Over the recent years, I have lost many things: health, house, money, belongings, opportunities, and so on. If I think these things were mine, it hurts.
In the moments I go into the story that these were mine and life took them away, I experience anguish, regret, pain, fear, blame, inability to move on, and so on.
Fortunately, there is another side to this.
THEY WERE NEVER MINE
Is it true these were mine? Is it true I can, truly and honestly, own these?
What I find is that I can never own any of these. I cannot own any object any more than I can own any of these thoughts, feelings, or insights, or any distress, clarity, or confusion, or even this body.
Of course, in a conventional sense, I can own certain things. But that’s a convention. It’s something we agree on and it’s reflected in the law.
The reality is different. The reality is that I cannot own anything. The closer I look, the more the idea doesn’t even make any sense.
All phenomena live their own life. I don’t have the ability to ultimately control what stays and goes or when it goes. We intersect in time and space and then move on in different directions.
In a very real sense, they are all visitors. I am a visitor in their lives.
SINCERE EXPLORATION
To the extent I find what’s more true for me, and take it in and allow it to transform me, I find peace. It opens my heart and mind to find genuine gratitude for what happened. I see the genuine gifts in it.
It’s not enough to take this on as a philosophy. It may be a good start, and the transformation happens when we sincerely and honest look at it and find what’s more true for us, and keep exploring it.
We may find this over time if we have some receptivity and get tired of the struggle and suffering. We can find it with the help of pointers from others – whether from their own life or words. And we can find it through a more intentional and systematic exploration, for instance, guided by structured inquiry.
IN MY LIFE
I have moments where I experience frustration and some distress around these losses, but it’s not so often. More and more, I get – in a felt sense – what I write about here.
I didn’t lose anything because I never owned them in the first place.
And I know that insight and reorientation is also not mine. It too is a visitor. I am visiting it right now.
THE CONTEXT
I thought I would say a few words about the context.
Why can’t I truly own anything?
Ultimately, it’s because there is no “I” here to own anything.
When I find myself as capacity for the world, and what my field of experience happens within and as, I find that what I am cannot “own” anything. It all lives its own life. There is no ultimate “I” here to own anything.
Also, what brings anything into or out of my life is life itself. It has innumerable causes going back to the beginning of this universe and out to the widest extent of this universe.
Does this mean I don’t need to take care of what I have?
Not at all. If anything, recognizing we can’t ultimately own anything can help us be a better steward of our life and what’s temporary in our life. It highlights how precious it is because it won’t stay.
What are some of the gifts in this?
It’s specific to each loss. The loss of my health – and the fatigue and brain fog – has brought me back to the essentials. I have had to deepen into all the things I write about in these articles. It has simplified things. It has shifted my orientation from finding it cool and fascinating to having to deepen into it out of necessity. I have had to take it more seriously.
How does this look in the wider world?
The idea of ownership is a convention. It’s something we collectively agree on. And that means it can and will change. For instance, is it wise to allow individuals to accumulate resources from the commons far beyond what they need and could ever use? If we recognize that all resources are from nature and belong to the commons, how does this change how we regulate ownership?
DRAFT TWO
Over the recent years, I have lost a lot of things: health, house, money, belongings, opportunities, and so on. If I think these things were mine, it hurts.
And when I realize they were never mine, it’s a little easier. Everything comes and goes. None of it is mine. I just happened to be in the same time and more-or-less the same place as these, and then they and I moved along.
The idea of ownership
There is a lot to say about the idea of ownership.
If we are honest with ourselves, do we really own anything? In a conventional sense, I obviously own some things and have some basic human rights. And yet, when I look more closely, do I own anything? Do I own this body? These feelings? These thoughts? These insights? This awakeness? This confusion? This discomfort? This state? This situation? Our paths intersect and then we move on.
How is it to be a good steward of my life while also recognizing I don’t ultimately own anything? Does it free me to be a better steward if I realize I don’t own anything?
What does this bring up in me? What fears, beliefs and identities come up? What do I find when I get to know these?
And for another article: As a society, how do we regulate conventional ownership? For instance, is it wise to allow individuals to accumulate resources from the commons far beyond what they need and could ever use? (All resources are from nature and belong to the commons.)
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DRAFT ONE
Over the recent years, I have lost a lot of things. I lost health, house, money, belongings, opportunities, and so on. The list is long.
When I think these things were mine, it hurts.
Fortunately, with some receptivity and curiosity, we can find what’s more true for us.
In reality, none of these things were mine in the first place. Everything comes and goes. I just happened to be in the same time and more-or-less the same place as these, and then they and I moved along.
To the extent I find what’s more true for me, and take it in and allow it to transform me, I find peace. I may even find genuine gratitude for what happened. I see the genuine gifts in it.
It’s not enough to take this on as a philosophy. It may be a good start, and the transformation happens when we sincerely and honest look at it and find what’s more true for us, and keep exploring it.
There are several ways we can come to these insights.
We may find this over time, if we have some receptivity and get tired of the struggle and suffering. We can find it with the help of pointers from others – whether from their own life or words. And we can find it through a more intentional and systematic exploration, for instance guided by structured inquiry.
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I am a steward of these when they are here, and then they and I move on.
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DRAFT THREE
Over the recent years, I have lost many things: health, house, money, belongings, opportunities, and so on. If I think these things were mine, it hurts.
In the moments I go into the story that these were mine and life took them away, I experience anguish, regret, pain, fear, blame, inability to move on, and so on.
Fortunately, there is another side to this, and it’s more aligned with reality.
THEY WERE NEVER MINE
They were never mine. Everything comes and goes. None of it is mine. I just happened to be in the same time and more-or-less the same place as these, and then they and I moved along.
What I lost wasn’t mine in the first place. They were gifts from life. They were visitors. Our paths crossed for a while and then they and I moved on.
I never owned any of it because it’s not possible to own any of it.
In a conventional sense, I can own things. But in reality, we cannot own anything.
I don’t own this body, these feelings, these thoughts, these insights, this pain, this joy, this clarity, this confusion. I cannot truly own any of these, nor any physical objects. None is mine.
It all comes and goes.
SINCERE EXPLORATION
To the extent I find what’s more true for me, and take it in and allow it to transform me, I find peace. It opens my heart and mind to find genuine gratitude for what happened. I see the genuine gifts in it.
It’s not enough to take this on as a philosophy. It may be a good start, and the transformation happens when we sincerely and honest look at it and find what’s more true for us, and keep exploring it.
We may find this over time if we have some receptivity and get tired of the struggle and suffering. We can find it with the help of pointers from others – whether from their own life or words. And we can find it through a more intentional and systematic exploration, for instance, guided by structured inquiry.
…..
Why can’t I truly own anything? Because it all comes from life. Everything lives its own life.