]-[ @ n $ 0 |v| a T ! ©;24693 said:
Funny you should mention that, Les. I firmly believe that "Collecting" is a genetic trait and that hoarding is a more severe case of the same psychosis. There is a fair amount of OCD that goes with it.
I've watched a few episodes of the Hoarders series. I laughed when I saw a woman cry about selling a VCR tape she never watched. I think: My god, how lame can you get?
Then... because life is a cruel teacher... I find myself humbled as my wife laughs at me for moaning when I attempt to sell a guitar I never play.
Both of my parents are collectors. They both obsess over their favorite things. I'm 100% screwed.
OK, this is going to seem far afield, but stay with me...I think several things affect this. One is instinct.
I'm convinced that people experience instinct. I became certain of this when I got home from the hospital after my first child was born. Suddenly, whenever I looked at something round, I saw mental imprint of her mouth. If I put a coffee cup on the table, there was a picture in my mind of her mouth, If I went to the sink...you get the picture. It was the most uncanny thing I'd ever experienced. I realized at that moment that a mental impression of the feature that wasn't all swollen on her face immediately after her birth was the same kind of thing that allows animals to find their offspring in a herd. It felt very different from a memory, in fact I'd never had that feeling or that experience before in my conscious life. Instinct is very powerful stuff.
I do think that it's instinctive in hamans to want to acquire; in fact, it's one of the things that probably contributed to the advancement and survival of the species, for example, the acquisition and saving of food, animal herding, or maintenance of shelter were positives, obviously. Some people might have this instinct more strongly than others. So I agree with you on the possibility of a genetic component.
In fact, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers (and possibly scavengers as well). Before organized societies and language, this had to be instinctive in early man.
Incidentally, my parents had lots of beautiful stuff, but weren't collectors. Maybe there's something to this!
The second possibility about collecting is the fulfillment of a wish for immortality and permanence. I have a close friend who's a brilliant psychiatrist, who once told me that he believes the urge to collect is a trick the mind plays to hedge against death and the decline of aging. We all know we're going to age, become infirm and ugly, and die, but having a lot of stuff - especially beautiful stuff that will outlive us - is comforting, and allows us to concentrate on the stuff's beauty and immortality and forget about what's going to happen to us.
Another theory is that there is so little in life that we can truly control. Everything is transitory. Our children grow up and go their own way. Our spouses change over time. Even our pets come and go. But we can control what we own. And we have a natural urge as humans to control our environment. Add in the other two factors, and there might be some pretty strong reasons why folks are drawn to collecting.
I've read theories that it's all about relief from childhood anxieties, where control of objects make one feel less helpless and alone. Others feel that it's an attempt to hold onto certain feelings and memories. I honestly don't know, and can only guess, but I don't think anyone else can truly know. Maybe the reasons are different for different people.
In any case, since I lack the basic collecting urge, I'll never understand what it's all about. That's one heck of a nice guitar you have, though!
Edit: I had a cousin by marriage who was a collector of Roman coins. He was so involved in learning about them, that he became a published author on the subject of Roman coinage, and the history of the West European Roman Republic and Empire, and actually lectured at the college level on the subject. I liked his scholarly approach.
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