Possession is enjoyed only through use, never through contemplation.

Evidence

This is what we believe that we are realizing in possession. The possessed object as possessed is a continuous creation; but still it remains there, it exists by itself; it is in-itself. If I turn away from it, it does not thereby cease to exist; if I go away, it represents me in my desk, in my room, in this place in the world. From the start it is impenetrable. This pen is entirely myself, at the very point at which I no longer even distinguish it from the act of writing, which is my act. And yet, on the other hand, it is intact; my ownership does not change it; there is only an ideal relation between it and me. In a sense I enjoy my ownership if I surpass it toward use, but if I wish to contemplate it, the bond of possession is effaced, I no longer understand what it means to possess. The pipe there on the table is independent, indifferent. I pick it up, I feel it, I contemplate it so as to realize this appropriation; but just because these gestures are meant to give me the enjoyment of this appropriation, they miss their mark. I have merely an inert, wooden stem between my fingers. It is only when I pass beyond my objects toward a goal, when I utilize them, that I can enjoy their possession. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1373

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Beauvoir’s treatment of women’s relation to objects and the household economy in The Second Sex, where ownership and usefulness diverge. — connects to: Possession is a lived, non-thetic relation rather than a known one. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1379; Possession is an internal bond of being, not an external relation — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1366; Freedom exists only as engaged, self-choosing action, never as undetermined potential — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1145 (+2 more)
• ADDENDUM: The theme of objects being enjoyed only in use, not contemplation, parallels the tree-as-infrastructure framing of instrumental worldbuilding in ‘Grafting & Growth.‘

Broader Connections

• Possession is a lived, non-thetic relation rather than a known one. #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1379
• Possession is an internal bond of being, not an external relation #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1366
• Freedom exists only as engaged, self-choosing action, never as undetermined potential #expands (0.72) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1145
• Superiority is only earned by risking oneself, never given #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 485
• A social role can only be played at, never simply inhabited #expands (0.72) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 299