A house, a car, a clock, a pen, a rubber duck, a piece of paper with words from a loved one, or a piece of paper with numbers and a signature from the finance minister.
They morph back and fourth. Just as Jesus turned water into wine, you can turn a house into paper. Or just a number, in another number.
Capitalism lets you posses numbers. The more numbers you have, the more you value.
Is that not right?
Are you going to live with someone who possess nothing? It is a romanticised idea – to own nothing. To be free of all attachments, to be a monk. It often comes with the caveat of celibacy.
That’s not really a choice, is it?
What you posses defines your value. A kind hearted, loving, generous, considerate, sexy, homeless person will only ever be defined as a homeless person. If only this person possessed a home.
That’s not right. A lot is not right. You can’t be what you want to be, unless you have possessions that let you be.
That’s important. Possessions that let you be.
A house that is unliveable, a car that is undriveable, a hat that is unwearable, a paper that is unspendable, a number that is unreachable. A dream that is unattainable.
They don’t let you be, rather they sting you like a bee. They define memories.
But.
If possessions merely invoke our memories, do we posses them or do they posses us?
A slave, we are, to what we own. It is what limits us.
Owning too much. Owning too little. Owning just enough. A limit defines each.
Is the desire to own everything bad? It is portrayed as such, but wouldn’t it make sense? Wouldn’t it mean you would have no bounds, no limits, no end? Isn’t that humanity’s greatest desire? To posses the power of the sun, in the palm of your hand.
Is that crazy? Why do we need to tell ourselves stories akin to that of Icarus? In every culture, on every continent, for every era.
Why is owning everything evil and owning nothing noble?
Why is struggle admired, respected, praised, and even encouraged? Why is it attractive?
Perhaps, because it helps one posses something that is very difficult to posses otherwise.
Struggle blesses a person with pain, knowledge, and humility. In this way, to not own anything of value leads you into possessing something invaluable.
That is attractive. That is sexy. Until you have to pay the heating bill. Then it’s not.
An invaluable possession that doesn’t let you be.