Alone and Together

(Hanging sculpture: The Couple by Louise Bourgeois)
[Photo taken at Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen]

"The figures in the hanging 'couple' hold onto each other. Nothing will separate them. It is a precautious and fragile state. That's expressed by the hanging on a thread. Despite all our handicaps, we hold onto each other. It is really the Other that interests me. It is an optimistic view. Locked together, they spin for eternity."            -- Louis Bourgeois

                                                                                             

We are alone from birth to death, but it is necessary to open up to others if there is to be meaning and happiness in life. To experience this one has to venture something, and one risks feeling fear and grief. For with the possibility of the positive emotions there naturally also follows the possibility of the negative. The encounter with the other can involve danger, but on the other hand, is also the source of joy and love.