmos, can be said to be… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The Upper Palaeolithic figures known as ‘wounded men’ occur at Cougnac and Pech Merle, two sites in the Quercy district of France.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Seeing’ two-dimensional images is therefore something that we learn to do; it is not an inevitable part of being human.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“It is the task of San shamans to activate their supernatural potency, to cause it to ‘boil’ up their spines until it… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The portable animal statuettes were therefore far more than decorative trinkets: they were reified three-dimensional spirit animals with all their prophylactic and… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“I now argue that entry into Upper Palaeolithic caves was probably seen as virtually indistinguishable from entry into the mental vortex that leads to… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“For the makers, the paintings and engravings were visions, not representations of visions.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The principal aim of a vision quest is to ‘see’ a spirit animal that will become the quester’s animal-helper and source of his power.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“I suggest that the type of consciousness – not merely the degree of intelligence – that Neanderthals possessed was different in important respects from… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“To understand the ‘wounded men’ of Upper Palaeolithic art, I now consider somatic hallucinations; these include attenuation of the body and limbs, polymelia (having… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The picture of change in human society that emerges from this recent research throws new light on that aspect of the Transition that has… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the most striking feature of the west European Upper Palaeolithic, one on which many writers comment, is a sharp increase in the rate… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The first point to notice is that the Transition cannot be explained by climatic change alone: human change was not the direct result of… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The world’s oldest ‘art’ (77,000 years old) comes from Blombos Cave on the southern coast of South Africa.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Improved memory made possible the long-term recollection of dreams and visions and the construction of those recollections into a spirit world.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Under certain social circumstances, which may have varied from time to time and place to place, certain people (shamans) saw a relationship between the… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Primary consciousness is a state of being aware of things in the world – of having mental images in the present.But it is not… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
