A few years ago a guy named Aristotle (yes, ‘that’ Aristotle) noted that ‘We are, literally, what we think.’ Your character and my character are formed by the totality of our thoughts. In 1904, James Allen reminded us of Aristotle’s admonition when he wrote: ‘As we think in our hearts so are we. . .’
Thanks to the great Spanish Poet, Antonio Machado (Spain’s greatest poet, I think), I have come to love and embrace the garden metaphor to describe us human beings. The paradox for me is that I am both the garden and the gardener of the garden that is ‘Richard.’ Machado asks me to consider a powerful, challenging and frequently disturbing question: What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?
Each of my actions grows from the seeds [Aristotle would say ‘Thoughts’] that lie dormant within me; seeds that are waiting to be nurtured into life [some believe that we choose which seeds to plant, others believe that all of the seeds already lie dormant within us and we then choose which ones to nurture into life]. I agree with Aristotle, one way I choose which seeds to nurture and bring to life is via the thoughts I emerge and embrace – I am literally my thoughts. My thoughts might be ‘spontaneous,’ or ‘unpremeditated’ or ‘deliberate’ – no matter; they are all ‘My’ thoughts and I choose them.
Our actions are the ‘blossoms’ of our thoughts. The health and dis-ease, the peace and conflict, the contentment and suffering are the fruits. These fruits we ingest ourselves and these fruits we pass on to others (and like all fruit the ones we pass on also contain the seeds of those fruits). Via our thoughts we choose which seeds to nurture into life and which to sustain so they produce blossoms and fruit. We gift ourselves and others with our fruit – sweet fruit and bitter fruit, fruit that nurtures and fruit that depletes.
Who we are and who we are choosing to become continue to be nurtured and sustained by our thoughts. When I nurture ‘evil’ then ‘suffering’ for me and for the other(s) will follow. When I nurture ‘compassion’ then ‘love’ for self and love for the other(s) will follow. I have freedom and I have choice when it comes to what I think; I am responsible if not response-able. What I spend time thinking about powerfully determines the garden that I have been entrusted with. So I end today holding Antonio Machado’s question and I invite you, Gentle Reader to also hold his question: What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?
Searcher-Seeker 