Symbol, Art and Altered States

Fredrick Smith, Professor of Religious Studies, Sanskrit & Classical Indian Religions and Christine VanPool, Professor of Anthropology joined us and together we examined sound, symbol and art, in the widest sense, as carriers of cultural identity, layers of information, and cues to the physiological shifts supporting trance states. We compared ritual and the deep power of art for transcendence as used by ancient cultures around the world. While our work is in the field of Ecstatic Trance, Fred offered an example of fascinating example of a possession trance states. We are also joined by Lawson Malnory, Ethnomusicology MA student at Arizona State University who is conducting a study on sound inducement in trance and other altered-state experiences which involves a survey wherein participants will listen to and then rate a series of potential sound induction samples.

Hosted by Laura Lee and Paul Robear. Conversation4Exploration, Conversation 4 Exploration,
Conversation for Exploration, The Laura Lee Show