Within
“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”
-Oscar Wilde
It is the mind that can be our greatest prison in life. The dark, anxious cavern that lies deep within ourselves can be life’s biggest trap - and for many of us, it can be far too easy to slip into this abyss. Things like incessant rain, financial stresses, lonely days and being criticized or hurt by someone can spark an accumulation of negative thoughts that spiral out of control and pull us dramatically down into a dismal hole that we can’t see out of. It can feel like drowning - or being buried alive. And when we try to turn different directions to find a way out but only become more entangled with new feelings of fear and dread, we believe we are truly without option in life. The cruel narratives we let run in our heads can bind us like chains.
What we must do is move - physically stand up and move our bodies away from our minds. Modern life keeps us far too removed from human connection and the natural world, and we suffer for it. But we can feed our souls and quiet our relentless minds with a walk in the woods or an active day with friends or simply by turning our focus from inward to outward. There certainly is a darkness that looms and a prison waiting for us within, but if we can learn to stop our thoughts from whirling out of control, to take a deep breath of fresh air and to focus solely on the moment at hand, perhaps we can move through our lives with better ease and greater peace of mind.
Written by: Keith Sutter and Devin Copeland
The Empathy Series
In a world plagued by continued chaos, empathy - one of our species’ most important survival techniques and one of humanity’s finest traits - is more important than ever.
Although we’re all individuals with unique struggles and experiences, our human ability to relate to one another's battles, and our willingness to respond to these hardships with action and understanding, could be our greatest solace in life, as well as our biggest hope for a bright future.
Within this series, each environment intends to inspire an existential question in regards to empathy, while each dancer’s reaction comments on one of our many shared emotions. My interest lies in the dark and light nature of the universe and our relationship to those forces - especially in terms of how we face them alone and together.
“Empathy is... communicating that incredibly healing message of, ‘You’re not alone.’”
― Brené Brown