This concept really got me thinking about the things we "own".
I have certain material items that I love and feel great pride about. For example my...
- Computer
- Mp3 player
- Bag(s)
- Blackberry
One concept in the book A New Earth says that identifying with "things" is your unconscious trying to connect with the material instead of the "being".
A few weekends ago I was at work and a friend came by because she needed some help in picking out a product. Before she came I had just had a break and headed back to find her so that we could find the product that fit her needs. There I am back at work and I reached in my pocket to find my Mp3 player to check the time and it wasn't there. Normally I always place it back in my pocket (I haven't used a watch in years).
A few things happened:
- my palms started to get moist
- my mind started racing, "where, where, who took, when"
As that was happening my friend T saw me and came over. She asked me what was wrong and I said, "I lost my Mp3 player". She said, "I'll help you find it". We looked around for a bit, but come on if I put it down in a crowded place is someone going to turn it in. I doubt it.
T said, "What are you going to do?".
I said, "I'm going to order another one tonight. If it's gone it's gone, there's nothing I can do.
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I wasn't going to attack the people around me demanding that they show me the content of their pockets and purses. I just came to peace with the fact that I would order another one. I didn't want to spend the money on the product twice, but I was prepared to.
Well, would you know it. M a co-worker of mine, a lovely woman who is one of brightest stars at my job, came up to me and asked me if this was mine. It was my Mp3 player and I was elated. I told my co-worker J that I lost it and he told M who brought it up to me from the break room, where I had left it. Seemed like when I came to terms with it being gone, it came back into my life. I focused back on "the being". I don't change because I lost a material object. My Mp3 player and I are two different things. I learned from my past experiences to blow up, react emotionally and blame myself for losing a possession of mine.
Today is a new day.
So, when I think about the "Illusion of Ownership" I feel that things can be important to you, but (it even says this in the book)
"If you are aware that you are identified with a thing, the identification is no longer total. That's the beginning of the transformation of consciousness."
What I like about this section is that the book doesn't say you're bad or wrong for thinking this, but your awareness of this concept is enough to start a change within you.
I completely agree.
