Declare Books Concering Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
| Original Title: | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind |
| ISBN: | 1932857400 (ISBN13: 9781932857405) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Graham Hancock
Hardcover | Pages: 710 pages Rating: 4.23 | 2377 Users | 152 Reviews
Relation During Books Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
Less than 50,000 years ago humans had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic change, described by scientists as 'the greatest riddle in human history', all the skills & qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as tho bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious before-&-after moment & to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern mind. His quest takes him on a detective journey from the beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain & Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of S. Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the Amazon rainforest to drink the hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of 'super-natural beings' identical to the animal-human hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves. Hallucinogens such as mescaline also produce visionary encounters with exactly the same beings. Scientists at the cutting edge of consciousness research have begun to consider the possibility that such hallucinations may be real perceptions of other dimensions. Could the supernaturals 1st depicted in the painted caves be the ancient teachers of humankind? Could it be that human evolution isn't just the meaningless process Darwin identified, but something more purposive & intelligent that we've barely begun to understand?Acknowledgements
Part 1: Visions
1: Plant that enables men to see the dead
2: Greatest riddle of archeology
3: Vine of souls
Part 2: Caves
4: Therianthropy
5: Riddles of the caves
6: Shabby academy
7: Searching for a Rosetta Stone
8: Code in the mind
9: Serpents of the Drakensberg
10: Wounded healer
Part 3: Beings
11: Voyage into the supernatural
12: Shamans in the sky
13: Spirit love
14: Secret commonwealth
15: Here is a thing that will carry me away
16: Dancers between worlds
Part 4: Codes
17: Turning in to channel DMT
18: Amongst the machine elves
19: Ancient teachers in our DNA?
20: Hurricane in the junkyard
Part 5: Religions
21: Hidden Shamans
22: Flesh of the Gods
Part 6: Mysteries
23: Doors leading to another world
Appendices
Critics & criticisms of David Lewis-Williams' Neuropsychological theory of rock & cave art
Psilocybe semilanceata-a hallucinogenic mushroom native to Europe / Roy Watlng
Interview with Rick Strassman
References
Index
Details Epithetical Books Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
| Title | : | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind |
| Author | : | Graham Hancock |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 710 pages |
| Published | : | September 1st 2006 by Disinformation Company (first published January 1st 2005) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. History. Spirituality. Religion. Science |
Rating Epithetical Books Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
Ratings: 4.23 From 2377 Users | 152 ReviewsEvaluation Epithetical Books Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
By J. W. Kennedy on Amazon.com "Hancock repeats himself over and over ad nauseum to drive his point home, but the book can be condensed down to this: Alien abductions = fairy abductions = shamanic spirit journeys. Increased levels (either naturally or artificially induced) of DMT in the brain bring on vivid hallucinations, and for some reason the basic content of these "dreams" is consistent across times and cultures. Could it be that there's an objectively "real" spirit world which we canClearly an intelligent guy. Lots of fascinating stuff. But TOO much fascinating stuff. Too many tenuous connections. Needs an editor. 588 pages should be 288. You start trying to make too many things connect--ayahuasca, fairies, UFOs, cave paintings--and you start to come across as a tinfoil hat guy. Which is a shame. Because he clearly is smart.
I can't recommend this author highly enough, his writing style is very clear and readable, he does tons of research and supports his ideas extremely convincingly. I recommend ANYTHING this author has written. This book talks about altered states of consciousness, ayahuasca ("vision vine" used in S. America) experiments, DMT experiments, trance states commonly used by shamans, ancient cave paintings, the San people who once lived in the Kalahari, and commonality of experiences of drug and trance
Terrible writing style (con) 350 pages too long (con) Absurd assertations (con) Can't decide who his audience is (con) Very interesting and largely ignored subject matter (pro) Great hypothesis (pro) Great synthesis of other people's ideas (pro) Raises awareness on a misunderstood phenomenon (pro) Interesting Read (pro)
Aliens.
A pretty good introduction on the topics of consciousness, drugs, shamanism, and certain related areas of history there, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to beginners. Unfortunately, I was hoping Hancock would delve deeper and break more ground here in this work. Most of it consists of review, merely citing some source texts and guiding the reader along the way, hence why it is good for those looking for an introduction to the field in question here. You have to give it to him though,
Graham Hancock always fills my mind with more new ideas than any other writer. I really admire his ability to think outside the box. The first third of the book is all about ancient cave art and makes for an absolutely scintillating read. Cave art was something I knew nothing about. He talks about the dawn of abstract thinking in prehistory and a theory that it might be related to the use of hallucinogens by our ancestors. The next third of the book kind of lost momentum for me. Hancock tries to
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.