“In West African animist belief, all time is now. We are the living embodiment of our ancestors. We carry their DNA. However it is not just the physical matter of our bodies that is shaped by those who came before us, it is the patterns of our thoughts and the patterns of our cultures and societies. Animism sees this link between the past, present, and future as a constant that exists beyond time; it sees life in everything, and sees all life as equal. Life and death are simply two different states, and what marks a living thing is that it is never static, it is always changing, evolving, and that in every stage of life, life expresses itself, until death allows the cycle to start again. Animism believes that everything in the universe has a spirit, an energy, and everything is intimately and intricately connected. The sun, the earth, air, rain, seasons turning again and again as the world spins on its axis and the planets make their journeys around our distant star. Time moves, the past is present, and nothing can ever halt the cycles that every living thing depends on, not until the end of time. All of life on Earth is a consequence of these subtle interactions.”
from Earth and Leaves by Aboubakar Fofana, essay by Johanna Macnaughtan