Sei and Her Soul Are Separated: The Colonization of Consciousness and Reclaiming the Visionary State

The Emerald

Joshua Schrei

Religion & Spirituality, Trance, Mythology, Culture, Society & Culture, Shamanism, Arts, Justice, Entheogens, Spirituality, Cosmology, Art, History

4.8 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the modern western understanding of consciousness, certain states are afforded the status of more important, or real, than others. The visionary state of meditative trance, which has been critically important for many cultures, takes a back seat to 'Normal Waking Consciousness.' Yet is the visionary state really less important than what we call Normal Waking Consciousness? And how have we historically treated those states of consciousness that veer from what has been termed ‘normalcy?’ Wit...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. I'm Josh, and this is The Emerald,
0:10.2	currents and trends through a mythic lens.
0:13.6	The podcast where we explore an ever-changing world and our lives in it
0:18.1	through the lens of myth, story, and imagination.
0:26.8	The Emerald.
0:28.6	All that's happening on this green jewel in space. There's an old Zen koan about a woman named Say.
0:45.7	She loves her childhood friend, but her father has other ideas about who she should marry.
0:51.5	Say follows her heart.
0:53.0	She runs off and marries the man that her father
0:55.1	doesn't want her to marry, and they live happily for many years, as if in a dream. Some years later,
1:02.1	she and her husband returned to reconcile with her father. The father is confused. Who is this
1:08.1	woman you've brought here?' he asks the man.
1:13.3	"'Why, it's your daughter, Say,' says the man.
1:15.1	"'Nonsense,' said the father.
1:18.2	"'Say is here, sick on her bed,
1:22.0	"'where she has been since I forbade her for marrying the man she wanted to marry.
1:24.5	"'The father leads them into the room,
1:30.1	"'where Say is indeed lying on her bed, ailing. The two sayes see each other,
1:40.5	and in an instant unite into one. The koan then asks, say and her soul are separated, which one is the real say.
1:51.0	It's a wonderful koan that calls to mind the famous Chinese philosopher Zhuang who had a dream of a butterfly that was so clear and vivid that upon waking, he did not know
1:57.6	whether he was a butterfly who dreamed he was a man, or a man who dreamed he was a butterfly.
2:02.6	Which one is the real state of consciousness?
	...

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