Leasing Your Way Through Life

Imagine you just bought the car of your dreams. You had been dreaming about it for years and you finally have it. You love the slick design, the shiny wheels, the unmistakable new car smell. You are absolutely in love with it! In fact you could hug it all the time if you could. The day after buying the car you go to Starbucks drive-through to get your favorite drink. As you drive into the narrow lane, you hear a loud scraping sound and you feel your car vibrate. You want to believe it’s not what you think it is. You walk out of the car, and sure enough. The beautiful, shiny alloy wheels are now covered with ugly scratch marks. It’s as if you are almost feeling those scratches on your body. That’s how much it hurts.

Or, consider another scenario. For Christmas, you got the watch you have been dreaming about for a long time. It’s perfect and it just looks so good on you. You can’t take your eyes off of it. You are looking forward to wearing it everywhere. Every time you look at it, you are filled with joy. A week goes by. As usual, you take it off your wrist as you’re getting ready to go to sleep. All of a sudden, you feel it slipping your hand. By the time you realize what’s happening, the watch is on the tile floor, the glass shattered to pieces, the dials scattered across the floor and you have no insurance. How would you feel? What would you feel? More than likely, a lot of pain.

Have you ever been in similar circumstances before? Have you ever experienced this type of pain? If you have been on this earth for any length of time, you almost certainly have. But, you may ask, isn’t this everyone’s experience? Isn’t this how it works? Is there any way to avoid the pain of having something happen to things you are attached to?

An American sage and spiritual teacher Robert Adams once wisely said: “Possess all you want, but don’t be possessed by your possessions.” Read the preceding sentence again. What does it mean? How do you interpret that? How can you do that?

Let’s go back to the examples above. What if your dream car was given to you to drive for a week, with full insurance coverage. It doesn’t matter what happens to the car during the time you drive it. When you return it, you are done with it. What would be your pain level if you got the wheels scratched at the drive-through? Knowing that it wasn’t yours to keep and that you were not responsible for it, your pain level would be next to nothing. Wouldn’t you agree? However, didn’t you enjoy driving it as much as you would have if it was yours? You experienced the pleasure of driving your dream car without the pain of something happening to it. The same would be true for the watch example. So, what’s the difference? 

The obvious answer is attachment, or more precisely, the possessive pronoun “mine”. Once something becomes “mine”, our attachment to it skyrockets and so does the corresponding pain. 

Taking a bird's eye view, can we ever truly say that something is truly “mine” when we ourselves are guests in this life?  At best, we are temporarily “leasing” everything in life, as we came here with nothing and will be leaving with nothing. 

Don’t get depressed!  This realization opens the door to enjoyment of life on a whole new level. The word that characterizes the new lifestyle is “freedom”! In this new way of living, you can still possess and enjoy everything you want but not be possessed by them. When you have the attitude that everything you own is not actually “mine” but you are only enjoying it for the time being, it frees you from the burden of unnecessary pain associated with the loss of it. The freedom in itself would be a reward enough for you to give this new attitude a shot and discover the truth yourself. But it doesn’t stop there.

When you withdraw the strong attachment to things, you feel the newly liberated space within you beginning to fill with happiness, joy and peace. What happens with the diminution of “me” and “mine” is the cracking of the ego, which is responsible for all of your pain and suffering. Then you feel divine energy, that has always been within you, slip through the cracks and come to the surface. It takes a hold of you and your life quality starts to shift completely. You become more loving, more forgiving, more generous, more compassionate. You are no longer bothered by the trifles of life. You can start feeling this power stirring within your heart as you read these words. No possession on earth can give you the same feeling, and once you experience it, no loss of any possession can take it away from you. 

And last but not least, you can’t hide this light within you from others. You will bring joy wherever you go, you will inspire others and you will live your life to the fullest at every moment. 

Now, what are you going to do about it?