Okoh Henry Enenche – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh

Assessment by Okoh Henry Enenche (Nigeria)

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

This book “as a man thinketh” is a book with the main idea of which is about human thinking i.e. our emotional make up and the physical state of being. What we see in the physical is as a result of what we are made up of. According to this book a man determines his situation due to his action or inaction. What he is a product of what he thinks of? This can be easily expressed in this quotation from the book “As a Man Thinketh” “Act is a blossom of thoughts, and joy and suffering are its fruit; thus a man garner in the sweet and bitter sweet fruitage of his own husbandry”

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. Thougth in the mid have made us what we are. What we are made up of or what we became in life is as a result of what we think of. Our thougths are what make up what we became. As a man thinks that is how he will be. This made me to think and mind how I think not to just think because my thought will to a great extent affect what I become in life. I should also feed my heart with thougths that will help nurture it to a positive fruitation. My thought will affect what I became eventually

ii. My mind is like a garden and just like a garden needed a gardener to tend it. Just like the gardener tends his garden to prevent it from weeds, plant good seeds, water it, apply manures e.t.c. to help it produce or bring forth good seeds, it is also important to nurture the mind with good thoughts. If I feed my mind with good thoughts it will bring fort good result while if I feed it with negative thoughts it will bring fort negativity which may result in ill health, poverty, pains and other negative attributes in life

iii. Diseases and health are rotted in thought. The body obeys the mind. It is like a servant to the mind. A sickly or evil thought will be expressed through sickly body and ill health while a strong, pure and happy thought will build up body vigor, strengthen and grace. I also understand in line with this point that a clean thought makes up a clean habit while an unclean thought emits dirty habits. People who are dirty physical do so as it comes from their heart. He who has strength will think of cleaning himself. The level of neatness of a man physically is the product of his thought. For me to have a strong body I must fill my mind with good thought. Just like good diet, good thought is the nutrient I need to support a strong body.

iv. Thoughts must be linked to purpose to make it useful. This is so as aimlessness is a vice and a person without a central purpose will easily fall prey to fear, sorrow and self pity which are signs of weakness. All my thought must be linked to a legitimate purpose which I will set out to achieve. This purpose will be my goal and I will set out to achieve it. Not wondering or faltering on the way to achieve his aim. My central purpose should be the focus of my thought not to waver from one thing to another.

v. All that a man achieves and all that he did not achieve are the direct result of his thought. His not being able to achieve or his great achievement are a result of his thought. The universe is very ordered and it cannot be changed. It set out to do whatever a man’s thought believe he can achieve. I can do all I set my heart that I can do if I give the right thought power to it. In line with this I also understand that it I cannot be made stronger unless I chose to be stronger by developing the strength I admires in the stronger person.

vi. Nobody enslaves you but yourself. Nobody is an oppressor because he wants to oppress, he is an oppressor because many people decide to be slaves. There is no such thing as the oppressed and the oppressor, but there are only those who became oppressed because they decide to be oppressed while the oppressor became one as many people decided to be oppressed. Oppressors and oppressed are cooperators, while it seems like one is oppressing the other, they are actually inflecting themselves. For you to have a perfect love you will condemn none while a perfect compassion will embrace all. A man can only rise, conquer and achieve if he lift up his thought but will remain weak and abject if he refuses to lift his thought. Before a man can achieve anything he must lift his thought above slavish animal indulgence and learn restrain.

vii. Dreamers are the savior of the world. It is not wrong to dream, to achieve in life you must be a dreamer. For you to achieve anything good in your life you must first cherish it in your heart and you will achieve it one day or else no achievement is possible.

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 ideals from this book especially the above stated ones will be of a very good help to me both in my social, working, family and spiritual life

I now understand that nothing can be done without my thought that as I thought of it that is how it will be.

I also understand now that for me to grow of rise I most lift my thought. I have to lift my thought to visualize what I want I where I want, I have learnt that in everything I do what I lift my heart and thoughts to are what outcome I should be expecting. From now on I have learnt that I need to fill my heart with good thoughts which will help nurture my mind and help me achieve positive things.

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 man becomes calm in the measure he understands himself as a thought evolving being” the knowledge of yourself necessitates the understanding of others as a result of positive thought. If you have the right understanding developed, your ability to see clearer internal relationship of things will be will be enhanced by action of outcome and effect. A man who is calm will learn to govern himself and adept other to himself, others will then reverence his spiritual strength and feel they can learn from him and rely on his judgments. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, influence and power of good.

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 there are no ideas in the book that I did not understand. The book was explicit enough.

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?

This book contain no exercise but there are some of the principles or issues discussed that are really practical and need to be practiced

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.

Yes, I will want to comment about the issue of how the universe works for those with good thought. There is no achievement without sacrifices. For you to achieve anything you have to make a sacrifice, even worldly achievements. The measure of a man worldly success is the measure of which he can make sacrifices. He has to sacrifices his confused animal thought and fixes his mind on the development of his plan and to strengthen his resolve and self reliance. The higher one can lift his thought the greater he will succeed and the more blessed and endearing will be his achievements.

It may seem at times like the universe is bias, but it is not. The universe do not favor the greedy and dishonest or the vicious although on the mere surface it may seem like that or sometimes may appear like that or to do so. Honesty pays and the universe help and support the honest, magnanimous and the virtuous. Great teachers of old have emphasis this in their teaching and admonishes. Examples abode in the teacher of Jesus Christ in the Bible and Prophet Mohammed in the Quran.

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? 6
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

 

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Assessment by Okoh Henry Enenche (Nigeria)

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

In this book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull is about the real Jonathan in us. The main idea is about the fact that we are limited only by ourselves. It is the limit we set for our self that determine how far we can go. We cannot go beyond the height we want to go. Our height is a product of the limit we set for our self. If we see ourselves like the old Seagull school that we cannot fly higher than we are already doing so it will be but if we decide to be like Jonathan and be discontented with our present level and strive for greater height we can of course achieve it. You are the limit for yourself and the competition or standard of how far you can go. The ability to grow is a product of our determination to grow. We cannot out grow our determination. The achievements of Jonathan are based on his determination and hard work. This book also pointed out that for us to grow above what everybody expected, we should stand out from among the crowd. What everybody do may not necessary be enough to take us to where we need to be. We must look for that added ingredient that will make us stand out and that ingredient can only be found in us. What I need to stand out is in me not from the outside.

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 the seven ideas that most important to me about the book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.

a. You don’t have to be like others. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull could have chosen to be just like the other seagulls of the old flock live and die just like them. To the old flocks life is about being able to go get food (leftover) eat live and die when the time comes. They are nothing like exploring new height or new opportunities. I understood that for me to make any difference in live a have to be able to stand out and not just do what everybody else does. The ability to bring in a new and value added ingredient is what can support and bring out the unique value that can make you stand out from the crowd.

b. You are only able to go as high as you are determining to go. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull could stay when he could fly high than the other seagulls but because he was determine to go higher he keep striving higher. You attitude will determine your attitude. For you to climb higher and achieve more, you have to be ready to determine to go higher. You must cultivate the attitude and determination to go higher for you to go higher in whatever you want to achieve.

c. Growth is a product of what you are ready to sacrifices. The more sacrifices JLS was willing to do the more he could do more. For him to go higher, he has to practices more. The more he practices, the better he could fly. For you to grow you must be ready to put more effort in what you are aiming to achieve. For you to archive higher, you must be determine to put in more work. It might need that you get more education, training, practices, affiliations or others as the case may be. This will definitely come with a price tag to it and you must be determining to put more to support you in achieving your goal. Achieving a goal did not just happen; it takes practices and exercise to make it work.

d. The more you put in, the more opportunities that open for you. The more you are able to learn and do more the more windows that are open to you. To quote the seagulls the seagull that is higher see farther than the one lower down. As you make one achievement you will discover that you have not reached the limit of you possibilities. As you achieve more, it become easier to achieve more. It will be like the more you achieve, the more you are able to achieve and the more new goals arose for you to achieve. An opportunity is more or less of a gate way as one opportunity achieved is a lead way to higher opportunity. One achievement leads to another of higher value.

e. Opportunities are limitless. You only need to open up and more opportunities will open up to you. Opportunities are limitless I only need to open up and utilize the one I have seen and others will open up for me. Every used opportunity opens up yet another opportunity. One used opportunity is a stepping stone to another achievement. You can only go higher when you go high. You cannot go higher being where you are, when you want to go higher you will have to look out for more opportunities. Opportunities do not come by themselves, they are created and you then have to take advantage of it or else you will be left out of it.

f. Growth may not always be accepted by those around you. Growth like every good thing comes with oppositions and the fact that it is being opposed did not mean it cannot be done or that it is not worth doing. When one is determined to grow you must make provision for opposition and provide allowance for it to be cushion in you growth plan. When Jonathan Livingstone Seagull was not supported when he chose to fly above the level the other seagulls are doing, he was looked upon like a misfit, a societal outcast. He was not looked upon like the right person to belong to the community which led to his being made an outcast from the society. If you want to grow you can meet any form of oppositions. To achieve your goal be ready for oppositions. Be ready for people to go against you and be ready to face the consequences of you decision but in all be resolute about what you want to achieve.

g. Achieving your goal should not be selfish. You will learn it and achieve it alone but you need others to spread it out. It cannot keep it alone to yourself as this will not let it to spread out and will make it die with you, but if you share it it will go out to more people as can be seen from the situation of Jonathan and the other seagulls. It was his love for the flock that made him to go back to them and with that was able to get more seagulls to become interested in learning how to fly.

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?

These ideals will help me in my everyday life both personal, professionally and socially. I have learnt that for me to get more I need to put more and that in doing this not everybody I meet will support what I want to achieve but this however should not douse the flame of passion in my determination. I will remain focus no matter what

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.

Yes. “The gull sees farthest who flies highest” the more I determine to achieve the more I will achieve. One achievement is a door opener to other achievements

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?

There are no statement that are not clearly understood by me and I absolutely agree with the ideas in the book

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 no exercises for readers to complete in Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and hence I did none.

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 price of being misunderstood… They call you devil or they call you god” in this statement I see a lot that I did not treat in the previous questions. This gave mere I kind of feeling than people will not agree with what you are doing and when they do there is always the possibility of them over estimating you and ascribing unnecessary glory to you. We should be careful even as we achieve our goals as it can be seen from different dimension by different people. Some might look at it to be eve possibly something against the natural order of things and against the natural rule while others might idolize you for the achievement you have made about particular issues. What people say about you as you make you achievement should not determine how you go about achieving your goal. Your achievement should not be a product of what people say about it but should be a product of what you goals is and how much you are willing to commit to it achievements.

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? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9