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(Saphia peers outside her window.)

SAPHIA (VO): There has to be something beyond oppositional consciousness. Something in addition to. Something that keeps hope alive, that puts the nuances and minutiae of daily life into perspective. There’s glimmers of this “beyond” everywhere—across genres, in literature and theory and poetry and novels.

(Saphia separates a stack of books from her bookshelf.)

SAPHIA (VO): Named and unnamed. God and spirit and destiny and the mysterious workings of the universe. Some call all of this, simply, consciousness.

(Saphia sits on the floor surrounded by books, sifting through each one.)

SAPHIA (VO): Not oppositional consciousness, but consciousness. An understanding that the divisions and differentiations that create our diverse world, that separate the ocean from the forest, the mountains from the valleys, me from you, are an illusion, and that not being able to see beyond this is the root cause of all suffering.

(Saphia is upside down, bathed in purple light.)

SAPHIA (VO): This begs the question, how do you remain of this world and beyond it? Simultaneously? It seems fundamentally contradictory, and yet seeking its answer may be the only way to live in both awareness and joy.

(Fade to outro.)