With poorly drawn diagram of a cross-section of Earth and Space.
Because Western civilization and most economic systems seem to be centered around “mine” vs. “yours,” there is a distinct underlying belief in the concept of ownership. Lately I’ve been questioning just how real this is.
In terms of Zen mind, ownership is just another concept –1 an imaginary and ephemeral thought.
In a functioning society, ownership is such a given, that the concept’s validity seems rarely questioned. And owning words, art, and entities like businesses and intellectual property, are to me, some of most intriguing of all claims.
I was recently visiting Alnoba, a center and landscape curated by The Lewis Family and featuring the art of Andy Goldsworthy, Allan Hauser and others. Highly recommended.
This is phone-photo piece speaks for my visit there, titled Time At Alnoba
This digital piece is comprised of a collage of phone photos, featuring depictions of art on premises (see above), stones from my town and theirs, and admiration. Basic tools only used: phone markup inherent in iPhone 12, including “sticker” feature.
When I hear people speak in terms of ownership of anything, my ears tune up. This includes crazy and sane utterances alike. Listening through for common lines of “ownership” in realms that include physical space, ideas, technology in the days of open source, and even human-held access2 to resources too.
Take for instance, Kanye West, who was reportedly upset at his ex-wife for taking ownership of trademarks of his child’s name3 away. Does this mean he felt he owned his kids? Or just their names? Did he see the name he gave his child as his asset? But, that’s kind of questioning crazy.
In a more sane line, I can’t help but feel that I can’t truly own the land I live on. This land my husband officially bought years ago. That’s because I know this property is near a River, and Rivers can rise. This house is also on Narragansett land, which means, it is stewarded by the Narragansett tribe, and we are completely aware of the gift it is for us to live in such a lovely place.
cross-section of earth and space, with “ownership” layers. The closest layer to Earth is directly tied to land & water and the natural resources tied to it.
My husband knows this, I know this, and so do the birds and critters around us. The osprey, blue herons, the cat birds, cardinals, robins and even pesky red squirrels, who don’t give a flying f to any of the concepts we’ve layered atop a place.
This experience of being here, to me, is a living gift, not a thing.
And I have gratitude about my place in this space.
I wonder sometimes if the indigenous North Americans see the silliness western values have built atop simple, majestic nature. Do they laugh or cry about the things we’ve made: the lines on maps, the discussion of markers, the carefully placed border stones. The financial systems and economies that protect lines and placements.
And, the Fences.4
And, the gates.
Do the indigenous people try to accept, and protect? Do they put their heads down with dismay? Are the frustrated by us taking this concept to an end that fosters billionaires and trillionaires, and baby…5
Do our Indigenous stewards cry6?
I may never know. But what I do know, is that one of the most challenging emotions I’ve ever had to work through is envy. It’s based on a strange idea laid atop nature. This feeling has made me cry with a blinding fury that shouts “unfair!” and also, at times, blinded me to experience the mystery of the way of nature.
This desire for “more” in terms of more access to goods, or more experiences, or access more money that seems to support folks in achieving freedom. That emotion seems fueled by greed of a silly construct that sits atop nature: the ownership of land.
The antidote for me, is to question the underpinning of if “more” is even possible. Because “more” means you may conversely believe in “enough” and its ugly cousin, “not enough.”
We all have the fullness of our experience right now. And this is always enough.
Our experience can also be more than enough at every turn. We can breathe, we can sense things, we have love, we are here. We can tune into the vastness that stretches outwards to others, backwards and forwards in space, and also, we can tune into “enough.”
Not to say there is not also suffering, here and there.
Bodily discomfort, unkindnesses, war, hunger. Those of us who envision ourselves on the “having” side of the equation can lend our skills, knowledge, and action to support those who do not have. Maybe we can share perspective that helps us feel a little freer?
To me, that’s kindness, love and community. That’s art and music, and self-awareness and inclusion. That’s sharing.
That’s also someone like me putting together a post like this, as carefully as I can muster, and as wildly as I dream.
Thank you for reading,
Elizabeth
FOOTNOTES & SUB-SUBTEXT 😉
- They say AI uses lots of em dashes. This is annoying, because so do I, and with conscious reasons. Anyway, this piece is written and edited by a human. No AI. ↩︎
- They way I understand the term for this kind of person who “own or tends an access portal” to a given societal resource (like salon circles, communities, wealthy mastermind-types, etc.) is “gatekeeper.” ↩︎
- article ↩︎
- One of the best poems of all times is Robert Frost’s Good Neighbors Make… (go find it) ↩︎
- A 21st century nod to Paul Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble” is an all time favorite, from the album Graceland. ↩︎
- The Keep America Beautiful Crying Indian PSA moved me as a little girl. It probably also moved me to enact LitterProject.com in the early 2000s. Everything is connected.
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