As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Agbara Paschal (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author is simply conveying the fact that the mind is powerful and we have to manage the mind effectively for productivity. The mind is a vital part of us that can work in our favor or against us depending on how nurtured the mind is or has grown into. We are a reflection of our thoughts and with time, we gradually become our thoughts – as a man thinks, so is he. If we don’t consciously knead the mind, the mind will drive one into doing things exclusively reserved for the loco. When your mind gets stretched, do not lose your captaincy. We also have to keep our minds in line. There isn’t any wrong mindset that cannot be evened up. It will take time but a batting of the right thoughts will see the mind whirling around the right thoughts. Time will see the right thoughts steady down finely like dusts beneath the water of the mind.
Working on yourself and leaving out your mind is a timed volcano. It will push through before you verb your name. Our thoughts are a vital part of us. They should evolve as much as we do. The looniest thing to do is groom our bodies and leave out our thoughts to rot. Our thoughts can be determinants of either a better life or that laced with wretchedness.
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.
i. Man is made or unmade by himself
Our lives are a culmination of our choices and decisions. The choices or decisions we make either help us that is promote our growth or they haunt us which is tantamount to bearing the consequences. Our choices and decisions will either make us or mar us. These decisions and choices are a backwash of our thoughts. If our thoughts are right, our choices and decisions will align to the right path but if they are otherwise, it will see us make the wrong decisions and choices always.
ii. As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of man spring from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them
To every plant, there is a seed. To every act of man, there is also a seed. Just as a seed is cultivated and harvesting period awaits so it applies to man’s thoughts. When a man cerebrates, he sows seeds whose upshots could be good or bad. If he thinks of good, he reaps of good. When he thinks of bad or evil, he reaps of bad or evil. It is cause and effect.
iii. Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state.
No matter the kind of thoughts, man can master and can remodel his thoughts. This tells that man is and can be in control of his or her thoughts. Man is in control and the master of his or her thoughts in his or her strong states just as he or she is the master of his or her thoughts in his or her weakest or most abandoned state. As such, man should play the piper and dictate the tune and let his or her thoughts dance to it and not lose control of his thoughts as that can be devastating.
iv. For only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the door of the temple of knowledge.
v. Consistency is the word.
We have to be patient in practice and be ceaseless and insistent to know more as that will open to us vistas of knowledge and opportunities. But whatever knowledge we must seek, it must be the right and good knowledge and that which raises our defense against wrong thoughts and ignorance. Practice, practice and practice more but endeavor to grow your thoughts too.
vi. Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts: no amount of dosage of drugs or pills or inebriants or dieting or food will transform a man who will not change his thoughts. The place of “change of thoughts” cannot be subbed by any other. Moisturizers will work on your skin but change of diets will not transform a man with thoughts yet untransformed.
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts.
Every man has got a yearning in his heart and a bigger picture he or she looks forward to and anticipates earnestly. Guard it jealously. Don’t let it stray. Cherish it. This is also a reminder that from the depths of lovely thoughts can spring acts of fineness, radiating beauty and excellence.
vii. You cannot travel within and stand still without.
The cheapest form of conveyance is the imagination transport company. Travel within to as far as your mind and thoughts can take you for good. Those “within” travels will nudge you in reality to become, to attain, to act, and to achieve.
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?
Idea six will help me come to a realization that as a leader leading myself and others, I have to be foresighted, have a vision which I must run with in leading myself and others run with in leading them. It will help by nudging me toward having a beautified mind from which thoughts of beauty will show forth that will ultimately carve the bigger picture which is the desired vision.
Idea five will help in a practical way as to realizing that transformed thoughts change a man and not change of diets. As much as I feed my body, I must not forget to nourish my mind and grow my thoughts which will translate into a better me. A better me infers that I can affect my space and my world positively. I cannot give what I do not have. I can only give what I have within.
Summarily, the ideas will aid me in owning my thoughts and being in control of my cerebration.
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.
“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
We are reflections of our thoughts. What we churn out tells a great deal of what is contained in us. What is contained in us will make or mar us. Our thoughts unchecked become our characters by which we are known and identified. As a result, right thinking should be our goal and priority.
“He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
If you do not seek, you cannot find. If you do not knock, the door will remain shut. Life will most times reward those who seek to know, those who are not contented with assumptions and status quos. The door will come open to those who diligently and deliberately knock.
“The mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garments of character and outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto proven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.”
The mind will do for you what you feed it with.
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?
I understand the book’s concept. There are no unclear parts. There are no ideas I do not agree with.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There are no exercises to be completed.
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.
“A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it.”
Comment: Discover your life’s purpose, sleep it, eat it, drink it, set goals, and be determined to do it. Conceiving a purpose helps to keep one focused and unfaltering despite of the many disturbances around.
“Self control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.”
Comment: A man’s strength is not adjudged by his or her physicality but his or her ability to master his or her thoughts, emotions and wield very strong self control.
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? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Agbara Paschal (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The book seeks to inform and equip its readers that there’s more to the abilities innate in man. It is without doubts that there are factors that stand as brick walls and could prove to be impeding but of a greater fact is, man has been enabled and in man lays a repository of weapons to shoot past these factors. Like laymen we will seem until we take the most important life decision which is to rise above beliefs which cripples our soaring abilities and keeps us laced around status quos. The very day we take our respective bold steps becomes the day we permit the rays of light to pervade our dark holes. We become illumined, open and avail ourselves opportunities where none existed.
The book, in clear terms, shows that life is in phases and in each phase dwells its own challenges. Each phase must be conquered before we are handed a pass to the next. Every man is a learner just like life is a learning process. Each phase with its own lessons too. We are made to explore and explore more.
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.
i. Failure is no plague:
I feel saddened and down in the mouth when I see people being shy of their failings. You can be remorseful about it. You can also reflect on it but don’t be ashamed of failing or afraid of it. One failed does not infer that one is a failure. Failure is success postponed. It tells me to buckle up and do better the next time. I have personally failed few examinations and on several attempts I have bounced back by excelling in the same examinations. Failure is no plague.
ii. For most gulls, it’s not flying that matters, but eating.
We should be ready to go the extra mile for what we love. Doing what others can do might not be all in the coffers for us. We are wired differently and the milestones of others should not necessarily become our own yardsticks or measuring tapes. Let us refuse defining our lives by the standards set by others except the definition becomes ‘doing better than they have done’.
iii. Ten times he tried
Practice consistently until you clamp down limitations, make obsolete record previously set and what you do simply seem ambiguous to mates. Practice they say makes perfect. Perfection cannot be attained without measures of consistency and determination. Jonathan Seagull failed nine other times only to get it right the tenth time. The product called WD-40 recorded thirty-nine failures before the fortieth prototype worked. My strive for perfection in my writing skill has been made better thanks to my being consistently determined to write and write and write till my writing experienced improvements.
iv. All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and fly on just the tip.
Life’s toughness and hardiness can help birth creative solutions. “It is not what you do not have that limits you, it is what you have but do not know how to make use of,” said Steve Harris.
v. Get around problems creatively.
Think deeply, but be ready to do a quickie of the knowledge garnered and test run of the prototype that one has come up with. He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls but flew on past sunset. He discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin et al: Discoveries are made by those who are regular customers at the spa of curiosity and inquisitiveness. Curiosity kills a bird but Jonathan Livingston Seagull laid beyond six feet that mantra. No one is incapable of discoveries but not everyone will. Those who will are the determined ones. They are those who will not only chicken scratch the surfaces of problems but dig deep to their roots out of which springs solutions and discoveries.
vi. The crowd grew larger every day, coming to question, to idolize, to scorn.
It is a crowded world. Whatever you do, well or bad, expect questions, expect to be idolized by one or more persons, and expect to be chastised. The three – questions, idolization, chastisement – all happen to every human.
vii. Every hour Jonathan was there at the side of each of his students, demonstrating, suggesting, pressuring, guiding.
He flew them through night and cloud and storm: leaders are made not born. People can mold people. We have been enabled to breed people, nurse them into becoming greats. We can help others achieve their dreams which translate into achieving ours.
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?
First, there should not be a point when we become too busy for those around us. Idea seven will help me in this regards – volunteering and mentoring. I will do my best to make out time for others. Help and assist others to grow and aiding them in solving the problems that confronts them. I will teach others principles that aided me to this level and also pour out myself to others so they can learn and grow too. This will in turn make them happy and at same time make myself happy. It therefore becomes a world of happy people.
Idea three will help beef up my consistency. If things do not work the first time, I do not have to throw in the towel. Rather, I have to give them another shot. If they still do not work, more shots have to come.
Idea six has aided me in knowing that ours is a world where everyone cannot be pleased and satisfied. I have to bear in mind that whatever good I do or intend to, I should expect those with questions, those who will pat me on the back and say ‘well done’ and those who will chastise me for doing what I do.
In summary, the ideas will help me in dealing with people of diverse beliefs and those who scarcely believe in my aspirations.
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.
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance; we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
Ignorance is but a state of mind. Excellence is also a state of mind. We can travel from any of the states to another. It is a choice that must be made; either to settle for ignorance or cling to excellence. Ignorance impedes the genius in man but excellence paves way for the soaring of that genius imbued in man.
“Each of us is in truth an idea of the great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside.”
Everything that limits us has to be truly subbed for those that will aid us and what we do. That is the way to get ahead.We must stop holding on to things that occludes our growth and permits no chance of better-ness.
“We are free to go where we wish and to be what we are.”
Life consists of making informed decisions and choices. Life offers freedom and this we must maximize. Freedom to go and to become is one of those.
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?
I understand the book’s concept. There are no unclear parts. There are no ideas I do not agree with.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There are no exercises to be completed.
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.
“Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave flying to pelicans?”
Comment: Expect people to chide you for staying insistent on doing that which romance your heart. You will be labeled a ‘black sheep’ but stay unfaltering to your course. It will pay-off soon.
“He learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he paid”
Comment: Every fame or success comes at a cost. The higher the price, the more appreciable and invaluable the reward will be. The reward scares away regrets. It leaves being sorry for paying the price an orphan.
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? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10