Unraveling Religion's episode with Crazywise Documentary Filmmaker Phil Borges who joins Joel for a discussion of Phil's life post Crazywise and together they explore mental health and its relation spirituality, beginning with how does one define spirituality.

Phil's history of experiences into spirituality, beginning with the death of his father and Phil's Aunt returning from a psychiatric hospitalization to Phil's home when Phil was a boy.

Also discussed, Phil's career development and choice and his search for meaningful work; from Orthodontistry to Photography and shooting covers of Romance Novels, Phil begin an ascent into work and exploring indigenous cultures.

His first project was working on a project in Tibet which he meet a young man identified as a Tulku (i.e., channeler of the Nachung Oracle, the Oversoul Protector of the Tibetan People Culture and Heritage).

Phil interviewed the Tulku and learned how he came to his position in the Tibetan community.

The indicators of this position were seen in his Tibetan Community as positive signs of a gifted person and included mood swings, personality changes, hearing voices, and seeing visions.

This mental health crisis was the mark of a gifted person in Tibetan community.

In other work, Phil worked with Amnesty International and the Samburu Tribe in where he met a young woman who at 14 started hearing voices and seeing vision.

Her grandmother recognized she had the gift to become a predictor, healer, and shaman in her community and took her under her wing and mentored her and these gifts into a skillset to benefit the community.

As Phil worked with many indigenous communities he began to interview the shaman, seers, healers, and predictors of these communities and found about 85% of the shaman had an an initiation into the path of the Shaman by a mental health crisis, defined by what the West would call psychosis.

The community understood the mental health crisis as the beginning of a process of developing a person to become a leader, healer, and teacher in their community, and an elder would take them under their wing and mentor and guide them.

The mental emotional crisis is known by many shaman as 'The Little Death' or Ego Death.

Phil also in his career worked with neuroscientists to research the pathways of the brain.

Sudden awakening versus slow awakening was discussed across cultures (i.e., Mahayana school of Soto and Rinzai).

Phil also discusses his own experiences with psychedelics and micro-dosing and the importance of integrating those expericences into daily life require effort and work.

Phil and Joel discuss that we each have a specific kind of work and the human's journey is to search and find what that work might be.

Liminal Space was defined as a threshold or a doorway and rebuilding after a breakthrough.

Phil reflects on his life now and his work on his memoirs documenting where his quest for meaningful work took him through his life.

• Medicine as a great human equalizer
• Toward human rights, once people step away from the border of the hospitals, they become categorized and labeled 'Palestinian' or 'Israeli'
• If you believe in Humanity, we must all stand for all
• Human Rights is deeply tested in Gaza, people must stand up for human rights
• Advocate not for peace but for dignity, justice, freedom, and human rights for all: peace will follow when these conditions are cultivated

• As a poet, every voice is important in the world, every voice represents humanity.
• Regarding Gaza, this is an overwhelming tragedy of sorrow
• The importance of actions based on one's convictions
• The power of the military industry complex to overide the voice of the majority and humanity's collective voice
• How can we be heard, how can we be listened to?
• Who is listening?

The idea, our obligation is to our humanity, looking within our selves we recognize our humanity

In a collaboration of Alchemical Dialogues and Unraveling Religion, co-hosted by Henry Cretella and Joel Lesses, Part 2 the Panels opens to discuss:

• 'What makes us come alive?'
• 'What is your 'note' in life?' (Rumi's 'be your note.')

• Activity ​
• When meeting new people, old karmic connections?
• In our Dharma, our work
• Henry's discussions, Sohbet, mystical discussions on mystical subjects, with his teacher.
• How do we find what makes us home in the world?
• How do we cultivate spiritual discernment in Life?
• The World as ourself
• Is there preparation to receive 'flow' states?

• Where does the spiritual path begin?
• What are the implications of having a guide or spiritual teacher?
• Teachers seeing into their students
• Tears as an indicator of one's spiritual path
• Sufism as a path of 'heart'
• Karma of helping others as way of being helped