Life is all about relationships.
I have learned that there can be three levels of defining
our relationship with others and the world.
There is ownership: I have possessions, I can even have a family and children. Ownership is good but it can give way to selfishness and acquisitiveness.
Then there is stewardship: I cannot own the earth nor other people but I have been given responsibility for them and expected to make them grow, become more and better.
And then there is kinship: we are one with everything that exists.
The earth, and people for that matter, do not belong to me
but I belong to the earth and to other people.
We are fruits of the earth and sons and daughters of the land.
We all belong to one another: dust from dust, blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh.
This is the strongest and most intimate of relationships.