TUNE IN, TURN ON . . . EVOLVE?

On the walls of dozens of caves in southern France and northern Spain
lie some of the most majestic works of art ever painted. Drawn 25,000
to 40,000 years ago, the paintings have puzzled anthropologists since
they were discovered more than four decades ago.

Where did this astonishing display of talent come from? Why did these
prehistoric societies decide to paint these scenes in such remote
locations? And what inspired them to paint the strange array of
bisons, horses and therianthropes (part animal, part man)?

A scientific consensus of sorts has finally emerged on one of those
questions: Although there are still dissenters, a majority of
anthropologists now champion the theory that the paintings in Europe
were the work of shamans, and in part the product of trance states,
likely induced by psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in some
species of mushrooms).

Similarly, South African anthropologist David Lewis-Williams
maintains that the remarkable rock art of the San people of southern
Africa, also painted at least 25,000 years ago, is the result of
shamanic trances created by drumming and ritual ecstatic dancing.

In his new book, Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of
Mankind, published by Random House, British writer Graham Hancock has
taken Prof. Lewis-Williams's research as a point of departure to
posit a theory as fascinating as it is provocative: If it's true that
cave art derives from altered states of consciousness, then it
constitutes a watershed moment in human history, marking the first
visible encounter with the supernatural, the first expression of
spiritual myth.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the paintings were begun just when,
according to anthropologists, human civilization made a great leap
forward in terms of social organization, hunting-and-gathering skills
and general creativity.

Mr. Hancock (previously author of Fingerprints of the Gods and The
Sign and the Seal) notes striking similarities between cave paintings
produced by shamanic artists 25,000 years ago and the abundant
descriptions of fairies, elves, angels and other fantastic creatures
commonly reported in Europe from the medieval ages to the 17th century.

And what is their modern equivalent? Mr. Hancock suggests the myriad
accounts of alien abduction. His new book devotes several hundred
pages to documenting these parallels, showing a surprising
commonality of visions.

Although he does not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial
encounters, Mr. Hancock says the vast majority of these accounts are
more logically explained by spontaneous entrance into trance states.

Because few of the alien abductees are users of mind-altering drugs,
the most likely explanation, he believes, is that the brains of a
small percentage of the population contain slightly higher levels of
dimethyltryptamine (DMT) than already occur naturally in humans, as
well as in other mammals, frogs, grasses, barks and flowers. Such
people, he says, don't need to consume magic mushrooms or any other
drug in order to enter trance states: Their hallucinogenic potential
is more or less built-in.

Mr. Hancock insists that just because such events and encounters may
not have occurred on a physical plane, it doesn't mean they never
happened. His book quotes Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD, who
wrote that the brain, biochemically altered, tunes to "another
wavelength than that corresponding to normal, everyday reality."

As part of his project, Mr. Hancock plunged himself into the
netherworld of mind-altering drugs -- he ate psychedelic mushrooms,
took the African drug ibogaine, drank ayahuasca tea 13 times and
smoked DMT. His own drug experiences included multiple encounters
with "spirit beings" that, he insists, have profoundly changed him.

"This life we look at is only a fragment of reality. . . . What the
physicists have arrived at with the notion of parallel dimensions,
through their methods, is pretty much the same as what shamans are
arriving at through their methods," Mr. Hancock says. "Except shamans
are ahead of the quantum physicists, because they can actually get
into those dimensions."

Going a few steps further than the late John Allegro, a Dead Sea
scholar who suggested in the 1970s that early Christianity was
essentially a mushroom-and-sex cult, Mr. Hancock maintains that all
religions are "rooted and grounded in shamanic experiences."

In Toronto recently to promote his book, Mr. Hancock said organized
religion as we know it is "the attempt to account for and explain
those experiences. And then the bureaucrats come in, take it over,
become the priesthood, impose themselves as the sole intermediaries,
and eventually lose the connection to the spiritual life that once
was at the heart of the religion. We've seen that again and again.

"I don't even know if God isn't one of those things that happen after
the bureaucrats step in. Indeed, many monotheistic religions are very
opposed to altered states of consciousness. And so we've lost contact
with the origins of religion."

The use of most hallucinogens, of course, is outlawed in most Western
nations. In that context, Mr. Hancock -- a former Economist
correspondent in East Africa who gave up journalism to begin writing
bestselling books about lost civilizations -- says most of us live
under a repressive regime.

"If you pause to think about it," he says, "the essence of a human
being is consciousness. Without it, we are nothing. So it's a
transgression of my sovereignty as an individual that some other
individual can rule on what experiences I may or may not have with my
consciousness, doing no harm to others."

Long prison terms await those convicted of experimenting with their
consciousness. That, Mr. Hancock says, "tells me our society is
deeply afraid of this problem and is engaged in a propaganda war to
persuade us that these drugs are dangerous."

Various long-term studies show that the only people seriously
adversely affected by hallucinogens are schizophrenics. Meanwhile, he
says, more common risks are played down. "Look at the mass slaughter
on our roads. Look at over-the-counter drugs, which also kill many
people. Look at extreme sports. We don't seem to have a problem with
any of that."

Even if the current prohibitions were lifted, Mr. Hancock thinks it's
unlikely that millions would sign up for a psychedelic journey.
"Taking ayahusaca, for example, is a scary experience. Most people
would be quite happy to stay locked in their world."

Mr. Hancock himself is not finished exploring the mysteries of human
consciousness. Acknowledging the gap between the lessons learned
while in a trance state and applying them to life afterward, he says
his experiences have made him less intolerant, less judgmental, less
prone to anger. "I've really tried to take those insights and integrate them."

He intends to spend part of this summer at a retreat in Brazil, where
ayahuasca is legal, drinking the tea every other day for two weeks.
"I'm only certain that there's a huge mystery here," he says. "I'm
not certain what the answer to the mystery is."

Michael Posner is a feature writer for The Globe and Mail.