The Silk Road and ancient trade have simply updated themselves through the centuries- the motives for power and profit remain. Perhaps it was originally a simple survival tactic to which we have attached to a new vocabulary.
On Aug 3, 8:35�am, docstillhere <[email protected]> wrote: > 'ownership' means about the same as truth, security, entitlement and > other labels. it is a term we attach to something else, while > 'something else' goes about its own business without cariing one bit. > > On Jul 28, 1:02�pm, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > In the course of the recent discussion here concerning the reposting > > of Minds Eye contributions in other internet fora, the question of > > copyright arose. It got me to thinking about the idea of intellectual > > ownership and the idea of possession in general. > > > We have all seen the Westerns in which the Native Americans sold away > > title to land for nothing, or pittances because the white man's > > concept of "owning" land was incomprehensible to them. Throughout > > history, many of those whom we regard as great thinkers have been very > > critical of the benefits of possessions and owning things. Indeed, a > > controversy centred on the absolute poverty of Christ raged throughout > > the medieval Christian Church and completely split the Franciscan > > movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ > > Franciscans#Renewed_controversy_on_the_question_of_poverty). In this > > context, it is perhaps interesting to note that one of the all-time > > heroes here on Minds Eye, William of Occam, was a proponent of the > > principle of absolute poverty and lost his job as English Franciscan > > provincial and was excommunicated as a result. > > > Personally I spent almost a decade as a Dominican friar, during which > > time I took a "vow of poverty." I don't want to go into a discussion > > on the extent to which Catholic monks actually live according to this > > vow here, personally, I always found it to be the expression of an > > attitude of freedom from a dictatorship of "things." It may also have > > left an indelible mark on me in that in almost a quarter of a century > > since leaving the order I have been pretty bad at earning, > > accumulating and retaining material wealth and possessions. During my > > life I have gone through a number of pretty radical changes, which > > have often involved leaving nearly everything behind and starting > > again. Such processes have been, inevitably, traumatic, although not > > necessarily negative. One of the things that has helped is the fact > > that I have never felt particularly attached to "things". But maybe my > > sense of "ownership" is just underdeveloped, or damaged! > > > There's a German saying which states that "he who has possessions has > > worries." Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, one of the founders (!) of modern > > anarchism went farther with his statement that "property is theft." > > What does it mean to "own" something anyway? > > > To use Molly's words: What do you think? > > > Francis- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
