Ashes V

 . . . so that you may live in the land . . . 

 - From Deuteronomy 30

Land is so central to everything. It has become the centerpiece of our vicious political divide:

To whom does the land belong?

Are boundaries good?

Can people lay claim to any property they want?

If you have your own country, your own land, your own property . . . and if it is safe and secure . . . then, and only then, can you claim to be truly free.

Land, territory, property. Let me have some, so that I can feel safe, so that I can do and say what I want. A man's house is his castle. And a castle has walls, a mote, guards. If you are the king of the castle, you will occupy the inner sanctum of the complex, where many outer layers of protection keep you safe. We all want that.

The American Dream was about commoners being able to live as if they were kings and queens, in well-fortified castles. It's what made such things as "freedom of speech" possible.

Territory seems to be everything. Nations go to war, not because of religion. Not because of romance. Essentially, and carnally, they go to war, because they want to extend their territory and make the outermost borders of their nation, secure, for their citizens: for the people that have a vested interest in the security of the country.

Nobody wants to live where the government won't even protect their property and freedom of conscience.

The essence of God's promise is that we will have land, and lots of it.

What is it about land? Is is because we are, basically, dust? We are from, of, and for, the land. We return to it when we die. We become Land. We are the land. As such, we have a rock solid claim to it.

It's no wonder we get so worked up over it.