From a portrait, through a poem, a conversation...
On the Fragility of a Momentary Connection
Photographs are fascinating as they halt the relentless march of time, preserving a fleeting instant for future reflection. Each image tells a story, evokes emotions, captures an event, and holds the essence of a moment that might otherwise be lost to the ravages of time.
Tangible or digital, they allow us to revisit and reexperience fragments of our lives.
Portraits are a beautiful art form that captures a person’s eyes, giving us the impression of entering into the abstract, the invisible.
Poetry transcends the boundaries of the physical even further. Poets freeze emotions, thoughts, and experiences with even more nuance — the unspoken and the unseen.
Being alive fits just between a photograph and a poem, in the interstice between these two art forms. We eke out or thrive in a dynamic blend of the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the intangible. We live in moments, each one a potential photograph, yet our experiences are imbued with depths and subtleties that poetry somehow captures.
We've got only a 10-degree margin of safety, the narrow range of body temperature within which humans exist (I normally function in Celsius, but my thermometer switched to Fahrenheit and I don’t know how to switch it back)—roughly between 95°F and 105°F.
Just as our physical bodies require a narrow range of temperatures to survive, our lives oscillate between moments that are photographable and experiences that are poetic. The margin for capturing the fullness of life is narrow. Too much focus on the tangible, and we miss the depths of our emotional and spiritual experiences. Too much immersion in the abstract, and we lose touch with physical reality.
To be alive is to navigate the thin line between the photographic and the poetic. We freeze moments in our memories, like snapshots, while simultaneously seeking to understand and express the deeper, unfreezable aspects of being.
Now, suppose there were some methods by which one could create an intense mental bond, enabling oneself to enter into another person’s innermost being. It would then become possible for such an individual to see through the eyes of others as well as feel their emotions, physical feelings, and life events just like one’s own.
You would know every bit about them — every single event in their life that contributed towards making them what they are today — moments from childhood, painful memories, hopes, ambitions, fears, anxieties, regrets, loves, hates — name it!
And still, more interestingly, these emotional states will not be understood remotely but rather felt deeply within oneself, unlike mere sympathy could ever achieve.
Where do you locate ‘I’ in such superordinary metaphysical connections that seem to defy any known boundaries? Can your personal self and subjective experience still remain intact while realising another person’s soul profoundly? Alternatively, do these two selves merge into a single collective consciousness?
Oftentimes, we fail to connect with others mainly because our perception is overshadowed by more or less intense emotions.
Our emotions tend to colour everything, thus preventing us from seeing things as they are and appreciating different points of view. But could sharing feelings enable us to overcome this limitation and foster deeper relationships?
Some researchers working within neuroscience suggest that there may be something called emotional contagion whereby people unconsciously pick up on the emotions, physical sensations, and behaviours of others around them. In other words, it seems like, at some level, we are already interconnected more than meets the eye.
This phenomenon may occur when we subconsciously copy and adopt the emotional states of those who surround us, hinting at a biological connection among humans.
Emotional contagion is believed to take place through unconscious mimicry and synchronisation of facial expressions, vocalisations, postures, and movements with one person. Neural pathways in our brains are activated when we see someone else having a feeling, which leads us to simulate it internally and express the same emotion. In other words, it allows us to “pick” others’ psychological experiences.
This transference of emotions from one person to another is important for fostering smooth social interactions, group cohesion, collectivity, and empathy. Emotional contagion acts like an invisible force tying people together biologically despite being out of consciousness.
So, if we were able to know the innermost thoughts of others, would it result in more empathy, understanding, and compassion among individuals? Could this ability help us prevent wars, divisions, and dehumanisation that come with failure to communicate or see things from other people’s points of view?
In their book “A General Theory of Love,” the authors say that humans can unconsciously share or transmit profound emotional states, which they call “limbic resonance.” They also assert that closeness, vulnerability, and limbic resonance are necessary for socialisation, healthiness, and relationship quality.
Although fear can separate us from others, sharing positive emotions at our deepest levels, together with emotional fragilities, may open unprecedented understanding between different people.
Could empathy and compassion be increased if we shared our innermost feelings? Or would it only serve to strengthen our prejudices and presuppositions since we are likely to impose what we feel on others?
Possibly, what is required is vulnerable openness as well as empathy so that we can let in other people’s experiences without losing ourselves completely in the process. It’s possible, therefore, that deeper authentic relationships might be forged by walking on such a tightrope without having to sacrifice personal identities.
Finally, there are short-lived encounters we may have with others; trying to understand their emotions, empathise with them, and be as less biased to ourselves as possible might lead us to make a real connection that we yearn for as humans.
