All Things Shall Pass

Interesting photographs of entropy at work. It's amazing, the progression we make in life. As a child, we live in a house and think our childhood home will be there forever. As young adults, readying for a family, we want to "own" a house, not wanting to rent. Feels "permanent" to make nail holes in our own walls to hang cherished photos. We, then, hit a mature age--I'm here now--realizing we don't own anything. The bank owns the mortgage and the house, and should I not pay property taxes, the town owns it.

But do even they really own it? Do any of us own anything? We borrow what is on this earth. Even the land our homes are built on will one day, like this barn, be reclaimed by nature. 100 years from now, like the fading family farms and farmhouses, will there be no record of me owning my home, or the land, there will only be some other use for the land...some other "tenant" taking care of this tiny parcel. And should that tenant become neglectful, nature will take it back. Just like the barn.

Happiness lies in knowing that all things shall pass. This knowledge gives peace. It allows us to look at the effort of others--beautiful public and private gardens, huge mansions, great artistic paintings--and not feel envy, but joy and pride, shared with the gardener, the builder and the painter. Nature's public domains, such as the majestic oceanside, become our own private sanctuary, more impressive than anything we could "own" in our backyards. And it's right there, ready for us, even if not just outside the bedroom window. Nature cannot be tamed or bought or sold. It can only be enjoyed, even if over our neighbor's fence, or at the museum, or with a short drive to the seaside. We "own" it all only in one place--in our memories and our minds. Ownership is a state of mind, a "feeling" rather than a reality.

Once we accept that all things shall pass like the dust of a century old barn, we can live in contentment and enjoy all that is around us now.