I once wrote an essay on " What is it to have?" Now, seriously, what is it to have? / by Mirena Rhee

I once wrote an essay on " What is it to have?"

I reasoned on the meaning of having objects, even having ourselves. What is it to have? To "have" it in the same room? In the same house? Nearby? Now if you really have something then how do you exercise your possession, by holding it frequently, looking at it, and showing it to friends?

I have long struggled with these questions and use cases of having things. For example in New York people have million-dollar penthouses and in the penthouses which are usually many millions of dollars, there are objects that are also millions of dollars. I asked myself - how is the person in the penthouse experiencing the dwelling and the objects inside compared to me - using my place and say, I get on the subway for two bucks and I go to the Metropolitan Museum and roam around all night the most priceless treasures of the world, mummies and such, for one more dollar.

Did I have the mummies and the priceless paintings of Van Gogh? Not really, but I was near them sufficiently that I didn't want to necessarily keep looking at them. Would I want to have them in my house? to look at them for example more frequently? Not sure I want to get into that, to be honest. Having custody of priceless artifacts is a monumental headache, I will probably need to get a townhouse with tight security.

Turns out many collectors give their priceless collections to museums anyway and the only thing I could reason for them to have them physically on the premises is.. to show them off to friends. I reasoned it is probably pretty lonely in a big house with mummies and such great artworks - you have to entertain a lot.

I have to tell you I had the same idea so I and a friend went to the Met and .. she brought edibles although I never smoke pot or have them on my own - I tried and we had a great time roaming the priceless collections of the Met and the greatest masterpieces the world possesses.

I came away with the conclusion that I can have for 3 bucks what someone spent 30 million to have not much different. As long as I continue to have a working shower and a toilet in my place.

edit: there's more, I actively try to inform myself on the latest in what physicists think of reality and the latest is that we and all things are one thing. My favorite line from a book I read this year from an Oxford physicist and hadron collider worker with the latest in the world of particle physics: "since there is only one electron field, only one up quark field, and only one down quark field, you and I, dear reader, are connected to each other. Each of our atoms is a ripple in the same cosmic ocean. We are one with each other, and with all of creation" (Harry Cliff)