As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Felix Emmanuel (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea in this book is the immense powers of the human mind and how it is the seat of controls the entire man. The writer presents a man as simply the completed sum of all his thoughts. He demonstrates in different sections of the book, the control of our circumstances, economic conditions, blessedness or wretchedness, and health by the thoughts of our mind. He shows both the effects of good thought and the negatives of bad thoughts. He beautifully connects this powerful and all-controlling thought of the human mind to purpose without which according to the author, leads to failure and loss through weaknesses such as petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pitying. He furthers the discourse on steps to achievement by expounding on the need for planning to achieve his identified purpose in life. He discusses visions and ideals as product of human thought and how good visions and ideals have beautified our world and the need to cherish every vision and ideal one has.
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. Calmness
The writer refers to this as a beautiful jewel of wisdom. This wisdom teaches that a man is only a product of his thought, and that he is capable through the available resources of his mind to change his fate. I have learned this after some worries in the past. I have worried myself in the past about things like securing a good job after studies and most recently about posting for the compulsory one year National Youth Service in Nigeria. I have come to realize that if I cannot help a situation, it is best to approach it with calmness that can allow me clear thoughts to be more equipped to change the unfavorable situation.
ii. To cherish my vision
The writer strongly encourages that every good vision should be cherished and the vision bearer should work hard towards it. I have a great vision of becoming a national leader, to rule my country one day. The vision is not for now, but between this time and when I will become equipped to do so, I must hold the vision very dearly and keep working hard towards it.
iii. The idea of making things work for us: according to the writer, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right. This is particularly important to me as I live in a country were the citizens blame our fortunate situation on the leaders. Leading a people with this mindset requires that we do a conscious and diligent work targeted at changing this mindset of blame shift. It is very true that a change in the whole must start from changes in the component parts.
iv. The concepts of blessedness and wretchedness
The measure of right thought is not material possession but blessedness. A man can get rich and amass wealth by dubious means; there is no blessedness in this. Wealth is not the true test of positive thought. Blessedness is a product of riches gotten in the right way and put into wise usage. This is important to me as an aspiring leader in a country that is named among one of the most corrupt in the world. It teaches me that happiness and fulfillment does not come through ill-gotten wealth.
v. The concept of fighting against circumstance
This according to the writer is when a man continually revolt against an effect while he nourishes and preserves the cause of that effect in his heart. This is important to me once again because of my leadership vision. Many things are not right in my dear country, and the citizens complain about this all the time. However, a close study of the citizens reveals that the corruption and ills they complain about in the leaders are in them too. We must kill this bad culture in our minds first.
vi. The effect of thought on circumstance
The writer likened the human mind to a garden that has to be cared for to bring forth the flowers and fruit we desire; otherwise, it will produce undesired wild weeds. I learn to continually feed my minds with positive ideas and optimism. Things may be bad now (as they really are), however, I cannot cease to hope that the days to come will be brighter. I will continue to think positively of everything around until circumstances begin to respond to the power of my mind planned and carried out.
vii. The principles of riches and poverty
The principle of hard work is encouraged by the writer in this principle. Great things are achieved only after great sacrifices. Big dreams manifest through big efforts. This teaches me to consistently put in effort towards achieving my big vision. The result may not be felt immediately, but the hope of the little efforts cumulating into a great achieving in the days to come keep me going.
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 ideas discussed above have helped me in two practical ways; firstly in my personal life and then in helping me create a better world. In my personal life, the idea of calmness teaches me to face every situation with calm as it is the only right attitude in facing challenges. The idea of cherishing my vision encourages me to hold on my visions even in the face of discouraging happenings. Not many people may understand my dream, they may criticize it, they may tell me it is not attainable. But I have to cherish the vision of my mind and believe in the enormous power I have to influence everything around me.
In helping me create a better world, the idea of making things work encourages me to be the best of me for my world to work and function well. All that is needed to fix the world is to fix a man. The ideas of blessedness and wretchedness and riches and poverty teach me to be honest in all I do as wealth gathered in an ill-manner cannot guarantee a peaceful life. I have learnt to through proper acquisition of riches and wealth and the wise usage of it affect the lives of those around me positively.
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.
“As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of human springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.”
My thoughts are viable seeds; whether they are good or bad thoughts. The mind is also a fertile land for growing any kind of thought-seed.
“Humankind is always the master, even in their weaker and most abandoned state; but in their weakness and degradation they are the foolish masters who misgovern their household.”
I am simply the master of my fate. This teaches me not to blame anyone or anything for the things I am not able to achieve. I learn to be control of my affairs and leave nothing at all to chance.
“As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow.”
The will always be room for improvements and growths. At every stage in life, there will be things to do differently and better. The position I am now may not be the desired height in life, but I have learnt to grow at every stage.
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
This teaches me that my surrounding circumstances are largely because of who I am truly inside. If circumstances around me are not desired, I need to consult with the thoughts of my mind and my dreams once again.
“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.”
Doubt and fear could be very strong. Doubt may make one doubt his vision and dream and fear could keep one for daring to actualize the dreams his believes in. I learnt to believe and dare.
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. I consider that the writer was too simplistic about this quote from him “Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.”
Some people suffer not because of any wrong thought or action by them. People often become victim of others greed, oppression and vices.
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?
No, there were no exercises for the reader 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.
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? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Felix Emmanuel (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author conveys the idea of success through persistence and different despite criticism and challenges. The whole story focuses much on persistence portrayed by the character Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The first part opens with Jonathan persistently practicing how to fly limitlessly. He faltered, stalled and fell, it brought disgrace and dishonor, but he kept at it. This wonderful attribute of persistence is also demonstrated in Fletcher Seagull, the first student of Jonathan Seagull after he returned from his exile.
There were a lot of challenges the main character (Jonathan) face before achieving the fate he had. First it was the challenge of breaking the limit considered to be his nature. Seagulls were limited in their flying, but with dogged trial, Jonathan broke the limitation. Another great challenge was criticism, comher great challenge was criticism, complaints and ostracism from the flock. Even his mother complained “Why, Jon, why?” his mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the alhatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!” He was ultimately ostracized from the flock of seagulls, but this only allowed him more time to practice his desired skills more and later exposed him to other seagulls with his kind of desire who helped him perfect his skills. Success is the only result of any persistent attempt.
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. Persistence: the whole story is a classical example of the power of persistent.
Persistence is the act of doing something over and over again even when it appears not to be successful at the moment. Someone rightly said, if you fail nine times and succeed at the tenth time, you have not only learnt how it works but you have learnt nine ways it does not work. This is particularly important to me because I have tried many things in the past and have failed, however I am not discouraged from trying more.
ii. Many are contented but not necessarily fulfilled
The story depicts a whole flock of seagulls (except Jonathan) that were contended with just flying to the sea and back and fighting among themselves for food. This they did all their lives, they never thought of or attempted anything above that. This is important to me because I see a lot of people everyday going about happily in their mediocrity and finally dying silently as they lived. To be outstanding in life, one has to be discontented with the status quo and aspire for something more.
iii. Discouragement
It may set in some times: persistently doing one thing without immediate success could be discouraging. Our main character in the text was at some points discouraged. “When he came to, it was well after dark, and he floated in moonlight on the surface of the ocean. His wings were ragged bars of lead, but the weight of failure was even heavier on his back. He wished, feebly, that the weight could be just enough to drug him gently down to the bottom, and end it all.” At my points of discouragement, my only solace was my inner quest to be different and successful.
iv. When one accepts a limitation, the world places another one
When one resigns to fate because he feels he cannot break the limitation facing him, another limitation will always be placed, so that if he continues to accept those limitation, he will get to a point where he can do almost nothing at all. After Jonathan failed in his attempts in the midst of much criticism and complaints in the story, he decided to let go of everything and fly back home in the dark. However, another limitation was immediately set “Seagulls never fly in the dark!” I have entertained some limitation which I considered not too harmful to my dream, only to recognize shortly afterwards that one limitation only leads to another.
v. Sometimes the solution to our challenges is in the voice of discouragement that we hear.
Jonathan heard the voice of limitation telling him he cannot fly in the dark because he is a seagull. The voice said Get down! Seagulls never fly in the dark! If you were meant to fly in the dark, you’d have the eyes of an owl! You’d have charts for brains! You’d have a falcon’s short wings! This revealed the solution to Jonathan’s failure at this flight practices. He said “that’s the answer! What a fool I’ve been! All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and fly on just the tips alone! Short wings!”
vi. The power of our thoughts and imaginations
The human mind is immensely powerful. What one continually thinks of himself is what he actually becomes. “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. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.” What keeps me still daring is the resolve to be more than ordinary. I have always seen myself as created for the sky and like Jonathan I constantly practice how to get to the sky. The mind cannot be in vacuum as nature itself abhors vacuum. When we do not think positively of ourselves, negative thoughts and thoughts of limitation set in and we reduce ourselves.
vii. Success is rewarding
The prize for success is always more than the price of it. Once success is attained, the effort and toils become history to be remembered only for good. We see how rewarding the success Jonathan attained was; “with the same inner control, he flew through heavy sea-fogs and climbed above them into dazzling clear skies… in the very times when every other gull stood on the ground, knowing nothing but mist and rain. He learned to ride the high winds far inland, to dine there on delicate insects. What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid.” It feels good to be successful.
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 wonderful ideas in this book will help me both in my personal life and in my attempt at creating a better world in the following ways:
They will help me the more to be persistent as it takes deep digging to get goal. Great achievements are products consistent trials, sometimes with some failures. Creating a better world needs more effort than achieving a personal goal. To create any global impact, I will need to be painstaking and persistent as the success will yield even more slowly. I will need this virtue all along.
The idea of not being contented with the status quo will prompt me to desire for more, do more and achieve more. This may meet with criticisms as it will make me necessarily different sometimes, but the strong inner desire for more will keep me going.
Discouragements may set in sometimes because I am only human and most times we expect that our efforts yield immediate results. However this book has taught me to keep keeping on in moments of discouragements. It may be in the moments of discouragements that I will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The book has toughened me against any limitation that I may encounter as accepting one limitation may just be the gateway to more limitation being set. In the effort to build myself and position myself better to create a better world, I will rather look at the size of my dream than that of my limitations.
I have learned to see myself beyond both real and imagined limitations. The mind is powerful and a man slowly becomes who he thinks he is. I will think only of possibilities. Many of the things we enjoy today were once considered impossible. The world needs men that do not accept impossibilities. I have also learned to look out for the answers to the challenges I may face right in the midst of those challenges, Jonathan found the solution to his flight failure in the very voice of discouragement. The world is a very noisy place, but in its buzz, people have gotten wonderful inspiration that drove many world ideas into reality. I will be at alert for inspiration even in challenges.
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.
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
It demonstrates the fact that we are powerful beyond measures. I am encouraged to attempt anything because I am more a creature of excellence than seagulls. I can break my limitations and achieve the unconventional. I can do everything I set my mind to.
“Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can.”
This is important to me because it encapsulates the very idea behind mediocrity. Mediocre feel the world is complex beyond knowing and no effort can impact anything at all. Life certainly means more than eating to stay alive.
“No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.”
How powerful these words are! Many people are reluctant about attempting to make anything better in this world because they feel the world cannot be better, so they passively wait for a perfect heaven to come. We can do a lot together, whether we wait for a perfect heaven to come or we do not believe in it. In the interim, we ought to struggle for the perfection that betters our world.
“Keep working on love.”
These were the last words of Chiang to Jonathan. We can transform a lot with love. The powers of love are immeasurable; we can heal our planet and make it more habitable for us all through loving ourselves. Love teaches us to forgive and return to rebuild broken relationships like Jonathan. We can mend our broken relationships and fence the world against hate and inhumanity.
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.
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? No, there were no exercises for the reader 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.
No.
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? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10