The Spirit of the Banjo
Can an inanimate object be said to have a spirit?
To most of our ancestors, from ancient times through recent generations, the answer would have been a simple yes. But, to we who live in this rational, scientific time, the belief in spirits or the sacred objects in which they might dwell would seem an indulgence of superstition at the expense of rational thinking.
And yet, closer inspection of our daily existence yields ample evidence that many, if not most of us, still regard numerous objects as being imbued with special power or meaning, if not spirit. I need not even mention the paraphernalia involved in religious sacraments to make this point, although the reader will surely have some idea of where that example might lead.
For the purpose of this discussion, commonplace items will do just fine.
For example, consider if you will a watch. How might a pocket watch which belonged to, lets say, your deceased grandfather, differ in your regard from a similar watch which was manufactured in more recent times? Your grandfather’s watch might not be made of gold, or even keep time anymore, whereas the new watch may be a shiny emblem of craftsmanship and horology.
But, odds are, your grandfathers watch would occupy a special place in your consciousness that the new watch could never fill. Perhaps your grandfather’s watch was with him in the war — his good luck charm which, in his mind, helped bring him home safely. Perhaps he kept it until his death in old age as a potent reminder of his young life, in which many poignant memories and emotions were bound.
Would you, the watches inheritor, not be tempted to consider it a kind of lucky charm or talisman as well? Perhaps when you touched the tarnished surface, you would remember the smell your grandfather’s pipe smoke or hear the sound of his voice in your mind. Perhaps, when you turned it over in your hands, you would somehow feel his presence around you in a way that memory alone could never evoke. Perhaps you would take it a step farther and even…