To own is to be owned. To possess is to be possessed. Every object you claim as yours is a burden on you. Every physical object is merely ashes in waiting. Why do you invest time and energy on ashes? That big screen TV, that three story house. On these ashes you build your empire, and just as easily as ash is swept away by a breeze, all that you have will be taken away. Because everything you have is on loan by Fortune. You can plan and plan and plan, but Fortune (call it luck or even fate if you choose) determines what you are allowed, and what you are not. And eventually, Fortune will take back all she has loaned you. Leaving you as you were in the beginning, but hopefully wiser and stronger then you were.
Because if life has any purpose, it’s to learn and grow and discover and contemplate the mysteries that exist all around you. You don’t need any object to achieve that goal.
The idea of ownership itself is ridiculous and animal. Are you an animal? The human race as a whole is no better than its primate cousins. Sitting in trees, throwing feces at each other. But you rise above that. You are more than that. Aren’t you? If you’re an animal, you’ll end up in a zoo. Surrounded by those that mirror your ignorance. But there’s not even a lock on your cage. The door’s been open the entire time. Come outside and join me. The air is fresh, and the view is perfect.
Lay down your burden my friend. For all that destroys tranquility is detrimental to the Mind. Ownership itself does not exist in reality. It’s not a thing you can touch or see or taste. It’s a concept; a thought if you will. And like any thought or emotion, it’s yours to alter. The feeling of possession is absurd itself because how can you possess anything? Ownership isn’t a thing in the Physical universe, the universe that you’re ironically and paradoxically attached to.
The object you feel ownership over does exist on the Physical level, but ownership itself does not. In the end, you value the feeling you get from possessing more then the possessions themselves. They make you happy, though the happiness is artificial, just like the objects that caused it. They make you proud; you can look over all that you own with a smile on your face. As you kick dirt on your neighbor who owns less then you. You even claim ownership over that neighbor that you so patronize! They are “your” neighbor! In Reality they’re just a person who happens to live near you.
You don’t have to cast off all the objects you claim dominion over. That’s irrational. Just remember, that they are not you. And you don’t own them, because ownership only exists legally and abstractly. On a personal note: If I had to leave everything I “own” behind this moment. I wouldn’t shed a tear. The memories of the good times I had by using those objects will forever be with me. That’s all that matters. Because unlike the objects, the memories are mine.
