Music versus Life

I remember very little of my childhood 
I can’t recall my parents ever touching me
neither to caress, nor to punish

I did not know anything about love
tenderness, contact, intimacy, warmth

Only through music did I have a chance to show my feelings

Sometimes, when I lie awake at night
I wonder wether I have lived at all

Is it the same for everybody
or do some people have a greater talent for living than others?
Or do some people never live?
— just exist?

Charlotte, speaking to her daughter, Eva, in “Autumn Sonata” (Ingmar Bergman)