Antiques and Inheritance

We furnish ourselves with a variety of objects which span the range from shiny and new to extremely used and broken; from utilitarian, through stylish, to items that tie us to people and times which are gone, but not done with.

The last item I noted, those that are invested with memories or personal significance, are the hardest to keep in good order since it is often too painful to evaluate these. They often just hang around with us, acting partly as a burden, partly as a crutch, only giving us a part of the gift they promise.

Part of the problem with these things is that they are things, and once were utilitarian. The process of living with them invested them with another mystic energy that serves us richly (if we know how to let it). I suggest that the key to letting it is to loosen up one's grip on the object.

Those objects spur memory through sight, touch and smell, and while they do this, they feed life. These same objects often have lost all their utilitarian value due to age fragility or obsolescence. Where should they fit around one?

I think the answer to this follows a look at the individual object's mystical significance.

• If it reminds of a past to leave behind, the object belongs in a closet until it loses its power, at which time it is discarded.
• If it reminds of a past to regain, the object should be visible, but not in the way.
• If it reminds of something good, not to be forgotten, it should occupy a place where it can give the strength that good things do, but not in the way of making good things happen anew.
• If its form carries the magic, the object should be seen, if the smell of it carries the memory, then tuck  it away in an enclosure that one comes across and opens at useful times.

Live with those objects until their magic inhabits one, at which time they lose their importance, and can be let go. Whatever fragility they have, incorporating them into the part of life that will let them do their job will allow life to progress with all its potential richness and gifts. In this way, memories in the form of objects can never weigh one down.