"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space -- were it not that I have bad dreams." [Hamlet]
This is one of my favorite quotes from Hamlet because it is at once so ironic and so true. Regardless of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's argument that the mind defines for itself its own boundaries, Hamlet points out that if the mind cannot control the manner in which it sees things, how can it be said to be free? That is to say, we feel (perhaps naively) that we are not constrained to think or believe anything -- we can "make up our own minds," as it were. We set for ourselves our limits, we are the masters of our mental deliberations. But if we cannot control our thoughts, if impulses, fears, doubts assail us, constrain our ability to make decisions, how can we have any assurance that we are in fact masters?
This is one of my favorite quotes from Hamlet because it is at once so ironic and so true. Regardless of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's argument that the mind defines for itself its own boundaries, Hamlet points out that if the mind cannot control the manner in which it sees things, how can it be said to be free? That is to say, we feel (perhaps naively) that we are not constrained to think or believe anything -- we can "make up our own minds," as it were. We set for ourselves our limits, we are the masters of our mental deliberations. But if we cannot control our thoughts, if impulses, fears, doubts assail us, constrain our ability to make decisions, how can we have any assurance that we are in fact masters?
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Seriously, it's a very funny word.