There is Nothing Wrong in This Whole Wide World

By Chris Cobb

On a day like today, when every aspect of my life seems to be a complete mess (my bedroom, my laundry basket, my planner, my bank account, my hair ...) you can probably feel the anxiety radiating off me.

Judging by the title of this art installation I'm not alone in my neurosis. Chris Cobb organized an entire book store in San Francisco in a color gradient - and called it "There is Nothing Wrong in This Whole Wide World." And, it makes me feel like someone just gets it. When I feel like I do today I think that if I can just make the perfect to do list, or fold my clothes into pleasing perfect squares that the other things that are really bothering me ... wont.

Chris Cobb was quoted as saying

"Even though there is so much to be unhappy about in this world, we should try to create something amazing and beautiful and interesting despite all of the problems."

A bookstore is a place that holds great texts about suffering. Here it is rearranged and reorganized into a perfect system to make something beautiful. And, though I know I'm a little more highstrung than most, isn't that what we all want? To believe that the way we are doing things is going to bring meaning to the broken hearts, loss, regret, jealousy, and hate that reside, confusingly, in the pages that make up our psyche.

To know that if we just figure out the system, and arrange accordingly, this will all make perfect beautiful sense.

photos (1) fraying (2) superhero journal