But paraphrasing Shakespeare: Nothing is either a jungle out there or not a jungle out there but thinking makes it so.

Which means that you can’t see a jungle out there unless there's a also jungle in here, so to speak, in your mind.

Perhaps the following parable will put this metaphysical principle into perspective for you.

A man walked up to a Quaker in a small Pennsylvania town, and asked him what the people in the town were like. The Quaker, in return, asked the man what the people were like in the town from which he had come. The man replied, "I come from Ponyville, South Dakota, and the people there are all mean."

A bystander, having overheard the exchange, countered with, "Hey, wait a minute. I come from Ponyville, also. And the people there are all kind."

The Quaker then turned to the first man and said, "You’ll find that the people here are all mean." He then turned to the second man and said, "But you’ll find that the people here are all kind."

The point is that everything outside your mind is just what is. Nothing more. Nothing less. But your perception of it transforms it into what you think it should be or what you think it ought to be.

So the next time you hear someone say that it’s a jungle out there, please know that that’s only his or her perception. It needn’t be yours. For you, it could be a paradise instead.

It’s your choice.

Think about it.