Philosophy
Stoicism: You Don’t Own ANYthing
Everything/one can disappear without a moment’s notice
We own nothing, but we live and act as if we do every single day of our lives. We take lightly the fact that all we see, “own,” and all that surrounds us — including our relationships — is ephemeral. Nothing lasts forever, and we cannot ever guarantee something or someone will — not even ourselves
Your car, residence, partner, family, health, career/job, abilities, freedom, options, and the things that fill up the spaces you “own” can all evaporate, which raises a valid question: why do we hold ever so tightly to things (tangible and intangible) and people as if they will remain in our lives forever?
Enculturation — especially in developed countries — teaches us to desire and go after the things and people we want so we can experience and “have” them. But for how long?
Here today, gone tomorrow. Fate does not choose wisely; fate chooses as it wishes.
Detach yourself from things and outcomes, so you can effectively prioritize what truly matters: this moment. For the continual hunt to gather will only leave you with more emptiness, and woe to the person who gives up their soul for “things” and loses it all. In the end, we will lose it all anyway. Be careful of how much you give up to gain.
Anything that can be prevented, taken away, or coerced is not a person’s own — but those things that can’t be blocked are their own. — Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24.3
“The conservationist Daniel O’Brien has said that he doesn’t “own” his several-thousand-acre buffalo ranch in South Dakota, he just lives there while the bank lets him make mortgage payments on it. It’s a joke about the economic realities of ranching, but it also hints at the idea that land doesn’t belong to one individual, that it will far outlast us and our descendants. Marcus Aurelius used to say that we don’t own anything and that even our lives are held in trust.
We may claw and fight and work to own things, but those things can be taken away in a second. The same goes for others things we like to think are “ours” but are equally precarious: our status, our physical health or strength, our relationship. How can these really be ours if something other than us — fate, bad luck, death, and so on — can dispossess us of them without notice?
So what do we own? Just our lives — and not for long.”
— The Daily Stoic
Destiny S. Harris is a writer, poet, entrepreneur, teacher, and techie who offers free books daily on amazon. Destiny obtained three degrees in political science, psychology, and women’s studies. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or @ destinyh.com
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