Identity and Ownership

Ownership?  

How can this be possible, how can one “own” anything when it is inherently temporary?  When I looked it up in the dictionary I found many definitions but all had one thing in common.  They said nothing.  They referred to the word “owner” or “own.”  They all brought me into en endless loop, a cycle of hyperbole so to speak.  It reminded me of Adolf Hitler speaking, saying much and saying nothing at all, the usual superfluous ramblings and hollow rants of a buffoon.

 

I looked up Ownership and it referred me to the word:  “Possession.”

So I looked THAT up and it said “nothing.”  Here is what it said: 

1. The act or fact of possessing.

2. The state of being possessed.

Okay then so I looked up “possessing” and here is what it said: 

To have as belonging to one; have as property; own: to possess a house or a car.

So I realized that also means “nothing” so I looked up “Have” and this is what it said:

to possess; own; hold for use; contain: He has property.

(This brought me back to the words “own” and “possess” which both say nothing.

How about “Belong:”

a. to be the property of: The book belongs to her

Okay, off to find the meaning of “Property…this should yield some results right?  Wrong! 

That which a person owns; possession or possessions of a particular owner. They lost all their property in the fire.

WHAT!?  Not the word “Possession” & “owns” again! An endless loop straight back to the void.  My conclusion again: We are making this ALL up!

In Aramaic there is no real word for ownership.  In fact in early Hebrew although there is no word for “doubt” they used the word “Adon” which means absolute ownership and control, for God.

So the more we take a deeper look at this the more obvious it becomes that ownership is all made up, a fabrication, a sleight of hand.  It is a word designed to get us to believe that it is possible to make something yours.

In this never ending conundrum I prefer the Latin meaning of the word “Identity” (Idem) “to make same.” This is clearly what we are all doing anytime we think we can own something.  Since everything you feel you own is nothing but temporary it can be nothing short of insanity to attempt to own anything.  Before I understood (understanding it does not mean that I do it 100% yet) it was made of nothing I thought it had some true permanence, to “own” something was real, it was mine…

But what if this is all just truly about an ego attempt to make what WE are (since we have long forgotten) connected with objects and form?  Along with our stories and our history.

This would be a serious issue.  It would be another nail in the coffin of the ego if we truly KNEW that attempting to possess, own or have anything was not even possible. It would cease all of those future anxieties in a heartbeat, things such as: want, desire & craving.

Ahhhh, so this is why letting go of possessions is the Masters way.  It is part of the Toa, the Bible, the main Buddhist teachings and of course: The Course.  But we are not just speaking about owning things, but the “need” to own things, the “need” to possess ideas, things, stories, events and concepts. 

However that is a massive undertaking.  Let’s just speak of things for now.  How many of you “own” your house? If you thought “me, I do” you have absolutely fallen into that trap.  Even if you felt like I was going to put you on the hotseat and differentiate you from others who do NOT own their house, you have fallen prey to the ego.   The fact is that you CANNOT own anything as we pointed out earlier.  But deep within the recesses of your mind you think this is possible.  You think that you and your house are the same.  You fell prey to what you learned via the ego about what you are not.  You learn that you are made more viable and valuable by “owning” something.  Something of “permanence” like land and a hollow block of wood and mortar arranged in some order. You feel special…better…more worthy.  You have learned the egos lesson well. 

There is an army of people out there who believe this story and teach it to you daily.  They have set up their lives to convince you that you NEED these things.  Every newspaper, TV commercial, magazine and every single advertisement is there to convince you that you NEED them. To drive that new vehicle is not just driving a new vehicle, it is part of YOU.  This is why we spend $50,000+ for a device we can get the same results from if it were the $15,000 model (or comparable: ie an truck to a truck, a car to a car, etc…).  Why do I need THAT label on there?  I can OWN THAT house, that outfit, that device, unit, appliance, tool, house, car, boat, spouse significant other, children, vacation, etc…   I want it to look good be good and sound good.  I want and NEED to possess it AND deep within my mind it needs to be as close to “best” (because someone else says or thinks it is) as possible, because it IS ME.  To add more spice to it, it is better if everyone else knows I “own” it also. I now have others that agree with me.  So I’m going to show and tell everyone about the new vacation, car, house, item…this makes me MORE…I am special…but I thought special always meant “MORE!”  No…special means “Separate” not more.  We are trying to make it mean “more,” but this is NOT working.

Think to yourself right now, how many times have you compared your possessions (identities) with others’?    If you felt disappointment in your child you have done it, if you felt better than, with your house you have done it. 

We are constantly measuring ourselves with others via their possessions, “accomplishments” and oh, lets not forget…our appearance.

YET, the punchline of this whole story, in fact, is that it is ALL temporary.  The house will fade and decay, the car will stop running. The world will end, the universe will end and long before that, your body your memory your “accomplishments” and your possessions will decay and be completely forgotten.  All of it in the blink of an eye in the Universes’ perspective.

To get perspective on this, imagine you contract a deadly form of Cancer and you now have only a few days or weeks to live.  Truly think about that…what do you value?  Does the money matter anymore?  How about the BMW, the Nice house and the status you have in the community?  Notice how small you feel, how closed in yet how liberated.  How taking inventory of your life is quite simple now.  What you valued in a shocking moment you do not value any longer.   Now if you can feel that for at least a nanosecond then what is it you are feeling the other 99.999999999% of the time?  

That’s right, Identity.  The idea of having, owning or possessing something, someone or some ideal making you like “it.”  It is the idea of something making you more…and this is a fruitless search.  There is also the goal of occupying your mind so you need not think of anything I’m saying here, to never think of death, to ignore it so you will never have to truly face the truth…this is NOT what you are.

You also realize something else…you may have wasted a lot of time “owning.”

The truth is Identity was already given you.  You are what the maker of you says you are and this bothers us deeply to our core.  We want to be the ones that have the only say in what we are…but sadly we do not.  We can REMEMBER what we ALREADY are and that’s that. Our attempt at Identity is an attempt to rewrite ourselves, to point at something we give value to and say: “That is my worth because that is mine…it is ME.”  But we will never be right…that can never be true. You can convince yourself you are what you say, and then you will believe it but that does NOT make it true. Then you will realize the true definition of suffering.  If you have EVER suffered, ever, you are trying to convince yourself you are something you are not.  You are attempting to tell the painter what the painting means and was created for.  It is because you are on another fruitless search for the impossible…to be something you are not.

Once again, this is why “letting” go of things, ideas, concepts and history is the masters way.

I am hoping we can keep this one going in the comments.  Feel free to expand or expound on this.