Virtue! A fig! ‘tis in ourselves that we are thus
or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which
our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant
nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up
thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or
distract it with many, either to have it sterile
with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our
wills. If the balance of our lives had not one
scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the
blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us
to most preposterous conclusions: but we have
reason to cool our raging emotions, our carnal
stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that
you call love to be a sect or scion.
~William Shakespeare, Othello
or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which
our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant
nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up
thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or
distract it with many, either to have it sterile
with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our
wills. If the balance of our lives had not one
scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the
blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us
to most preposterous conclusions: but we have
reason to cool our raging emotions, our carnal
stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that
you call love to be a sect or scion.
~William Shakespeare, Othello
This is such a great idea: to use a garden as a metaphor for our mind. This is highly reminiscent of a beautiful passage from James Allen in his book As A Man Thinketh. This book from Allen is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have literally read it at least a dozen times (it's pretty short and takes about an hour to read).
Here's what Allen says:
A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts, By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny.
I don't think I have much to add to these today. These are powerful passages. Modern evolutionary theory and biology can help us to understand why our minds are thus or thus. Religious and spiritual practices have been tapping into the ability suggested by Shakespeare and Allen for millennia. These traditions can plant seeds in our minds, "untrue" though they may be, and those seeds can grow to produce a mind that's literally non-human.
I have begun to write an article where I compare our mind to a lake and our thoughts to fish. Look for it soon.
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