202112291821 The things we own end up owning us

He who possesses is possessed.¹

Important note about this Nietzsche quote: he said that this is the mindset of philosophers who strive for the "ascetic ideal". The third essay (of which this is a part) calls into question the entire value of that ideal entirely. He's not advocating for this idea per se, but also not suggesting that it's untrue.

The things you own end up owning you. It’s only after you lose everything that you’re free to do anything.²

What matters isn’t what a person has or doesn’t have; it is what he or she are afraid of losing. [...] [T]hose who have more to lose are more fragile.³

Objects, material possessions, or anything we feel ownership over consistently tether our lives, minds, and emotions to them.

This can be viewed as a good thing in some regards but the sentiment is much more often negative. We should strive to become unchained from objects so that we can live our lives and experience the world from a place of freedom. This freedom is physical freedom, yes, but also a freedom of the mind — a freedom from the shackles of closed mindsets. We are free to learn and see things for what they are rather than how they fit in our constructed world of chains.