“In southern Africa, a great many figures are ithyphallic. This feature has generally – and rather vaguely – been taken to refer… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Shamans submit to death in order to serve their communities.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Rock art sites were symbolic vaginas, and entry into the wall of a rock art site was thus akin to intercourse.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“The behaviour of the human nervous system in certain altered states creates the illusion of dissociation from one’s body (less commonly understood… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“I believe it is reasonable to assume that higher-order consciousness developed neurologically in Africa before the second wave of emigration to the… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“A shaman’s activities as a sorcerer, or his own conscious act of entry into the supernatural world, were a kind of “killing”.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“There were at least four contexts in which San shamans acquired insights into the spiritual world: – the trance dance, – special… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Consciousness has evolved biologically and can therefore be explained biologically.” — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Around 30,000 years ago, in the Aurignacian, at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, someone or some group in the Eyzies region… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Some researchers believe that dreaming is what happens when sensory input to the brain is greatly diminished: the brain then ‘freewheels’, synapses… — James David Lewis-Williams Copy Share Image
“Primary consciousness is a kind of ‘remembered present’…” — 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
