Phil Borges’ recent project, CRAZYWISE, explores the relevance of Shamanic traditional practices and beliefs to those of us living in the modern world.

The world today is dominated by science and by its underlying assumptions, which are seldom articulated even though they generate not only a methodology but also a worldview or philosophy.

“Art is God’s way of clearing the path to our hearts.” These are the words of Dominique de Menil, who worked with Mark Rothko as the patron for the world-famed Rothko Chapel in Houston. These words inspired me as I worked with Louise Nevelson as the patron for the internationally acclaimed Nevelson Chapel in the heart of Manhattan. A recent biography of Nevelson states that she was offering “a window into her soul and perhaps our own as well.”

When in the summer of 2015 I saw the breathtaking image of the goddess Kali, the great Hindu goddess of death, destruction, and liberation projected onto the top of the Empire State Building for the documentary Racing Extinction, I ranted, “This a sign of the times—Kali takes New York!” A year later, as the shocking 2016 election results were similarly projected onto the top of the Empire State Building and I saw Donald Trump’s smug smirk and sly gaze staring victoriously into the shaken soul of the country, I raved, “This is a sign of the times—Kali takes America!”

Subtle activism is a concept I have introduced to describe the potentially crucial role that consciousness-based practices like meditation, prayer, and ritual may play in supporting change in the world. Although in our modern Western culture these practices have more typically been used to support individual growth, they can also be harnessed for the purposes of social and collective transformation.