Global Spirit Season 3

Global Spirit (GlobalSpirit.tv) is an award-winning television and on-line digital series exploring humanity’s wisdom traditions, philosophies, and the eternal search for meaning. Our first two seasons of programs will be nationally broadcast on PBS stations beginning in October of 2026.

We are now delighted to announce our third Global Spirit season, which focuses on Human Virtues.

Why Human Virtues and Why Now?

There is widespread consensus among sociologists, political scientists, and cultural observers that traditional civic and moral virtues in the U.S. and other western countries are currently under significant threat, a decline largely attributed to severe political polarization, the rise of a phone and social media-based culture, and a drop in public trust. Meanwhile, in non-western societies, traditional virtues are still vital and alive, but often challenged by the convergence of rapid globalization, the dominance of Western-centric media, and the rapid expansion of individualized, consumerist cultures.

Global Spirit: Human Virtues seeks to offer viewers practical wisdom, hope, and a deeper understanding of the qualities that sustain healthy individuals, strong communities, and a more connected world. The Human Virtues series will organize each program around one central virtue such as: Generosity, Empathy, Gratitude, Compassion, Fortitude, Humility, and Love, and explore that virtue from western and non-western perspectives. We are currently developing and seeking support for seven, 30 minute documentaries, to be shown in festivals, classrooms and home/community watch parties, as well as broadcast and streamed on PBS and other outlets.

BEYOND EMPATHY: KAPWA: The Filipino Virtue of Shared Belonging
BEYOND HUMILITY: PEWEYIMOWIN: The Cree Virtue of Knowing One’s Place in Creation
BEYOND GRATITUDE: XIAO: The Confucian Virtue of Giving Back to the Ancestors
BEYOND FORTITUDE: SUMUD: the Arab Virtue of Steadfastness.
BEYOND COMPASSION: WAUNSILAPI: The Lakota Virtue of Extending a Helping Hand
BEYOND GENEROSITY: NEDIVUT: The Jewish Virtue of Open-hearted Giving
BEYOND LOVE: ISHQ-E-HAQIQI: The Sufi Virtue of Transcendent Divine Love

Each virtue will be powerfully illustrated through filmed portraits of culture-bearing individuals who embody these virtuous qualities in their daily lives.

If you would like to support the Human Virtues series, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Cultural & Educational Media.

DONATE TO SUPPORT THE SERIES

OUR PILOT PROGRAM (in production)

BEYOND EMPATHY: Filipino Kapwa

The virtue of empathy is often understood as an individual capacity—the ability to “feel with” another person, to imagine their experience, and respond emotionally. In the western world, “empathy” is largely psychological and internal, centered on the self, and extending outward toward others.

By contrast, the indigenous Filipino virtue of Kapwa goes beyond emotions or capacities. Kapwa translates roughly as “the sense of shared belongingness.” Kapwa does not ask us to empathize with others, but asserts that there is no real separation between self and other to begin with. Kapwa means that one’s core identity is inseparable from the collective, from community, and from the wider natural and spiritual worlds. Kapwa focuses on “person-hood” over “personality”, on collective identity, mutual obligation, and interdependence across generations.

If you would like to support the HUMAN VIRTUES series, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Cultural & Educational Media.

DONATE TO SUPPORT THE SERIES

“Kapwa is the best word for me because it explains how and why we take such good care of the elders, and Filipinos are famous caregivers. We are often more close to the patient than the family. But it’s not just the patient, you know, it’s the whole family of the patient. We also take care of their feelings, their emotions. So that closeness, the love, the unity, the sharing, that is the Kapwa.”
~ Janna; Filipina Caregiver

“Kapwa is central to our embracing culture, so that we are easily able to feel the need to help the other. It’s not the Golden rule or the Boy Scout rule. It’s not ‘Do a good turn every day’. These are all external. Kapwa is a psychological orientation and a cultural orientation. It’s about harmonizing with people, with plants, with animals, with the invisibles.”
~ Kidlat Tehemik, Filipino Filmmaker & National Artist

“For me, the word that best describes and captures the Kapwa feeling is vulnerability. Because when you consider yourself and other people as Kapwa, what you’re comfortable enough to show vulnerability with other people. If you’re comfortable enough to share your insecurities, your emotions, to the point where you can show the real you.” ~ Martina (student)

“Kapwa, Is about the community taking care of the community. And since we are living in the multicultural city, we have to take care of one another. Kapwa leads outwards to the rest of the people, like the vibration of the gong, it ripples outwards to the wider community.” ~ Francis, Ifugao Sorcerer

Join the Global Spirit Circle

If you are enjoying these programs, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Global Spirit series. Our 501c3 non-profit organization’s tax deductible ID# is 94-2876381.

MAKE A PAYPAL DONATION

MAKE A VENMO DONATION

To support us by check,
make payable and mail to:

Cultural & Educational Media (aka: CEM Productions)
150 Harbor Drive, PO Box 249, Sausalito, CA 94966, USA

ABOUT CEM

Cultural & Educational Media (CEM Productions) is a San Francisco Bay Area based 501c3 non-profit media group producing films, TV series, and web-based programming that promote new insights on the meaning and depths of human existence. CEM uses the power of film and storytelling to inspire, bring together, and unify people and audiences worldwide.

STAY CONNECTED

QUICK LINKS

Global Spirit Program

PAYPAL DONATION