"With the original unabridged text of Supernatural, I offer the
reader an investigation that explores the human experience with
psychedelics from the Stone Age to the Space Age and the role of these
extraordinary plant medicines as tools to investigate the nature of
reality itself."--Graham Hancock
Discover the pathway to the gods.
Less than 50,000 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 Visionary, Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious
"before-and-after moment" and to discover the truth about the influences
that gave birth to modern human mind. His quest takes him on a journey
of adventure and detection from the stunningly beautiful painted caves
of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to remote rock shelters in the
mountains of South Africa, where he finds a treasure trove of
extraordinary Stone Age art.
Hancock uncovers clues that lead him to travel to the depths of the
Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful plant hallucinogen ayahuasca
with Indian shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural
beings" identical to the animal-human hybrids depicted in prehistoric
caves and rock shelters. 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 and rock
shelters be the ancient teachers of mankind? Could it be that human
evolution is not just the "blind," "meaningless" process that Darwin
identified, but something more purposive and intelligent, something that
we have barely even begun to understand?
Previously published as Supernatural, this definitive edition includes
a new Introduction by Graham Hancock as well as restored chapters that
were omitted from the original paperback release.
