| Home Forums Library Media Gallery Glossary Links |
 |
October 13, 2005
Graham Hancock -- Following in McKenna's Footsteps?
Drugs, art and the aliens who lit our way to civilisation
(Once again, I find my own contemplations are not mine alone! ... Thank you, Mr. Hancock.)
GRAHAM HANCOCK is breathless. He's telling me about his first hallucinogenic trip in the Amazon jungle, and he just can't get the words out fast enough. The former journalist and now bestselling science writer spent five weeks living with indigenous Indian shamans in Peru, where he ingested a sacred plant drug known as ayahuasca.
We pick up the story just after the shaman began the ritual ceremony by singing the icaros, ancient chants which draw the spirits around the circle. Hancock then took a sip of the drug, which he describes as a "vile-tasting liquid, so strong and bitter-sweet and salty, so dark and concentrated as to be repellent". His muscles involuntarily relax, he closes his eyes and then the visions begin.
"I had a very scary beginning to that trip," he says. "I saw incredible transformations of different animals and beings glowing with light that appeared directly in front of my field of vision. It was a typical scene which many describe as an alien abduction. They were very anthropic, and definitely wanted to communicate with me. It was rather like going to a strange new country, where I had to start learning the rules of communication."
Getting deeper into the experience, Hancock took another dose of the drug, but his body couldn't take it. The nausea came on strong and soon he was out in the dark, puking. Before long he was drenched in sweat with only dry heaves left. He sank to the ground and called an end to the trip because he was so afraid. He opened his eyes, and the visions left him. You could conclude from this account - detailed in Hancock's latest book, Supernatural - that Hancock is just another traveller keen to acquaint himself with the customs of new cultures. But there is a little more to this trip than meets the eye.
A reporter by trade, Hancock was born in Edinburgh before moving to India in his childhood. He returned to attend school and university in Durham, from where he graduated in 1973 with a degree in sociology. He went on to pursue a career in journalism, writing for The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent and The Guardian.
But in the 1980s he gave up newspaper reporting to pursue his own passion - the lost civilisation of man. In the past 20 years, he's written several books including the best-selling Sign and Seal on the Ark of the Covenant - as well as filming documentaries about his research.
"Three years ago I decided to go back to the subject which fascinated me at university," he says. "I was interested in human origins, in what makes us different from the apes. I found that it wasn't the use of tools, as many people believe, but abstract thought and the ability to manipulate symbols." The answer was art. Cave paintings and writings which depicted thoughts and visions, none of which have ever been achieved by other species. In fact, even our human ancestors had no artistic capability. Or not until 40,000 years ago, at least.
"Previously, we were very uncreative and boring. We used the same tools continually without modifying them. Then, suddenly, a light switched on in our brain. Fossils from 40,000 years ago show that we began to explore spirituality, looked for signs of life after death and innovated specialised tools. And we began to paint. In France, Italy and South Africa and all over the world, they've discovered incredibly accomplished paintings, but no explanation for this burst of development."
This has been termed the "greatest riddle in archaeology", and many academics have devoted their career to its study. The reason behind the sudden transformation, the majority have concluded, is hallucinogenic plants. Magic mushrooms would be a relevant example, but all over the world, man stumbled across drugs which opened the possibility for spiritual, creative thought.
Professor David Lewis-Williams, of South Africa's Witwatersrand University, believes that is the end of the story. These visions - and therefore the art they produced - were universal because all of mankind has the same neurology. Our brains are wired in the same way, so when we take these drugs, our bodies have the same response. Indeed, at the University of New Mexico, researchers have found that volunteers given hallucinogenic drugs drew the same kinds of paintings as those found in the ancient caves. This, coupled with a wealth of other evidence, supports Lewis-Williams' theory that drugs are the answer.
For most people that explanation would suffice, but not for Hancock. He could not accept that the beginnings of human spirituality came down to brain chemistry. For him, there had to be more to it, and he decided to investigate, hence the first-hand research trip.
What he has found - and what forms the basis of his new hefty tome - is a theory that to many will sound absurd. He believes that when shamans and drug users experience these hallucinations, they are actually tapping into a parallel universe. The visions - be they of fairies, elves or aliens - are real, they exist all the time, and they want to communicate with us.
"Think of it as though the brain is like a TV receiver. In order to cope with everyday life, we have to tune into "Channel Normal" for the majority of the time. But if we retune our brains with these drugs, or alter our state of consciousness through rhythmic dancing and drums, we can see images of the parallel dimensions."
Hancock does not prescribe for a second to the idea that when people experience "alien abductions", they are seeing foreign creatures that may whisk them to another planet. What he does believe is that the spirits dwell in this other dimension, and if we let them, they will continue the teaching that they gave to our ancestors.
"I believe these hallucinogenic experiences are the basis for all modern-day religions. If you think about it, why would we ever have cause to imagine a spirit world? Our uncreative ancestors didn't, but then they found these drugs and saw for themselves the spirit world, and realised there was more to life. I think religion resulted from the need to explain these supernatural encounters."
A sceptic would maintain that, outwith the experience of those on drugs or in a trance, there is no evidence to support Hancock's theory. And many could take offence to his assertion that when Mohammed, Jesus Christ and St Paul thought they were experiencing God, they were, in fact, just accessing the parallel world. Part of the problem with accepting this higher plane comes in locating its origin. If these spirits are the "ancient teachers of mankind", as he says, where did they come from? In this instance, as with every other, Hancock points to science. Prepare for the most astonishing claim yet. "The secret could be in our DNA," he says. "When Francis Crick, the discoverer of DNA, died, it was revealed that his first vision of the helix module occurred while he was on LSD. Although he was an atheist, he then published a book which subscribed to the theory of intelligent design, that our universe was not simply the result of a series of chemical accidents.
"In brief, what he said was that after the Big Bang, life did not evolve first on Earth. At the far side of the universe, another civilisation developed, a highly advanced civilisation who surpassed the stage we have currently reached. He asserted that in some way their world became threatened - global warming, or some such catastrophic event - and so they devised a way to pass on their existence. They genetically-modified their DNA and sent it out from their planet on bacteria, with the hope that it would collide with another planet. It did, and that's why we're here." What Hancock goes onto explain is that the DNA was encoded with messages from that other civilisation.
They programmed the molecules so that when we reached a certain level of intelligence, we would be able to access their information, and they could therefore "teach" us about ourselves, and how to progress.
Of course, this talk of aliens sending off bacteria sounds like the ramblings of a deranged guest on a Jerry Springer show. But the astonishing thing is that Hancock is intelligent and articulate, and his writing is as expert as you would expect from an esteemed international correspondent.
Precisely because he is so credible, his idea will no doubt entice those looking for more conspiracy theories, and you need only look as far as Dan Brown to see the commercial success available.
But to give him credit, Hancock at no point claims these discoveries for himself, he always points to archaeologists and scientists who have been fascinated by similar concepts. Indeed, all that he asks for is that people more qualified than himself, investigate the questions he raises.
"I know [this] sounds preposterous and pointless to anyone committed to objective science. The more closely I pursued these questions, however, the more convinced I became that they point towards matters of extraordinary substance, and that science has done us an immense disfavour by its policy of ridiculing and discouraging all rational inquiry in this area."
Hancock's newest, Supernatural, is already availble in the UK and is scheduled for a US release on November 1st.
Original story by Anna Smyth, from The Scotsman, Tuesday October 11, 2005.
For more info, please see the newest issue of Sub Rosa magazine. Audio and video clips included!
Posted by Upwinger at October 13, 2005 11:40 AMThis writer's got the wrong end of the stick - or at least is grabbing the stick in the wrong way - as far as Lewis-Williams' rock art theories are concerned. Basically, among archaeologists there's been some heated debate about the "shamanic trance-vision" theory of rock art - Lewis-Williams, together with Thomas Dowson and Jean Clottes, are seen at its key proponents. To me its a hugely convincing and sensible theory, but it'll come as no surprise to people here to learn that the whole drugs issue has skewed the debate. People like Paul Bahns have dismissed the theory as some 60's hangover. I see his position basically as ambient anti-drug hysteria masquerading as scientific caution. Lewis-Williams, aware of this, has been incredibly careful in his recent work to stress that even though he's sticking with his "trance-vision" theory, drugs need not be the catalyst for the trance. I've got my problems with his rationalism, but Lewis-Williams is doing some great work, and it wouldn't be helpful if he was seeing as propounding a "theory that drugs are the answer".
I'm really interested, though, in the possibilities here. Could the original artists in Lascaux, Chauvet, Altamira, etc., have had access to psychedelic plants? They were working during the last Ice Age. Would the extent of glaciation have allowed growth of hallucinogens in that part of Europe? Which ones? As far as I can tell, southern France was similar to modern-day Scandinavia, just past the ice sheets. Does this narrow things down to plants that are known to grow in pretty cold conditions - fly agaric? The other possibility I think of is plants that might have grown in more clement regions of mid/southern Spain, that people may have travelled to on sacred journey like the Huichol. I'd love to hear from anyone who's been researching Ice Age psychedelic possibilities.
Posted by: Gyrus at October 14, 2005 07:09 AMThanks for clarifying the Lewis-Williams issue. I included a link to the original story from the Scotsman, so feel free to contact the original author if you'd like.
Fly agaric was the first thing to come to my mind too. But I'm far from an expert. It was good to hear from you that Lewis-Williams' explanation is really much broader, and covers a whole field of 'trance/vision.' The one problem with stipulating fly agaric or anything else (such as McKenna's wonted Stropharia Cubensis) is the difficulty in explaining how the same plant could have been present all over the world roughly simultaneously.
-- What is perhaps missing from this discussion is the possible role of the transit of the whole solar plane through different slices of the cosmos. Perhaps our changing physical location in space in relation to a broader cosmic environment is the REAL catalyst for such punctuated jumps in the evolution of consciousness. This would tie in more with Mayan and Vedic cosmologies, as well as the more recent work of people like Oliver Reiser and Paul LaViolette. Its a simple explanation, yes, but perhaps the most comprehensive.
Journalistic errors aside, Hancock's newest sure looks like it will be the most exciting and comprehensive thing he's ever done, and a real continuation of many of Terence's rants. I'm seriously looking forward to its release here in the States.
Posted by: Upwinger at October 14, 2005 08:16 AMI looked around on the Scotsman site for a feedback link to no avail. It's enough of a specialist issue that I wouldn't spend much time pressing the point - just thought interested folk here would like the low-down :-)
Another issue I wonder about is the "culture as drug" effect. We really don't have much of a conception of how much radical cultural differences in themselves can have on people's spontaneous access to altered states. The mind embedded in Ice Age European culture may have been much more flexible tapping into endogenous flows of tryptamines, for example. Especially when you're halfway into a mountain! It's important for these theories to recognise the physiological identity of ancient and modern humans (e.g. to know that states we can access, patterns we hallucinate, were by definition potentially accessible in the Palaeolithic). But when we look at modulating access to these states, just as important as physical aspects (like plants, cosmic influences, etc.) are the inevitably mysterious cultural possibilities.
Hancock seems to be joining Daniel Pinchbeck and others in standing up to represent the McKenna paradigm as we approach 2012. I'll reserve judgement until I read his stuff...
Posted by: Gyrus at October 14, 2005 09:42 AMThanks again, for the insight, Gyrus! (We always appreciate the low-down!) ... All in all, no matter what served as the stimulus for such a (seemingly) punctauted change, the basic premise remains unchanged: "The visions - be they of fairies, elves or aliens - are real, they exist all the time, and they want to communicate with us."
No matter how we got our foot in the door, there is indeed a door to be opened, and a whole other sphere of being beyond.
But here I go preaching to the converted ...
It will be interesting to see if and how Hancock relates this newest premise of his (ostensibly derivative of McKenna's, among others) to his well-tread ancient civilization/cataclysm theme. Regardless, its nice to have someone, now that Terence has joined the Ancestors, recharting the way through and out of the dark wood of our megalopolitan twilight.
Cheers.
Well, it's about time Hancock broke open his head!! Hancock "barefoot in the head"---how wonderful! Must confess to not having done Ayahuasca yet...would LOVE to, though, of course! More later...
Posted by: MCP2012 at October 15, 2005 02:16 PMAbout time Hancock "broke open his head" -- HAHA! I love it....
BTW, everyone here should check out the above link to SUB ROSA magazine. Its free, downloads as a PDF and is bursting with great material. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Posted by: Upwinger at October 15, 2005 03:29 PM...a theory that to many will sound absurd. He believes that when shamans and drug users experience these hallucinations, they are actually tapping into a parallel universe. The visions - be they of fairies, elves or aliens - are real, they exist all the time, and they want to communicate with us.
Absurd? Bloody Hell! Sounds like a good weekend to me!
If you apply Sheldrake's morphogenetic field theory (or, lightly alternatively, the 100th Monkey concept) it wouldn't be necessary for early hominids to have simultaneous access to fungal species across the globe. A small region exposed could be enough to spark that initialization in the collective consciousness.
The mind embedded in Ice Age European culture may have been much more flexible tapping into endogenous flows of tryptamines...
Or just freezing your ass off staring at the flickering fire. That alone can be enough to inspire vision. And don't forget the role of epileptic siezures and temporal lobe flash's. Such abnormalities were often the sign of a shaman.
BTW, funny that Hancock eschews flesh and ooze aliens given his own conviction re: pyramids of Mars.
Shit. Now I need to order my generic Lunesta.
Posted by: lvx23 at October 15, 2005 10:34 PMChris -- Thanks for reminding me of Sheldrake's morphogenetic fields, et al -- that would indeed help resolve some of my concerns there.
I think Hancock's comments re: physicality of "aliens" are truncated here. It is a Presence that ultimately dervies from an order of being less dense and more 'spiritual' than ours, but CAN decrease vibration and 'step down' to our rung of the evolutionary ladder, thereby manifesting "in the flesh."
Our visions - trances - ecstasies - revelations are our way of "stepping up" to a higher rung, a higher order of manifestation (with a faster rate of vibration and thus less material density) whereby we end up with one foot in their "homeworld," -- the 'Kingdom' spoken of by the eartly Christians, the 'Satyaloka' of the Vedic rishis, the "Dreamtime" of aboriginal lore.
At least thats my understanding of it ....
[Lunesta! -- Those damn spambots.....]
I look forward to the American edition, and may go ahead (impatient bloke that I sometimes am) and get the British edition. I'm a fan of Hancock's earlier work, and am happy that he's finally broken-open his own head (as it were). The resistance of (so-called) mainstream science to research-&-conjecture in this area is, to say the least, rather annoying. Here, in a *bare-bones* nutshell, is how such research should systematically proceed:
1. There is already extant reputable, credible psychedelic neuropharmacologists (Shulgin, Dennis McKenna, a few others). Their legions ideally should grow, and will grow in the not-too-distant future as (Nano- and others) Tech- (non-"drug" in the current, conventional sence) induced altered states of consciousness become not only easily-induced, but (necessarily) systematically-studied. Chemistry is based on quantum-physics, and the ultimate implications thereof are still open-ended and need to be (conjecturally) modelled. Which leads us to...
2. Saul-Paul Sirag, and Jack Sarfatti, have both come-up with interesting models about the ultimate implications of contemporary physical theory. In my judgment, Sirag's is the most (so far) systematically worked-out. It's ontologically monistic in that it posits one hyperspace (or superspace), but dualistic in that it posits 2 completely different and separate, yet intersecting algebras, one of which describes (or, waxing a bit Pythagorean, IS) CONSCIOUSNESS, the other describing (or consisting in) the physical cosmos as we (currently) understand it.
3. So, if we want a theory of (higher/psychedelic, as well as everyday "vanilla") consciousness, then Sirag's theory, in conjunction with systematic study of the neurophysics of altered states of consciousness (i.e., "combining" or "integrating" Dennis McKenna's stuff, say, with Sirag's model[s]), will yield a thoroughly credible, testable/falsifiable (meta)model of just what the heck consciousness IS.
This is, in fact the research path now emerging. Terrence (McKenna), Pinchbeck, and now Hancock have done a good job as speculative/conjectural journalists. What we now want is systematic hard-science to dive-in and check all this stuff out. And it will happen. It's *already* beginning to happen--it's in its nascent stage(s).
Barefoot in both our own HEADS and in the COSMOS itself, with the latter our playground...stay tuned...(*wink*)...
Posted by: MCP2012 at October 16, 2005 08:39 AM(Round two) What we should also like to know is the (pre)historical development(s) of shamanic practices. Even during the Ice Age(s), psychedelic-substance-containing plants and/or fungi thrived just south of the snow-line, in *de facto* temperate (and, of course, tropical) zones. Would shamanic cultures trade in such substances? Would they trek hundreds, or even thousands of kilometers to obtain them directly themselves? Once the Lewis-Williams model is accepted, and once the McKenna meta-model then gains a strong foothold, we'll have more cognitive-intellectually-credible framework(s) for doing systematic archeology to try to answer these questions. And Upwinger is quite right to state that a more-or-less world-wide, more-or-less concurrent massive "tripping" is NOT especially necessary to account for the emergence of art, etc. Sheldrake's model(s), of course, should also be integrated with Sirag's and neuropharmacological stuff (forgot to mention Rupert's stuff before, sorry). But we should also note that 30-50 thousand yrs ago, we're not talking a 6+ billion globe-encompassing civilization! We're talking a dozen or two (or maybe three) pockets of a few thousands or (in some cases perhaps many) tens-of-thousands each, scatterd across the (then-habitable) world, having fanned out from Africa several thousand years prior (yes I am more favorable toward the root-development scenario than the so-called "candelabra" concurrent-multi-development model--see Colin Tudge's excellent *The Time Before History*). So there may well have been concentrations of groups in the Temperate and Tropical zones, mid-way between hunter-gatherers and full-fledged farmers, who found their own local plants/fungi, made their own local brewskis, etc. etc. PLUS, and this shouldn't be underestimated (See Matt Ridley's stuff, among others), these groups would have probably traded rather extensively with each other, intermarried, etc., and so there would have been, if not cultural homogenization, then at least cultural/ethnic cross-fertilization. Plus we should also note that the "racial" alleles (melanocytic layers in the skin, different eye-folds responding to sunlight conditions, etc.) had only differentiated-out approx. 50-80,000 yrs ago. So there would've been the counter-integrative pressure of (somatic-appearance) "otherness" to contend-with. Yet we already know by recent offshoot studies related to the Human Genome Project, that there was quite a bit of interbreeding between the "races" as recently as approx. 20-30,000 years ago. The "brewskis", along with catallactic/commerical memes/norms, may well have facilitated the (partial) overcoming of the innate distrust of any sort of (somatic or otherwise) "otherness". So these scattered groups may well have had a significant "world" or "global" civilization of some sort, though we don't yet (maybe never will) have much details about this...And, of course, this dovetails precisely with Graham Hancock's earlier work purporting to show a significantly advanced, more-or-less "world"-wide civilization dating-back 20+ thousand years ago. Could the plant/fungi "brewskis" actually have constituted, along with commerce, the cement for this civilization?! Looks like it to me (*wink*)...
Posted by: MCP2012 at October 16, 2005 10:00 AM