"My" or "Mine."

Language is power, in ways more literal than people think.  When we speak we exercise the power of language to transform reality.
-Julia Penelope

Still hung up on the language thing.  I am creating another series. Everything I think or do seems to come in clumps or clusters...even the chest pain lol.  Go figure.  I cannot seem to switch gears until all that topic energy is expended. So bear with me.

Possessive Pronouns

I am thinking about the use of possessive pronouns(or what some would argue are 'determiners' ) . I am looking at how we erroneously use 'my', and 'mine' and how that effects ( I mean.."affects" ...keep getting those words mixed up lol) our belief systems, and therefore our lives.

We get caught up in phrases like; "My body", "My foot" "My house" "My job" "My children" "My friend" "My man" "My love" My God'  "My pain" "My story" "My thoughts"  "My feelings" "My belief" "My country" "My race" "My gender"  My depression" "My illness"  "My life"...it goes on and on. 

When we put "my" or "Mine" in front of something or beside something  we take ownership or possession of that thing and we create an invisible border around us and it.  We separate the my and mine from the "we' "us" and "our" dimensions of our world, don't we?...

These types of pronouns lead to a sense of loneliness and isolation, do they not...like we are cut off from others all because we took possession of this thing.

Not only that ...that possession implies a need to protect and defend.  If we need to protect and defend, we therefore must believe that something outside our "my bubble" will attack us to get at that thing.  Therefore there must also be a "they" and a "them" and a "their"..and 'they' must be the enemy or at least a potential threat. Wow!  Whoever knew pronouns could be more complicated than the grammar rules made them.

More separation, more need for defense and attack and more fear is induced by these little words used in our English language.

We can change them though.  We can start replacing them with more neutral words, can we not?

Neutralizing the Possession and Attachment Need

What is the most neutral word in the English language...the one I keep incorrectly typing as 'teh' for some reason lol..."THE".  What if we stopped owning everything and starting looking at things of the physical world  as rentals or loaners instead of something that belongs to us?  What if I looked at my arm when it was hurt and said "The arm is bothering me" instead of saying "My arm hurts". 

I detach right?  I detach.  And freedom requires detachment.  Without the "my" and "mine" I no longer have to defend it or protect it.  I no longer have to define it or explain it.  It  just is the arm attached to the body I am using while I am here.  Total different context, total different frame of reference...leading to a totally different way of approaching life.

"The body has pain." detaches me from my ownership of the pain, thus eliminating my need to defend and or attack for it. 

I am losing "the house", sounds so much better than I am losing "my house" , doesn't it? I am just losing something that doesn't technically belong to me...it was just a house I lived in. 

"The  job" rather than "my job" brings the idea of what a job is  back down to reality.  It was never "my job'...it was just a job I did, that anyone with the same qualifications can do. 

The children I raised are not mine...They are "life longing for itself" (Gibran) .  They just came from me.  I do not own them.

I have friends yes and I love my friends but they are not mine.  We are getting into the idea of special relationships again with friendships and intimate relationships by the use of these pronouns.  D. is not mine either.  And Love, by  the true nature of the experience...is not something that could ever be limited to special relationships or "my" or "mine."

As for "My God"...well that is self explanatory, is it not?  There is just God.  So many wars and so much destruction has occurred over the years in an attempt to own some idea of God.

Do I need to go on?  One more..."My Life"...There is no "my to life"...there is just life and we are all it.  Someday maybe we will truly realize that. Maybe we will put down our need for possessive pronouns and  our fear so that we can see Self for what it really is....something that never separates, defends, attacks  or possesses the valueless.

Hmm!

Okay...I am done talking about language...I think lol.

All is well.