From Makeovers to the Endless Knot

All morning, like the preceding mornings, the wall taps and is scraped as one of the flats in my buildings gets remodeled. So much of what I see is remodeled on a regular basis: people's style, the insides of their homes, office furniture. Rare are those spaces that remain static. Even rarer are those that are reminiscent of my youth.
It is true that the changing face of things can be confusing. It is so much harder to gain insight into the essence of what is really going on. So much effort goes into building and coloring. But what of the essence? Say, for instance, someone makes a statement. Are they open to further dialogue, or venting? This is very important information: more important than what they are saying. The essence determines the success of one's response. If someone is venting, one oughtn't counsel them at that time.
No matter how fancy the facade, there is still essence behind it. Shows on National Geographic speak of Mega Buildings and feats of engineering - is the message of these buildings that those of the late 19th and early 20th century outmoded? Are they symbols of "advancement" and "development"?
How convenient to have such literal symbols. When I ask myself of my inner development, I often end up with a cloudy answer. But I do like to think that if one cultivates inner sensibilities, one will draw to oneself, like a magnet, noble things.
Indeed, the other day, I was given a Pan Chang Knot  盤長結, or Endless Knot, which symbolises, among other things, eternal love and friendship (once exchanged by lovers to "knot with one heart"); the interplay of wisdom and method; the interdependence of religious doctrine and secular affairs; emptiness and dependent reality; wisdom and compassion. "If the tip comes through the end, all else will be understood and passed": the knot has no beginning or end. Its smooth continuity symbolises success, happiness, continuation of the family line, abundance... It knots in all that is valuable: all the elements one would want to be mindful of - all one would wish to draw to oneself.
What I am getting at here is that there are some things from the past that explain who we are or who we want to be to us better than the modern copies. The essence of some ideas were better expressed in the past. Which isn't to say we are to be copies of the past, but that we should find space for those essences to take fruition where we are.
Through all the remodeling and mega building, is there space for such subtle imagery? For the ideas to take hold, they need to be knotted in our heart: traced over and over again by our heart, so that we are not washed away by the prestidigitation of appearance.