Unraveling Religion - Crazywise Film Maker Phil Borges, A Conversation

Crazywise Film Maker Phil Borges, A Conversation

07/25/20 • 52 min

'Crazy...or wise? The traditional wisdom of indigenous cultures often contradicts modern views about a mental health crisis. Is it a ‘calling’ to grow or just a ‘broken brain’? The documentary Crazywise explores what can be learned from people around the world who have turned their psychological crisis into a positive transformative experience.'

Exploring alternatives to psychosis, from 2014 as Crazywise was nearing completion, Phil and Joel talk of spirituality, shamanism and healing. Phil and Joel talk about the gifted (i.e., those who exhibit Shamanic potentic through hearing voices and visions) and their relation to mental health distress, our Western cultures treatment, and the traditional or indiginous view of these markers as a sensitivity and gift.

Biography

Phil Borges, has been documenting indigenous cultures and striving to create an understanding of the challenges they face. Phil has spoken at multiple TED talks; including TED in 2007, TEDxRainier in 2012 and TEDxUMKC in 2013 and hosted television documentaries for Discovery and National Geographic.

Biography

Previous Episode

Talk During A Night Walk

Two friends find meaning in discussing life and reveal kindness as the lasting binding element; is it Plato or Aristotle? It is only how we define love that matters, because only love endures forever. Richard Wicka shares Sartre's "The Wall" Joel Lesses shares a Chasidic Tale "The Rabbi's Gift" each finds newness in understanding because this evening we were not alone, we shared an evening walk.

Richard Wicka is a Buffalo, N.Y.-based media artist and photographer and the proprietor of "The Home of the Future,"a media access center and production/recording studio based in his Kaisertown home. Wicka has been providing a forum for artists in all media, activists, and everyday citizens of his Western New York community since the mid-1970s. He provides interested parties with technical support, studio time, and production tools free of charge, encouraging them to express themselves in ways that mainstream culture has not historically sanctioned. With the advent of internet radio came ThinkTwice Radio in 2006, offering podcasts to anyone with a subject to discuss and the commitment to produce a regular show.

Next Episode

Transforming The Human Heart: A Talk With Rabbi Micha Odenheimer

During 2015 Joel spent two months in Nepal and spoke with the NGO Tevel B'Tzedek's Founder Micha Odenheimer about Judaism, globalization, poverty, and the Prophets of the Bible. Tevel's mission is to form education and bonds in rural communities of developing nations, to enrich communities through sharing and knowlege education and resources. This talk centers on Judaism's rich tradition of supporting 'the widow orphan and stranger' and the validities of the worlds other religous traditions, working together to improve the quality of life for all people.

About Rabbi Micha Odenheimer: 'Born in 1958 in Berkeley California, Micha Odenheimer has been a writer, journalist, Jewish teacher and social activist in Israel since making aliyah 31 years ago. Micha’s life and interests include fields rarely seen in combination. As a rabbi he has written dozens of essays on Judaism the Torah, and social justice, and has reported on trends in Judaism and the Jewish world. Micha has a special interest in Jewish mysticism and Hasidism.'