Moving Spirit | Paul Weinberg

"For ten years (1996 -2006) I photographed religious rituals and spiritual practice around Durban and other parts of the country. These included Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Islamic faiths, African rituals linked to ancestral veneration and the New Age movement. Along the way I encountered unexpected commonalities. Trance states crossed over African, Hindu and Islamic traditions.

Two main tributaries led to the spiritual river I was paddling on. The one was my long-standing connection with indigenous people in southern Africa, and the other was a period of deep personal crisis. These energies, one in the outer world, the other within, danced in my psyche, but as I was to learn they were intrinsically linked.

My journey with first peoples had taught me, that the world within (the spiritual realm) and the material world were in a constant state of dialogue. They are not separated but part of one’s daily life. Ancestor veneration is a continuum, a search for answers – disasters and calamities can be explained. Making contact with the spirit world is not only to search for answers but also for the affirmation of positive forces. Spiritual practices, I observed, were far from one-dimensional. They were shaped by the past – colonialism, slavery, underdevelopment and apartheid. Influenced by the present – poverty, marginalisation, globalisation, and the ever-growing technological communication revolution prevalent throughout the developing worlds. The dance between past and present opens up a mass of possibilities, movements , complexities and assimilations.

The other tributary to the spiritual river, was immensely personal. I was experiencing a dark period of depression. What I was to discover was that mystics and healers see discordance, disharmony and mental disturbance simply as functions of a journey to enlightenment. To discover this was a great relief.

My approach was to allow the camera to narrate the moving spirit and healing running through the region. I too, with or without my camera, was and still am part of a country trying to heal itself. In this journey I joined millions of South Africans on a pilgrimage beyond politics and platitudes ... in search of a transcendent spirit. In my travels, I observed how colonial and African, ancient and modern, eastern and western, first and third worlds, gazed and interacted with each other. At the highest level of spiritual practice I saw there were no divisions of colour, gender, class or form of worship – there is simply a common language and an open road. I have been humbled by the many doors that opened for me. I have been privileged to walk up holy mountains, to kneel before God in places of worship, to be blessed by many priests, to pray and be prayed for. I held the talking stick and the traditional staff that represents ‘healing and not killing’. I was immersed in all that is held sacred by a diversity of people and practices. For this, I am immensely grateful." 
Paul Weinberg