Possessiveness, Attachment, Possess, Attached

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Possessiveness, Attachment
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by Roy Posner and MSS

The Nature of, Examples of Possessiveness

Possessiveness
Seeking to own, control, have exclusively, manipulate, and dominate is possessiveness. It is a primal urge born of our physical consciousness. It is one expression of the ego.

Forms of Possessiveness
One can be possessive of women, money, property, inventions, technologies, the market, and many other things.

Second Status of Life
Sri Aurobindo says that the second status that the forms of life undergo to break the bounds of one's self toward interaction with others; a compulsion of Nature to begin to fuse ourselves with others. There is death, mutual devouring, desire, and the need to expand, conquer, and possess. This is a movement to the vital proper, away from the physical.

Possessiveness of the Physical
The physical man demands obedience from another for the simple satisfaction of physical domination. This comes from the possessiveness of the physical. Possessiveness of the physical is different from the ego of the physical. The physical by its own tight cohesiveness feels satisfied with another object only when it is part of its cohesion. This is possessiveness that is part of the nature of the plane.

Possessiveness and the Physical Consciousness
One important characteristic of the physical is possessiveness. (MSS)

Untitled
What you try to possess, possesses you. (MSS)

Breaking Out of Desire to Possess Money, Woman, etc.
Desire to possess is one obvious expression of the ego, seen clearly in money, acutely in the vital possessiveness of the wife. Capacity to withdraw from it, to transform it into one of duty, is the surest sign of ego giving way. (MSS)

Man's Possessiveness of Woman
Man exercises possessiveness on his woman fully.

Money Possessiveness
Possessiveness of Money enjoyed keeps one physical as well as vital. (MSS) [a more mental view of money will overcome possessiveness, since mentality is far less possessive than the physical (especially) and the vital.]

America's Evolution from Physical Consciousness to Vital Individuality
America has evolved individuality at the physical level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of the physical (E.g. physical self-reliance goes hand in hand with extreme physical possessiveness and selfishness. How can one who has been asked to take care of himself think about giving to other?) America will progress by evolving to vital individuality. (MSS)

Property, Possessiveness, and Ego
Property is the possessiveness of the ego. (MSS)

Slavery and Possessiveness
America's Civil War was to overcome the physical passion for property and the ownership of slaves, an extreme form of physical possessiveness. (MSS)

Thoughts on Possessiveness
-The preservation of the form is the possessiveness of ego.

-Possessiveness loves to be known as possessing.

-Possessiveness possesses. Man exercises this on his woman fully. As education and urbanisation advance, he acquiesces in her coming out. At the level of soul, a complete interchange of forces is called for.

-Possessiveness is in proportion to the intensity of enjoyment. Sex became a taboo thus.

-The illimitable Ananda which no individual can make a personal possession is turned into pain by the ego's possessive JOY. Possessive joy possesses Pain. (MSS, randomly extracted)

Secrecy and Possessiveness

1. Secrecy Ministers to the capacity of possessiveness.
2. Secrecy is the source of selfish pleasure.
3. Secrecy acquires power only when others are aware of the existence of a secret.
4. Through secrecy one tries to acquire a power he does not have.
5. Secrecy, when sought, becomes more secretive
6. Secrecy, when it wants to preserve its secrecy, has a way of becoming stronger by external attack. (MSS)

Apple, Secrecy, and Possessiveness

Here I would like to relate Karmayogi's statement "Secrecy Ministers to the capacity of possessiveness" to business management.

Apple -- e.g. through her IPhone Smartphone -- is compelled of her own will to secrecy because she needs to stay ahead of the game being the ONLY manufacturer of her product, in contrast to her open architecture competitors like the Android based smart phones. Secrecy and surprise gives her an edge, but being the lone producer of her phone, she has to constantly come up with great innovations. The secrecy ministers to her possessiveness, especially the leader. If she were to give up her possessiveness and let others manufacture phones based on her OS, it would reflect inclusiveness that is oneness, and therefore growth. The pressure and struggle of Apple to constantly be at the top with the latest and greatest would end, enabling her to become a true institution like Microsoft, who years earlier was not open and not possessive with her OS (DOS and then Windows in the personal computer market) and overwhelmingly became the standard; i.e. an institution.

We see each one of Appa's 6 points in the Apple situation if we look closely. E.g. "Secrecy, when it wants to preserve its secrecy, has a way of becoming stronger by external attack." We see this dynamic clearly now when the press goes after Apple.

Microsoft and now Google (Android) are more in touch with the masses by allowing for multiple manufacturers of its operating system (OS), though Apple caters to the elite, and can royally succeed there, but only through perpetual radical innovation, which is demanding and stressful. You can be the most admired company in the world, as she has been the last two years, but constantly under pressure to produce the best. The fact is that the wider society seems to want a broader approach, with the most choices, not just a single vendor.

Still Apple can change. She has even made some movements in this direction; e.g. when she made ITunes available on PC and caused the boon in sales for their IPod across all computer users. Maybe the next generation of management will make this change.

These same rules of possessiveness apply to every one of us. I.e. PERSONAL issues have a parallel dynamic, which we can be observed in P&P and in life around us.

Apple CEO's Possessiveness

Steve Jobs is an innovation genius and true individual, but he is possessive, probably due to the fact that he was raised as an orphan. This makes him unwilling to let other companies sell products with his OS, as Microsoft did in the past, and Google Android is doing now. In this way he intensely controls his life and his business.

Perhaps future Apple leaders will shift away from this effective short-term but problematic, even disastrous long-term approach.

Some of the psychological and spiritual bent have even suggested that if Jobs gave up his possessive tendencies, his health would dramatically improve.

Non-possessiveness
The opposite of possessiveness is to give freely, to share, to allow the expansiveness of another thing/object, to be trusting, generous, hands off, etc.

Breaking out of the Ego of Possessiveness
Man needs to outgrow his selfishness, his ego, his limitation, his possessiveness and break into selflessness, non-ego, wideness, and allow himself to be possessed by the universal. The Internet does it by making things cheap, sometimes free. It does it through money. (MSS)

Outgrowing Possessiveness of the Physical Man
The physical vital man is possessive. He grows by taking. At the plane of Mind, growth demands giving. In Spirit, all growth is only by giving. Surely for a possessive physical man, this presents a difficulty. Even after giving up property, the mind refuses to give up its possessiveness. It is felt more in possessing a woman or man as wife or husband. Unless the society overcomes it, the individual is unable to do so. (MSS)

Evolution and End of Possessiveness
To further evolution Man acquires revolutionary attitudes that destroy totally his primary sense of possessiveness in the physical plane. (MSS)

Overcoming the Possessiveness of the Collective
To extend it even a little, the physical of the collectivity had to give up its possessiveness and recognise the reality of others' existence. Selfishness relents, cracks show up. (MSS

From Physical Possessiveness to Mentality
Our physical possessiveness keeps us where we are; whereas being centered in our mental consciousness we do not have this vibration of possessiveness. If we grow in this way up the vertical scale of consciousness, we can avail of the emerging opportunities, leading to a vast enjoyment, which still requires at every stage a renewed aspiration. (MSS, paraphrased)

Breaking Out of Desire to Possess
Desire to possess is one obvious expression of the ego, seen clearly in money, acutely in the vital possessiveness of the wife. Capacity to withdraw from it, to transform it into one of duty, is the surest sign of ego giving way. (MSS)

Ceasing to Possess and Freedom
Man becomes free only when he ceases to possess. (MSS)

Giving Up Possessiveness
By giving up the possessiveness of the little you have, you can enjoy the all. (MSS)

Mind is Beyond Possessiveness
Mind does not have the vibration of possessiveness. Its possessiveness ends with memory. (MSS)

Non-Possessiveness of Spirit
-As we do not try to possess God, if we do not try to possess people, we become God.

-Human life is marked by possession. Mother's life is characteristic for being possessed by the Beloved.

-Man acquires to give up. Possession and possessiveness are to be possessed. Retain the essence, give up the possession. Brahman comes in the shape of property, capacity. (MSS, various, extracted)

Effectivity of Non-possessiveness of the Internet
The present attempt is to outgrow the mental ego and its possessiveness are being achieved by the fact that information given out is not lost for the giver and by the practice of the Internet that Grows by giving. The Internet has discovered that by giving its services free, it earns more. (MSS)

On Effectivity of Power and Possessiveness

Alexander won a large kingdom and possessed it.

Churchill saved the world and lost even local power.

Gandhi won world fame without even trying to possess power in India.

The higher one ascends, the wider is the field.

As it widens, the possessiveness becomes weak, as the less possessive one is, the wider is his power. (MSS)

Possessiveness to Collective Enjoyment
There is an evolutionary movement from selfish individual possessiveness to selfless collective enjoyment. (Paraphrase of MSS)

Attachment

Non-Attachment to One's Kin for One Who Helps Others
He who discovers the joy of making others flower cannot be attached to his own kith and kin. (MSS)

Thoughts on Attachment
-Inability to give up a relationship till the other betrays is the nature of vital attachment.

-The physical attachment can never give up, but will never tolerate, will even tease to death.

-Attachment gains in intensity by the excess of energy exchanged.

-Vital attachment, among other things, expresses lack of mental clarity about relationships.

-Subconscious attachment to the parents is due to the fact that we are a physical part of them. (MSS, random)

To Be Categorized

Steve Jobs and Apple's Second Chance for Infinite Success

A great company like Apple is determined by the values and character of its leader. In Apple's case, it is Steve Jobs, with his great capacities, as well as his limitations. His limits are a great sense of personal insecurity, probably originating in the fact that he was an orphan as a child. It has led to his possessiveness, in which he wanted to control his market, rather than have others be involved. Thus, he did not open the MacOS to other manufacturers, and is doing the same with iOS. This personal limitation caused his company to lose the PC wars, and could be occurring again against Google and Android OS playing the role of Microsoft and Windows Os in the past.

I would submit that Steve is capable of changing his behavior. Remember: his Hell Freezes Over presentation in which he switched his view? He after all allowed IPods and ITunes to run on PCs, which changed Apple and led to all its enormous successes since then. He can take that much further and open up iOS, or Apple could be doomed again not to be the global leader when it had that great opportunity.

Life has a peculiar tendency to repeat if the underlying influences do not change. It is one of the great principles that define the Character of life. And yet we can overcome that inevitability if we new and different energies to that equation.

By the way, Steve jobs changing his attitude from possessive to inclusive may have an added effect of overcoming his recent serious ill-health. I am rooting for him, and Apple to succeed now that they have a great Second Chance to do it right. (2009-2011 Q1)

Attachment to Property

Attachment to property is increasingly becoming anachronistic. That is because Man is growing out of it. (2009-2011 Q1)

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