As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Janet Mumo Maundu (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the writer is trying to convey in the book?
Man is whatever he decides to be, since he finds every thing connected with his being. If he will dig deep into the mind of his soul, to search gold and diamonds, he will be able to make or achieve his goals. Its only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity a man can enter the four of the temple of knowledge. Man is reaper of his own harvest he learns both suffering and bliss. Its through himself that he becomes the maker of himself through thoughts by which he choose himself, in general the main idea is all about who (how) a man affects, controls and makes his or her life.
2. The seven ideas which were personally most important to me and why?, list these ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to me. Personal example
a). Equality
As a man thinketh tries to portray that we should all be equal, whether rich/poor, learned or illiterate. Some years back our family was too much rejected by villagers because of poverty. We were poor and the rich never thought of even giving help to us and its out of our struggles my mother managed to educate us, and we can now rhyme with the rich since we are educated and rich. But as a man thinketh has taught me, no gap between rich and poor but we are all equal.
b). gluttony
As a man thinketh says we should not be gluttonous. This can bring a problem to our lives, for example we can become victims of painful and persistent disease. Some times back we had a member of parliament called Wajuma, we could not imagine how gluttonous he was, how selfish he was also, also he could not even give a poor child Medical fee even when dying in the house, but could always borrow money to assist and he has never done/did it. Sure what a gluttonous man he was. Later on he was striked by blood pressure and diabetes because of his gluttony and meaningless.
c). Sacrifice
Before a man can achieve anything even in worldly things, he must lift his thoughts. A man thinketh says no progress without sacrifice, sacrifice meaning no matter what little you have you must share even with the rest no matter what. Even if its confusion you must also sacrifice it and this will bring strength in ones resolution.
d). Spirituality
According to the man thinketh spirituality should be within us so as to achieve holy aspirations, spirituality makes us noble and have lofty thoughts those who don’t have spirituality have / are selfless, selfish, imagine of the time I never went to church, I used to be selfish, mean ever sick, when I started going to church and reading spiritual books like how to become a better me, I changed and became spiritually clean.
e). Encouragement
As a man thinketh helps us to become courageous after facing a challenge. It’s after long loss one despairs and get tired of struggling but as a man thinketh talks it encourage us to be strong and get courage. Once I was in class eight I could always be last ten, my parents could encourage me to pull up my socks, I felt as though my parents never knew what they were saying only to practice what they were saying and achieved my goal.
f). Outcomes
Everything we do has an outcome. Whatever we do, no matter what why, when there must be an out come. When we desire we achieve or obtain. Whatever we dream of achieving is what we achieve, when we have a vision, it’s a promise what one day we will have.
Some years back my dreams were to become a teacher, through devotion and hard work of my parents educating me, I am finally what I thought of being “A TEACHER”
g). Ignorance
Once we are ignorance its like we become thoughtless and start blaming effect of different things and not ourselves. Once a man is rich he will never complain of what made him rich, but once a man is poor he/she will ever speak of something else which made him/her poor. The rich will never think of the challenges, trials and failures. One time a poor man tried to borrow money from a rich man (Opiyo) the money was meant for medication, Opiyo never rented hand and after 3 days the man was dead, its all of ignorance after reading as a man thinketh never will it be.
3. How will the ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and helping you to create a better world?, if so how?
I should always avoid ignorance since it will make me perish. I should always be courageous no matter what, when, why, before I achieve something, I learnt I must sacrifice, not minding about the loss. We are all equal whether rich, poor dark skinned, light skinned. We should not be gluttonous. When we achieve we should be ready to assist others. We should know everything we do has an outcome, for example when we dream of being something its all what we become.
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
a). They themselves are makers of themselves
A very interesting quote that we are makers of ourselves, we either make ourselves or destroy ourselves, so there is no blame game, you do what you want to be with yourself and your life.
b). A man’s mind may be linked to a garden
This is so through that a man cultivates his mind, to have good brains or rotten ideas, we do so by weeding our thoughts compared to weeding unconstructive ideas in our minds, so we are the gardeners of our mind, and the out come depends on what you have been weeding for.
c). Good thoughts bear good fruits and bad thought bad fruits
In life you will never expect to reap where you did not plant, we reap what we have planted, and you will never harvest, beans and yet you had planted, maize, every impossible, so good thoughts will lead you to good fruits and likewise bad thoughts will lead you to bad harvest which will cost your life.
d). Suffering cease for him who is pure
As I said there before in my experience when I was not going to church and be close to god suffering was paramount in my life, being sick all the time, but once I made myself pure I have achieved my dreams and I am heading to a better direction in life.
e). Life failure finds its false content
If you ask somebody who as failed in life or in any circumstances, there will be a thousand and one justification about his or her failure, which is false or he only needs to make a cover up for his own making to fail, so it is important for us to face our failure and do not give false content by going back to drawing board and get the right direction in to our lives.
f). He who accomplish little sacrifice little
He who would achieve much must sacrifice much, he who could attain highly must sacrifice greatly, very true in life, you will achieve what you want in life as per how you sacrifice for it.
g). To desire is to obtain, to aspire is to achieve
After you desire something in your life you have to aspire for it in order for you to achieve it, so in anything we do we need to follow our desire and make it a reality by aspiring to achieve it, nothing is impossible until it is proved to be.
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?
The book as a man thinketh was well, covered and clearly understood.
6. Did the book contain exercise for reader to complete?, if so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes, they were very much helpful
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.
The book was excellent and well elaborated
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? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 6
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Janet Mumo Maundu (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the writer is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea that the author is trying to convey is we should always be unique, self principled and have self direction just as Jonathan seagull used to be. He decided to do things like speed, whereby Jonathan Seagull never minded what others thought of him or talked of him.
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.
a. We should be unique. We can uplift our selves through our actions and find our selves people of excellence, intelligence and skillful, this is only through creativity. I once decided to produce materials from local available materials in my area , ( I used leaves to produce paints. I did this by squeezing the leaves to produce paint add little water, then do tie and dye later on market this materials as beautiful as they have never being, people thought I was crazy but out of creativity I got money and later on I taught the idea to different people.
b. Life can be long and short. People live short lives because of boredom, fear; anger and when you can overcome all this you will have along life span. I remember when I was in high school my life was full of stress, because I could always go to and from home because of fee balances ever. My life was a misery, I later on decided to face my guidance and counseling teacher who helped me overcome all this then my life became a truly and wonderful life never to go back to stress again.
c. Corrections are so important in our life. Many a times we don’t like corrections and when we don’t accept corrections we become out casts and lonely in the society. I recall some years back my mother could always advice me to avoid peer pressure from my pal Judith who was always a drunkard, I rejected all this and I could always sneak and go to say hi to my pal, my mother got annoyed and she chased me away from home, I became an outcast and my life was lonely, hence after reading this story of Jonathan Seagull I found its good to adhere to corrections.
d. Motivation is so important in our life. Some times when we do something, people do congratulate us, and this does not matter whether we are new in the environment or we have been staying there. When I was in college I was poor in material making but my teacher could always motivate me by telling me they are nice and you need to improve , this could always make me make more and more materials, what if at all he was tearing my materials, I could feel de motivated and rejected.
e. Perfection is so important in lives. Jonathan said we should always go to any place any time that we wish to go, I remember when I was in college I could always put my studies first for the sake of my success and I always passed with flying colors.
f. Other people should be our role models. Jonathan seagull learned from his two brothers comparing his fast old level flight records. I learnt to assist needy and orphaned children from a well wisher who took me and educated me till College level, he demanded no pay after educating me, and this well wisher became my mentor .If he did it why not me?, I asked my self hence I learnt to assist those in need of our help will cost us nothing.
g. A friend in need is a friend in deed. Some people might be your friends and when problems comes they run away from you, not because they hate you , but they don’t want to help you in times of problem, or being associated with you. Some days back I wanted to start a business, I shared with my friend, she accepted the idea, when I got the house to start the business she ran away from me , leaving me alone having nobody to assist me, then after some time she recognized what she did to me and paid the first house rent without any problem just as a friend who in the future will need my help.
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?
– They will enable me to motivate other people to do things, even if it not perfectly done I will be able to encourage them do perfectly well.
– I should always learn to congratulate people when they do something good, without minding whether they are new to the environment or not.
– I should always be willing to learn from others just as Jonathan seagull was trying to compare his fast old level flight records.
– Challenges should make us strong , since if we don’t remain strong we will be stressed and life will become short, other than being long as it is meant to be.
– We should always go to any place any time that we wish to go, as it is through this we will scorn perfection of doing something.
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.
It was not eating that matters but flight.
We see Jon through the process of learning to fly he was able to even get fresh food, than before, it makes me think and ask example why do we work?, is it the perfection or to get the daily bread, is there any benefit of working
They refused to open their eyes and see
The gulls never show the glory of flight, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t have eyes to see, and discovering, indeed there are some people it will take time for them to see the truth of change, I remember back in secondary school you could not bull any body regardless of who you were, not because they were afraid but because of the rules set in school.
New sights new thoughts, new questions
This is quite true when you are exposed you tend to learn new ideas you mix with others, it becomes easy for you to accept others, that is why Jon was asking why is it that there are few gulls in heaven than in earth,?. The gulls see farther who flies highest.
The trick was to know that is true nature lived
the trick according to Chiang was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty two inch wing span. we sometimes limit ourselves through our thinking, we even fear to do something, fearing for failure or have some excuses which are not valid,. Challenges and circumstances strengthen our success.
There is more to life than eating
Sullivan told Jonathan if he knew how many lives they must have undergone through before they even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting or power in the flock?, This is an interesting statement, we cannot think of flight, food and even power if at all we are not alive, indeed there is more to live than eating and flight, we should work hard to earn our living as long as we alive. In the flocks we see those who don’t see any sense of learning to fly, do we live to eat or eat to live? What was the purpose of their existence? Including the elder of the flock council of the gull. Did they see any sense of learning?, In learning process we find out that there are more opportunities of even getting fresh food, but do other flocks see that.
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?
In this statement, “Jonathan remember what you said a long time ago, about loving the Flock enough to return to it and it learn” You managed to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you” If we take it in the perspective of our lives, something threatening your live will you be courageous enough to face it?, especially in our competitive businesses.
I see when Jonathan was going back to earth, at least to go with Sullivan or Chiang, Jonathan was like a mediator, when you meet people of different place whom you have similar interest you will share better hence making them understand their needs, likes and aspect
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?
There are so many exercises, the first exercise is completing reading the book which was helpful to understand the author’s idea, it also made me think so deeply and understand that the author never talked of birds but People, he used metaphors and Animations to talk of several things. Whereby animal have dialog, and have names of people, Jonathan and others.
Perfection is a process, once you learn one thing, you don’t become perfect but it gives you another challenge to meet another one. As much as you meet challenges from the people you love don’t hate them, love them, when they challenge, they make you strong and a hero, without them, nothing will be felt.
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.
When we strive to perfection we are meant to meet challenges, discouragements and opposition from even our own family or friends. They correct us, when we don’t adhere to them most probably we will become an outcast, lonely and our life will definitely become a night mare.
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? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 5
D. Would you recommend it to others? 6
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7