“We are, many of us, exceptionally sensitive to ‘that which we will take into our mouths’, with the often substantial caveat of habit: we are inclined toward that which is familiar, whether we speak of one who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, or refrains from eating the flesh of living creatures. We have then a confluence of preference, sensing, and habit. Yet few of us will willingly eat offal, or lick doorknobs — we have carefully established personal preferences.

For the sake of exploration, then, let us suppose that we are largely free of habit, have good senses of what is healthful and not, and are uninclined to poisoning ourselves. Many of us imagine our preferences according to this principle, however freely we may depart from it.

It is an interesting game to play at using a similar protocol with our minds; to set a guardian at the threshold of thought, who ‘considers the flavor and content’ of thoughts that may arise, selectively allowing only those whose flavors are healthful and pleasing.

With such a game in play, we would find many of the species of thought that plague us extinct in short order: detesting either their flavor or purposes, they would be snuffed out long before they could emerge into consciousness, acquire momentum, and compel us to their sustenance. Such games can quickly prove medicinal, for it turns out that much of our time spent thinking is neither productive or healthy; it is the result of habits we have acquired, most often in circumstances where we were either frightened, isolated, or suffering.

Consider then this proposition; that the mind has a mouth, and thoughts must pass the same kind of gatekeepers that we form to select what we take in. Awaken these sentinels, and concern yourself with their wise counsel.”

— an anonymous informant