These designs match the eye's natural phosphenes, geometric designs produced by the eye subjectively in the absence of light, under manual pressure, or under the influence of entheogenic plants. Contemporary neuroscience has no idea where the distinction between cognitive and noncognitive processes lies. The best working model Professor Churchland can suggest for the brain is a living hologram. The historical achievements of Paleolithic shamanism are strong empirical proof that both extrasensory perception, which can be empirically demonstrated but not explained, and creative genius are at work. They include the discovery of virtually all known medicinal plants and innumerable ways of employing them, the invention of local and general anesthesia, midwifery, surgery, transfusion, organ replacement, vaccination, hypodermic injection and acupuncture.
Auric vision is a power consistently attributed to the ancient shamans.
Obviously, they were using their 'biological technology' to see the white light. The intellectual, social and technological contribution of Paleolithic shamanism is immeasurable. Virtually all the surviving Bronze Age mythology, for instance, attributes the discovery of astronomy, mythology, writing and metallurgy to the shamans. Anthropologists are consistently amazed at the encyclopedic genius, botanical or poetical, they encounter in many shamans. One anthropologist reported an Amazonian shaman who could accurately discuss the properties of more than 2000 plants.