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Tag: ownership

Wanting what you have vs having what you want

I paraphrase the Dalai Lama a bit here, but the gist of it is that most of the world focuses on having what you want— which is a constant state of acquisition, of needing to augment with more, of rampant consumerism that ultimately ends in devaluation of anything that is not imminently disposable.

If you find satisfaction in what you are, where you are, who you are right now, that is peace of mind that is not illusive, transitory or subject to entropy. Wanting what you have is the ultimate expression of living in the moment. The goal is to be here now, not to dwell on how much better your life could be if only …

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Ownership

My country, our freedom, our way of life –
A gift from the gods, or a two-edged knife?
Our neighborhood, to be patrolled from within;
not defined by what we take out, but what we put in.

True ownership lies in accepting the charge
Of nurturing a thing, and so, by and large
We only possess what we put ourselves in,
and so those things own us as well.

And what of those things that we get as a gift?
Like family, or friends or a nation of birth?
If you put nothing in, and for life, merely get,
Then you use, but you never own.

The law says possession defines who owns,
yet what does it take to possess?
And if your religion states you possess by right,
that’s a little too convenient.

09 DEC 2002

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