Joannes Paulus Yimbesalu – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Joannes Paulus Yimbesalu (Cameroon/USA)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The thoughts of a man make him what he is and anything a man thinketh, he easily perceives it as a source of inspiration and what will give him comfort. The mind is a combination of ones thoughts, emotions, perception as well as some unconscious actions. The speaker wants to portray to his audience how the mind moulds us as human beings and what it brings out of our deeds and emotions. Ones mind is very unique and no one knows what is in our mind till when the action is carried out and this is the power of communication how our inner thoughts can be expressed outwardly.

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 mind is our internal replica as human beings: This simply means that our minds tell us who we are

* The mind is the fuel of who we are outwardly and what we are up to

* The character of a being is inwardly expressed through his thoughts and this is seen from the hidden seeds that are sowed in our minds: The inner thoughts we have got are easily expressed in the way we behave in society though sometimes it happens unconsciously.

* Our action portrays who we really are and the outcome of our action whether good or bad is its fruits.

* Man is the holder of each circumstance we go through and we determine our destiny: This clearly suggest that no one apart from us can determine our destiny. This is sometimes difficult to agree especially to those who are Christians like me. For me this requires some more evidence to clarify our audience

* The mind when well cultivated or allowed to grow wild will produce seeds which if not well utilized will either become useful or fall unto fertile ground and grow again. Any mind full of weeds and bad seeds, need to be weeded out for new seeds and flowers to grow. As such man become the full controller of his life and takes decision that are guided by his thoughts and emotions.

Sometimes in my life, I go through many problems all at a time and I feel really frustrated and don’t see the need for existence and during this times, all what is in my mind is evil with little or no good thoughts but when I decide to put all in God’s care and guidance, I start to feel relieved and possible solutions to my problems being to come up. I think what we all need is patience and humility with God when our minds are not doing us any good.

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?

I will say that the author brings out life events and the reality of our being here on earth through some of his philosophies about doing good or evil, truth and honesty, righteousness and blessedness. He clearly points out how our thought determines our actions and how it is manifested in our habits in certain circumstances. There is a lot to gain from these philosophies in life and certainly they will guide me along as I make certain decision in life based on my thoughts and emotions and I will say here that the environment in which we live in greatly influences certain decision we take in life. Any decision we take must be critically assessed by the mind and before we hang on to it, we must reflect and see if it will do us or our society good or evil

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 some comments in the book that drew my attention namely:

* There exist nothing like chance in a man’s life. Everything that happens to us is due to our actions and deeds and this stems from our minds.

* Good thoughts bear good fruits and bad thoughts bad fruits. This therefore means that any seeds we sow that grow well often leads to good deeds and actions and any seeds that dies while growing often does not produce fruits or the seed may sprout but not healthy and as such the outcome is not perceived as essential for our minds.

* Man actions don’t occur by chance. These actions must have been nursed within the mind and is only visible when the action whether good or bad happens. All prisoners today did not go to prison by chances. Most of them must have nursed certain thoughts or actions that made them find themselves in jail.

* As master of oneself, our minds shape us for who we are and this is influenced by our environment to some degree.

* Man gets what he is due and not certainly what he wishes for.
These comments were greatly inspiring and they show the degree of which our minds can influence our actions whose outcome could be good or evil. These comments are really the basis of one existence I will say.

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?

Even though some of the words were difficult to relate in the sentence context, I think overall, the message was easily passed across. I will say that if one have never really examined the mind and what it can do to shape or molds one’s life, it will be kind of difficult to understand the whole context of the book.

What drew my attention and which I am still worried with is the fact that man shapes his/her destiny? As a Christian, I don’t fully agree to this fact because we all know there will be

6. Did the book contain exercise for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all the exercises and did you find them helpful?

The book did not have any exercises and I would wish it has so that one can better appreciate some of these ideas the author was trying to send out and se how it closely relates to our own human existence.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous question? If so please comment.

Fighting against circumstances to me was a very interesting phenomenon as seen in the event of trying to resist or fight certain situations, we unconsciously nourishing these evil thoughts or actions. It’s kind of ridiculous for me.

As human being we wish to remain wealthy which comes with so many sacrifices. A poor man will often wish to be rich and will wish that his wages be increased and some even go to the extent of doing all what it takes to make them rich. This brings us to the greedy natures of humans especially the rich. Even in his sick bed he still won’t give us his wealth. Would u think he should live? We as humans blame God for the circumstances we find ourselves in. We accumulate riches, carry out fake actions just to gain wealth but when things turn around, we blame such circumstances on others or blame God without seating down to reflect our own actions. This is a prove to show that man is the major cause of his problems and if we can create these problems then we should as well be able to solve them or accommodate them when they come our way.

Sometimes very bad things happen to good people which we think should not. The fact that one is good does not mean he is perfect as no one is perfect we all have got our own issues and the fact that one is evil does not mean he cannot be good. The bible says that those who suffer in his name will see God’s and we must suffer before any good comes our way though some of us want short cuts to success.

We should never plant corn and expect to harvest beans. It does not work. What we sow we reap. Sometimes when we suffer, it is time for us to reflect and become pure again. Riches are best seen when they are put into good use. The rich should always share with the poor and sometimes man thinks he can never be happy because he is poor. Since our society of today is a one of competition, man will always strive to defeat the other and become famous.
A man’s comfort is determined when he is happy, healthy and prosperous. Justice and righteousness is the basis of which our actions are based. As humans, it is difficult to keep our thoughts because we manifest them unconsciously daily in our habits. Lazy and beautiful thoughts all give rise to different circumstances as seen from the habits that initiates them.

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 comments 8
C. How easy was it to understand 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Joannes Paulus Y (Cameroon/USA)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main thoughts the author wants his audience to know is the need for us human beings to be determined in what we do especially the things that will make us happy and comfortable and not what people think is good for us. He wants us to have confidence in ourselves even if we fail and that it is better to try and fail than never to try. This is what Jonathan Livingstone did and because of his continuous efforts and determination, he became the elder of the seagulls

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.

* Jonathan’s persistence in life in making sure he does what will please him

* Jonathan making sure his dreams of ever flying more than a bird was achieved

* Jonathan was very humble, lovely and even though he was considered an outcast, he never gave up his desires.

* Jonathan was willing to teach other seagulls to fly just as him and it was his joy and happiness to see them succeed just as he did.

* Jonathan held onto the principle of life which says and I quote “better try and fail than never to try at all”.

* Jonathan’s wanted to attain perfection in all he did and never in his wildest of dreams did he imagine of breaking this record of flying at over 214 miles per hour in that high a distance over sea level.

* Jonathan was very skillful and creative too as seen from his several flight attempts

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?

Sometimes in my life, we want to be like a role model we like. We want to make our dreams come through by being able to do what this or that role model did. Sometimes we want to bring change in our community and as human beings we have got several challenges to achieve our wildest of dreams. People will laugh at us and say we can’t do what we hope to do. Others will say who are you to make a ground breaking achievement but as Jonathan did, we all should try to be determined, focused and with the encouragements we get from those who want us to succeed in life, we will one that attain our desires and dreams. It might take years for us to be who we wanted to be, sometimes it might take just a day but no matter how long it takes us to be who we have wanted to be, determination and hard work will pay it off some day. I will say Jonathan was very hard working. He had to go through certain challenges and I will say that some of these challenges should make us even stronger than for us to give in to them. Jonathan did not give in to them but succeeded. In our world today, we just as Jonathan go through many challenges in life. Sometimes I get very worried and frustrated when I don’t succeed in what I do. Sometimes it is difficult to make a concrete decision because many people you call friends will tend to discourage you and they become happy when they see you giving up in your dreams and desires. Some will even say, who do you think you are? After reading this book, I think it is high time I become more determined than ever to achieve my wildest of dreams while keeping the faith.

What was interesting was the fact that, to the other seagulls they saw Jonathan’s breakthrough as a taboo. They wanted to put him to shame and accused him of violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull family by flying at that speed and height from sea level in the dark. To them, they saw it as an irresponsible move by Jonathan and when such happens in the gull society, they banish you to a solitary life on the far cliffs and you are seen as an outcast in their society. They told him because of his irresponsible act, he will have to pay for it someday. The other seagulls turned their back away from him and Jonathan was once again alone. This did not discourage him as he made many several attempts with improvements all the time. He was not sorry for his accomplishments and the price (his irresponsible act as the seagulls call it) he had to pay.

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.

What interested me was the idea of perfection and learning how to do something. Some of Jonathan’s seagull colleagues were wondering how long it must have taken Jonathan to become the master seagull and they asked him if soon heaven will be his next adventure but Jonathan told them that heaven doesn’t exist but all it requires of one is to be perfect. Chiang, one of the seagulls wanted to fly just like Jonathan and asked him to teach him to fly and Jonathan was willing to do just that. Chiang later on disputed Jonathan’s idea that it was faith that made him fly that high but Chiang said it is the process of understanding how to fly that made fly and not faith. Jonathan expressed love by giving back to his gull community though he saw this as a challenge by saying the truth because he was scared of been looked at again as an outcast. Jonathan was thinking about where he had come from, the earth and thoughts of whether any gull on earth could beat his accomplishments

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?

It was very interesting reading this book. I loved Jonathan’s determination

6. Did the book contain exercise for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all the exercises and did you find them helpful?

The book did not have any exercises and I would wish it has so that one can better appreciate some of these ideas the author was trying to send out and see how it closely relates to our own human existence.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous question? If so please comment.

This was a very interesting book and there are many lessons one can draw from this book. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was very determined to fly like an ordinary bird. He tried to do his best in his practice and was very determined to do his best reason why he made several low glides experiments just to improve on his techniques of flying.

Though his parents were not happy with his idea of flying he still had to disobey his parents wish and continue with his desire to pursue his dreams. His dream has been to fly like a bird and the kind of attempts he made in the air made his parents dismayed. Jonathan wanted to know his abilities in flying in the air. His parents tried to him reason with them by giving him all the possibilities that could happen but still Jonathan did not listen. In one of his attempts in which he flew at 70 miles per hour, he went out of control and crashed into water. He still did not give up. He increases his speed and in 10 seconds, he flew for 90 miles in an hour setting a world speed record for seagulls. Unfortunately for him, victory was short-lived as in the course of his expedition, he smashed down into the sea. As he sank into the water, he heard a strange voice. It was a seagull and he told Jonathan the limitations he has experienced and his wishes and dreams, Jonathan thought for a while and he wished he could have listened to his parents. He accepted his limitations and made it a commitment just to be a normal seagull rather than doing the undone but his decision was short-lived as he did not want to give up. He was even more than encouraged to keep up his struggle and did not see what could hold him down. The strange voice again said to him that seagulls don’t fly in the dark but Jonathan did not listen. It should be noted that all his attempts to fly was done in the dark. He was very determined and with all the messages that came from the strange voice that did not discourage him. He once more felt guilty of what he did and gave a second thought again but this did not still discourage him. This time around he increased his speed and flew at 214 miles per hour at 8000 feet. To his, this was a breakthrough. He was really tired after these adventures and he knew the other seagulls will be surprised at his ground breaking record. To him he wanted to let others know that their dreams are very possible as anyone who is determined can fly.

In his loneliness in the wilderness, came 2 other gulls. Jonathan was surprised seeing them and put them to test which no seagull had even been through. They were good at allow flying. Then Jonathan asked who they were and they said they were from the gull family and had come to take him home. Jonathan was surprised because he was considered an outcast by them. They then accepted his breakthrough and they left. He was happy to join his fellow sea gulls back home. With his seagull colleagues, they kept practicing their flight and testing other new avenues of flight such as advanced aeronautics. He was then accepted in the community and they all went performing several flight skills.

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 comments 8
C. How easy was it to understand 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8