Welcome back to the second round of our guessing game! This time we’ll try to figure out what it means to be “Mutterseelenallein” (engl. mother-soul-alone). Even though the word already indicates that it has something to do with being alone, don’t let it fool you! There are many ways of being alone. So what do Germans mean when they talk about being “Mutterseelnallein”? Why isn’t it enough to simply say “I feel alone”?
If you’ve read the post about the inner dog-pig, you know what’s going to happen now! Germans, sit back and enjoy the foreigners guessing! And everybody else: let’s start our guessing game by looking at the different interpretations of non-German artists about what “mother-soul-alone” could mean.
First, let’s hear Daniel’s interpretation, an English teacher and actor from London living in Munich:
What do you think? Could it be inner peace? The feeling of being alone, but happy and calm. But what’s the story with the “Mutter” (engl. mother)?
Veronica Violet’s photo “Mother! Feed your soul in the wilderness” goes more into that direction of a literal translation. Maybe her picture could explain to us what is the connection between a mother, a soul and being alone.
“While this almost certainly isn’t most people’s definition of this term, I interpreted it as the relationship I have with my mum now that we’re growing into different individuals. In many ways, the ending of my childhood was a process of aloneness as me and my mother are both becoming people who aren’t identified by our relationship to each other (mother/daughter). However, our souls will always be connected in some way regardless of how far apart we live or how frequently we talk.” – Veronica Violet –
That would mean that for Veronica, who often uses photography to explore her relationships, to be “Mutterseelenallein” would be the feeling of separation, loss, and connection of the special bond between mother and daughter.
The pictures she chose for her collage have all personal meanings and represent fond childhood memories. One cannot see her mother clearly in the photos, which feeds the idea of a beautiful but dissolving relationship.
She decided to include the English terms from the word to try to pull the piece together more coherently.
“If there’s one font type I associate with my mother, it has to be the one used by the Guardian newspaper (every Saturday we pick up the paper and do the crossword together over breakfast). So, I typed in the words “mother,” “soul” and “alone” into the Guardian’s website and took screen grabs of the first articles that came up. I planned to just use the individual words, but I actually liked the way these fragments of news headlines add more depth to the images – especially as she is in the wilderness in the last few photos.”
But who is it that is being alone? The mother or the daughter?
While Veronica Violet was talking about the connection between two souls, Miranda Xanthe, an English artist, interpreted the word “Mutterseelenallein” similarly, but still different. In the last post about “innerer Schweinehund”, Miranda Xanthe came very close to the actual meaning. Let’s see what her thoughts are this time around on the emotion behind the word:
I actually had never heard of the word before this project so that is hard to say, I had initially interpreted it as meaning the loneliness of a mother. It’s sort of a crushing feeling, like you are simultaneously imploding and exploding. – Miranda Xanthe –
Miranda Xanthe was immediately struck with images and feelings of being enclosed, isolated, and yet embraced. Could it be that “Mutterseelenallein” describes the overwhelming feeling that fills and brightens up the life of mothers? Unlike Veronica Violet’s interpretation of two connected souls, Miranda Xanthe focuses only on the soul of the mother who is deeply moved by the bond created between her and her child. However, as positive as that may sound, one should not forget that those deep connections always come with a price. There comes the moment in which children will leave, but the feelings of a mother will not. And all that is left is a woman alone with her love.
Maybe it is not a real mother?
Carlos Aragon, a graphic designer, and Youtuber from Mexico, also went for a mother figure in his work “Imperior Interior”.
However, Carlos Aragon was rather thinking of a person who tends to share their love with everybody, except themselves. They give everything they have away and are so concerned about taking care of others that they forget to look after themselves. The intention may be good, but the problem is that such people are often taken advantage of or do not receive back the appreciation and love that they deserve. And all that is left is a person with much love to give, but who is in the core mother-soul-alone because nobody gives them the love they deserve.
Or could it be the deep loneliness that one feels after an argument?
Arcanelyric, an Irish musician living in Dublin, reflected on his life and the moments he felt alone. For him, one of the most intense forms of being alone is the one he feels after arguments. Meaning the moments in which souls disconnect and one is completely isolated. Here is his song “allein” which tries to capture his interpretation of being “Mutterseelenallein”:
Hold on now for a second before you scroll down. Take a second and think about: What do you think does the word “Mutterseelallein” mean? Or what is your interpretation?
Ready? Okay so here you have it: A translated definition from the Duden, one of the main German monolingual dictionaries:
Mutterseelenallein
= completely alone, abandoned
Origin: mother soul = human soul, human being, actually = humans alone, abandoned by all humans
That’s it? Again, two lines in a dictionary are simply not good enough to grasp its true meaning. So now, here comes the interpretation from our German artists:
Let’s start with Amelie Eberle, a German actress living in London, who tried to capture the feeling of “Mutterseelenallein” in her performance “Author”.
The first picture that crossed Amelie Eberle’s mind was that of a person sitting alone on the sofa with a certain sadness in their eyes. For Amelie being “Mutterseelenallein” is not just being or feeling alone. It is far more than that; it is an extreme and drastic emotion that determines your life.
For me, capturing the difference was important. I think it would be difficult to create this emotion authentically by trying to just enact or portray it. How can someone understand the difference I care so much about? So, I decided a conversation about the feeling is the most authentic and closest I can get to explaining the distinction. – Amelie Eberle –
Mutterseelenallein is not only an extreme feeling of sadness but also of disconnection.
Hannah Lang, a photographer and the policy assistant at the ONE Campaign in Berlin, also described “Mutterseelenallein” as the feeling of being left alone by everyone and everything in your cosmos. There is nothing familiar or comforting left; there is only you alone with yourself without any hope or guidance.
In her work “World of 64 squares” Hannah tried to demonstrate the importance of support and the consequences of being left alone in this world. Chess is all about relationships between different pieces. One single pawn can not get very far. Just like the feeling of “Mutterseelenallein” that deprives you of all hope and ambition.
I got the idea of playing and trying to queen a pawn (pushing it all the way over to the other side of the board) and realising how lonely and exposed it looked out there on the last rank. – Hannah Lang –
“Mutterseelenallein” is not a state, but a progress!
For Darryl Kiermeier, a poet and motivational coach from Munich, to be “Mutterseelenallein” is not something that happens in one day. It is something that slowly happens over time until you reach the height of being alone. The moment when there is nothing left to depend and rely on but yourself. However, this process bears a sadness, which he speaks about in his poem “Mutterseelenallein”.
As sad as this may sound, Darryl Kiermeier points out that with every process that ends, there is always room for a new start.
Because if there is nothing left to lose it can only get better!
For Lauraine, a student and the frontwomen of her self-titled band, the emotion behind the word “Mutterseelenallein” does not only bring bad associations. Especially in times of endless Covid lockdowns, Lauraine rediscovered the emotion behind the word “Mutterseelenallein”. Listen to her interpretation in her song “Alone”:
We are all forced to stay at home and truly deal with being by ourselves. In other circumstances, we barely ever got the chance to just stop for a second and concentrate on ourselves. As hard as that sometimes is, just like Darryl Kiermeier, Lauraine also recognizes that there is a new force and energy that comes with being “Mutterseelenallein”. At the same time though, there is an undeniable melancholy about the things we lost. Especially in the context of Covid-19 in which our social life has drastically changed and nobody knows if it ever will be the same.
Okay, but what does this have to do with the mother?
We know now, that “Mutterseelenallein” has something to do with feeling an extreme form of loneliness. It is the moment when we lost all our social connections. In other words, it is the lowest point in the life of a social being, but it can also be the beginning of something new. It may be a slow progress that does not happen overnight, but it can also be the feeling after a terrible fight with somebody very close to us. However, we have neither discussed the origin of the word nor the reason why “mother” is included.
Carina Rosa Wissinger, a photographer and architect student, thought about the meaning and origin of the word and concluded that to be “Mutterseelenallein,” one must feel the highest form of abandonment and loneliness that a human can.
I also thought about the term “mother soul”, what is the mother soul, do we all carry it within us? If it is a kind of inherent protection, do we feel this extreme abandonment the moment we no longer feel this protection of the “mother soul”, can it be lost?
She finds the idea of the mother soul that surrounds us and within which we feel safe a very beautiful thought. When this individual internal feeling of protection is gone, apart from external influencing factors that cause the feeling of loneliness (and there are plenty of these in our generation and this time of crisis), this emotion becomes, in her eyes, its heightened form and is expressed by the term “Mutterseelenallein”.
In her picture “Mutterseelenallein,” Carina Rosa Wissinger mainly focused on finding the right lighting that would be able to capture her association with the emotion behind the word “Mutterseelenallein”. The way the room is filled with individual rays of sunlight matches with Darryl’s and Lauraine’s idea of a low point in life in which something new starts. The light indicates the end of the darkness and the beginning of a light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe not. It could also be the sun mocking you by showing you how life can be in the light, but it’s just out of reach and you can’t get there on your own.
However, the historical meaning is a different one. The term comes from a transcription of the French expression “Moi tout seul- I am all alone”, which Huguenot refugees of the time used when they arrived in Berlin to describe their loss of home and family and the loneliness this caused. However, language and meanings often change over time, so I guess in the end, it depends on you to decide what “Mutterseelenallein” means to you.
WAIT! You haven’t heard my interpretation yet!
We are again at the end of our little emotion tour and you haven’t heard my interpretation yet. This time, Tim Robin Reichel and I are talking with Vince Ecker, a Youtuber from Berlin, about our definitions of being “Mutterseelenallein”. From being the only queer kid in the village to dramatic movie moments back to crying publicly on O’Connell Bridge in Dublin, to be mother-soul-alone does not simply mean to be alone. So join us in our conversation!
Let’s start babbling!
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