"Touch" by Diane Ackerman

"When we die, loved ones swaddle us in heavily padded coffins, making us infants again, lying in our mother's arm before returning to the womb of the earth, ceremonially unborn" (pg 71).
-Section: Speaking of Touch

Our lives depend on our ability to feel. As infants, we crave to be cradled and whether or not we receive it plays a role in our emotional stability, our compassion, and our quality of life overall. Even in death, we wish for our loved ones comfort, both literally and metaphorically (holding them as they leave us, resting flowers on their grave). Touch is the first sense we experience, as well as our last.

"...how we wrap our hands around our shoulders and rock as if we were a mother comforting a child; how we hide our face in our open palms to be alone to pray, or that they may receive our tears; how we run our hands briskly up and down our arms as we pace... Touch is so important in emotional situations that we're driven to touch ourselves in the way we'd like someone else to comfort us. Hands are messengers of emotion" (pg 118).

Section: The Hand

We communicate with our hands. Without language, we used touch, or created symbols with our hands in order to pass messages. The way we hold ourselves in our hands or hold others opens a window to the emotional self, allowing anyone to read the emotional situation. This photo set represents the ways in which we communicate, the ways in which we feel, and the ways in which we touch. They highlight the fragility of nature, and the fragile nature of us.