Space is limited.

All major civilisations began near flowing water bodies. From these places farming begins, and populations grow. As populations grow, the division of land ownership happens, historically into the hands of kings, tyrants, feudal lords, modern day governments, developers and rich families. Land area translates into food production, into wealth, into surpluses and fortresses, and all the way to the ability to build an army so to defend those lands, or to further one's desire for ever greater possessions and power.

For space is limited, we feel the need to defend, against other greedy individuals or groups who would come take what (we think) is ours. And history has taught us so: Peaceful, pacifist communities would be taken over by aggressive warlords and turned into eternal tax-payers, if not slaves.

And it all began with fear. The fear of the other, our enemies, who forces us to use force first. Forces not only in the means of military, but legal or commercial forces. Our fear of an invasion drives us to build a military that gets growingly expensive and pointless to keep unless we use them to invade others (even more motivation when one is in the weaponry business); Our fear of being suppressed drives us to save up and buy lands as soon as possible so we could do to others exactly what we try to avoid happening to ourselves.

In the journey of our lives, the dreams of a peaceful and just world are likely replaced by the practical philosophy that accepts injustice, as long as we're not on the (relatively) suppressed side. We have accepted that we must participate in the rat-race of land ownership, so we could divide up the whole world as soon as possible, before the next generation arrives into this world.

So the children are born, into this world, into a space already owned by someone she would not know. She already exists in a state where she must pay what she does not yet have to someone who already does. She is born, to a degree, a slave, for she must pay for what she cannot live without, to someone who has 'ownership' over these essential resources not so much for the merit of the owner's achievements rather than the fact that he was born before her.

The privatisation of space is like that of water; The Cochabamba Water War of 2000, Bolivia, resembles the recurring protests (to no avail) of the young (hopeless rent payers) against the established (property owners) that we have witnessed in Hong Kong in 2014, 2019-2020. (A few years ago, a real estate tycoon of Hong Kong has invested significantly into certain NFT focused gaming companies that launched the Sandbox, with 'real'-estate sales, in the 'Metaverse'! Oh, the Irony!)

While Buddhist doctrine tells us that sufferings are inevitable, are we not too keen on inducing suffering onto others which we do not wish for ourselves? Because we are afraid. Because in the name of fear for injustice, we have justified our actions that is unjust to others. First-come, first-served is only fair for those who are already present at the offer.

There are spaces that we occupy with our bodies, the physical space; and then there are spaces a ruler cannot measure. That space that is within our hearts is at once most limited and infinite. In there would be space to accept the flaws and the imperfections and the many ugliness of this world. In reality, It is not a perfectly just and beautiful world that we should ask for, but how much towards that ideal we could spend our lives elevating towards. In the process, we would be building, together, a sustainable civilization that would have surpassed the current state of states; States being the leaders in Territorialism.

For Space is limited, we are here to challenge the concepts of land ownership, as we challenge our own evils of greed and fear. For our enemies should not be our neighbours; If we must all need a common enemy so we could unite, let the enemies be ourselves. Each and everyone of us should challenge ourselves: to what extent can we trust, can we love, can we share? Not only during the good days and good times, but more so how much can we trust, love and share, despite being hurt and betrayed, disappointed and fooled.

Oh, how hypocritical I am as I write this, as I too engage in various ways with this poisonous industry. Naive may I be, I realized that the networked state that we now call is not just about space; it's also about time. What rights do we have to these spaces? Who are the 'citizens', or 'visa holders', for how long? by what merit? I write this as a signal for response. For I do not know how else can we leave behind a fundamentally better world for our children - one that would have eliminated the potentials of wars; for I do not alone have enough strength and influence to do what I believe is right and necessary.

We shall not let fear and greed eat up the beautiful, curious, exciting view of this world that we have when we were born. That space is limited does not enslave us. We can, and we will, choose the way we live our lives, yes! selfishly for ourselves - our extended selves including our clan, our kind, our environment: with independence, courage, and purpose.