WINFREY: Wewanted to choose stories
thatmost illuminated thepowerofbelief,
andthat’sagreatundertaking.Therewasa
lotofserioustalkabouthowwegetpeople
to understand that belief is something
larger than ourselves, how belief makes
us stronger, how it gets us through tough
times,andhow itallowspeopletosoar.We
startedout ina roomwithmyself and the
producersandabig,hugewallwithstories
and story ideas.We knewwewanted the
stories of themajor religions—and some
that were not. We had people on the
ground in each of the countries looking
forstories thatwouldshowcase theworld.
Theywere literally sending in tapes and
interviews with lots of different people
whorepresenteddifferentfaiths.Thatwas
almost a year’s process, just figuring out
who could best tell the story. I looked at
six or seven boys having their barmitz-
vahs, but I kept comingback toMendel [a
Hungarian teen]because the innocenceof
himandthesweetnessofhim, I thought,wouldtranslateand
resonate inawaywithpeoplethatsomeoftheothersdidn’t.
HEMISPHERES:
Outofall thevariouspeopleyou feature in the
series, whodo you identifywith themost andwhy?
WINFREY: Igenuinelycannotpickone.Ofcourse, Iseemyself
inChaCha [anEvangelicalwomanwho reconnectswithher
faithafterasexualassault],but Ialsoseemyself intheseekers
whosebelief took themon journeys across theworld. I see
myself in the questioners, those strugglingwithwhat to
believeandwhy, becausewe’veallbeen there—everybody’s
been inthatmoment. Inmanyways, Ithinkthatthisseries isa
mirror,and Iknow Iseemyself inthestoriesofmanyofthem.
HEMISPHERES:
Howdo you expect nonbelievers to relate?
WINFREY: Youhear a lot of people say, “I’mmore spiritual
than Iamreligious,”and I think thateven innonbelief there
is abelief in life, and that’s good enough forme. There are
nonbelievers, there arequestioners, there are seekers and
more throughout the series. We have strong stories of
Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and other religions. But
[we have] nonreligious stories aswell, and I think there is
inspirationhere foreveryone.Actually,when I lookedatall
of thestoriesput together, themost impressivestoryforme
was that of a rock climber namedAlex. Hedefines himself
asanatheist.But, tome,he’s the truebeliever in thepresent
moment thatwe call life, which iswhatwe all are striving
for—tobe fullypresent in thismoment.When I first looked
at Alex’s story, theyhad thiswholemusic soundtrack to it,
and I said, “You know, the real soundtrack for this is his
breath.” Ineachbreath,whenyouhearhimclimbingthatbig
rock—youknowthat ifheslips, it’sfoursecondsbetween life
anddeath. Juxtaposehimagainstastory, inepisodeseven,
of Donna, who’s given a diagnosis that she has only a few
months to live,andsheusesher faith tohelphercling to life
inaverydifferentkindofway.But Isee thembothasequal,
inthatshe’sclingingto lifewithherfaith,andhe’sclingingto
lifewithhis footholdandhandholdon thatmountain. It all,
in away, feels energetically the same tome—they are just
manifesting [belief]differently.Alex isaclassicnonbeliever,
buthis faith is in thepresentmoment.And fromwhere I sit,
I can see that thepresentmoment isGod.
THEHEMI Q&A
OPRAHWINFREY
HARPO, INC/GEORGEBURNS (OPRAH); ALLOTHERSCOURTESYOFHARPO, INC
GOTTAHAVEFAITH
Above:Winfrey in frontof theTajMahal;below: scenes fromWinfrey’s landmark televisionseries, “Belief”
