Why did these isolated primitive artists create such similar shapes? What were they observing? Why did they record them by painting or etching on a hard rock medium that they believed would be ever lasting? Maybe they wanted to record something unique and very significant. Was it meant to preserve some important experience for others in the tribe or group, or for their descendents who would later see these "messages in time?" Could this rock art have a message for us?

 

II. DREAM IMAGE DYNAMICS

When I began exploring dreams in the 1970s, I began to wonder what mental dynamics created the variety of images that we "see" when dreaming. How are dream images formed? Do they already exist, fully shaped in memory or are they assembled from elementary "pieces" aided by our imagination? It occurred to me that desiring to see these "pieces", if they exist, might provide some insight into the dream image creation process. Since the type of dream usually corresponds to need or intention, why should the dream forming process not also be something observed in a dream? I had no expectation of what might occur, if anything, when desiring "dream process" dreams.

After months of seeking process dreams, I noticed that the resulting dreams had a variety of consistent geometric forms mixed in with typical dream content. Sometimes the dreams had unusual dynamics such as swirling lights or vortex-like sensations. These geometric features occurred frequently when seeking a psi dream. Sometimes these forms appeared immediately after wake up from the first sleep period or shortly prior to initially falling asleep. Their occurrence¾especially their intensity and vividness¾correlated with accuracy in the ensuing psi dream. It was as if the desire for a psi dream provided the basis for also experiencing the dream's formative processes. Consequently, I assumed that some psi dreams resulted from a different image forming process than ordinary dreams such as those related to recent memory or day residue. I also noted that complex psi dream targets were likely to be preceded by the various pre-imagery geometrics. This suggested that the unfamiliar psi target elements could no longer be a simple memory match, but instead required a building up or assembling from basic geometric elements (or pieces) available within brain neural networks. I considered these building blocks of basic perception as pre-images. These are not usually seen since there is no practical purpose to being aware of them while consciously awake or during dreaming unless we desire to experience them.

A composite of my dynamic pre-images is shown in the figure Pre-Imagery.

These images were a variety of geometric forms such as angled lines, honeycombs, tiny squares, grids, dark and light or colored dots. Some geometric forms were red, yellow, and blue polygons. Visual form-less dynamics occurred, such as pulsing dots or areas of light, swirling vortex-like light areas and a sense of moving into something. Occasionally "moving" into a white dot or light area led directly into a dream! At that time I was not aware of the term, lucid dreaming. These pre-imagery dynamics appeared to facilitate transitioning from conscious awareness into a lucid dream.

These pre-imagery geometrics or patterns were so consistent I considered them to be a fundamental aspect for dream imagery formation; especially when complex pictures were the psi dream targets, or when no one was observing the target picture. When a psi target has an observer, a telepathic connection is available that may provide overall knowledge of the target picture without the need for building block assembly of the picture's content.

III. THE FORM CONSTANTS

I continued to research the significance of these pre-images and occasionally read about and met individuals who described similar phenomenon that occurred during meditation or prior to Conscious State Psi (CSP) and Dream State Psi (DSP) experiences. My interest in these geometric forms was validated by George Gillespie's presentation at an IASD conference, Tufts University, Boston, MA and in his published articles. He described grid perceptions that resembled the grid-like structures that I had perceived, although his perceptions remained stable for a few minutes and mine only for a few seconds. The forms and shapes described by Ed Kellogg at an IASD conference, Santa Cruz, CA, in a lucid dream context were similar to those I experienced preceding and during some psi dreams.

As part of our long distance CSP and DSP experiments, a research colleague Patricia Cyrus, frequently described the onset of pre-imagery prior to the appearance of a psi impression even when it was a feeling or thought and not visual. We discussed these pre-images and wondered about their significance. She noticed the similarity between her pre-imagery and the rock art markings or paintings on rocks or cliff walls made by indigenous people. We exchanged information on pre-imagery and rock art which clearly illustrated the similarities between pre-imagery and some of these ancient paintings. I re-examined the pre-imagery sketches that I made decades earlier and compared them to the rock art forms. These pre-imagery forms and some of the ancient rock art were strikingly similar.

The phenomenon of synesthesia was presented by Gloria Sturzenacker during an IASD Psiberdreaming online conference. She described synesthesia as the cognitive phenomenon of multi-modal perception such as when a certain color causes a specific sound or a geometric shape invokes a taste. Individuals experiencing synesthesia often describe consistent mental imagery similar to what I referred to as pre-imagery.

In the 1920s, Dr. Heinrich Kluver observed imagery similar to these pre-imagery visionary forms in the sketches made by participants in his altered state research at the University of Chicago. He identified four basic repeatable configurations and named them "form constants." These forms are gratings and honeycombs, cobwebs, tunnels and cones, and spirals. His form constant categories correlated with the pre-imagery and other visionary patterns that I experienced prior to and during ordinary and psi dreams.

Consistent mental imagery patterns similar to the form constants have been observed by others in a variety of altered state experiences. Some individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy experience similar visionary form constants during seizures as reported by Richard Cytowic, in his book, Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. These form constants are also experienced during meditation, in hypnopompic or hypnogogic states and by individuals with frequent dream recall.

These phenomena appear to have common roots, even though the paths to experiencing them are widely different. These roots appear to go back to the early stages of pre-history when the artists of long ago recorded similar inner experiences, the pre-imagery form constants, in their cave and rock art. But why?

Perhaps these mental images were thought to be important "real" experiences for these ancient artists. This imagery, or pre-imagery form constants, along with certain visual dynamics may have heralded the onset of a mental state conducive for either CSP or DSP. When the pre-imagery form constants appeared, the artist or vision seeker would probably gain strong confidence in the visions that followed. Perhaps these visionary perceptions resulted from ingesting a plant with a psychoactive substance, from rituals such as intense dancing or whirling or from a meditative-like state as might result from prolonged fasting or being inside a cave for an extended time. The ability to consistently perceive these mental forms probably had an evolutionary or survival purpose. In some rock art or cave art, these forms are superimposed on the sketches of animals. This suggests a "CSP/remote viewing" application for locating or interacting with a food source.

We can only speculate on the possible link between pre-imagery form constants and psi and psi dreaming. I suspect there are many individuals with consistent dream recall or psi experiences who frequently wonder about such imagery.

IV. ROCK ART -  A TIMELESS MESSAGE

One aspect of our mind may be like a hidden Rosetta stone that occasionally provides clues into the fundamental aspects and formative dynamics of dreaming, psi dreaming and possibly ordinary perception. This veiled mental domain can occasionally be glimpsed and has the potential for improving our understanding of the art forms and the messages etched into cave walls and rocks by our primitive ancestors.

But exactly what, and where, are these form constants? Are they some type of unusual fixed reference system within elementary brain structures, or are they outside of the brain but accessible through it?

The pre-imagery form constants and associated dynamics may represent more than basic aspects of brain neural network constructs. They may hint of connections to hidden realities that dreaming, and especially psi dreaming, occasionally reveal. Perhaps they are fragments of a universal mind-like Rosetta stone that is not yet fully seen. Did those ancient artists who painted cave and rock art forms understand this better than we do today?

If you would like further information about PSI - SEMINARS - INITIATIVES, please email Dale E. Graff.