Currently a clerk in the tidying up of a number of places from a past that is still very present. I remember the situations. I sort to keep or throw away “objects” that belonged to someone Other than me. No matter how close I was to this Other, these “objects” were his (handmade, purchases, gifts…) and not mine. So, what to keep and what to throw away?

I had been dreading this task for months because it seemed extremely difficult. It is not the physical effort that I dreaded (you don’t have to be Arnold to do it). It was not the time effort that I was dreading either (I took time off for that). What is difficult is the mental effort it takes to grasp each of these « objects » and decide on their « future ». These « objects » are not mine and I respect them all in the name of the Other. They are full of memories.

The « objects » are of essential importance. The Other who is no longer present (for whatever reason – mortality, rupture, …), continues to exist also through these « objects ». The Other has chosen them. He expresses himself through his choices. These « objects » are in fact only a set of representations, visual anchors of the Other, that we can no longer see, touch, or talk to. They therefore touch us / speak to us in the present tense and could influence our state of mind.

The human mind needs these anchors (the « objects ») to be accepted or rejected, and the more sincere the relationship with the Other, the more these « objects » will be preserved. These « objects » will be all the more numerous to be preserved when the relationship with the Other has been reciprocally sincere. They will be all the less numerous, or even non-existent, to be preserved the more the relationship with the Other will have been an illusion. We will then get rid of them by getting rid of the « objects » that are cumbersome for the mind.

In order to remember the past, while living in the present (in order to build a future), it is probably necessary to show a certain « emotional pragmatism ». Moreover, if this applies to the objects of the material (the tangible), they are only echoes of the objects of the immaterial (the intangible)… This is the reason for the quotation marks…