Intriguing thought

[Wu Wei]

I was reading Taoism 101 again and this statement hit me

I own nothing; I am merely a passing custodian of items outside of my nature.

I had never thought of it like that before; my house, cars, clothes, tools, everything, I am merely a passing custodian. This has changed my outlook on things, I need to think about this for awhile.

 

[Jumi]

It's good. Sometimes I break something by accident and I'm happy for it. It was wasting my time that I could spend doing the things that are more in tune with my nature.

 

[Geoff-Allen]

There is also this advice - not sure just where I read it ...

Nothing should be clung to as "me" or "mine" - think of that - my opinions - my body - my thoughts ... not easy 2 do ...

Cheers!

 

[Wu Wei]

For a very long time I have walked around places thinking of the many people that passed that spot before. I use to have to walk to my parking lot past an area where you could see the foundations of houses starting to appear in the pavement and in the dirt lots. Made me think about how there were people living in those places once, the lives they had, the happiness the sadness the good and bad and how impermanent that is. Thought the same thing when I was on the Great Wall of China too.... but I never applied it to myself.... until today

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I was reading Taoism 101 again and this statement hit me



I had never thought of it like that before; my house, cars, clothes, tools, everything, I am merely a passing custodian. This has changed my outlook on things, I need to think about this for awhile.

It's a very un-Western thought, and that idea is something I stress with my sustainability students--the need to take the long view because while we may assert ownership and use now, in the long run, there will be many, many other owners and users. I ask them to consider whether or not they have any responsibility to those future owners/users (including themselves a few years down the road). Most of them get it, at least at the intellectual level. Whether or not they adopt it into their lives in practice, only time will tell. Heck, I'm still wrestling with it!

 

[Straw Dog]

I had never thought of it like that before; my house, cars, clothes, tools, everything, I am merely a passing custodian. This has changed my outlook on things, I need to think about this for awhile.

The things we own end up owning us, until the day we realize we never really 'owned' anything to begin with. There is no real gain and loss, only ebb and flow. Our houses, cars, clothes, and everything else are ephemeral objects in an uncontrollable universe. We're not even caretakers, really. Items naturally take care of themselves as long as we take care of ourselves. Let's focus on the task of mastering ourselves and let the chips fall where they may.