"I hold a mystical belief that people leave behind their essence or energy on anything they touch, anything they care for." (128)
Do objects hold a person's essence/energy? Can you feel the history in your hands?
Created: 12/15/20
Replies: 6
Join Date: 05/23/20
Posts: 165
Join Date: 04/20/17
Posts: 32
To me, objects represent people I know or knew. Then by looking, holding or touching it I remember that person, their qualities, and what the person means to me. Through this memory, I feel the person’s energy. For example, I have a vase that belonged to my grandmother, when I look at it I remember the vase sitting on her window sill with (fake) flowers, the kindness she showed me, her button collection I played with and her homemade cookies. I see her smiling face and hear her laughter and remember her disapproval of inappropriate actions.
Join Date: 10/16/10
Posts: 889
In the book, Joe obviously believed some of the guitars that had known provenance held unique energy, but I don't really think an object can hold a person's "essence." We're the ones who impart meaning to an object. I've got a Cleveland Browns hat my dad gave me that makes me smile, but I'm sure to anyone else it's just a hat. Perhaps I'm just not as open as I should be to possibilities.
Join Date: 08/12/16
Posts: 233
My mom passed away about 6 years ago and to this day, when I am sad, i take her robe out of my closet and just snuggle into it and smell it...I swear I can still smell her and feel her essence in that robe. At the very least, it is so comforting to me.
Join Date: 02/25/19
Posts: 112
I would love to get actual answers to questions like this, but I would probably be disappointed if they did not confirm what I want to believe. I want to believe that some of my late mother-in-law's essence or energy lives on in the hand-crafted Christmas decorations we put up every year, and I have a musician friend who shares idea expressed in the novel that guitars hold a piece of their previous owners. If it makes us both happy, why not?
Join Date: 12/03/11
Posts: 276
I was just discussing this very question with friends at an online meeting earlier today. I have two scarves that belonged to two different deceased friends. I do believe that their essence is present in the scarves. When I touch the fabric I feel their presence very strongly and remember the good (and even the bad) times we had together. It's, for me, almost a mystical connection, and I thought about it when I read the part of "Sorrow" about the essence of the prior user being in the guitars.
Join Date: 04/26/19
Posts: 17
I find it very difficult to believe that an object can hold a person’s essence. However, I can’t rule out the possibility. The longer I live, learn, read, think, grow, and open my mind, the more I’m willing to consider the existence of a new theory or concept. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I have changed views, theories, and thinking over the last 78 years!
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