Art and Religion
Traditional thinking links the roots of art with religion, but in the past
decade or so, scholars have expanded upon this belief to argue that art is part
of the human psyche and related to shaman trance states (Lewis-Williams and
Dowson 1988). The ability to enter and control a trance or altered state of
consciousness is at the heart of shamanism throughout the world.
Shamans achieve trance states through a variety of ways. They may use drugs,
but more commonly they engage in some other means, such as sensory deprivation
(prolonged absence of light and sound) or through body deprivation achieved by
dancing for hours in one in place or going without food and water for days.
Cave and rock paintings are thought to be the product of shamans painting their
visions on walls, which include examples of all the stages of the altered state
of consciousness (Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1988). As archaeologists are able
to place rock art within past cultures, they can make some powerful inferences
about former belief systems. This is precisely what Jean Clottes and David
Lewis-Williams (1996) did in the book "The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance
and Magic in the Painted Caves."
These new interpretive ideas, identified as the neuropsychological model, have revolutionized
the accepted wisdom regarding the origin of cave and rock paintings. The model
has important implications for understanding of rock art because when it is
applied these sites are viewed as religious places rather than ancient
graffiti. In fact the most important aspect of the model is its utility in any
setting or culture in the world. In other words, humans experience similar
physical responses to body deprivation, and regardless of cultural background,
they go through stages when entering trance states.
Of course, the cultural background of the individual entering the trance
regulates the visions, but the physical aspects of the trance (seeing flickers
of light, construing these into something sensible, and ultimately experiencing
the full vision) are the same for humans in all parts of the world. This makes
the neuropsychological model very useful for researchers throughout the world.
One of the more effective uses of the model has been in the research of David
Whitley (2000), as illustrated in "The Art of the Shaman: Rock Art of
California."
Jack Cowan, an eminent theoretical neuroscientist, has studied hallucinogenic
images called form constants and been able to make a direct correlation between
images generated in the brain and the types of images expressed in cave art.
