Beyond Ghosts and Castles: Possession, a Cultural Tool for Transition

Possession has several shapes and different meanings, considering that in linguistic use, we can possess something (X possesses Y, for example, a table), and we can be possessed by something or someone (for example, by a ghost or a warlord). It is fascinating how we as human beings can even be possessed by the desire to possess––a process in which we lose ourselves in an infinite loop of desiring a possession and appropriating a possession. In other words, the state of having, owning, or even controlling something, and with it the right to do so, is a central product that emerges out of our transitions between the perceiving and the perceived, our self-environment. That leads to the central question, how do humans possess and how are the laws and the rights of possession contributed? Possession is not exclusively human, but a general phenomenon deeply rooted in the spheres of organic existence. For example, it can be recognized within the need to build a nest, by hunting prey, by selecting a mate, or in the inner drive to conserve fitness in general. Possession is thus a main product of the dialogic between our self and the environment that inhabits the central meaning of how reality is perceived by the experience-makers, individuals. Possession is a complex process that in this chapter is elaborated by the metaphorical use of perception of daily life events, historical context, and the metaphorical use of blood.