The Marginalian · People & society

The Joy and Psychology of Collecting

Humans have an innate drive to collect, stemming from our hunter-gatherer nature and a need to organize reality. This impulse is deeply tied to personal preference and the capacity for amazement, leading us to share our unique collections and the delight they bring.

Collecting, whether it's rocks, records, or facts, is a way of creating a personal 'constellation of amazements.' These collections can illuminate others with their loveliness, strangeness, or sheer delight.

The act of collecting is a practice of loving the world by cherishing particulars. This human impulse, shared with few other animals like the bowerbird, is about finding things and being amazed by them.

The book 'These Are My Rocks: A Story About Collecting' by Bethan Woollvin explores this essence through various collections like rocks, pointy things, and even banana jokes.

As a counterpoint, Maija Hurme's 'Odds and Ends' celebrates the opposite of collecting: the beauty of letting things go and donating.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.