The Illusion of Permanence

We spend years accumulating wealth, acquiring property, and earning positions we hope to keep. Once we have them, we tend to regard them as secure. We have worked for them, and they belong to us. Yet much of what we call our own depends on arrangements we neither created nor control.

Consider the money in a bank account. We see a balance and take for granted that we can spend or withdraw it. For that balance to be useful, however, the bank must keep accurate records, be able to honour its obligations, and operate within a system that recognises our claim. The number on the screen tells us what we are owed; our ability to use it depends on these arrangements continuing to function.

Property rights work in a similar way. A patent does not make an invention physically impossible to copy. It gives its holder a legal claim against those who copy it without permission. Likewise, a title deed establishes ownership of land, but it cannot enforce that ownership on its own. Both depend on institutions willing and able to uphold the rights they describe. We rarely notice this dependence because, under ordinary circumstances, we do not have to.

Imagine spending a lifetime building a fortune, only to live through the collapse of the institutions protecting it. The effort and sacrifice would have been real, yet much of the wealth they produced could become inaccessible or be lost. This is what makes ownership less certain than it feels. We can fulfil our part of the arrangement and still suffer when the conditions supporting it fail.

The same dependence is easier to overlook when it concerns status. Why are you in a position of power? Perhaps people voted for you, believe you are capable, or simply haven’t found someone they prefer. Each reason ties your position to other people’s judgement. Once you grow accustomed to being listened to, it is tempting to treat their deference as something you are inherently entitled to. But the reasons they accepted your authority may no longer hold, even if your opinion of yourself remains unchanged.

These examples are simplifications. Institutions can endure for centuries, and authority can persist through habit, law, or force despite a loss of public support. It would be careless to conclude that everything rests on unanimous agreement or can disappear at the first sign of dissent. The point is that even durable arrangements require conditions that allow them to endure. We should be wary of mistaking the stability we have experienced for a guarantee of permanence.

I think this should temper the way we regard our achievements. Our efforts matter, but so do the institutions, people, and circumstances that allow those efforts to produce lasting rewards. Recognising that dependence gives us reason to be grateful and makes it harder to regard our good fortune as entirely deserved.

We can take care of what we have while accepting that we cannot secure it indefinitely. More difficult, perhaps, is learning to keep our sense of self from becoming entirely dependent on our possessions or position. If we were to lose either, we would still have to decide how to live. It seems worth giving that question some thought before circumstances ask it of us.

Disclaimer: The ideas presented in this post are solely my personal perspective and have not been substantiated by any verifiable evidence. Please form your own opinions on such matters.