Possession is always a two-way process. There is no possession of goods without a reciprocal possession by goods. This is the essence of Buddhist admonitions about materialism. It is a core precept lost entirely by Christianity. It has little historic correlation in Judaism. Islam preaches a socialism, pertaining to possessions, which is never concretely followed in Islamic cultures. The economic divide between rich and poor in all cultures permeated with these religions is a glaring indictment of the messages of those religions, as they pertain to greed and possessions.
Buddhism (the core sutra philosophy, not the cultural religious forms) advises a realistic approach to possession. Detachment entails the constant mindful understanding that all things and beings are transitory, illusory. Liberated consciousness, that mental energy that supersedes its origins in personality through practice and meditation, enables its source to be detached from all possessions and ties to the material world.
Detachment is an acquired skill, in other words. As someone who recently bought new appliances, I can attest to the seduction of shiny new things. However, I have been struggling with remaining detached from these machines, despite their efficiency and time-saving benefits. Remaining detached from people is much more difficult, of course. To love unselfishly, to be compassionate and to be detached simultaneously are the skills of a Buddha. Perhaps this is beyond the capacity of most, if not all, human beings.
Practice is the daily conscious attempt, moment by moment, to strive for this Buddha state, a state without possessiveness, even of oneself.
