People love objects, and not just because of our immersion in the materialistic, 'consumer' society. Materialism, and consumerism, works because....people love things!
Objects, possessions, can serve many functions, and most often serve multiple desires: they can be signs of success, or prestige; they can be a touchstone of memory for someone loved, someone lost, someone distant or disengaged or departed; they can be a piece of an experience, or a place, or a date. Objects can soothe us, stir us, gentle us, excite us. They can carry us away. They can ground us. They can be a blessing, and they can be a burden.
All of that depends on what we do with objects, how we choose to frame them in our minds, what we inveigh into them, and how much of ourselves we give over to them.
Over the years, my relationship to objects has changed, thank the stars. I try to remove myself from objects as much as possible (not completely possible) and simply listen to them. Sure, they are 'just things', but I like to believe that the objects in my life....favorite books, cherished mementos, precious trivials....have a soul of their own, and if I listen hard enough, quietly enough, I can hear that soul's voice.
Fanciful, I know. Maybe even silly. But, as so many of the beliefs we choose, the belief helps me to enjoy life just a little bit more, to find simple pleasure and entertainment in the ordinary and everyday, and to laugh and chuckle.
Here's a photo of the small treasure trove of the familiar at the front door, that greets me everyday. To look at it, to feel it's welcome when I return from the world, makes me smile.
I hope you have such a temple of the magnificently mundane, precious treasures in your life. And that your temple brings you a persistent, simple joy that you enjoy daily.
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