The seas were lower in those days, and there were probably centers of initiation in what is now the Atlantic continental shelf. They left behind them a message that remained undeciphered for twenty thousand years, until Gurdjieff went with me to the caves of Lascaux on the last journey he made before he died. He showed me that the herds of deer depicted as crossing a river represented an initiation rite. The number of antlers on the deer indicated the level of development of the men whose emblem they were. In these and other caves we can see the work of masters of wisdom who lived thirty to thirty-five thousand years ago. – John Bennett

Historically we may never know where and when the struggle to awaken from sleep began. Nevertheless, the discoveries over the past hundred years of prehistoric relics and cave paintings in many parts of the world--some dating as far back as 36,000 BCE--point toward the existence of esoteric knowledge and teaching in prehistoric times. The simplicity of these drawings and artifacts masks a sophistication and subtlety that delivers a wealth of meaning in a few simple lines. The serene depictions of animals at rest or in motion, and the enigmatic icons of stick figures and hands, echo the more elaborate representations of ideas that later found a full expression in Egyptian art and architecture.