Well-to-do Elizabethans often set aside a space in their dwellings for a Wonder Cabinet. This space could be as large as a great hall or as small as a laptop casket. It was in this space that amazing – even incredible – objects were displayed. The relics, talismans and oddities served to remind the owner of the world’s mysteries and their unique personal relationship to them. Today these bauble bunkers are often called man caves or she-sheds. The Elizabethan collection of monkey feet, snakes eating their tails and stones that looked like King Henry has morphed into the collection of signed baseballs, beer signs, porcelain dolls and collector spoons but the idea is the same…we all love our “STUFF.”
One wonders what objects adorn the wonder cabinet that exists between our ears. Our experiences and our dreams are displayed here and they are essential to our happiness and our self image. Our traumas are stored there, next to our loves, victories and losses. Our current situation seems to have crowded many images of tragedy, mis-conduct and destruction into our space…a space we reserved for wonderful things. It is time to dust and rearrange the stuff we have loaded into our heads.
An inventory of my stuff produces a startling result. I find myself rooting for the immediate death of certain people and for the destruction of entire political systems. This is not healthy or welcome in the space I should be reserving for the amazing, positive relics of my life. The birth of my children, my wife’s smile …these should leave no room for any negative nonsense.
It’s not of my choosing, the aggrandizement of negative relics is encouraged every day. Horrible political actions and the fevered coverage of those crimes crowd out the space between my ears to the point that there is little room for sunsets, grandkids, adventures and joys that would otherwise be on display in the sacred space.
If your wonder cabinet is no longer containing only wonders, I am in no position to judge you but I do commiserate. Perhaps the needed purge of negatives must start with a renewed focus on family, fun and your fellow man.
It’s high time to redecorate.
Be strong in these difficult times and place only the finest items between your ears. Then, you can really love your stuff.
Olio Folio 