Property is an illusion. Wilderness' dark secret.

It's amazing that people get such a kick out of owning things. Don't they know that all the best things are free. Air, the sun, the moon, the rain, the sky, a good night's sleep, the ability to see, hear and think, to love, to be loved, to laugh, to smile, to eat, to walk. All the good things are free.

So what can you actually own? Most importantly you can own land (at least in countries that adopt Capitalism). But in the Old World like UK--where land usage has evolved over more than 10,000 years--ancient rights of way that existed before the system of Capitalism are protected. And a fundamental understanding exists that this country of UK, that this land ultimately belongs to us all.

If you think about a soldier being asked to fight for "his country" he might reasonable ask which bit? I mean if none of it belongs to me then why and I laying my life down for it? The country and the land is a much greater entity than the petty plots of land that its divided into. In England you can walk on permissible paths across the country and enjoy the full extent and breadth of this island and all the wildlife and landscapes are there to be appreciated. In Scotland you have a right to roam which respects this. How can a precious human actually just being somewhere ever be a crime. A crime only exists in damage or theft. This is a very ancient understanding and wisdom of land and people, that preceded Capitalism, that land belongs to Britons, just as Britons are named after this land, and the people are one, and as one we respect it.

You occasionally come across landowners who are under the mistaken belief that the land is really "theirs." We need only remind them that this land is only theirs because people died to protect their land from invasion, and as such they owe this land to them. If the dispute is over your right to be there, they may turn around and remind you that you have not risked your life for the land so "get off." But you can most probably say the same to them, that they haven't risked it in battle either. At best we are only ever stewards of the land, and after we are dead it passes on to other people for whom we should also have some regard. 

In the New World like US I believe they don't understand this. The land was robbed from its inhabitants who were all killed off, and so all traditional land use was eradicated and replaced with Capitalist plots. As a result no one has a relationship with the country or land that is deeper than the silly little plots. In the place of an ancient understanding of the land, the US has created "wilderness" parks, like Yosemite, that recreate a mythological romantic idea that the Americans have of the "land" before they invaded. But of course its a fiction because the land was inhabited by other humans that were genocided by European invaders who then set up Capitalism. When you see Bambi what you are looking at is a mythology that has been created to cover up the world's greatest land grab and genocide. The idea of "Wilderness" has a very, very dark history. In fact this false idea has destroyed the environmental movement and any hope of living with and respecting the planet like we used to.

So you can "own" a plot of land in order to get control of it, to landscape, build and make use decisions (within the bounds of the land-use law). But as a broad concept you cannot actually remove it from other people. The best you can do is build a huge fence around it so no one can see in, and obstruct any ancient pathways, but then you become a cut off patch on the landscape in which you have imprisoned yourself. No one can see in, but you cannot see out.

No matter how wonderful your world inside, when you build a wall around it, you become just a tiny spec in the land cut off from the greater Land. That wall becomes your prison. Reminds me very much of the 1624 Donne, Meditation 17.

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

Like the sky, the land is actually vast, but this is forgotten by people who burrow into a small bit of the land and call their own.

But even in this world of property, a landowner gets very lonely without inviting friends and guests. So often people who do not own a property get to visit it. They can enjoy the senses of being there without owning.

And people get either tired and weary of owing in quite a quick time, so that they no longer appreciate what they own and take it for granted. Often needing to own something new to get the hit from owning again. This constant need for new things to own is the essence of the Environmental Crisis and why we need to work so much.

In actual fact you can live your whole life on this Earth without owning. The majority of humans through time have. The obsession with owning is a very new phenomenon. True you will be kicked off things, and excluded from things by the "owners", but this is a small inconvenience faced with the cornucopia of free things in life. Those people who own have a heavy weight around their necks, that quickly becomes a burden as the novelty of owning wears off.

They say this about boats, but its true for all things. There are two good times when owning. The day you buy something and the day you get rid of it.

And the biggest problem is that while experiencing something that you own, you realise its exactly the same as experiencing it when you don't own. Eating an apple you own and one you don't own is exactly the same experience. The difference is just paper work.

So yes its rules of the game, and we play the game to keep the peace. But its an illusion not to be taken any more seriously than a position in chess.

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One problem with reactions to "property" is radical shake-ups. I believe Pol Pot in Cambodia had radical ideas to shake-up modern society and property. The problem with this is the belief that property is bad. If you think property is bad, then you've missed the point of everything above. Property is largely pointless, it is not bad. Property does a very good job of organising resources. I mean if you are planning a garden and every 5 minutes someone else comes along and changes it, it is going to be a mess. In more advanced societies than Capitalism this problem is solved by social organisation, and people rise to positions of respect and authority and they organise the collective resources. This is how our ancestors lived. But individual property is also a solution. But if you just smash up any system you end up with nothing. SO if we live in a system of property then so be it. But its important to realise that "owning" is not a big deal, and serves a very limited job, rather than the obsession some people have with it. Owning your "own" home for example seems to be a craziness is this part of the world.