Humanities Innate Drive to Collect

 
As a species humanity treads forth with a desire to collect. The purpose of this collecting is to gain or own something. Maybe an individual is an avid collector of fossils, records or antiques, but it goes much further than that! What if a good percentage of your life is governed by a need to gather things? Some part of our make-up is quite scientific, it needs to accumulate, research and store away. Part of this collecting consists of physical objects and the other component belongs to emotion and intellect.
Our physical needs lead us to pursue the basics of food, water, shelter and clothing. Well before this, even as children we are on the lookout for special things worth gathering, making or trading. Once we have a house, hut or safe place to commune we seek opportunities, or occasionally they come to us. From here work skills are collected and improved, along with funds that let us gather even more.

The most important things anyone has in their emotional possession are cherished memories. These visions of experience can be recalled or triggered by something familiar like a word someone says, music on the radio or the senses evoking special recollections. We naturally gather knowledge and though that seems rather more scientific it can hold a great deal of emotional content because we are immersed in the chosen subject. Our possession of different types of knowledge and skills makes us who we are today.
It seems harsh to say that we are collectors of the friends around us, but in a way we are. We are attracted to friends who have similar interests and if the feeling is mutual we are happy to claim them as our own. Joint experiences through accidents, holidays, or unique synchronicities can bring perfect strangers together where they are also claimed. Family doesn’t need to be collected; they are generally there with love and support. Where life has been unkind it’s not unusual to find a family unit built of friends, many of whom find themselves in similar circumstances. Offering and collecting love is certainly well etched in memory.

Most of this gathering happens quite naturally, it’s not something we really have to think about. This need to collect is part survival mechanism and part soul based objective. It’s like a whisper on the wind leading you in the right direction to find something unique. Collect what you need and a few things you want and you’ll arrive at a healthy balance.

 The Sage   Sharon D Bush
Writer   Historian   Artisan   Sage     

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Book: The Scrolls of Wisdom, philosophical/spiritual self-help book finished (on the final edit – looking for publishers).

 

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