As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Nsaka Onochie Jonathan (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea in the book is that man is the architect of his destiny and that the mind is the ground where he fashions his world or his destiny through thoughts. The environment is just a looking glass. When a man harbors great thoughts, he rises to greatness, but when he harbors thoughts of failure or mediocrity, he is far from excellence and success. When a man takes charge of the direction of his thoughts, he has taken charge of the direction of his life. The implication of this is that he no longer leaves his destiny to fate but creates the world he desires by sowing the right seeds in his mind.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
Below are striking ideas from the book.
A. Your internal environment affects your external environment.
This idea is quiet obvious from most of the writings .The writers often encourage the reader to take charge of what happens inside of him to experience the change he or she longs for, thus he would say” You cannot travel within and stand still without” the implication of this is that when a change has occurred within, it will definitely find expression without. I once had a story of a lady who went for HIV test and was confirm positive. On hearing the news she instantly became sick and bedridden. After a while she was encourage to go for another test and was confirm negative, the new news affected her that she began instant recovery. So she found herself in the previous due to the information she had which had affected the state of her health.
B. Thoughts are seeds.
What we think are seeds and our mind is the garden they are cultivated. When we allow pleasant and beautiful thoughts in our heart, our lives turns out beautiful, but when we allow our mind to run wild with wrong seeds, we also experience wild and unpleasant circumstances. This often happens to me. There are times I will be thinking of seeing someone or hearing from that person and suddenly the persons comes or calls and I will just scream was just thinking of you. Even in executing certain acts, I must have a clear picture in my mind before I can successfully do it and when I conceive wrong thought, it often finds expression.
C. Your desires and aspirations fashions you.
Everyone has a controlling desire and dominant aspirations .When some gives himself so much to desiring something ,he can be a victim of that desire and that will lead to addiction .when someone also has a dominant aspiration he sees himself rising to that aspiration thus the writer would say: “You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.”
D. Your thought life affects your health.
This quiet is remarkable. I know that there are sicknesses that has root in the emotion of men. Certain people are suffering today and dilapidating in health because of wrong thinking life style. The writer made mention of the rich wanting to loose weight but refusing gluttonous habits. He is gluttonous because he has gluttonous thoughts .When we maintain healthy thought life we live healthy lives, because our thought fashions our life. As a Christian believes that Jesus has paid the price for my sickness so, I can’t be sick. This mindset has kept me in soundness of health for many years and I have also shared it with many which have helped them also. So when we think right, we will live right.
E. Your thought fashions your character.
Character can be said to be the attitude of a person or the combination of his habits. This many have conceded to be innate, but we can see from this book that it is formed from our thought life” for as a man thicket in his heart so is he” You can not think right and produce wrong, you are what you think .To develop the right character you have to cultivate the right thought. A character of love, giving, intergrity and faithfulness can be cultivated with the right thought life in place. Thus the writer will say: “A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort. In right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.”
I once knew a man who had an uncontrollable appetite for alchohol.He broke free from that character by altering his thought .Today he sees that character as history.
F. Circumstance does not make a man but reveals him.
Too many times we give up and offer our life to fate or circumstances but in the real sense circumstances reveals the stuff we are made of. The same fire that melts wax purifies gold. The same sun that melts ice hardens the clay. When a deflated ball is slammed on the floor, its stays there but when o good ball is done the same it rebounces.Thus indicating that circumstances reveal us. A story was told of three people who saw a big snake on the road; the first screamed and aborted the journey. The second jumped with fear and took another route, but the third studied it and discovered the snake was dead. Three characters, same circumstance but different reactions.
G. Serenity is a precious virtue.
The calmness of a personality towards raging circumstance or the challenges of life are proves of his maturity or his confidence. When Jesus and his disciples where in a boat, the storm came, the disciple were troubled but the master was calm. In the midst of a storm, calmness is essential to know the right decision to take. Wisdom can never be obtain in the midst of confusion and tension but can only be obtain in the midst of calm and serenity .I once was given a sudden task to address an expectant audience. I was not pre informed and so I was taken unaware. How ever, I instantly became calm and within the few minute given to me to move from sit to podium, I got what to say and it became one of my greatest speeches ever.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
As a minister of the gospel and one passionate towards national restoration, I will guide my thought and also encourage those around me to think what they want to see. We can be better when we think better. Our nation can be better when we think better thoughts and act on the same.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
Below are a few:
“You cannot travel within and stand still without.”
The internal experience of a man affects his external. When transformation occurs within, he experience a change without
“You become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your
dominent aspiration.”
Your controlling desire ceases you and makes you a servant of his, your dominant aspiration creates a future that you will one day achieve or become.
“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart–this you will build your life by, this You will become.”
Our life and destiny is constructed by the image we hold in our mind. What we imagine internally, we create outwardly.
5. is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No, I am clear.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
No it did not.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
Though the writer tries to make one feel he is the architect of his life, he however tries to deny the existence of God in influencing the affairs of men. One can design a path for his life but he needs divine back to see the fruition of such desire.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Nsaka Onochie Jonathan (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea the writer is communicating is for the readers and all who come in contact with this book to know that a world of freedom, perfection and that without limitation exist. This world exists in the armoury of your thoughts. This is evident from the following statements:
The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time.
Jonathan seagull is a perfect idea of freedom ,limited by nothing at all
“To begin with” he said heavily, “you’ve got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull, and your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, is nothing more than your thought itself.” So from the following culled from various passages of the book the main idea can be clearly seen and understood
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
The book actually communicated a whole lot of ideas needed for excellence and success in life but due to the constraint of the question, I will pick out seven and clearly explain why with as much personal experience as possible.
A. Dare to be different.
For one to make a difference and possibly be a leader or a personality of note ,one must not be scared to be different or to stand out. Yes you will certainly face oppositions and be misunderstood but you must take that stand and stand out. Jonathan seagull never compromised on this. He knew that there was more to life than just struggling for food. There was a world of glory which is yet to be explored by the flocks he belong.There was more to his make up that desires to explore the skies, cover greater feets and awesome speed than just scratching for leftovers from the catch of fishermen and he was willing to be different and pursue this desire. Oh this is clearly revealed from the following statement:
“But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one… single… more… inch… of… curve… Then his featliers ruffled, he stalled and fell.”
“Why, Jon, why?” his mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the alhatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!”
“I don’t mind being bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.”
“See here Jonathan” said his father not unkindly. “Winter isn’t far away. Boats will be few and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat.”
Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn’t make it work.
It’s all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I could be spending all this time learning to fly. There’s so much to learn! It wasn’t long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning.”
From personal experience, I can recall when I was posted to serve my country in a Niger state Nigeria after my tertiary education in a program known as the National Youth Service Corp. (NYSC). I was to be a secondary school science teacher. On getting there, I discovered the school had no library, so I decided to give them one. This was unlike what other Corp. members do. It was a demanding and challenging feet, but I achieve it and stood out amongst others. This was obtainable because I dared to be different. I was willing to make an indelible mark and difference in the life of the students in the school.
B. Give your passion all it takes.
Too many times we give up easily and are unwilling to give our passion all it takes for it to fine expression. Nothing of worth actually comes easily, it must come with it the required price tag. For Jonathan Seagull, he was willing to give all he had to see to it the best of flying in speed style and even in teaching others was obtain even to the loss of his family or kin folks. He spent countless days and hours in practicing and was never satisfied. When he saw an amazing speed from the old seagull Chang, he was willing to learn to achieve such speed and that gave him an extra advantage over others.
In setting up the school library, it was no mean task because, the villagers where unwilling to support .They felt I had all of the finances but I was willing to pay the price and to give my passion all it took to make the dream a reality. I was mocked by some of my friends, but it never deterred me. I was also misunderstood but that did not deter me, these were necessary path I needed to follow. So one must be willing to give it all it takes to get all it contains.
C. Blood does not really determine kin but passion.
This is a deep but rare truth. Too many people have lost life, properties ,passion and vision because they gave their destiny to people who are related to them by blood but not by interest.
Jonathan seagulls father of mother never understood him and thus wanted to reduce him to just a common seagull. They had accepted the life of a mediocre and thus wanted to reduce him to such, but his passion was different from theirs ,thus it did not work. His own kin folk sent him away as an outlaw because blood does not really determine kin but when he caught up with the two gulls after he left his flocks, on introduction they said “we are your brothers” meaning that passion actually determine kin not blood.
On personal note, I have been victim of certain unpleasantness because I depended more on kin folks instead of passion. I once wanted a property and thus I gave the money to one of my kin; men to get it with absolute trust, but that became history because his passion was different from mine. He has nothing to do with integrity amongst his values. However, I was able settle that same desire from people who are not kin to me but feel the same passion I feel .Blood don’t determine kin, passion does.
D. The gull sees farthest that flies highest.
Wow, what a wonderful quote. You actually have to fly higher than others to see further than them. This is the reason why you will be resented by does who have not gone as far as you have gone because they can’t see as far as you have seen. Another implication of this statement is that to be ahead as a leader you must see ahead. This takes hard work; pressing in for more information, knowledge and experience. I lead a local assembly as a pastor and often I have to teach constantly from God’s word. In order to be relevant and to continually be a blessing I have to fly higher so as to see further. This means i have to always be ahead in both words and deeds. I constantly have to pray, study and seek for new and relevant information.
E. Break the chains of your thought and you will break the chains of your body.
The place of the mind can not be over emphasized in the pursuit of life. We are actually bounded by the limit of our thought. When we can break the imprisonment imposed on ourselves by our thoughts, we will be amazed at how high we can fly and how much we can achieved.Jonathan seagull needed just to let the new seagull know that her inability to fly was not a function of the body weight but her thought life. No wonder the scream, “I can fly “when she actually broke free from mental limitation.”
Back to the story of the library, I never thought or allowed a strand of impossibility in my mind. I was constantly optimistic. I had those who thought it was an impossible task but i made it through by employing the power of my thought.
F. Learning is endless.
There is always something to learn. There is always something more to know. There is always another world better and greater than you are experiencing now, if only you are willing to learn and explore. Jonathan Seagull never knew another world existed where he will learn more until he was banished from the flocks. He never knew a speed as that of the old gull existed if had not ask. We should never come to the point of when we refuse to learn. There is always another dimension of excellence and success. This actually stirred up my interest in this institute. It offers me the opportunity to increase my leadership prowess and also widen my horizon. As said by Abraham Lincoln, “when you stop learning you start dying.”
G. Share what you have learned.
Knowledge is not for selfish desires but for the benefit of all. We should be willing to share what we have learnt or discovered to those who were not as fortunate as us to be the custodian of such. The more we teach others, the better we become .Jonathan seagull was willing to return back to his family to teach them what he has learnt even though he was mistreated. Though he was resisted, yet he did. We should be willing to share knowledge.
I remember once teaching my friends a topic I had studied in Chemistry. It actually gave me the opportunity to know that topic better that till date I remember that topic. When we share knowledge, we increase our chances of knowing more and also make our world better than we met it.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
The life style of a man is governed by certain ideas or value system. The above ideas will help me as a minister of the gospel and as one passionate towards national restoration. I will not deter in being different, I will pay all needed to see to it that my passion or desire is achieved. I will choose my association based on passion not kin. I will never allow any limitation in my mind. I will give in to continuous learning and be willing to share what I have learned.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
There where quit some amazing quotes but I will love to mention a few striking ones.
“The gull sees farthest who flies highest.”
Below are some of the implications of this statement. You are as knowledgeable as your exposure .The higher you fly the further you see. Those who have not flown as high as you can not see as far as you. You need to keep up high to remain ahead .This gives no room to laziness, laxity or playfulness if you want to be ahead.
”Break the chains of your thought and you will break the chains of your body.”
The thought of a man controls his life not his outward looks.This is why one is never handicapped until he is mentally capped. When the limitations or chain is broken from our mind then we can actually work in freedom.
”The only true law is the one that leads to freedom.”
Too many laws are made by men and institution all in a bid to have an organized society, but these laws has also come with it limitation and imprisonment in the life of men.The real law should be that that liberalizes people not caging them. It should make people free not imprison them.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
None, I am very clear with the write up and more I read it the better it becomes. I don’t have any disagreement with the inspiring writings of the author.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
No.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
I believe this is a leadership institute and all the books and course content should be leadership based. Thus I had expected questions like; What leadership trait can you identify from so and so character? What leadership virtue can you get from the book?
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8