Favour-Hope Noah – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Favour-Hope Noah (Nigeria)

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

Asides from embracing the whole of mankind’s being, “As a man thinketh” is also comprehensive as it reaches out to every condition and circumstance of life. As the plant can not be without the seed, so is every act of a human springs from the hidden seeds of thought and could not have appeared without them. A person is literally what s/he thinks, His/her character being the complete sum of all his/her thoughts.

Man is a product of his choice and decision whether good or bad. For every choice a person makes, there’s a consequence and for every decision of man there’s a destination.
Thought is the seed for action. If you can control the cause – you can control the effect. The main message of this concise, yet powerful, book is: the quality of your thoughts determine your quality of life. If your thoughts are pure and good, your life will also be good; and vice versa.

“Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will produce their kind.”

The author maintains: The man is the master of thought, the molder of character, the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny. He compares the human mind with a garden and the man with a gardener. Just like a gardener removes the weeds from his garden so must we discard the impure and useless thoughts from our mind and must concentrate on cultivating the useful and pure thoughts. By the right choice and true application of thoughts, man ascends towards perfection.

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. If you would protect your body, guard your mind.

If you would renew your body, beautify your mind. Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace. A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts. Wrinkles that mar are drawn by folly, passion and pride.

ii. Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set.

This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his or her object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life?

iii. Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.

iv. Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life.

v. Let a man cease from these sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and so, opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame.

vi. There is no physician like cheerful thought for dissipating the ills of the body; there is no comforter to compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow.

To live continually in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be confined in a self made prison-hole. But to think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor.

vii. A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.

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 Ideal will help me properly position my thought to be well structure.

As much as it’s not every food I must eat the same is the information I feed my mind with and be careful of the information I feed on.

I have understood now that my thought determines my reality. What I think on is what I become. I have known now that I have to think wisely to become wise.

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 beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis: “You may be keeping accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience; the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on your fingers and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration. You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city-bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to teach you.’ And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of great things while driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the world.”

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”

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

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?

None.

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?

I found the book very helpful to read.

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 universe does not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to prove and know it, the individual has but to persist in making himself more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts. Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge, or for beautiful and true in life and nature.

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? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Favour-Hope Noah

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

Ever heard of the expression “thinking out of the box?” It means going beyond the accepted limits of imagination and daring to explore new possibilities. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is such an out-of-the-box thinker. He discovered that for those who dare to dream, even the sky is not the limit. The main idea is that we can all be so much more than we believe. That God or fortune, if you wish – is on the side of the bold, the adventurous and the free in spirit. Seagulls are basically scavengers that inhabit the seashore, feeding off the debris that the sea throws out.

Jonathan lived as all seagulls do in a flock. This flock like any other was quite unremarkable and Like all other seagulls, the members of this flock fed, bred and flew south in the cold winter months. But Jonathan sensed, in the core of his being, that there could be more to life. There is more to life than what we currently see now. We may not look like it yet but with perseverance and patience we would always reach the top.

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 human spirit was meant to strive and achieve great things. There is, in each of us, a still, small voice that tells us “No. That’s not all there is to it. You were meant to live life to the fullest. Abundantly.”

When we hear that voice, we feel cheated. We realize the truth of it, but we feel helpless to obey which simply implies that there’s a dominant force inside of us that instruct which way to go. For Instance, my decision to take this program was a war as the decision was based on the time factor but then I had to listen to my inner voice to guide me through.

ii. We can achieve anything if we’re willing to abandon our own delusional, self-limiting story and tune into a higher bandwidth.

We have the option to live our lives beyond a flock that is bound by chains of fearful, intimidated limitations. We can be super-charged by empowerment from beyond ourselves.

iii. Jonathan’s answer was that he was not content with mediocrity, especially if he knew that he could attain greater heights. The rest of the flock became very angry with him – they called him a dreamer who did not know the realities of life. When he insisted on pursuing his vision, they cast him out of the flock.

Following the crowd is a path to mediocrity, we must be able to dream and focus on our vision without losing focus. A lot of people are going to leave us just because we want to attain a great height but we shouldn’t get carry away because the way of success is a path of low or no crowd.

iv. Jonathan Livingston Seagull decided that he wanted to claim the Promise now. He wanted the power to fly higher than he had ever flown, to see sights he had never seen.

My lesson from here is that I have to have a curious mind and have a heart that desire great things. To lead ahead I have to see ahead.

v. Human beings have limited capabilities – but then, we only think of the capabilities we have actually demonstrated. We never think of the possibility of hidden capabilities that never see the light of day because they are not called upon.

Our ability is in our capability which we have the capacity to bring forth, there’s a whole lot of things inside of us that we fail to recognize talk less of using them. We are embodied with so much potential. We carry the gene of greatness in us, the gene of possibilities, the gene of victory so much of value inside of us that we failed to use. It’s time we awake the giant within us and put them to work as there is so much treasure inside of us.

vi. Jonathan’s belief in the Promise convinced him that the power to achieve his dream would be given to him if he put in diligent effort. He was a changed bird; he suddenly felt that he was no longer alone, so he practiced flying higher. Now that was a painstaking process, but something had changed.

Great things required diligence and discipline. To get to a higher height we must keep taking action and practicing, little practice consistently done over time lead to perfection with time.

vii. We should have confidence in ourselves but more importantly we should have confidence in a force that is greater than us; the supreme being. Our power are limited but relying on a greater power speedy our way to the top.

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?

Preparation is key, if I want to have a picture of the future I want to feature in, then I have to always prepare like it can be a reality in the next second.

These ideas will help me to prepare more for the greater heights I am aiming for, I should be prepared always! This implies that I should prepare for the future I prefer. “I should dress for the future I want to address.”

Preparation helps in getting me ready to dominate and achieve my dream when the opportunity shows up. Though it takes patient, perseverance, discipline, diligence and commitment to get to the top.There is a popular saying that one may not get a second chance to make a first impression. I should always dress in the robe of the future I want to feature in.

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.

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”

“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, Jonathan would say, other times, is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see.”

“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”

“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”

“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”

“Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too. We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.”

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?

Jonathan had heard of the Great Seagull, of course. It meant nothing to him, but there was a question that did haunt him the question that haunts us all when we have nothing to distract ourselves with. The question we ask ourselves when, for some reason or the other, we find ourselves having sleepless nights. The flock asked itself no such questions. The mundane preoccupations of life had them too much in thrall to consider deeper questions. But Jonathan knew that he could drink deeper of life than they did.

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?

The suggestions of this book are very helpful and good to learn.

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 seagull was bored with the mundane struggle for food every day and disheartened by the lack lustre passion-less lives the seagulls around him love and expect him to conform to. The lack of encouragement from his fellow folk does not deter him from following his passion and he continually keeps pushing himself to learn all he can about flying.
This lack of conforming to the norms does not go down well with his folks and he is subsequently expelled from the flock, bringing shame to his family. A new outcast but free nonetheless, he continues to learn, coming closer and closer to his goal of achieving perfection.

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? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8