A Ramble About Ownership

If you really think about it, human ownership is a ridiculous concept. Nothing we call ours truly can truly ever belong to us or originated from us. Neither our thoughts, nor our ideas, nor our bodies, nor the myriad of toys, trinkets, houses, cars, clothes, ad infinitum.

For example, who can truly own a piece of land? The land was there long before me, and it will be there long after. It neither knows, nor cares to know, that I hold a piece of paper that says I own it. And it will be rid of me in, what is for it, a relatively tiny amount of time.

The clothing I have in my closet. Someone else made it. Chances are that someone else wore it before me. When I die, it will not come with me, and few will uphold my rights to it after that point.

The thoughts which I think someone else thought before me. The ideas which rattle around in my mind originated with someone or something else and recombined within my own mind. I can no more lay claim to them than I can lay claim to having written “Romeo and Juliet” (of course, really William Shakespeare couldn't lay claim to that idea either as it in turn was based on an older work, as has been demonstrated). So those ideas flow from others, and as I talk about them and relay them they flow to others also. Do I then become upset because someone else has “stolen” “my” ideas?

The truth is that the idea of ownership is really just another means of us trying to make ourselves feel more secure. Or, to put it another way, the concept of ownership arises from our inherent insecurity. We are afraid of our needs not being met, and so we gather things around ourselves selfishly and tell others “no, you can't make use of these, they're mine!” I'm afraid that if I allow someone else use of them, then I will no longer be able to use them.

This inherent insecurity of course arises from our inability to experience God from birth, which I have previously discussed. It is a concession of mercy that God does not contest it. In fact, the only person who can truly claim to “own” anything is God Himself. He created it, and He is in constant contact with it. He moves it, shapes it, and dissolves it at will.

Consider that if you were in constant experience of God as He is, ownership would be a non issue because the issue of your own security would be a non issue. These would be non issues because you would experientially know, and doubt would be absurd, His love for you. And this love presupposes that He too cares about your needs and would move to fulfill them. But because of our spiritual autism we cannot see it, we are blind to it.

The Scripture says “perfect love casts out all fear.” This verse continuously goes through my mind lately. Just consider that He is perfect love, and that fear is insecurity and that the genuine experience of Him removes all insecurity. All other concerns are thrown aside as you bask in His love for you, and through you to all others. And then you come to realize that you need “own” or claim “ownership” of nothing at all because of His love for you.

In the end, my point is entirely proven by human death, as everything you claimed ownership over is left for someone else to clean up or make use of, even your physical remains. You no longer have control over any of it. So in the end, all of your efforts to retain control over things, ideas, and people are utterly defeated and you still lose everything. All of your efforts to acquire and hold wealth are wasted and pointless.

For this reason, the only effort with any meaning in this life is to acquire and hold the experience of God, and union with Him through Jesus Christ. To know Him through mutual love as He loves you, and you respond with love in return as His love begins to flow through you and back to Himself, radiating to others also. Cultivating and developing this love, powered by His Grace, is the only worthwhile effort because it is the only effort which is not only sustainable but will continue with you after you lose your physical remains. This is truly the only real security in life.