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This is the
Site Index Page
of
THE ORIGIN OF WRITING
but, first...
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
I know that some people will copy some of the images I have posted here, to play around with and perhaps attempt to "animate" by selectively presenting various aspects of these composite images, no matter what I have to say about it. I can only request, then, that the images posted here be treated with the respect due both them and the people whose culture they are from.
Part of that due respect pertains to the nature of these images as visual composites; and, their mediated presentation.
DO NOT FLASH THESE EXAMPLES OR,
ANY SAMPLES FROM NON-METRICAL IMAGE WRITING,
IN RAPID SEQUENCES FOR OTHERS TO VIEW.
...because there are frequencies at which flashing lights can induce seizures in some who are prone to epilepsy...
AND since these image composites often present CLOSE-UP perspectives of animal attacks (i.e. as if an attacking, wild animal's eyes are inches away from one's own), these images could conceivably trigger neural responses at a wider range of presentation frequencies than would ordinarily be expected.
These images shouldn't be presented as one might present music, or as speech might be (in punctuated sequences); instead, any dynamic that sequentially presents these kinds of images should do so through a "smooth space" of slow and gradual shifts that phases, through a neutral gray (anything between black and white) intermediary stage, between images.
Excerpts From:
THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE SALISH GUARDIAN SPIRIT COMPLEX AS DOCUMENTED IN ETHNOGRAPHIC LITERATURE
by Wolfgang G. Jilek, M.D. (1982).
"The capacity of attaining altered states of consciousness is a universal property of the human nervous system as evidenced by the ubiquitous occurrence of trance phenomena through time and space. However, the prevalence of these phenomena appears to be a function of socio-cultural variables. Under the impact of rationalistic-positivistic ideologies, the normal faculty of manifesting with psychogenic dissociation appears to have diminished among members of the Western urban middle class who would nowadays not be expected to readily enter hysterical twilight reactions, daemonic possessions, or religious frenzy, while these states are by no means rare in more tradition-oriented pockets of Western culture (cf. Jilek and Jilek-Aall 1970).
Altered states of consciousness are characterized by the following symptoms:
- alterations in thinking, including predominance of archaic modes of thought, blurring of cause-effect distinction, and cognitive ambivalence;
- disturbed time sense;
- loss of conscious control and inhibition which may be relinquished in order to gain a greater, culturally defined power;
- change in emotive expression towards affective extremes ranging from ecstasy to profound fear;
- body-image changes; feelings of depersonalization, derealization, dissolution of boundaries between self and environment, often associated with dizziness, weakness, blurred vision and analgesia;
- perceptual distortions;
hallucinations, illusions, visual imagery, hyper-acuteness of perceptions, synaesthetic experiences;
- change in meaning; attachment of increased or specific significance to subjective experience or external cues, leading to thrilling feelings of insight, and revelation of "truth" which then carries an unshakeable conviction;
- sense of the ineffable; the essence of the personal experience is felt to not be directly communicable, and thus is often explained by varying degrees of amnesia;
- feelings of rejuvenation, of renewed hope or rebirth;
- hyper-suggestibility: a propensity to accept or to respond uncritically to statements of an authority figure via identification, or to cultural and group expectations.
"The role of rhythmic sensory stimulation in the production of altered states of consciousness deserves our special attention... PHOTIC DRIVING, i.e. the effects of stroboscopic photo-stimulation on electrical brain activity, perception and consciousness, has been the main concern of neurophysiological research in this field ever since the pioneering work of Adrian and Matthews (1934)...
In their now classical treatise on rhythmic sensory stimulation, Walter and Grey Walter (1949:63) recorded the following physiological and psychological effects of such stimulation in their subjects:
- Visual sensations with characters not present in the stimulus, that is: [a] Color; [b] Pattern; [C] Movement.
- Simple sensations in other than the visual mode: [A] Kinaesthetic (swaying, spinning, jumping, vertigo); [B] Cutaneous (tingling, prickling); [C] Auditory (rare); [D] Gustatory and olfactory (doubtful); [E] Visceral (probably connected with {A}).
- General emotional and abstract experiences: [A] Fatigue; [B] Confusion; [C] Fear; [D] Disgust; [E] Anger; [F] Pleasure; [G] Disturbance of time sense.
- Organized hallucinations of various types.
- Clinical psychopathic states and EPILEPTIC SEIZURES.
Although these effects were achieved by photic stimulation with rhythmically flickering light, the researchers had reason to assume that the mechanisms dealing with signals from non-visual sensory receptors were basically similar, and that "rhythmic stimulation in any mode is likely to produce impulse volleys at harmonic frequencies somewhere in the central nervous system, associated with specific illusory sensations."
From the perspective of post-structural philosophy (where, for instance, considering the essential nature of time is a time-honored past-time), psychology always maintains a dependence upon one centering conceptual assemblage or other, which takes the form of "the norm". Sometimes this conceptual nexus of "the norm" does indeed seem to be based upon a mythical, "ideal psychological state": that of a middle-aged white male sitting, warm and safe at home and, comfortably eating a hot meal which someone else prepared. Life is seldom like that for anyone (and never like that for a lot of people...although junk food is, by some surprising co-incidence, very common within Western culture - but...that's another story).
A lot of the above 'profile distinctions' relating to "the role of rhythmic sensory stimulation in the production of altered states of consciousness" would fit comfortably within modern rave, or techno-beat, scenes.
Remember, then: the dance-trance scene is meant, by all involved, to be fun. Survival tens of thousands of years ago was a lot more fun than the alternative (death); but, the techniques and practices used to enhance survival skills did not NEED to be fun. They simply needed to be EFFECTIVE.
Let's NOT inadvertently work our way back up the lists of 'profile distinctions' presented above by starting at 'CLINICAL PSYCHOPATHIC STATES AND EPILEPTIC SEIZURES'...SO,
PLEASE, DO NOT RAPIDLY
FLASH SEQUENCES OF IMAGES
TAKEN FROM MY EXAMPLES
OF NON-METRICAL IMAGE WRITING
FOR PEOPLE TO VIEW.
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SITE INDEX
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My site's home page, which includes:
* a summary of my research
* a photograph illustrating comparatively sized, proto-glyphic image areas
* an invitation to members of the First Nations
* my e-mail address *
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Site Index
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This is where you are at the moment, and where you will find:
* an important note about displaying non-metrical image writing through modern media
* this site index
* a note about my research, as philosophic inquiry *
An introduction to, and overview of, my research into non-metrical image writing (now contains images of pre-ice age North American hominids - Feb. 27, 2003). Sections include:
* language, writing, and thought
* how old is writing?
* the origin of writing
* writing and tool making
* non-metrical image writing
* how knowledge of this form of writing was all but destroyed
* how knowledge of this form of writing is being suppressed
* differences and features
* summary *
I have found images of this species of intelligent reptile from British Columbia to Ontario, Canada; they seem to have been a dominant North American predator before the arrival of the first humans. Presumably, examples of such a widespread and successful animal must exist in the fossil record. Perhaps such fossils have been found, but were tentatively mis-interpreted as "aliens": an easy mistake to make (particularly during the Cold War period), since nothing like such reptiles existed anywhere else! Several pictures of images of this creature are presented here; and, I have LOTS more.
* Why have I seen this before?
* something odd surfaces in Roswell, New Mexico
* not an alien: an extremely dangerous species of reptile*
* When have I seen this before?
* a story from China’s Shang Dynasty
* rumors reach the Middle East
* Where have I seen this before?
* the real history of North America’s First Nations
* images of an(?) intelligent species of reptile:
* Firelight photograph showing of a sculpted head of an intelligent
species of reptile, as well as a North American horse
* A sunlight photograph of this sculpted head of an intelligent species
of reptile
* A close-up, sunlight photograph of the sculpted head of an intelligent
species of reptile
* A sunlight photograph of a different aspect of this sculpted head of an
intelligent species of reptile, presenting the brain of a different
species of intelligent reptile
* I am not an unreasonable person… *
This is where you can find definitions of some of the primary terms that I use here: non-metrical; image; and, writing...as well as an introduction to some of the concepts from post structural philosophy which I use. Here you can also find a conversion of semiological concepts (used in analysing phonetic languages) into grammatological concepts (used in analysing graphemic/visual languages), as well as some tips on how to go about reading non-metrical image writing.
* the Non-Metrical
* G.B.R. Riemann: differences in degree, differences in kind
* Henri Bergson: two multiplicities; spatial and temporal distinctions
* the non-metrical as characteristic of temporal distinctions
* Benjamin Lee Whorf: concepts in Aboriginal languages *
* Images
* perspectival and event horizons
* Felix Guattari: semiologically formed substances
* the intersubjective stability of external sensory stimuli
* Gregory Currie: visual imagery as the simulation of vision *
* Writing
* how do you read?
* Jacques Derrida: grammatology and the trace of difference
* co-extension and the meta-stability of differential assemblages
* Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari: partial objects; about schizo-analysis
* sensory contrasts, features, meta-stabilities; singularities, re-markings, meta-narratives *
* tips on reading non-metrical image writing
* Patrick McNamara: Henri Bergson’s “Matter and Memory” and modern selectionist theories of memory
* National Institute of Mental Health: neural correlates of category-specific knowledge *
* some background notes *
Here are images of several species of Pterodactyl, and some supporting text which provides historical background about the existence of these creatures on the Northwest Coast of Canada. There is an extended analysis of one such image, incorporating historical with visual information; and an overview of some other matters pertinent to this research project. You'll also find THE WORLD'S OLDEST WRITTEN JOKE shown here...and, it's pretty funny.
* Who showed you?
* a sea otter story
* on second thought: some comments upon archaeology and anthropology (observations from post-structural philosophy); about the conceptual plane of immanence
* some other things that bother me *
* Why were you shown?
* the island of dragons
* ancient Taoists, ancient shamans
* pterosaurs considered as dragons: Dr. John R. Baker’s traditional Chinese description of a dragon compared with non-metrical images of a pterodactyl * the world’s oldest written joke *
Some interesting images of pterodactyls, 'drawn from life'.
* My favorite pterodactyl image
* Another aspect of the stone my favorite pterodactyl is on
* A black pterodactyl, with green eyes, on a white background
* Another aspect of the green-eyed pterodactyl's stone: a circular
formation in ancient image writing
* A flying pterodactyl
* Another aspect of the flying pterodactyl's stone: a pterodactyl foot
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Analysing Non-Metrical Image Writing: An Interpretive Approach
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This section contains an in-depth post-structural analysis of how non-metrical image writing functions. The analysis presented draws heavily upon the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (especially "What Is Philosophy", Columbia University, NYC, 1994); and it is composed of two sections: a technical, background overview of the interpretive methodology I employ in reading non-metrical image writing; and an applied analysis of the very first example of non-metrical image writing that I found (in Bute Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, in 1991). Here, you can see how grammatological principles can be used to reconstruct the conceptual persona of someone who produced an example of non-metrical image writing ~10,000 years ago (or, longer. Much longer). Some assembly required.
Page One:
* a summary of the grammatological functions associated with non-metrical image writing
* what Warchief told me
* interpreting a specific example: The Three Feather Chief
* a flint knife
* looking into these eyes
* silent speech: the owl’s face
* the three feathers: the spear point and mountain goat; the obsidian microblade core; the solid granite ax
* consistencies: some stable structures in non-metrical image writing
* the nature of non-metrical image writing
* The Sacred Stone: a story by Hawk
* For Example: the way things are done in Canada
* The Three Feather Chief as conceptual personae: The Three Feather Chief as sea otter; as owl; as hereditary Chief *
Page Two
* to begin: forming an interpretive grasp of a long-ago world
* toward a stable interpretive threshold
* the plane of immanence
* defining concepts
* conceptual personae
* points of view
* toward geophilosophy (singularities, intensive ordinates, event horizons/meta-narratives) *
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The T. Rex Pages
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One of the most remarkable creatures to inhabit North America, the T. Rex was truly a terror. Here I am presenting for you several images of that ultimate predator, which once (not so very long ago) stalked this continent from sea to sea. Find out how other animals, such as buffalo and horses, evolved certain characteristics in response to this predator; and see how the T. Rex ate creatures as diverse as mastodon and North American lions...as well as other dinosaurs. Some of the best images I have posted on this web site are on the second, "images page", of this section...but, few people persist in reading this site long enough to see them (just so that you know).
* What did you say?
* translation and linguistic extinction
* some of the problems which the First Nations in Canada are facing*
Some Images of T. Rex.
* A sculpted T. Rex head (various images, including that of a giant
squid)
* A T. Rex eats a mastodon
* A T. Rex attacks a North American lion
* The ivory T. Rex: a truly exceptional piece
What actually happened in this remote coastal inlet in 1861? An explorer arrives, looking for a trail over the mountains into the interior. When he leaves, he tells others not to visit the Aboriginal village located there. But someone does visit about a month later, and they find that the village has vanished...
Well, it looks like a case of mass murder to me. This is the sort of historical atrocity that people in Canada consistently try to keep covered up...suggesting that they are little different from the person responsible for this act of genocide.
* my search begins
* my search narrows
* my search focuses
* William Downie’s account
* Alfred Waddington’s account
* Robert Homfray’s account
* H.O. Tiedemann’s account
* conclusions
* my favorite photograph
* that was a vision quest *
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ABOUT MY RESEARCH,
AS PHILOSOPHIC INQUIRY
"The stone has no access to entities, it has no experience. As for the animal, it has access to entities but, and this is what distinguishes it from man, it has no access to entities AS SUCH...The animal can have a world because it has access to entities, but it is deprived of a world because it does not have access to entities AS SUCH and in their Being...The lizard, whose time on the rock, in the sun, Heidegger describes laboriously and at length, does not relate to the rock and the sun AS SUCH, as that with regard to which, precisely, one can put questions and give replies. And yet, however little we can identify with the lizard, we know that it has a relationship with the sun - and with the stone, which itself has none, neither with the sun nor with the lizard."
Jacques Derrida, OF SPIRIT: Heidegger and The Question, pages 51-52.
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I chose to use this quote by Derrida as a theme for this web site for a number of reasons:
First, because it mentions reptiles (lizards) on rocks, of which there are many to be seen within this web site;
...and while there are no doubt many who will say, "that just isn't possible: dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago!", I can only reply that, I have found what I have found: that residual species of dinosaurs did indeed persist in North American up to as recently as ~10,000 years ago. Although there may not be any fossil evidence to supplement this observation - yet - please remember: absence of proof does not constitute proof of absence.
What I am showing upon this web site is more than possible; the evidence I have collected on this subject is, as the German philosopher Leibniz (inventor of differential calculus) would say, "compossible": for, in order to show that a thing exists, it is necessary to do more than just show it is possible. It is necessary to show that such a thing is possible along with the other things that are known to exist; and that it does not contradict these other things.
By its very nature, non-metrical image writing presents images of events which intricately co-join the various things being presented. Thus, the images of residual species of dinosaur that I show here do not present these creatures in isolation: rather, they are presented as interacting and intermingled with the other animals and objects common to the time period that these examples of non-metrical image writing are from. My certainty as to the persistent existence of residual species of dinosaur in North America may seem to be 'heresy against (scientific) doctrine' to some but, I assure you, what I have found is indeed true.
One of the strengths of scientific method is that, by insisting upon findings established through verifiably repeatable experiments, scientific results can be taken as 'true' once proven and a reliable body of knowledge can be built up. In philosophy, we also have certain accepted procedures. One of these is that philosophers are expected to take apart the concepts that they borrow from others and to put them back together for themselves, so that they understand these concepts to a degree adequate to the task to which these concepts will be applied. Thus, in philosophy, we expect to see a wide variety of thought-forms produced. As a philosopher, I do not simply accept the concepts that I put to use...whether those concepts come from philosophy, or from science. So, if I can see for myself that the assertion, "all the major species of dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago" is wrong, I don't mind deconstructing the concepts that are used to form this statement to see where they are in error; nor do I mind reconstructing concepts more adequate to the task I am undertaking. I should mention to those in the scientific community that the deconstructive techniques I use are not from the modified versions used in post-modern literary criticism: these techniques are the original, post-structural applications developed by Jacques Derrida...which were designed to critique the centricisms of scientific theory, not the biases of literature. I would also like to suggest that many in the scientific communities that my research cuts across should become a little more use to questioning the origins of the concepts which THEY habitually employ.
Second, because it illustrates a point that I have had to make, over and over, to people who refuse to see that what I am presenting here is indeed a form of writing produced by humans. That point is, simply, that rocks and stones are not aware of their environment: they have no perceptual, or nervous, systems from which to derive accurate visual information about their surrounding environment. It is not possible for stones to re-mark their own surfaces to accurately depict the lived experiences of the beings living around them. That just doesn't happen.
Animals can perceive the things around them, and are certainly intelligent. However, animals survive in this world through an intimate melding (meshing) of their perceptions with their motor reflexes. This is a state of consciousness one might find humans striving to achieve in the accomplished performance of a martial art; it is a state very different than that which accompanies writing (or talking). Every kind of animal has its own characteristic patterns of movement and distinct defensive strengths: but, as the First Nations point out, only humans have freedom of choice.
It should be noted that, to fully realize Derrida's critique of Heidegger relative to this quote, we must radicalize our understanding of how the world(s) of animals differ from that (those) of humans: starting from the observation that the world of human perception and experience is different from that of animals, we must focus upon such differences with the realization that such worlds are not circumscribed, as if in a hierarchical arrangement, with one within the other. Indeed, otherness is the key concept here; and the acute perceptions of animals, coupled with their intimate immanence to the world, means that the world of any particular animal usually exceeds that of humans in some respects. After all, we do not critique microscopes and telescopes for what they do not include of human perception; instead, we utilize the differences they unconceal through the ways in which they exceed normal human perception.
The nature of the primal state of animal consciousness isn't something which produces writing, although animals can indeed recognize themselves as depicted in some glyphs. Animals can not, however, produce the intricate glyphic structures of non-metrical image writing.
To produce such glyphic structures, it is necessary to conceptualize the sub-surface properties of a stone's natural (random) grain pattern, which underlies the appearance of the stone's surface. You have to be able to think of what the inside of a stone is like. Humans are remarkably good at thinking beyond appearances, and so people can work with things they can't actually see (whether these things are hidden; or, not yet existing, as is found within the processes of making things).
This is a very human ability, and there are other characteristics found within non-metrical image writing which demonstrate that it is indeed the product of human minds expressing the events of their existence.
And third: because of the focus of the book that this quote is taken from. Derrida's "Of Spirit" is concerned with the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, and Heidegger's relationship with the Nazi government of wartime Germany. The book "Of Spirit" questions that relationship closely, asking how Heidegger became involved with the Nazi regime (and a simple answer of 'by not being killed by them' does not suffice here). This involvement is traced through Heidegger's use of the concept "spirit" during his wartime writings; and the broad conclusion drawn is that, during the Nazi regime, Heidegger incorporated the Nazi concept of 'national spirit' into his philosophic writings.
In Canada today, one often finds scientific inquiry being orchestrated in tune to political considerations which, in turn, are subsumed to the interets of the governing political party. Does that sound like anything that you've heard of before?
I will not be discussing any matters 'of spirit' here. I will not be aligning my research to conform with the dictates of any 'national spirit'; and I will not be presenting my findings 'in the spirit of' any academic sciences (archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, etc.)...even though I would indeed love to see others "verifiably repeat" what I have done in assembling the material that my research is composed from. For, it was not an easy thing to do.
As a philosopher, I will be asking questions concerning derivations (instead of questions pertaining to 'spirit'). I will be asking of the things I find, "how were these things produced; and why were they produced so". I will also be asking why I almost never seem to see the people in those scientific fields mentioned above "making the least effort" to speak out in support of the Aboriginal Peoples' ongoing struggle for self determination. And if you don't like me doing that...well, no one is forcing you to look at my research findings. It's your choice.
If there is one thing that Derrida's OF SPIRIT should do, it is to remind all philosophers of the absolute necessity for concentrating upon matters pertaining to the derivation of the concepts they use, instead of simply accepting those concepts as a matter of pre-given "spirit".
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HOME
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Site Index
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The Origin of Writing
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An Intelligent Species of Reptile
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What Is Non-Metrical Image Writing?
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The Pterodactyl Pages
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Interpreting Non-Metrical Image Writing
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The T. Rex Pages
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Bute Inlet, 1861
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Links, Web Rings and Guestbook.
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