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.
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.
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.
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.
Recently I experienced what I refer to as a "spiritual experience" for lack of a better term, wherein I achieved a true state of knowing, being, whatever one might call it. And I knew that to go "deeper" I had to let go and there was a true and strongly tangible sense of letting go. And the result was the greatest bliss I've ever known.
ReplyDeleteBut after the experience, I wanted to return to that state. And what was once - at the original moment of the experience - a true state of knowing and oneness, had become just another want, equal in stature to a new car, a fancy pen.
I feel that part of understanding want and moving past it is awareness of what one is wanting. Even now, I know absolutely, that my writing these very words is based in want. I want you to see these words and validate ideas and my idea of myself. One gets the distinct sense that the human mind has created an inescapable morass of contradictions and paradoxes.
However, having said that, I know that when I was first experiencing truly letting go, I was not thinking "let go this specific want, or that specific want." The true action, the true steps toward the state of being for which we all strive, are as simple as can be. It's not a workout regime. It's just the final choice.
Blake brings up an excellent point. The "bliss" he refers to is based completely in a natural state of "now." In fact it is this complete now we removed our awareness from to find ourselves "disconnected."
DeleteTo want, is to put yourself in the future, which of course is made of none other than past which is also what the ego is made of...past. So although it seems like an endless labyrinth, it actually has made the answer quite simple, to be in the now. But since this is such a foreign concept for us really, it seems difficult to attain and remember.
We must remember it is the only reality and we always are there.