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Title: Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
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Manufacturer: The Disinformation Company
List Price: $18.95
Our Price: $11.00
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Requires more field study/testing; Author too eager to state his theory is correct | I enjoyed entertaining the hypothesis proposed in this book. The author does a very good job reporting research done by others that helps support his hypothesis, although the author tends to provide more "case examples" than is necessary in each sub-argument, making the book longer than necessary. However, the authors of the other work he quotes admit more testing/research is needed to help prove the "realness" of what is seen in their own and research subjects' ethnogenic experiences, and the author's own experiments with ethnogenic substances as reported in the book contain only some similarities to what he is arguing should be dominant staples in everyone's experiences with these substances, as his theory goes. Relatedly, I felt he did not perform enough attempts with each substance, or at least didn't report enough of them, for me to see that the few flashes of similarity he did experience support his main hypothesis. Similarly, I disliked how the book ended on an open-ended note where he had just consumed more substances as another "test," but that's it - book ends - no information about how that experience went.
Ultimately, more testing/research is needed; I hope there is, as there seems to be a strong case for this hypothesis... | | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Entertaining and interesting | Supernatural takes you on a classical Graham Hancock journey this time through the jungles and into the culture of the shamans. Hancock in this book combines historical research with experimentation of psychotropic hallucinogens such as ayawasca and DMT. The book focuses on phenomenological issues of consciousness and the evolution of constructive thought. The thesis of this book is essentially that the evolution of the human mind and thought from the ancient non-sophisticated cultures to our current super technologically advanced societies today, was facilitated by the virtue of conscious experimentation and experience with psychoactive plants which unlocked the secret wave lengths or channels of useful knowledge which exists in different wave lengths than the one`s we are commonly use to.
One of the issues Hancock focuses on is the historically accurate account given by Francis Crick that it was under the influence of LSD that he "saw" the double helix structure of DNA. Crick of course with Watson are the ones credited with elucidating the structure of DNA. Hancock also goes on to talk about his discovery that many cultures which use psychotropic plants prepared by shamans have a history of discovering very improbable and greatly hidden secrets. How he supports this assertion I do not know considering that the cultures today that continue to promote shamanic rituals are usually the most technologically backwards. Nonetheless, aside from simply the technological benefits that Hancock attributes to DMT and the like there are, he maintains spiritual benefits. He talks about how all of his life he suffered from migraines but after taking ayawasca several times his migraines are now gone. Here he seems to be crafting an interesting parallel to the hallucinogenic plants with modern interests in homeopathy and the like. Certainly the concept of nature plays a huge role in this book and it's message. One of the messages of the book is that human nature has become corrupted by the modern vices and pressures of a materialistically obsessed society and because of this corruption society has become ill. Hancock sees the shamanic culture and its rituals as part of the remedy for this ailment.
Hancock presents two theories for how shamanic rituals work on the conciseness. One is that when in "altered states of consciousness" one is actually connecting with another dimension of the universe or of being. In this dimension you can access secrets and valuable insights from actual living entitles on the other side. While a bit creepy and yet fascinating, I find this explanation hardly plausible. I know a few junkies (LSD users and such) and none claim to have "encounters with the ancient teacher of man kind," hence the subtitle of the book. The other theory however which I do find plausible, is that within our DNA, if say we were created by space aliens, as Crick supposed, or by God or an intelligent designer, as some suppose, then there could be already within our hardware, our DNA perhaps, messages and knowledge somehow imprinted into it waiting to be unlocked. This he speculates, within altered states of consciousness we can at times, "tap into" that valuable information source and reach different points of enlightenment. I cant say that this is actually the case or even a real possibility but I do find the idea worthy of being called "a theory" to some extent and it is to me very interesting. I would like to point out that when reading these kinds of books I take them as partially fictional and partially non-fiction. I don't consider this a scientific book of any merit but an exposé of a theory in the works. A little bit of paranormal pseudo-science mixed in with some real science and also a little novel like fictional account as well.
Throughout the book Hancock gives is interpretations of various ancient artwork and the like tying it all in with shamanic rituals. All in all the book was very entertaining but I wouldn't bother going out and experimenting with drugs. Just because one mad scientist claims that one LSD trip helped him to visualize the structure of DNA, it is not a worthy inference in my opinion to go out and use such drugs in hopes of a similar experience especially considering their dangerous track records.
Also one of the interesting facts and perhaps real original researched facts that was brought up in the book was the discovery of a particular plant that the ancient Egyptians used that had psychoactive properties. I find this of worthy note and very interesting in how it may have played a roll in their cultural manifestations, especially in the artwork that we see though out their great structures as in Abydos.
My greatest problem with the book was not its extreme theories about human development and the evolution of consciousness but the fact that the book drags on. Hancock just keeps traveling and looking at more and more ancient cave art and some of the examples are boring at best. He continues to use more and more DMT and extrapolate more and more possible insights about mans experiences with the ancient teachers of mankind which he affirms exist in other dimensions. The focus towards the end of the book was too much on the drugs and the ancient art work and not enough on the meaning and possible science of the experiences he is dealing with.
I say 4 stars because its far better than the usually drivel. I am a pretty liberal grader so it could have earned 5 but it needed to be more scientific for me to give it a full score.
| | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Questions for your brain | With this book, I have read most of Hancock's works, from Message of the Sphinx, Talisman, Fingertips of the Gods, among others. While this particular book strays from the so-called "real world" (as in very few actual sites are mentioned throughout the book) it still focuses on the themes Hancock started to write about years ago.
To those unfamiliar, his work - and this book is no exception - is not about giving final answers to readers. Rather, Hancock poses one of the most interesting questions you can find out there, challenging your perception of, well, reality as you know it.
The reader will initially find the assumptions here really far-fetched, but as the book progresses, it is hard to toss these assumptions out. They will stick to your brain after you've read them. I keep looking at fairies (yes, really) in a much different light.
Highly recommended for those interested on ancient cultures, the birth of life and how our civilization and phenomenos happen. I wouldn't suggest it for those firmly set on the status-quo: the idea here is to break it apart and see if the rebuilt scenario works better than the previous one. | | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Good Read | | A wonderful read. Extremely interesting and I would certainly recommend it. I only gave it four stars because Graham Hancock is afraid to reach any conclusions. He draws the picture in great detail, but fails to hang it on any perceptible frame. Although the information about spirits, aliens, goblins and angels is enthralling, the reader doesn't know where to go with it. So we are no wiser as to what is going on. | | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Excellent Scholarly Work, but Rife with Strange Opinions | I really enjoyed this book (and am still reading parts of it). This book is, I think, one of the most important books one can read. It is very eye-opening and illuminating, to anyone interested in the basis of religion. It presents almost a scientific explanation to religion, without trying to "debunk" religion, which is an extremely novel approach.
One criticism I have with this book, is that the author seems to doubt too much in humanity, and put too much faith in the "spiritual beings" from "other realms". It seems he thinks nearly everything we have achieved is because of these entities, and not because of our own prowess and imagination. One particular example is with DNA, and that "aliens" might have encoded all knowledge inside "junk DNA", and that only 1% of our DNA is actually useful. I think this may be more akin to the myth that we only use 10% of our brain (we use all of our brain, but it may be said we usually are only using 10% of it at a given time).
So it's more likely we just don't understand the entire DNA code, and that there isn't any "junk DNA", it all plays a role, even if minor. We should give ourselves more credit here, and not try to write off all of our accomplishments to "aliens". Just to make things clear, I think psychedelics have played a vital role in our evolution. It's just a little offputting to write off our progress to other sentient beings.
Furthermore, it seems contradictory to propose that:
A) Hallucinogenic experiences are encounters with real entities.
and
B) Hallucinogenic experiences are recordings from our DNA.
You can't have it both ways. Either its A or its B, but not both. Talking to a recording, is not talking to a being, no matter how you slice it. Finally, to think that beings genetically engineered our DNA, then let it loose over a billion years, only to culminate in sentient beings who would then use DMT to read the message in the DNA... do you see how absurd this is? It's like the ULTIMATE GOTCHA CONSPIRACY, one so ludicrously complex, like an impossible plot from a bad movie. If, by some fluke, researchers prove me wrong, and find a secret movie code in our DNA, then I'll stand corrected. It justs seems beyond the realms of even believable fiction.
In spite of this, I highly, highly recommend this book. | | Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by The Disinformation Company Book Description | Less than fifty thousand years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious "before-and-after moment" and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind. His quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural 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" first depicted in the painted caves be the ancient teachers of mankind? Could it be that human evolution is not just the "meaningless" process that Darwin identified, but something more purposive and intelligent that we have barely begun to understand? This newly revised edition of Supernatural is now available for the first time as a paperback original. Graham Hancock is the author of the international bestsellers The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies. |
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