The Archivist gave her presentation, a formal report to the assembly.

It became clearer to me over the years of my study, that there was no end to the variations and alternates that were offered, and that there were innumerable cabinets, boxes, containers, temple goods and burial talismans, along with all the sacred and secular regalia and totems used by individuals, families, groups and clans, nations and affiliations.

There literally was no end, and my conclusion would never be able to list or itemize them all, or even a small portion of these as they had aggregated over the sediment of time’s inexorable progression. In spiral circles these items were radiant analogues of one another, and in lines or chains of energies, they were connected as well through their purpose or their directive and form. Yet even knowing this much was more than i could take. It was overwhelming to my categorical system, and emotionally it took its toll as well.

For the knowing and assessment of the objects, their origin and purpose and how they had fared through the ages, either lost in graves, kept in families or clans, or put in museums or sacred collections hidden in caves in the earth – well, you get the idea. There was too much to deal with factually, and even as a dictionary of selected items it was too deep for most publications. It would amount to a book of knowledge in so many volumes as to fill library upon library, all in words, illustrations and demostrative example or video showing. Or in replica, or in glass cases, or as part of a specialized group showing.

This was more than any of the researchers and archivists could conceive of, even with the warehouses of the currently collected cabinets taking up acres of land as well as being climate-controlled and monitored at all times. Ultimately we know that the earth and our conditions, whether war or flood or fire or ice, will at some time and in some way turn all this collection into a toy parade. Yet knowing this, we carried on.

Why was this? It was as if we were born to do it, much like bower birds naturally creating their lovenests, and we were compelled not only to find one another and discover the task at hand, but to work tirelessly in every effort to complete it.

Ultimately the quest led us to its actual purpose, and with it, the awakening and illumination of the soul herself. For here, with only a very few of the objects, only a very few of the selected items – some that appeared so simple it was hard to imagine that they were the ones to use – with only a few, we were to end our days in intimate contemplation of them, their purpose and meaning, and in this way, converse with them all somehow, as if they were all resonant with one another.

When one was studied, restored, awakened and set to functioning, then this communicated to all of them in a timeless flash, and a wave, not perceptible even with our greatest inventions, passed through all of them. Discovered, or not yet discovered. Inert or restored. All of them in that micro-instant flashed into light. Knowing this to be so made it easier to accept that the wonderkabinett didn’t need to be large or extensive to carry its particular perfume, its unique charge. So much for the outer collection. 

The inner collection is of even more active interest to the soul, for here is found the most rare delight that can be known, a perfect analogue to the outer objects that had come and opened themselves to the researcher. Here inside the researcher’s depth of soul came the mirror self of each object, along with its ideal and purpose. It was complete as a component of the soul herself. Or appeared to be.

And as each one activated, and the soul responded and resonated with magnificent cosmic power. They were all primed to present their ultimate flowering, all together within and without, in one glorious flash of light into greater being, whole, then gone.

For at the end of the collection is this ultimate threshold. Passing entirely into light without matter, an echo of delicate cymbals ringing round the ineffable space.