Owning And Owing: Theological Perspectives On Property And Debt Essay Examples

Owning is a term that shows the power, position or supremacy of those who own a certain item, when a person has authority over it. Owing is that term which is opposite to owning and shows how indebted, inferior and trivial is an individual regarding something. Owning is always used in a positive way and items like property are always owned. Whereas, a debt is regarded as a negative concept which no one like to have in their life. Debts are owed, money matters mostly which are to be repaid. Owing a debt indirectly shows the surrendered or dignity of the indebted people to others. In theological terms, owning a thing or the feeling of being an owner gives a self image or awareness that is egocentric. An owner likes to think that everything else, everyone else is at his disposal. The owner and the people who owe to him, both have responsibilities, in different ways. If a person has a debt, he has to pay the debt. The owner who has a property has to respect all workers in that property equally and work hard himself to keep things at a good level.
The new question I have in my mind after studying this course is that “Who is a complete owner or ower in this world?” None is a complete owner in this world. None is a completely indebted person either. We possess certain things for a short time in this life and have to part with them soon. In this short journey on earth we may have some debts which become insignificant to us as we part from this world. Being trained to think and act with a business attitude in life, I have never thought of life or matters in such a perspective before. Property and debt, owner and ower may be important economic terms that take the world financially forward. Their significance lasts for a limited time. But, in the spiritual journey of life, we all are indebted to the supreme power, fellow humans and other living things. At the same time, we are our owners too. Our dignity is our own. All of us are have equal power and responsibility towards others and even to the nature. The reason is that everything is finally interconnected.
It is certain that my concepts of owning/owner, owing/ower, property and debt have changed over the past months. For example, I had viewed someone who owned an expensive car or a successful company as someone wealthy, powerful, controlling and proud. But now, I understand that the car owner has got a duty to maintain it, protect it and use it in the most optimal way. The company owner is not just sitting and counting the profits, but need to work hard, think about and follow the steps to make the success sustainable, and care for all the workers in the company. So it is not about being powerful and controlling but also being responsible, dutiful and well mannered. About the owing, in case of monetary debt the ower should repay it in time. But there are things which can’t be repaid which make everyone an ower. The helps and support we receive, the love, care and concern of the family and others are things which can’t be repaid in money terms. And we remain owed to them lifelong. The most important things I learned through this course is that many economic terms as discussed above are having a deeper meaning in theological terms, which is not always thought of.
Thinking from the theological perspective, I suspect why philosophies, religions and other doctrines don’t stress about that fact that all are equally owners as well as owers at the same time. Certain thinking support the view that man is the ultimately powerful creature who is dominant over all other living things and nature. Everything was created for him and he can use or exploit anything in the way he wishes without respecting and considering them. Certain other think we are all weak and powerless and things happen in the way the powerful desire. Both these are to be changed. We are the owner and the ower. Nothing is permanent, property and debt changes with time. The insights from this course make me think that such an outlook will make this world a better place to live in.