Learning How Other Cultures Manage Crises

"I believe this pandemic can evoke a new kind of spiritual awakening for people."

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One phrase emerged strongly this spring: “stay at home.” By now, many of us have had time to reflect on our lives, where we have been placing our attention and how we have been directing our life force. These insights are like jewels shining in the shadows of COVID-19.

For Esalen faculty, human rights photographer and filmmaker Phil Borges, who leads Psychological Crises and Spiritual Awakening, July 17-19 at Esalen, the global pandemic has also been a time to revisit his 2017 documentary CRAZYWISE in which he chronicles how indigenous cultures manage crises differently from the West.

Phil shared his work with Esalen in summer 2019 during a compelling Conversations on the Edge event. In reexamining his work, he leans into his 30 years of creating human rights stories in indigenous and tribal cultures, where he often found that other cultures hold valuable insights for crisis management, whether it be psychological, spiritual or cultural.

"What I’ve seen is that there is a lot of intimacy between individuals in tribal communities," Phil says. "Everybody knows one another. They have to rely on each other’s cooperation and good relationships. We can learn from these cultures because we are naturally wired for that intimacy and connection."

Phil shares more with Esalen News.

Esalen News: What lesson is this time in history attempting to teach us?

Phil Borges: When I take things for granted, whatever I think will always be there, may be taken away—and it shocks me into the realization of impermanence. Being forced to stay in one place and slow down has now allowed me to reflect and realize how fast and frenetic my life was moving. Sometimes when you stay so busy you don’t create time to do that.

In that way, the pandemic brought me a gift. It certainly has been a gift for our planet. I think any crisis, be it personal or societal, offers an opportunity. On a cultural level, the fact that we are not burning fossil fuel right now is a blessing. There are people in China in their thirties who are seeing stars for the very first time. In a way, this is a health-restorative event for the planet.

In terms of relationships with one another, being forced to stay at home with the family and deepening those connections has become possible. COVID-19 has given us more time to reflect. And even if we lost our jobs, perhaps we are given an opportunity to reflect on the importance that job actually held in our life.

What wisdom can we discover from other cultures that have successfully navigated through a crisis, whether it be cultural, psychological or otherwise?

As a whole, our culture is pretty isolated. I say that because I’ve spent 30 years going back and forth between tribal and indigenous cultures and western culture. What I’ve seen in other cultures is how well they rely on each other just to survive because they don’t have daycare centers for their kids, old-age homes for their elders, agribusiness or grocery stores to bring them food.

In traditional cultures, that intimate connection is much stronger. People have a stronger connection to their place on the planet—not just a physical connection but a spiritual connection to the land and their ancestors. We don’t have that as much, but we can learn a great deal from these cultures.

What other insights have you gained from these cultures during your research and filmmaking?

I have interviewed well over 80 individuals in our culture and several shamans in indigenous and tribal cultures who have successfully navigated a psychological crisis. The most important thing I learned was how critical it is to frame the crisis in a way that provides meaning and hope for recovery. For instance, for a young person being told that they have a chemical imbalance in their brain for which there is no cure can be very self-fulfilling.

On the other hand, the young shamans are told the crisis is a “calling” to develop their unique sensitivities that will allow them to be very valuable to the community. I also discovered that small indigenous tribal groups must depend on each other in order to survive. Their survival completely depends on their intimate cooperative relationships.

Is there a particular group or culture that stood out in terms of how they moved through crises?

After the genocide In Rwanda, we sent many mental health professionals to help them recover from their trauma. After a week or two of talk therapy, most of our therapists were sent back home. The Rwandans said,

"It doesn’t help us to just talk about the tragedy. We have to release our pain by singing and dancing together outside, not by just talking to someone in a small room." They realized the trauma is not just held in the mind but embedded in the body and has to be released through the body.

What has filmmaking taught you about humanity?

As a documentary filmmaker, I have had the extraordinary opportunity to interview many people on some of the most intimate details of their experience while navigating their lives.

This was especially true while working on the film CRAZYWISE, which was all about navigating extraordinary states of consciousness. It taught me so much about transcendence, healing and maintaining a healthy psyche. It truly has been, and continues to be, a spiritual journey for me. I believe this pandemic can evoke a new kind of spiritual awakening for people.

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