What belongs to any of us? Do we ever actually "own" anything? If not, does that mean my casa truly is your casa so we should all make each other keys? I guess then we wouldn't actually need keys. because what would be the point?
And what of this thing called stealing of ideas? We have copyright law, patents, and just plain ego that needs to take credit for our "original" thoughts and ideas. So is the person who makes it to the copyright office first, the one who gets to claim credit, ownership for the idea that I'm sure more than one person has had. You know what I'm talking about. We have all had a brilliant idea at one point in time, and then a few months, or a few years later, that very idea is on the market. Just because we didn't act on it, doesn't mean we didn't have it, but then we have to pretend that we never had the idea otherwise it seems like we are copying someone else's idea when it was the very idea we once had? I understand the need to cling to our desire to maintain that which sets us apart from the pack. It makes us special and feel good about ourselves, but really, don't all great ideas come from the primordial pool of consciousness anyway?
And what about hearts? "He/she stole my heart." Really? Didn't we actually give it away? Did someone hold a gun to our head and make us invest all of our energy and attachment in something outside of ourselves? Yet, when the inevitable happens, and that something outside of ourselves eventually lets us down, we feel robbed. Robbed of what? Robbed of the time and energy we invested into that which we thought would bring us eternal happiness and gratification. But remember, we actually gave our hearts. There was no gun involved, right? And when I look back at my past, all the times my heart was "stolen," I see now that the "robber" didn't actually want my heart anyway. I actually forced it on them, so not only did I steal from myself, but also from the other person by throwing all this unrealistic expectation and/or responsibility on them. Of course, they could have walked away and said no, but that's a whole other discourse.
We could go on and on and list how we steal from one another, but from where I sit, that is just a distraction to keep us from looking at the bigger aspect of stealing. The only person we can steal is, is from our self. We steal time from ourselves. We put off doing what we know is important for what society wants us to believe is important. Isn't the only thing that is of any real importance is for us to figure out who we really are, and once we have figured it out, start doing what it takes to live from that place 24/7? So, yes, when I steal time and energy away from my path to my own Self realization, I am stealing.
Asteya - non-stealing. Don't steal from that which helps create a conscious relationship between our little"s" self and our big "S" self. And you can't use that phrase. I thought of it first...
And the time I might spend worrying about that, well, that is the real stealing by stealing time and energy away from my Self.
:-)
