How do you own a piece of reality?

General Discussion
1

It was something that I heard mentioned at one point and it has bothered me ever since. It’s like how do we rationalize owning any part of reality? What right or claim do we really have to anything and how can we say that something is “mine”?

2
It was something that I heard mentioned at one point and it has bothered me ever since. It's like how do we rationalize owning any part of reality? What right or claim do we really have to anything and how can we say that something is "mine"?
Its a social thing. You marked some item as yours, and others do respect that.
3

Capitalism. Made up for people who want power.

4
It was something that I heard mentioned at one point and it has bothered me ever since. It's like how do we rationalize owning any part of reality? What right or claim do we really have to anything and how can we say that something is "mine"?
Its a social thing. You marked some item as yours, and others do respect that.Seconded. Owning things is part of human nature.
5

A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.

6
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Indians believed in ownership.
7
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Indians believed in ownership.Oh that settles it. Can you tell us about Indians and their attitudes towards ownership? Or material goods and such?
8
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Indians believed in ownership.Oh that settles it. Can you tell us about Indians and their attitudes towards ownership? Or material goods and such? He was Lakota, but I can't tell you there entire history and culture.
9
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Indians believed in ownership.Oh that settles it. Can you tell us about Indians and their attitudes towards ownership? Or material goods and such? He was Lakota, but I can't tell you there entire history and culture. I wound up thinking about Indians a bunch last night. What all of us need to remember is that with something like this, definitions are critically important. Which Indians, during what period in their history, etc. Seems to me of course Indians had a sense of ownership, even hierarchy, and accumulating "wealth" and power among the elite and all that jazz. yet, there is a fundamental difference between western sense of ownership and that which more simple Earth bound peoples possessed. The history of western exploration, expansion, colonization is mind boggling ... recently been getting more familiar with SALT and all its glorious aspects and here I run out of time . . . later.
10
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Reminds a bit about countries. As a kid I wondered about them when looking at a globe and thinking what makes a country exist beside a line on a map?
11
A local Indian said, man walks as far as he can, plants a flag and claims everything from there back to his home country as belonging to his king. Why does he do that? It means nothing to me.
Reminds a bit about countries. As a kid I wondered about them when looking at a globe and thinking what makes a country exist beside a line on a map? You are quite the thinker. Dark Side of the Moon was a big influence on me, "the generals decide and the lines on the map they move from side to side"
12

The question comes in two parts:

  1. What do we mean by ownership?
  2. What do we mean by reality?
The answer is therefore dependent on how we answer the above questions. The most common way we rationalize owning a piece of reality is to make a convincing claim that it is our property rather than someone else's. For example one can claim their car is owned by them because they bought and paid for it in full and have the receipts to prove it.
13

Hey Phenom; Tita kinda disappeared, but he might still be lurking. He stopped posting, even before the 2 month break we just had.

14

Thanks. I mainly wanted to get a feel for how the forum works by posting something someplace and thought maybe someone new would pick up on it. With the rise of Facebook, it seems forums in general are no longer as popular as they once were.

15

Interesting thoughts here! Thanks!

16

You can see the basic mammalian impulse in pre-schoolers fighting over a toy, or in a litter of pups fighting for an available teat. Our Ancestors at some point must have, once their verbal behavior reached a certain level of complexity, developed a concept of possessive individualism. And with increasing communal lives, must have developed rules re: ownership. The rules of personal ownership that we have today, are apparently what have worked out best, or at least survived, over the many many generations of rules about ownership.

17

“You can see the basic mammalian impulse in pre-schoolers fighting over a toy, or in a litter of pups fighting for an available teat. Our Ancestors at some point must have, once their verbal behavior reached a certain level of complexity, developed a concept of possessive individualism. And with increasing communal lives, must have developed rules re: ownership. The rules of personal ownership that we have today, are apparently what have worked out best, or at least survived, over the many many generations of rules about ownership.”

 

Sounds about right, for those of us with that concept.

However, is it hardwired? I ask because our concept of possession is not universal. It is noticeably different in less complex societies (in terms of possession) Eg Australian aboriginal society. Also among US plains Indians. Perhaps most noticeable is the absence of any senes of ownership of land, specifically in terms of say where they live, and generally, as in their ancestral lands.

Perhaps we developed these concepts as they became a survival benefit? My view is that all broad human behaviour and concepts have a purpose. Or at least, did have once. I think that there are probably more than a few vestigial behaviours at both a family level and a societal level. In my observation, families tend to have their own rituals and customs which may not be shared by others.