Aamir Siddi Abdulrahman Yahya – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Aamir Siddi Abdulrahman Yahya (Nigeria)

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

The main idea is that a man is what he thinks. Our thoughts are very powerful; they are the vectors that can take us to the realm of success or failure.

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. Thought

The first fundamental idea I got from the book is that thought is the fount of action, life and manifestation. Make the fountain pure and all will be pure. From the statement, I gathered that the first step towards becoming a better person is to change the way one thinks and perceive things. In the past days I realized that the more positive my thoughts the more I go forth and conquer the challenges of that day. Positive thoughts spin enthusiasm that gives us the entropy to cross the barriers of limitation created by our own mind.

ii. “If you would perfect your body, guide your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind.”

The above quote is a pure establishment of the fact that the body and the mind are interwoven for progress and purpose to be fulfilled. For one to achieve anything in life be it positive or negative, the body and the mind must be in synchrony with each other. The mind is the single most powerful invincible machine that controls the body. Whatever we are as humans is what we feed our minds which then crystallizes and flows through the body. Since I began to feed my mind with positivity and good thoughts, I have been able to make remarkable improvements in my business and in the way I flow with my clients. I have realized that a beautiful mind facilitates an inspired body.

iii. With those who have lived righteously, age is calm, peaceful, and softly mellowed, like the setting sun.

Nothing has moved me intellectually like the combination of those words. My late father used to always tell us that for those who have clean hands, death is nothing but a promotion into a world of eternal peace and that age is grace for those who have lived righteously.

iv. The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears.

I believe the universe is a mirror and it reflects exactly what we give it. That I have learnt over the course of my life; that when we saturate our souls with negativity, the universe reflects exactly what we harbor in our souls back to us. So, with every hardship and bitter moments, I have learnt to remain calm and positive because as the universe continues to tutor us through hard moments, she keeps her eyes on those who never allow the circumstances to define them but to shape them.

v. Victories attained by right thought can be maintained only by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured and rapidly fall back into failure.

I have seen a lot of successful people fall from success into the pit of failure; I have seen people commit suicide because of this. There is no stopping after the dream is conceived; for what is conceivable is achievable. In the process, we work very hard but after the results we stop, not knowing that success is not a destination, it is a journey and this journey of infinity continues until man seizes to see himself as an object of a supreme influential mystery.

vi. The body is the servant of the mind

Where the mind goes, the body goes. When the mind is weakened the body is weakened and when the mind is joyous, the body is joyous. The mind is the brain-box and it must be kept pure at all times.

vii. Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction.

In the past 2 years, I have been going through reality tests, many call it suffering but I believe these are challenges designed to teach us how to understand the principle of the universe, the universal codes guiding the modus-operandi of the universe that we are all students of. The aim here was for me to sit with myself and ponder over all the right thoughts I have been channeling in the wrong direction and all the wrong thoughts I have been channeling in the right direction and review my test scores. The biggest challenge here is that many people don’t see the impact of the lessons on themselves; they never understand that it is basically life throwing us into deep oceans and demanding for us to swim without any prior swimming lessons. We must never look at the circumstances that surround us but how we can turn the circumstances around and cap it with glory.

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?

This book by James Allen was part of all I needed to transform myself into a good leader, policy maker and most importantly an entrepreneur. The ideas and lessons from here will lead me on into a positive thinking person. From here on, I’m beginning to practice the habit of seeing the good in every person, to see the good in every situation and to see the opportunity in every adversity. I will learn to look for opportunities where other people see challenges and turn it around.

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, there are several quotes and statements that got my attention, but one that is most relevant to everyone is:

“The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify to burn out all that is useless and impure.”

Many people may not understand the underlying philosophy behind that quote. The universe has a way of rewarding those who have been reckless. The universe has a mechanism of humbling the proud and arrogant and she does this most times by making us suffer in one way or the other to remind us of our humble beginnings and to also re-mold us and purify us of the toxic and useless thoughts that have accrued in us overtime.

Another very interesting and thought provoking quote was “Circumstances does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.”

People around us almost always blame their circumstances for changing them, but evidently, that is wrong. Whatever our circumstances brings out of us is the person we have always wanted to be. My former boss usually says that money and power can change the character in any man, but I always objected that whoever a man becomes whether oppressor or oppressed, whether arrogant or humble as a result of status is the person he has always wanted to be but kept it hidden. People often say don’t “don’t blame the prostitute, she is from a very poor background and her family cannot carter for her” but the question is, how many other girls would have been prostitutes because of their social status but chose to work on plantations to earn a living?

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain blind.”

In the country where I come from (Nigeria), a lot of people have been absorbed into a system of anomaly that righting the system is seen as wrong. In the last election, we preached “Change” and I was one of the organizers of the MillionYouthMarchForChange that took place on the 17th of January, 2015 at the eagle square, in Abuja. The aim of this program was to unite young people to demand for a change of attitude of those in public offices. Why am I saying this? Interestingly, a lot of Nigerians bought into the idea and assembled with us, we wanted results but majority of us who were partly demanding for change are the same people, we refuse to change ourselves yet we want our society to change. This happens all over the world especially in developing countries where people believe a change of government is what is needed to change a country, such thinking is wrong. To improve our society, we must improve ourselves and to change our circumstances, we must change our thinking.

“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”

Another way to put the quote is “When life gives you lemon, make lemonade out of it.”

We can’t choose what life throws at us but we must be able to learn from it and reform ourselves. That is the ultimate aim of our existence.

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?

Nothing. The book was clear, concise and straight to the point although some of the combinations of word found inside maybe a little bit difficult to comprehend. That aside, it’s a beautiful summary and arrangement of the manual of living.

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?

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.

None.

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? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

 

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Assessment by Aamir Siddi Abdulrahman Yahya (Nigeria)

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

The main idea behind Richard Bach’s: Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the concept of freedom. The idea that we have the freedom to be whoever and whatever we want. The idea that following the path that is less travelled by others is a way to discover new trends and expand our horizon.

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 seven ideas that are most important to me are all wrapped up in quotes outlined below:

i. There’s a reason to life; we can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures to excellence and intelligence and skill.

We can be free; we can learn to fly in the context of people wanting to live their dreams. This statement is a motivation to me and has re-shaped my paradigm, to see beyond myself and to understand that there’s a principle to life and this principle goes beyond just living but striving for perfection and excellence. This quote connects to the idea that the concept of humanity is but an idea and we all have a role to play to re-shape our world.

ii. Boredom and fear and anger are the reasons why people live short lives: this is quite apt when related to the realities of the present day.

The repetition of the same routine has caused a lot of people to be bored with life because they have limited themselves to the banalities of their own mind and failed to explore and try new things. Fear is the one single phenomenon that separate people from their goals in life, the fear of taking risks and the fear of greatness can drive people into seeking comfort in their own mediocrity. Anger is destructive, and can cause people to under-value the most valuable things. Boredom and fear and anger are all results of sticking to tradition and not wanting to explore new grounds.

iii. We choose our next world through what we learn in this world.

Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome. Tomorrow is a product of what actions we do today. The first point of driving the world to a better place is to inspire good today and plan for better tomorrow. Another narrative to the above quote is that, it is our harvest from the rainy season that feeds us all through the dry season. This is clearly one of my greatest quotes in by Richard Bach as it elucidate the fact that tomorrow is a factor, and that factor is a coefficient of what we do today; it is our actions today that’ll bore tomorrow.

iv. Age

Instead of being weakened by age, we should be empowered by it. With more age comes more wisdom and knowledge.

v. Heaven

Heaven is not a place and it’s not a time. Heaven is being perfect. The word “Heaven” is a relative term. In the context of the author’s narrative and from my understanding after reading the book, “Heaven” is that thing we were created to be, the acme of our own relentless strive for perfection.

vi. Perfection doesn’t have limits and can’t be quantified

An unbelievably pragmatic definition of perfection that is yet to be adopted by conventional literature. The idea is that perfection is true and that we can continue to build ourselves and learn new things ad infinitum to get us to that level. The processes and the results of perfection can’t be quantified or valued after all anything that can be quantified has no real value.

vii. Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you.

Look with your understanding. The eyes are deceptive and almost always plagued by the disease of the heart. Most times we look but we don’t see; this is because we look only with our eyes and not with our minds not knowing that, we only see what our eyes want us to see and not our minds; no one can see beyond the choice they cannot understand. The idea behind this quote is for us not to see things as we are but to see things as they are. By so doing, what is wrong should be wrong irrespective of it being perpetrated by the majority or who is doing it and what is right should be right irrespective of it being done by the minority.

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?

There are several lessons to be learnt from the content of this book; most of the messages and lessons are cloaked in quotes. The lessons from this book have personally emboldened me to try new things and explore new frontiers without the fear of failure. I have developed a heightened passion for leading other people who want to be who they want to be but lack the capacity to do so. I have also learnt that the challenges of life are there to transform us and teach us about inner love. When we see those against us as our opposition to be loved rather than enemies to be fought, the rate of conflicts in the world would abate drastically.
We are looking to recreate a world for all. A world that is anchored on equity, equality and freedom and for this to happen we must develop ourselves individually as our destinies as humans are inextricably interwoven. We must form new alliances, create new standards and work towards achieving these standards.

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, there are quite a number of statements which the author made that got my attention as they intricately relate to my present day realities.

“Break the chains of your thoughts and you break the chains of your body.”

This quote got my attention because it is simply telling me that the body goes wherever the mind tells it. That the limitation to whatever and whoever we want to be is a coefficient of how we perceive ourselves in our mind. This quote also teaches me that the mind is an intricate machine that can run both on the fuel of victory and failure.

“Heaven is not a place and it’s not a time. Heaven is being perfect.”

Life is a line of locked doors; these doors stand as barriers between us and who we are pre-destined to be, these doors stand between us and the ideas we were created to live and for us to unlock these doors, we must practice every day and acquire more knowledge that will help us as keys to unlocks these doors standing between us and the idea we were destined to be.

“The only true law is that which leads to freedom.”

This is directly stating that, the only law that should govern the existence of humans is the law that leads to all men’s freedom and that until all men are completely free irrespective of tribe, race and religion we are all slaves.

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?

Yes, religiously I disagree with the statement that states that heaven is not a place and it is not a time, it is perfection. This statement may be misconstrued into several meanings if not properly understood by a reader. This statement contradicts the context of conventional definition of heaven in religious scriptures owing to the fact that heaven is defined as the “place” where good people go to as a reward for their good deeds while on the face of earth.

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?

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.

None.

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? 4
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 5
D. Would you recommend it to others? 5
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 5