Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the word empathy, and what it means. By definition, empathy is:
em·pa·thy /ˈempəTHē/
noun
1. the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
In art, we often experience something that evokes feeling--especially if it is art that we particularly like or dislike. When we experience this we feel connected to something; perhaps we feel connected to the feelings of another time, another person, or to ourselves. Maybe, when we experience feeling through art we are experiencing the shared feeling of the artist who created the work. It can be a painting that moves us, a photograph, a song, a scene, the particular quality of light, a piece of writing that we capture and send to a friend because it reminds us of them. To some, it is a beautiful landscape or a moment in nature. I have been thinking about this a lot because I have been wondering what it means to be empathic. A lot of people understand that there are people who feel a lot, or that some people feel deeper than others, but it is still somewhat of a topic that, in my experience, is under-explored. Often times, empaths are labeled as "hyper-sensitive" or negatively viewed as being "too sensitive" people. But what about the artists? So many artists feel so much, and that is how they have the capacity to create incredibly beautiful work that can evoke profound feeling in another.
In a recent article I was reading (I am constantly reading articles), there was a quote by novelist Pearl Buck. In it he said, "The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them…a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.”
To many people, I think those words might sound dramatic. To an artist, those words are like poetry speaking to the wilting flower in the window-sill of the soul on a dark and dreary cold winter's day. We artists need feeling, and connection, and empathy, to survive and inspire us to continue to create. Because it is through this creating that we connect to others in the most valuable way we can: by invoking feeling in another. Although this is not my usual post on prop-styling or otherwise film-related work, I felt the need to express my appreciation for art and the art of empathy tonight. Thanks for reading.