When we are born, we enter mortal life with a new, physical body – and nothing else. When we die, we leave, as we came in, with nothing – not even the physical body that housed us in this life. However, throughout our life, we collect, acquire, purchase, receive and hold on to ‘things.’ We end up with all kinds of things, from houses and cars, clothes and jewelry, furniture and art, to insurance policies and investments.
At birth, we - through the auspices of our parents - immediately begin to surround ourselves with the ‘things’ that are required to offer us the enriching experiences of mortal life. Each toy, book, and stuffed animal enriches our childhood experience. We have to have these ‘things’.
As our life progresses and we evolve as human beings, we hold dear certain objects from childhood: a treasured doll, a velvety rabbit, a superman comic book, well worn toy car or storybook. Many of us hold on to these things, perhaps tucked away, through teen years and even into adulthood. We treasure them because they have meaning for us, usually way beyond their financial value. The meaning each one holds is a key element in our spiritual and emotional growth. We learn some of the lessons of love by realizing that we love objects and people. We also come to understand that we love places as well. We learn what it means to be ‘attached’ to places and things.
Eventually we equate locations with objects. We weave the very fabric of our experiences with the memories of the places we have been and loved by the physical treasures we hold dear. And we can hold them dear for our entire lifetime.
Treasured memories are often epitomized by greeting cards, be they Christmas, birthday, wedding and baby shower cards. Each card recalls an event. As we handle each one, the memory of the moment returns and time becomes relative. There is poignancy to opening an old card and reading the sentiment inside.
Jewelry holds the energy of so many experiences! One woman hated her wedding [hard to believe] and refused to wear her wedding bands. At her passing, her family found them, tucked away, almost like she wished the painful memory, of her own wedding could be tucked away as well. Some pieces of jewelry we wear every single day because each piece carries with it a positive feeling. Some pieces sit in our jewelry boxes and we may pick them up a thousand times, and end up seldom if ever wearing them. That piece of jewelry will have very little energy from its owner. It will be neutral. Other pieces of jewelry are filled with the karma of a lifetime of use.
Our homes are actually our outer body, and reflect the richness or poverty of our lives, no matter how much money we financially have. Color, art, form, texture, define who we are and we surround ourselves with these structures. The art on the walls can indicate past lives. Are we in love with the gorgeous lines of French art and décor? Do we find Native American art brings us that sense of peaceful existence? Is modern art with its sharp clean lines the energy that makes us feel organized and balanced? Art, in all its forms, even insignificant things help to define who we are – and we traditionally like to look around our homes and see the art that represents us.
Our bedrooms hold the literal scent of our bodies in the clothes in the closets and dresser drawers. Opening the closet of a person who has passed away often enables us to feel surrounded by them for one last fleeting time. Nightstands hold the last things he or she used before turning out the light. The books they read, the creams they used, the reading glasses laid in place one last time. The things that made that person feel safe to move into the darkness are there, carefully placed next to his or her lamp.
Our kitchens and garages are the work places of the mundane moments of our lives. Women often have their mother’s china, special serving pieces and silverware. Crystal glasses, pretty cake plates and generous platters are handed down from mother to daughter(s) over the generations. Sometimes those pieces are laden with dust, never used, but kept, as if holding on, perpetuated the memories of the past. Just because a woman does not use a beautiful serving piece or set of dishes, does not mean that she does not love them. Sometimes loving them means not using them for fear of breaking them. Cast iron pots, corn bread molds and cooking tools from wooden spoons to zesters help define the hours anyone spends preparing delicious fare for family and friends – memories every flavorful one. Picking up the object almost returns the aroma of those moments of entering a house filled with the scents of home cooking.
Men love their tools. Garages are filled with the tools that father and sons use to make things, repair everything in the past from barns and silos to horse gear and carriages. Today’s garages are filled with the tools to repair or work with all kinds of things from gardening to cars. Many a happy hour has been spent in the garage where a father and son were bent over the engine of a car, endlessly ‘tinkering’ with a beloved old automobile.
In Part 2, dismantling all of these life structures.
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