As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Awol Allo Shelefa (USA)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The central idea that the author trying to communicate is that, a man’s personality he reflect, actions he takes, facts and situations he lives are all shaped by his thought that he most encourage. In other words man is the maker and destroyer of himself. The noble ideas he preaches, the respected good personality he has or to the contrary the evil ideas and ugly qualities he possess are emerged from his thought in his mind. The author also argued that, the environment a man lives in and the events he encounter do not mold the man’s behavior, rather, the man is the maker and the fashioner of his environment. According to the author, circumstances are the mirror in which he see his true personality. As to the author’s idea, nothing can happen to the man’s personality and action but all emerged from his dominant thought in his mind and the situation only encourage his thought to come out and acted. As he said, “Nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles.”
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. The idea of good thinking
This is the most important idea to me because, it is a primary thing to be good. To be good to my self, my family, my country and to the rest of the world. The moment I started thinking good is the time I have adjusted my mind set in the right way to be good. In other words I have almost accomplished half of my job in the process of doing good the time I put the seed of goodness in my mind. Planning good, behaving good and acting good are of course not from the evil thinking mind. Yes, I agree with the idea of the writer and I like it too, that, Positively set mind is the source of happiness and health. Internal happiness shines our outer face and cheers our partners with smile, make the environment of love and comfort. It gives us power and energy to walk forward and encourage us to accomplish our goal. In the contrary, the negatively set mind is the source of sorrow, hopelessness, and weakness. Nothing good can come out of the hopeless and weak mind so that, these type of people usually commit crimes and socially isolated. The more people with bad thought are there in the society, the more the society get corrupted. When I personally dig in to my past experiences and evaluate them, I found that, I was not in a good mood by the times when I was hopeless, frustrated, and weak. But the times when I was hopeful, strong and happy, I remember, these were the particular times when I was inspired, encouraged and or satisfied with something good and I felt confident in doing what I planed to do.
ii. The idea of having good character:
I believe that the idea of having good character spring from positive mind. It is a very noble idea to me. Positive mind is the mother of peace and good character even towards people who behave badly and do things that are wrong or immoral. Let me share about an individual with high moral standard whom I read about him. On one occasion, in the night time, a thief entered in to the house of a well known religious school student to steal his property. Unfortunately, as there was no anything important to steal, he madly turn back to leave the house. The school student who was watching what was going on from one corner of his house politely stopped the robber and said, “you can’t find something important to rob?, let me give you what is more important than what you are looking for.” The thief who was overwhelmed by feeling of guilt has nothing to do but waiting for what will happen to him. The school student with out talking about what was happened, advised him spiritually and morally gave him accommodation for the night. In the morning, they both went to the mosque to pray. The peoples after they finished praying asked the student, “who is this?” thinking that he should be a high ranked school student. The student replied with a very humble manner saying that, “this is the one who is looking for knowledge more than all of you doing.” The people greeted and introduced with him politely. The thief was very surprised by the moral and wisdom of the student and started learning being his student with his company and won high moral standard in that society. This is of course the power of good thinking. Good thinkers really safe the world and protect humanity.
iii. The idea of having good health and being strong
According to James Allan good health and strength can not be granted by only from balanced diet and body movement or exercise. It is also the result of having good thought in our mind. After I read this book, I reminded some people I know in my locality. They are always smiling, seem happy and look young than their actual age. They are neither wealthy nor in a high position or do regular body exercise but, happier than those wealthy and those people in a good position I know. When I think about those people now I guess that, the source of their happiness is their positive mental set, how they feel the situations around them and might be the nature of good thinking they developed in themselves. These people might have satisfaction in what they have and how they are living, hopping their future will be brighter.
iv. The idea of living for purpose
I learned from this text that, having a central purpose is a key to success and prosperity because it serves us as the driving force in all our activities and directing us to the right path or it keeps us in the way we have to move. Our purpose for which we strive to succeed is what inspire and encourage us to work hard and move forward in spite of adverse barriers. Our purpose makes us energetic and happy as long as it serves the good of humanity. It is a crucial guard protecting people from worries and wandering vain fancies. I think purpose is like the queen bee and thoughts are the innumerable bees revolving around in their hive and out. The absence of the single queen bee is the loss of all of them and they serve nothing and finally vanished. Like ways, purposeless human beings also lose the meaning of live if they don’t have good purpose for which they live for it. In general a purposely guided person can accomplish his goal and put him self on the peak of triumph.
v. The idea of success
This point is very vital for me because, it is not about what success is but it is about how to success. It is about how to frame our mind and organize our thought. Furthermore, it helps as a guide to overcome obstacles and build strength that enable us to accomplish our goal. It is especially important for people like me who live in exile to build confidence and strength to win the challenges of life.
vi. Vision:
Here is a proverb in my society that goes “Hadn’t it been for the butter he drinks in his dreams, the poor dies of poverty” It means that hope and dreams strengthen, inspire and keep the person to move forward in spite of all the hindrance and hardship surrounded him. It is important idea because, life with out vision is like the walk of blind with out sight.
vii. Serenity:
The supreme quality of humanity, serenity is not a conman characteristics of human being. It is only acquired by a few who are patient, stable and people with poise characteristics. As human beings are naturally hasty, we see not many people with this best quality. Nonetheless, serenity is one of the best ideas that I want to have in my life. There is a wise word in my society, the Oromo nation which goes “Jarjartuun Re’ee hin hortu.” It literally means that, a hasty and tempered man never rears goats. That was said because the goats move faster here and there and have very clumsy nature. So that, person with less patience can’t endure this tough business. But, if he can bear this hard labour, he may have a number of goats with in few months. I like serenity because it is about having unshakable firm stand to wards the distractive wave of life. It is about wholeheartedness, generosity and commitment.
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 ideas help me in all walks of my life in away that, they are principles of my life, my moral rules that I always try to keep them up.
4. Quotes; are there any statement which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
This statement most attracted my attention. Because, it holds the central idea of the text which is trying and trying and trying hopefully with patience continuously with out stoping; so that, the door of success will be opened for he who keep trying. This is a very important powerful message for the reader of this book to be understood and to be used as a principle of life.
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
It is very true statement that I have personally observing people even some of my friends; they say, we will do this and that this new year, or one may say, I will stop smoking just this packet in my pocket. Unfortunately, I see them keep doing what they want to give up for years. So it is true that, men want to have good and comfortable circumstances before they themselves are not good.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, If so, why?
Yes, If man is the master of himself and the creature or molder of his environment and his circumstances, what about the role of the environment he born or grown up in? For example, how can a child who born in a smoker, drinker and violent family and clumsy neighborhood adjust his mind positively or how he saw a good seed in his mind to be good?
6. Did the book contain exercise for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes of course, there are exercises to be completed by the readers. For example, do we act exactly the way we think in our mind? Or do we ever listen to our inner thought deep in our heart? For me these are the questions I have to ask myself or conduct introspection. I haven’t completed but I have started and I am walking on the way forth. It is also helpful for the reader to find themselves and what they really think.
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, but I indirectly raised it in question number 5, that is the role of environment in building one’s personality.
Please rate following questions on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Awol Allo Shelefa (USA)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea of the author is conveying the idea of transformation, about self empowerment, love and kindness, decision making, commitment and perfection. Bach strongly focused in his book hat, man has to first transform himself, empower himself and work hard as a model before thinking to change his society. He has to be a role model so that, his community get encouraged and motivated to work for change. It is an allegorical text in which the author used symbols to teach his idea. The new day for the seagulls started in a normal and habitual manner. A bright sunny and busy morning in which a traditional life of the society repeated unchangeable as many thousand years as before. The culture and the rules of the society kept unbroken for ages dared to be broken that sunny morning in the seagulls community. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull came to the front and decided to declare that he is free to learn what he can do and can’t do. He decided to live in unlimited universe and to strive for better life and even for perfection with out any restriction. “I don’t mind being bone and feathers mam. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.” The author tried to show that, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how dark the environment you live in, it is very crucial to work hard with the highest commitment to bring change and transform the society to the brighter future. This is the main point I learned from this text. Further more, I liked the way the author ascribed Jonathan to convey the idea of creating a model transformer or a practical leader in the society and this is also an important approach to discuss the problems in the society.
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. The idea of determination
This is a very important quality for someone who want to transform himself or herself from where he / she is to the more advanced life. It is a well discussed idea in the text by the main character Jonathon. He decided to break or transform the existing very traditional custom in his society by changing all the way thinking in his community. In the gulls community every activity or movement is concentrated on one single idea, that is flying to eat. As Jonathon’s father advised him “If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat.” However, for a long sighted and brilliant gull like Jonathon, flying is far more than flying to eat and then to comeback home. He want to go further far in advanced and more skillful way; flying to learn, to discover, and more over, to be free and perfect is his dream. He is very eager to learn speed flight, low flight, diving fast and flying through the dark which the gulls never dare to try. This is the most important part of the story for me because, it is only such courageous and determined individuals that dare to work differently and can succeed in transforming not only themselves but also their society. When I read this story, I remember the students from rural villages which are far away from schools. These students are from agro-pastoralist or pastoralist family. They walk and or run 10 – 15 kms double trip every day in average. They leave home at 6:00 AM in the morning for the morning class that started at 7:45 and ended at 6:30 pm. It is 8:00 or 8:30 pm when they reach home. Remember, they eat their brake fast before 6:00 am and eat their lunch after school at 8:00 pm or later. Then, they must go to work to help their family otherwise, most students will stop school because of their family’s economic situation or the families unwillingness to send their children to school due to lack of awareness. These children study their lesson and work their home work at night in spite of fatigue and boredom. Fortunately, some strong and brilliant students ultimately succeed and attain good positions and serve their society.
ii. The idea of commitment
The willingness to work hard with full energy and time is crucially important for self and society transformation. Jonathon extremely strive hard to learn and to discover to the extent that his mother worried for his being well. “why don’t you eat son? You are bone and feathers.” He is bone and feathers means, he seriously deal with his business without stoping. Since he decide to empower and make free himself from the ordinary life of his flocks as the agent of change, he has no time for the comfort of his body. It makes sense that struggling for freedom and perfection cost a lot more than body comfort. So it is important idea for me because it has a lesson for some one who wants to empower and make positive change in his life.
iii. The idea of decision making
Decision making is the core quality of a resistant or a change maker like Jonathon in the story. Jonathon, when he went off far out at sea from his flocks by himself, he decide to live alone, hungry, happy and learning. This type of life needs firm decision before to be started, unless the consequence is disaster and failure.
iv. Self empowerment
Is the idea of self authorization in which some one give himself the ability to control over their own life or act better in situation they are in. Jonathon flies like other gulls of his flocks. But, he decided to learn the best of flight and in the course of extensive practice he acquainted himself with different tactics of flight like: high speed and low speed flight, dive with high speed, dark flight, and more over he built his confidence of working freely and perfectly. As a flying creature, he flies with no limit of place and time. This is a good lesson and important idea for me in the way that, I can transform myself if I can take responsibility to empower myself and can make decision on how to lead my life.
v. The idea of role modeling
When Jonathon finally came back to his flocks showing what he learned very dramatically, he deserved not only appreciation and wonder but also he gradually won many followers. He taught them what he learned and transform them to the higher level of life. This is what attracted my attention and it is what I value in my life, practical leadership.
vi. Love and kindness
This idea is shared by Jonathon’s parent when they advised him to stop glide and focus on getting food so that he can survive the coming winter. It seems that love and kindness is inherited. Because, a child who grow in such a family, Jonathon show love and kindness to his fellow flocks in spite of being cast out by them before. He didn’t ignore them or take revenge for what they did to him out of ignorance. It is an acceptable idea I like and value.
vii. The idea of speed
I can say that speed is the subject of the text because, it is widely discussed through out the book. It is about modernizing or sophisticating something that we already have naturally and working for perfection like Jonathon advanced his flight. I believe the idea of speed in the text is about freedom and exceeding the limit of cultural barriers to civilization too. It is a noble idea that leads to new discoveries. I like it because it is doing things differently and efficiently.
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 lessons in the text are very much helpful for me in my daily bases and of course it assists me in enhancing myself, my families and the larger society by making them part of the rules of my life. Self transformation is the key idea in changing individuals life to create the better world which is a safe place for everybody. Being the father of three children, I am struggling to improve my educational level and capacity to deal with the problems of this world. Educating my children and my wife well is my responsibility and I like to do it better. To put these things in practice, it is unquestionable to be a good role model, good decision maker, and further more managing time and energy in order to succeed my goals. I believe that my children looking me practical and self transformer, they will easily walk on my foot step to perform their duties more than I do and will succeed more than I did.
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?
“The gull sees farthest who flies highest.”
This expression was made by one of the Jonathon’s friend called Sullivan. It attracts my attention that it shows the difference between individual’s attitude to wards the backward or uncivilized society. One hold sympathy, love and kindness, were as, the other has self centered and greedy idea. Jonathon Livingstone Gull who became perfect in speed flight, speed diving, dark flight with different tactic sympathetically decided to go back to help and raise his folks up. In the contrary, Sullivan seems to ignore those who are less civilized and leading ordinary life. He despised them as if they can’t see forward naturally. He advised his long sighted friend not to go back to his flocks and only work with the advanced group who are relatively educated and prosperous. Interestingly, the Jonathon’s idea won in the story that, it suggests the world should work together hand with hand to make our planet a safe and a peaceful home to live in.
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, of course, but, if I were a man of physics I may think other way round.
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?
Yes, as to my understanding the book left the readers with exercises of evaluating themselves. That is to ask themselves, who they are? What is the purpose of their life? How they are different? What did they contribute for better of this world? And so on. In my part, yes, I evaluated myself and many things are under the processes and needs more effort.
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.
No, I don’t have comment on it.
Please rate following questions on a scale of 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? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8