在る; 有る
ある · aru · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to exist
ある sounds like are, as in there are: things that simply exist
Use ある for objects and things: 本がある means there is a book. For living beings like people and animals, Japanese uses いる instead. 有る is the kanji for having or owning; 在る is for being located somewhere.
在 — earth 土 + phonetic 才
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 土 (earth) gives the meaning of a place or location, while 才 supplies the sound. It came to mean 'to be present/located at,' and now also serves as a grammatical marker for ongoing actions, like 'in the middle of doing.'
有 — hand 𠂇 + moon/meat 月
Originally depicted a hand holding a piece of meat (月 here is the 'meat' radical, not moon), expressing the idea of possessing something. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to hold/possess' to the general sense of 'to have' or 'there is/exists'.