Abandoned Homes and Symbols Left Behind...

Doors and windows need walls as without them they could not exist. What is true of our physical construction is equally true of our emotional ones. Whatever we might think of doors and windows, physical or emotional, we need also to think of their context.
Doors and windows that open to the outside of buildings are usually kept closed. Doors make it easy for us who live and work in buildings, to come and go at will but they also protect us and ensure our privacy. Not only do they keep other people and creatures out, but keep the elements at bay including even fire. Windows on the other hand, are designed to let us see out and to let light flood in.
This difference of purpose between windows and doors take on special meanings when we think of a house as a symbol of one's self, which it is for most people. We identify with our houses; our homes, of whatever sort and if we don't, we set about changing them; knocking down walls or adding them; adding windows; raise or lower ceilings etc. until we have transformed the house/ home into a place we feel at home. We fill our dwellings with, consciously or unconsciously, not only what matters to us, but also with a lot that we euphemistically call 'junk'.
Our homes/ houses, so to speak, are us.
In long abandoned houses, doors often stand open and many window panes are missing which allow all the various elements in. Because these elements are continually changing/ altering the physical character and appearance of the interior, the symbol of the house as an expression of the self may be replaced by the symbol of the house as a loss of self. Many people find abandoned homes as threatening, and many more experience a sense of loss and sorrow; can this be why many people like to see old buildings "fixed up" or restored...It is never easy to deal with or accept the loss of self, at any level.
And what about us, we the people that find old derelict dwellings endlessly fascinating, who can't get enough of them? Why is our explorations never finished? What is our symbol?
part 1