As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Maura ‘STORY’ Mcmillan
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea of this book was on the subject of the power of thought
The author offered it is suggestive rather than explanatory. The goal / objective was that you yourself are the maker of yourself. Creating oneself by the thoughts we choose to encourage and that the mind is the master of one’s inner character and outer circumstances. Also suggesting that one knowing this may now create enlightenment and happiness instead of: Pain and ignorance.
The idea was given to become a conscious master by discovering within oneself the Laws of Thought and added that the discovery is totally a matter of application, self-analysis and experience. The idea was to dig deep into the mine of your soul, mining was a term used for searching for the gems and finding truth within ones being. One is the creator of ones own character and the artist molding his or her own life, thus the builder of our own Destiny.
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. A man or womans’ mind is similar to a garden which may be cultivated, or
Allowed to run wild.
Meaning if you actively intend or try to practice to stay aware of your own thoughts and willfully
Choose to cultivate and grow the thoughts, which are considered seeds of thought. Actively choosing thoughts that help you to become better in a multitude of ways in your life. Allowing only the thoughts that you wish to see manifested in your external life as well as your inner world. For instance, if you purposefully plant seeds are useful like planting the seeds and growing the thoughts about yourself worthiness, that would be beneficial and create the results of good things in your life. Such as thoughts of being worthy of good jobs, good health, positive relationships, prosperity and so on. Also thought planted and cultivated of being compassionate, kind and gentle. Thoughts of success in whatever way you deem success to be attained in your life. The idea further offered that you cannot succeed when your planting growing bad seeds, seeds of failure or lack. The idea of how the thought forces the mind to operate and begins shaping ones character ones circumstances and even one’s destiny. This idea of planting and growing the seeds of thought which produce desired results in my life. I’ve definitely used and understood the importance of this idea and practice it daily , gardening my own thoughts is an ongoing process and the new seeds planted daily to keep on track.
ii. Is that the outer conditions of a persons’ life will always be deeply connected to a persons Inner State.
It also suggested that it does not mean that a persons outer circumstances at any given time are exclusively an indication of his entire character. But that those circumstances are definitely connected with some vital thought element within himself and that t that time those circumstances are indispensable to a persons development. This idea is important to me because to me this means the person needed to experience that particular outer circumstance to potentially grow as a person in sum or many ways. Also most likely it builds character and offers much wisdom. In my own life I know this to be the case, the challenging or difficult situations are often the teachers of great wisdoms. Helped me discover strengths and often leading to new thought patterns.
iii. A person would be knocked off course by circumstances so long as the person believes him or herself to be a creature of outside circumstances, upon the realization that he or she may command and plant the seeds of which he or she can grow their own circumstances.
Then one can become the rightful master of oneself. The author suggested we can grow the circumstances out of every thought. This idea was important I felt to help us to understand as he stated that the soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves and also that which it fears. This idea has me thinking about my past and how i personally learned to be alerted to the Fear. Thoughts by way of the feeling or emotional response and also physical body responses to feat thoughts. Very unpleasant indeed, so as I began to feel the fear response in my body i learned to seek out ways to stop the Fear thoughts and literally correct myself out loud verbally by stating a positive thought I would as myself what do I choose to create instead of allowing worry and anxious thoughts to potentially create unwanted circumstances or emotions..
So the idea of commanding and growing my own circumstances consciously is something I’m very familiar with.
iv. Every thought seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind and take root there will produce its own blossoming sooner than later.
This idea is important because knowing that you can purposefully plant beautiful flowers and healthy fruits and veggies, metaphorically speaking. Plant positive thought outcomes and eventually or maybe even immediately you will see those beautiful thought and healthy things occur or take form internally and externally in your physical reality.
v. A person begin to radically alter her/her thoughts and they will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his/her life.
He goes on to offer the concept the a person imagines that their thoughts would be kept secret, but he’s suggesting that a persons thoughts cannot really be secret because thoughts rapidly crystallize into a persons habits. This idea is important to be because in my own experience I can recall many years ago before i realized any potentials on the power of thought my life was a series of one calamity or chaotic disaster after another. I used to worry a lot and was taught growing up to expect the worst case scenario.. Thinking negatively was programmed into to me growing up. In retrospect that kind of thinking created much suffering. But the beauty of all that is i was given a book in my early adulthood that was about positive thinking and manifesting. I quickly saw the value in the words of that book and began testing it out !!! wow and amazing changes began to occur, I rapidly put to practice the concepts of positive thinking and my life rapidly went from A Mess to Blessed!..
vi. The topic of the effects on Health and the body, the author is suggesting that disease and health like circumstances are rooted in thought.
He states that those living in fear of diseases and viruses are those who attract that into themselves. He says strong pure happy thoughts build up the body with vigor and grace. He states that the body responds readily to the thoughts by which are impressed. Habits of thoughts will produce effects good or bad. This is truly resonate with from personal experiences. I began positive affirmations , by talking to my body many years ago I would state I am Healthy, Whole and Pain free, the results of telling my self this daily and a long list of other positive affirmations is that I began to act differently. My new positive thoughts and words were changing my actions toward creating or aligning with a happy healthy lean tone trim body. The action or habits that the thought seeds or affirmations produced were that I began to have better food choices and stronger will power to stay in alignment with healthy choices. I quickly transitioned from eating poorly to eating super healthy and even began to exercise. All from changing my thoughts changed my inner self narrative which changed my habits/actions and produced notable results.
vii. Thought and purpose
The author is suggesting that we will benefit from aligning our thoughts with purpose. The idea that we would conceive a legitimate or even a higher purpose in our hearts and set out to accomplish it. This idea is powerful to me because he suggests to make this purpose our supreme duty to devote oneself to its attainment. Self control thru concentration of thoughts. This idea a exciting to me as i have loosely applied it in my spiritual pursuits over the last decade. I also have noticed that as i began to ponder a purpose in life many years ago that i also began feeling / knowing that my higher self was indeed nudging me toward a higher purpose that helps others in sum way, or is beneficial not just to myself but to the planet.
3. How will these ideas and lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily and personal life and in creating a better world? If so, how?
This book when fully integrated and utilized will assist me to stay more present with my thought and as you may see from my previous responses of the last question I’ve implemented these concepts to sum degree in my life for many years. Its content is a strong reminder of the potential within us all to create a better life for ourselves and help humanity and the planet.
4. Quotes; are there any statements the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“The Dreamers are the Saviors of the World.”
This quote that stood out to me the most was this one. I love this quote because many years ago i began knowing this intuitively , the concept was realized during my spiritual awakening. I began to Dream awake new realities and positive changes for this planet!
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about or are there and ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
There were many words I had to google to know the definition and that was easy to look up and also kept it interesting to learn new words. There was nothing I felt a disagreement towards
6. Did this book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There were no specific exercises to complete
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
Nothing to comment on I feel complete in the depth i went into in the questions given.
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? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Maura McMillan “STORY” (USA)
1. What was the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea/message in this book was about determination perseverance and listening to ones own inner guidance. To transcend and evolve and go beyond what is perceived by average senses and breaking free from traditions and becoming limitless. How being bored by the mundane expectations of others and a stronger will that will not conform will take you to places beyond the norm. It was about following your passion and inner drive being comfortable and contend doing so alone if need be. The biggest part was about the inner knowing or guidance of your own inner compass, trusting your self to push thru the perceived obstacles and into a limitless potentials of your own path and striving to be more than you ever dreamed possible. Metaphorically I got the messages of Ascension, transcendence, traveling dimensions, finding a purpose thru love and the desire to help others in loving service that seems to be naturally encoded into the core of our being.
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. Jonathan had no sorrow in his solitude after being centered for shame and cast out of the gull society, his sorrow was not solitude but instead that the other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them and they refused to open their eyes to see him and what he was doing was something grand that would/could indeed help all of them.
How intense it must be to have an inner knowing of something much bigger, grander and powerful. But having no one believe you because they just aren’t able to break free from the inherited conditioning of limitation. I personally can relate to this type of situation that is why i chose to speak of it. This same scenario has played out in my life in the past in 2011 when i started my spiritual awakening and could see, know, feel things others could not. I was ostracized, made fun of, even put into a mental hospital for a few days because my gull society (my family, friends and peers) could not accept or understand or relate to what I was saying, seeing, feeling and knowing. My inner drive for perfection was of course not to literally fly but instead to ascension and shifting myself and my consciousness to a higher dimension.
My daily life at that time was directly focused on my spiritual growth, almost to the point of obsession , i was determined to succeed in growing my consciousness and non of the mundane pursuits of the past were of any interest to me. By this i was left in solitude , alone in my journey, no one around me understood why i was focused on the things i was focused on meditation, channeling, healing , clearing ancestral distortions, raising my consciousness and so on …also another thing that alienated my further was my inner knowing of being a starseed, a starseed is a term used to a describe a soul who came here from another planet,,, which is very commonly used nowadays but just 10 or years ago one was thought to be losing their mind speaking of such thing. Which pushed me deeper into solitude. I also began getting visited by light beings similar to Jonathan experiencing the radiant starlight gulls. In those days I certain was cast out and very unaccepted as I was not following the pursuits of the flock so to speak. But simultaneously the solitude was comforting because I could not would not ever fit into the limited beleif systems of those who labeled be as crazy!
A strong inner knowing pushed me forward and upward, I had a strong passion to strive to be higher conscious , if you will. The solitude path was necessary for many years for my own souls development. And during that time I definitely felt saddened that so many of my flock , friends and family could not see or understand the things I did, they seemed so stuck and limited and in their fixed reality, I felt a grieving for them because they were not capable of the level of connection I had found within myself. So this idea is very familiar to me and important.
ii. During jonathans solitude and practicing in his beloved sky. When the two gulls appeared at his side and that they were as pure as starlight. They were gentle and friendly and had amazing skills of flight. They told him they were his brothers and they’ve come to take him higher, and take him home. They told him that one school was finished and the other was about to begin.
This idea meant multiple things to me they’d come to help him go to the new place but it wasn’t a death in the sense. The radiant seagulls could be light beings or in fact were beings of light or gull angels from a higher realm. He knew he was ready to fly on thru with his brothers of starlight. These concepts and ideas are important to me because of similar experiences where i was trying so hard to break free from the social norms and thought patterns and raise my vibration and my consciousness, heal and break out of the old patterns set forth by todays’ society. I was determined to reach something somewhere higher. I was knocking on the dimensional door, daily, I let everything else in my life be put on the back burner so to speak and focused all of my time and effort and energy put into reaching thru the veil, reaching greater heights and just like Jonathan I had pure beings that appeared to be made of starlight appear to assist me . Some i called angels, star beings, eleven elders and radiant ancient ancestors. They spoke to be of similar concepts they told me they’d come to assist me into a new dimension, a higher dimension the 5th dimension and beyond, they were and still are with me guiding directing inspiring and motivating me towards exiting the small minded limitations of the world id been born into the beings of light spoke of new worlds new dimensions. Where love and compassion and peace and harmony were the main ways of being. I feel those beings of light already guided me into a higher way of being where there is purpose passion and strong desire to serve a bigger plan,
iii. When he wrote about the chapter and proposed the question is this Heaven?
He flew from earth and above the clouds and noticed his own body glowing as bright as his 2 radiant brothers. Jonathan noticed that the same young seagull was still there behind his golden eyes, but the outer form had changed. It felt like a seagull but flew far better than the old one and his feathers glowed.
But he was confused because there were still a limit that would take great effort to crack. To me I related this to myself shifting dimensions thru shifting my consciousness. I myself was guided into a new dimension as I spoke of in the previous question and there were messages coming from those being about my own potential to activate create build my own body of light. And hearing of that potential gave me a strong inner drive to reach that! I asked my radiant guides how do I start this process? The answer I received was i had to change my nutrition.
I was guided to switch to a raw living plant based light body nutrition plan if I wanted to assist by body I was going have to make sum serious changes in what I chose for food. So that is exactly what I did! If I wanted my body to perform better and glow with youth and vitality i had to eat food that is living alive and full of life force energy and living light which I learned is actually light contained in raw fruits and vegetables. Biophons by definition is living light! Now it all started making sense. I could literally go on for many more pages about this process of building a body of light. But I will save that for another time.
iv. Jonathan realized there was much to learn there in the new place he thought to be gull heaven. There was as much to learn there as there had been in the life behind him.
But the difference was in the new place/ life/dimension he was surrounded by other who thought like he thought. They were all magnificent birds. This idea I can associate with my life very recently where i was guided here to mountain light sanctuary in North Carolina away from my former life in Florida with my family. I left behind my old life where they still exist and live in the same limited small minded lives. I was guided to fly on up here to where i am now in the mountains and I’m surrounded by other more like minded people. There are definitely new challenges and new things to learn living in a place where there is interaction with so many others who may also have been guided here for various reasons. Whether it to be to get a break fro the consensus reality or to heal or often a transitional period of their lives. The new lessons involve communal living and learning and growing into more compassionate ways of accepting the differences of each of our background and witnessing others curriculum and challenges. The growth and evolution does not stop even when we reach higher states of being.
v. Jonathan was talking to the elder Chiang about not being a place or time, but about being perfect and about perfection not being a number because a number is a limit and perfection doesn’t have limits and the chiang vanished and reappeared more than once and Jonathan realized he must learn to do that level of flight perfection.
To fly as fast as thought itself. He was guided that the trick was to know that his true nature lived as perfect as and unwritten number everywhere at once across space and time. This concept has an energy with it l. And although I do not have a specific example of this occurring for myself personally expect tapping into this during meditation. I can express it as an inner knowing of tapping into this potential is there with in me and felt deeply the concept of infinite potential.
vi. Chiang guiding Jonathan to get ready to begin flying up and knowing the meaning of kindness and love.
He spoke of the Perfect Invisible Principle of all life that I wrote about in the last question. His last words to Jonathan were Keep Working on Love. This idea resonates of deep importance of learning what that means and putting it to action ways in which we can be of service or help others and the planet to me this a way to put love into action.
vii. When Jonathan decides he must go back to earth to help the others in the old world/dimension.
He just knew there must be another gull who might be ready and willing to break free and fly to new dimensions. This concept is also encoded into the very core of my own being my whole life ive known i come from another planet on a soul level. I decided to start sharing what id brought with me from the other lives with others in this one hoping it to help them remember who they are. The inner desire to help the others break free is definitely apart of my souls make up.
3. How will these ideas and lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily and personal life and in creating a better world? If so, how?
The ideas and concepts in this book have already helped me for many years, even without having read the book I seem to have had similar circumstances and events I can relate to as being included in this book.
This book is a confirmation and an integration of the information encoded into the very core of my own being and the information shared with me by my own version of gulls of radiant starlight that I call my guides.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements the author mad that particularly got my attention, and if so quote them and comment as to why they were important?
“The perfect invisible principle of all life.”
This was my favorite quote. Infinite creation was what was felt in that statement that invisible force that is the very essence of all life that I am so blessed to be highly aware of and attuned to its flow.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about or are there and ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
I feel I understood the offerings in the book deeply and was in agreement with the concepts presented.
6. Did this book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
No the book did not contain exercises
7. Was there any thing 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 feel the questions and answers above covered above were all I need to comment on
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? 9
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