What if we Own Everything?

One of the core ideas of the Stoicism philosophy is that we should not worry about the externals—i.e, the things not under our controls. We have a name for it—the dichotomy of control. It is a classic and central tenet of Stoicism. It is introduced by Epictetus in his text, Discourses. Instead of being flat out frustrated or dissatisfied with the things in your life, the dichotomy of control reminds us that not everything in our life can be controlled or possessed by us. The only thing that we should try to focus on is our actions and emotions—right now. Not in the past, not in the future.

In Stoicism (and several other philosophies), the perspective that we don’t really “own” anything is pretty common. We usually consider ownership as a mere delusion. There are some things that we obviously do not own, like other people or other people’s stuff—but really, we don’t really own most of the things we think we have either. Obviously, the concept that we do not “own” doesn’t necessarily mean that we can just throw the things in our place away or that it would be morally correct for other people to take our things without asking us. That kind of ownership is merely a social contract to prevent chaos from emerging in our society. The dichotomy of control is merely a contemplation and realization that we do not have anything other than what we have right now and that we can only influence some things under our scope. That we should prevent ourselves from clinging to the externals and focus on our emotion and interpretations.

We Have Less than We Thought

There are some things that are less obvious to be considered as “not ours”—our fame, wealth, loved ones, intelligence, beauty—and the list goes on. Sounds wrong, doesn’t it? I mean, we can totally work hard for fame and wealth, try to find new people and help them when they need us, study and learn new things to improve intelligence, or spend a day in a salon for a haircut. But really, we only own the “totally work hard” part, not the outcome. We have the wills, not the results. Our fame can be taken away from misunderstandings. Our wealth can disappear from bankruptcy. People can leave us—they can pass away or they can simply choose to ignore us. Diseases can cause a decrease in cognitive abilities. What if you have a car accident and injure your face?

And thus, it’s really a fallacy to cling towards those things. Always a bad idea to define yourself from the things you can lose at any time. Always a bad idea to keep wanting more, because you realize that you won’t always get satisfied.

Re-framing Thoughts

Thinking that there is nearly nothing that we own can be kind of frustrating—all the things we worked really hard for, aren’t really ours? But obviously, this isn’t the point of such contemplation. We have to practice this perspective so we can shift our focus on what really matters to us: our very own dreams, hopes, wills, and curiosity. We should be content when we have done our part, because not everything can be ours—now or forever. It is okay as well if we think we hadn’t done our best, the past is not really ours anymore. It is also fine to live without all the external thing we crave for. I mean, do we really need them? At the end of the day, it’s our perspectives that truly matter.

..but wait, what if we own everything?

Surely that’s crazy, right? We are literally re-defining the true meaning of ownership again, aren’t we?

But it’s kinda beautiful to think that you really own everything. I mean, won’t you just prevent yourself from being selfish? After all, we are all part of the same story—the story of humanity. We are all in the same team, we live and thrive in this world through similar experiences. You and me are just this tiny part, playing our own role. But really, instead of thinking about your own good and mine, we should think about the collective good. I really like this Stoic exercise:

You can rid yourself of many useless things among those that disturb you, for they lie entirely in your imagination; and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every part of everything, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution. —Marcus Aurelius in Meditations

I love it. It really resonates with me, that we should sometimes see this life from a third person’s perspective. That we are truly so small, yet each part of us weave the interconnected stories of humanity and our surroundings. It’s like, I am the last digit of an irrational number. No one knows what I am, yet I matter so much because if I don’t exist, the number would’ve been a different number.¹

This kind of thought sometimes make me feel like I own and feel everything already—in a sense that I am looking at the big picture of humanity and that I am a part of it (or rather, itself). Every accomplishment is mine (or precisely: ours). Every loses in this world are mine too. Every love, kindness, every knowledge—even if I can’t feel them from this body, they’re mine. When I lose in a competition, is it also a win? Certainly the fact that there are always wins and loses won’t make a loss a big deal anymore. When I switch body so I turn into somebody else does it really make any difference?

As with “we own nothing”, I think the thought that “we own everything” is as thought-provoking and fascinating.

1. Ermm akshually, no there is no “akshually” this is a philosophy post not a math post! ↩