I am finishing off the first draft of my next book which is one reason why I have not been updating my blogs recently. I also have several spinning plates up in the air related to various projects I am working on – all will be revealed later!
In the meantime, while researching the book, I came across this company, “Treasured Teddy Bears” of New Jersey that makes teddy bears our of sentimental garments that have belonged to loved ones. Again, essentialism is the best explanation for this type of thinking which is supported by the testimonials provided by satisfied clients,
“I can feel my Grandmother’s spirit in Kathryn the Bear
Kay in Cincinnati, OH
“Absolutely Magnificent! These Bears have a personality all their own”
Maureen in Newark, NJ
“When I opened the box and saw the Bears, I had tears in my eyes. They are beautiful”
Ronna in Savannah, Ga
What would they do with Jeffrey Dahmer or Fred West’s clothing? Probably make a Chucky Doll
brucemhood.wordpress.com 
Bruce,
Do you think that the “self” could be methaporised by the “Doctor” hologram in “Star Trek – Voyager”? In his case a photonic image created by computers and lasers to ease the interaction of others out there with the ship’s medical computer? In case of human beings, a fictional “me” to ease interaction with other members of the species?
…. Just a thought 🙂
I have been interested for sometime about what gives an object spirit, and I have come to the conclusion it is association. The more we know about the history of an object the more spirit it seems to accumulate.
I have a collection of ballet costumes, each one is imbued with a sense of feminity, which gives the garments many lovely associations (I love feminity). If I then tell you this costume was worn in a Royal Ballet production of Sleeping Beauty by Darcy Bussell then it enhances more the sense of spirit that the garment radiates. When an object loses its association, like a old family photo that no longer has a name, it loses spirit. If you can find out which great uncle is in the photo, and know a little about his life, the spirit returns.
It is an intersting thought that we also have spirit which is associated with our autobiographical record. The more we experiance, and more importantly are recognised (or remember) as having experianced, the more we seem to be filled with spirit ourselves.
If I take an image of a drawing, maybe a portrait of a countess by Rubens, and put it in the photocopy machine I can make ten thousand little spirits of the original drawing. Each has a spirit, but something is diminished. So many identical spirits can be sold cheaply and thrown away, or used to wrap chips.
I came on your blog because I have just finished your book and I wanted to know why you never mentioned memes, they seem to play such an important part in the virtual sense of self we all pretend is unique to each one of us. In fact almost everything we think belongs to us was passed to us through cultural contact with the those in our social sphere.