“Under certain social circumstances, which may have varied from time to time and place to place, certain people (shamans) saw a relationship between the small, three-dimensional, projected mental images that they experienced at the far end of the intensified spectrum and fragments of animals that lay around their hearths.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“The portable animal statuettes were therefore far more than decorative trinkets: they were reified three-dimensional spirit animals with all their prophylactic and other powers.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“I now argue that entry into Upper Palaeolithic caves was probably seen as virtually indistinguishable from entry into the mental vortex that leads to the experiences and hallucinations of deep trance.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“Certainly, the sensory deprivation afforded by the remote, silent and totally dark chambers, such as the Diverticule of the Felines in Lascaux and the Horse’s Tail in Altamira, induces altered states of consciousness.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“To understand the ‘wounded men’ of Upper Palaeolithic art, I now consider somatic hallucinations; these include attenuation of the body and limbs, polymelia (having extra limbs or digits), and, the one on which I focus, pricking and stabbing sensations.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“Shamans submit to death in order to serve their communities.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“The Upper Palaeolithic figures known as ‘wounded men’ occur at Cougnac and Pech Merle, two sites in the Quercy district of France.”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“The ‘wounded men’ may, I argue, represent a form of shamanistic suffering, ‘death’ and initiation that was closely associated with somatic hallucinati”
Source: The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
“My condition isn't an impediment. I'm not defined by it, and it doesn't limit me. It doesn't make me less, or different, and even if I fail, I'll just get back up and try again. So please don't come back into my life, unless you understand it isn't yours to run.”
Source: Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice
“Life's like photography, you need the negatives to develop.”