These have strongly influenced our immigration, embargo, and health policies toward Haiti, which have been inconsistent with those toward other countries, for example, Cuba. Confronting Haiti, and traditional Haitian religion, requires confronting our own shadows. But we must also confront our own shadows if we are to recapture the spiritual power of the Christian tradition. Perhaps especially in North America, the deep mystical significance of Christian symbols is often lost in the shadows created by excessive emphasis on belief and by our merchantilistic and technological orientation toward life. Breaking through that often requires looking through the eyes of Christians in other cultures, who have other orientations toward life.
Spirituality permeates Haiti.
That is evident in its many churches and vaudou temples, and in the curious mix of influences of each religion on the other. It is evident in the compelling images of the countryside, and in the fact that Haitians themselves have survived under conditions which defy survival. But there one may also see Christianity as a living tradition among people with a very different culture. Such confrontations may also lead one gradually to see that reality itself is quite different from what it had been imagined to be. Seeing familiar symbols through the eyes of Haitian artists helps understand their archetypal nature.