As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Godwin Eze (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
In my opinion, the author of the book, “As a Man Thinketh” is trying to portray the inner essence of man on his environment! That every man has the ability to make or mar his environment or world or life with the way he thinks; this he summed up in the quote, “that they themselves are the makers of themselves.”
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 and Character
This is the bedrock of most of the things that constitute every individual or living being. Thought is a seed which cannot but germinate, it grows and this shapes the character of the specific being – be it consciously or unconsciously. The thinking faculty of a man needs to be trained lest he loses the power to decide which seed germinates and which withers. The mind spontaneously generates waves of idea but the being has the power to decide which of the thought factor he dwells and ponder upon. Character sometimes is the accumulation of by-products welling-forth from the context of the soul of men; sometimes, external factors tends to contribute to determining our characters, however, a larger part of our character is formed by the result of our thinking psychology – most times unconsciously. As a living being, we are meant to define what happens in our space, this can only be divine if we have worked diligently on disciplining our thinking pattern. The power of good and bad lives within us, no wonder the good book mentioned it that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh,” spiritually, we may use heart, and also it could also be referred to as mind the engine room of all that a living being thinks of..
ii. Power
There is a certain level of power invested in every living being. This is truth but because a good number of the living being have not come to fully understand how this works, many are yet to tap into that ah-ah feeling knowing fully well that they have the power to overcome whatsoever may come their way. The effect of this book on my person is that I will definitely pre-meditate on everything that comes out of me into my universe, the quality of my thought large affects the quality of my productivity if I am to apply the principles from this book into my life lessons. This quote “that humans are the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny” (curled from the book itself) speaks a whole lot about the power that invested in the being if only they can understand the force behind their thinking faculty.
Personally, this book has sparked the curiosity in me to redefine the ways I see things around me and align myself through and through to tapping the power that exists in me. The power to do more, the power to create from what existed not, to refractor and also destroy (if needs be), all exist in me if only I can tap into it. Good thing is, it all begins with the way I think.
iii. Understanding
“Thought in the mind hath made us, what we are by thought was wrought and built. If a man’s mind Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes. The wheel the ox behind if one endure in purity of thought, joy follows him as his own shadow sure.” The mind is the bank where our thoughts are made. We need to understand that race, color, ethnicity and affinity has literally nothing to do with whom we become. Religion either has nothing to do, for those of us who come from a culture where one must belong to a religious group (at least while growing up), some of us have been wired to believe that the religious group has a significant impact in whoever we grow up to be. Growing up in a community like that and coming across a book like this one, I have come to an understanding that the seeds that are planted by self (thought) must bring forth fruit, so I choose to harbor purity of thought. There is no magic wand in the things that happens to nature, they are product of decisions which can only be made after thoughtful considerations of its cons and pros.
iv. Wisdom
There is great wisdom in wanting to understand the power behind ones thought and character in shaping his world, environment. This could be a difficult thing to do, but we need to continually push for it. The human is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts. The human is made or unmade by him or herself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, the human ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and the human is their maker and master. Whatever thing happens to men, are the direct result of what they choose to conceal within their hearts. Little wonder why the good books mentioned “in all thy getting, get wisdom.” Wisdom appears to be the only tool to decipher when and how to do what.
v. Practice
Just like the book, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, practice is quite essential to be able to pull through on this journey. Let’s look at this quote, “A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.” It won’t happen overnight, once the consciousness is reached, man needs to constantly practice the act of positive thinking; he needs to consciously screen what goes into his mind and decide again what he invests into his environment from his thought faculty. Constantly practicing how he can adapt his mind to the regulating factor that he is the maker of his destiny (if he so chooses) and he can also be the destroyer of his space.
vi. Circumstances
This in my opinion is a big one. Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true of those who feel “out of harmony” with their surroundings as of those who are contented with them. Prior to reading this book, the exact opposite is applicable, it is fondly believed that circumstances decide or act as the barrier to shaping the best of our lives. We take circumstances to mean those heartbreaks, those disappointments, those failed attempts and all the headaches that caused sleepless night and subsequently led to less productivity in the place of work.
In the real sense, this is what happens, “As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.” It is clear that every place a being will appear in the course of his voyage in life, there exists a purpose for it; getting the best or worst scenario out of those location, environments, situations depends on how positive or negative his thought actions are towards the circumstance. To better reinforce this claim, there is a sneak peak into the journey of self discovery, once a man can easily understand that he is the maker of the outside factors, then he is truly understanding that his immediate vicinity is created by the quality of what he conceives inside of him. The book “As a Man Thinketh” has further opened my eyes to the understanding that I am the supreme maker of my world, my destiny and my environment through the quality of my thinking faculty.
vii. Purpose
No man is a waste of space, every man has got a purpose. I will delve into this sub-topic using a real life scenario. Most times, I find myself acting within a loop, I tend to involve myself in a whole lot of activities so long they get me fulfilled and after a couple of days, weeks and sometimes, months, I tend to feel unfulfilled within that circle any longer, I feel I am not meant to be there – and sometimes it leads me to be depressed and disconnected. This is when I start to critically think. In as much as we all have a purpose to fulfill, I have come to the realization of the fact that, circumstances do not necessarily mean the end of the world in the course of pursuing a purpose, it sends or should send a signal that the content and the context of the inner mind is either weak or not positive enough. So I chose to ensure that the quality of my thinking factor is what I constantly and consciously works on – because once this is corrected, the radiation that emanates from and through me brings nothing but positivity which shapes not just my world but also my environment, career and purpose.
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?
In literal terms, these will be like a seven points agenda that I need to always check with at the end of each day while this voyage last, I hope to be able to use these few skills in attending to the various challenges that will be coming my way on a daily basis during and after this course program.
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.
“Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, Peace, be still!”
Self-control as a tool means that I have the ability to tell any of my organs what to do and when to do it, regardless of what amount of pressure is mounted on that particular part of me. This is what defines me and I can extend this mindset to the entire environment. It will reshape my relationships, my excesses and my weaknesses because I now know the quality and the quantity of what I am supposed to invest and how best to invest them and where to invest what.
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?
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? 9
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 Godwin Eze (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
In my own opinion, the author of this book “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull” is trying to paint the pictures of the battles we fight in the journey of self-discovery & mastery.
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. Community
Every individual once belonged and will continually belong to a community regardless of age, race or color. Sometimes we tend to live within the perceived norms of those communities as against our inner essence of doing more and being more. In anyway, from the book under review, ‘Jonathan Livingstone Seagull’, we can realize that two communities played a significant role in the journey of Jonathan’s self-discovery. The first believed they are supposed to live under the standards set by their grandparents and as such are not meant to fly, while the other believe that one can achieve perfection in their abilities. Lessons from this is multiple facet which I will summarize thus:
Never stop learning new skills regardless of the community setbacks, at the appropriate time, be open to more explorations so that at any given opportunity, you can maximize the true potentials of what you have learnt rather than limiting yourself believing that is what you are made for. Secondly, while it is believed that the community we live in has a significant input in our various journeys, we have to be careful of what we subject ourselves to believe as a result of belonging to one community or the other. That the entire community believed it to be a way of life, is not enough for us to trust that same process to be the magic wand that will lead us to our promised destination.
ii. Curiosity
Joe encountered various challenges ranging from inability to control his speed to unhealthy landing, but curiosity led him to wanting to explore the possibilities of maneuvering using his wings and it worked well for him. There is no such thing like impossibility if only you are curious to check what is in the other side of Fear. Lesson in this is the need to take calculated risk at times, sometimes one may fail, but in-so-far the discovery has not been made, the curiosity won’t be satisfied and it pushes me to want to know more and learn more.
iii. Zeal to do More
Even when Joe has outrightly become the highest flyer in the community of the gulls, he didn’t see it as a great achievement and compete to rule in that same community even after been banished! Like what happens in our various communities nowadays, once there applies to be a faction between the performing ones (brilliant and creative in the community), they tend to create rivalry against the leaders in an attempt to discredit their ideology and beliefs. Joe didn’t settle for that, instead, he fanned into flame the zeal to learn more by attempting to explore the other sides of the ocean and lo, he met those who are willing to teach him what he needs to know. Lesson here is to never limit myself to a circle of what I think I know, the zeal to know more should constantly be rekindled.
Even after being banished from the community where he grew up, after picking up a few new more lessons he was willing to go back “home” and train younger gulls (who may be interested to learn), the craft that has brought him into limelight. With this singular feature of his, he is sure will get his ingenuity passed on to even generations coming after him. It could be likened to presuming that every human has a default configuration which must be tweaked if the said person must reach the state of mastery in any chosen field in life, the zeal to do more is simply that fire that sparks the curiosity to carry out this tweak and push for greater achievements.
iv. Facing the Unknown
In life, we all have challenges, we all encounter setbacks in our various journey, sometimes it feels like we are loosing the batter. Jonathan experienced this same feeling when he was banished from his home community, he had no place to go, he was considered a traitor, “the brotherhood was broken, the gulls intoned together, and with one accord they solemnly closed their ears and turned their backs upon him”. He must have felt broken and devastated, he has been considered a waste of space, however, he was prepared to face the unknown, take up the challenge and become from ordinary gull to the extraordinary gory of flight that awaits him. Here exists for me a great lesson, knowing fully well that those setbacks and challenges will come as a matter of nature, I shouldn’t see those challenges and setbacks as the problem instead, my reactions towards those challenges are actually supposed to be the main concern if I must attain my dream height as a person. In the case of Joe, he saw it as an opportunity to be free, he needed to see what lies at the other side of the shore, though, as human, these challenges sometimes comes as a big blow that we find it difficult to withstand its impact, the certain truth is “there is always opportunities to rise back on our feet.”
It is solely my decision to either choose to rise or choose to remain on the floor lamenting out of the weight of the impact of the blow. Henceforth, I choose to look at challenges as a passing factor that needs to be attended to if a man must reach his full potential either as a leader or a follower. Through the impact of this book, I have also solely decided to invest my abilities in putting every ugly events behind me, pick up the lessons from such events and soar higher, in the case of Jonathan, little or nothing did he know about what lies ahead, yet he plunged into the Unknown and spread his wings. That is the attitude of a true champion!
v. Learning
Every event in one’s life is an avenue to learn. The disappointments, setbacks, the challenges are all factors that led Joe into becoming not just a gull but a gull with a distinguished class. Joe while facing the unknown, encountered some other birds who are almost as skilled as himself, yet he opened himself to learn from them not minding if they belonged to his race or not. I will choose to be opened to learning through the various challenges that comes my way regardless of how tense the challenges could be.
vi. Practice
This is one of the best trait practiced by Joe throughout this book, he started off by learning the basic flying skills haven known that, he didn’t become redundant believing he has learnt all that he needs to know because he is the only one amongst the whole community that practice flying of that height, he keeps practicing and in the process he realized he can learn new skills while practicing the few he already know. We can’t keep locking ourselves up in the purgatory of learning without creating avenue to practice the few we had learnt already. Even though, Jonathan would be among those that should parade himself as “Self Taught,” he didn’t limit himself to just learning without practicing. It will be worth it to say that most of new discoveries in his journey were made while practicing various stunts he unconsciously learned throughout his career journey. As a person, I have consumed plenty of books and tutorials in my field of study but haven’t been able to build a solution from those wealth of “experience” I should have garnered through reading that much tutorials, this singular book has sparked the curiosity and zeal in me to build a solution, no matter how small it could be, I believe that during this time of practicing, I will encounter real life problem and that’s where my ingenuity will come to play.
vii. Exploration
The last but not the least I would be sharing from the core lessons from the book, “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull” will be capped under the term Exploration. It will be recalled that the gulls are all concerned with what they will eat, even Jonathan father told Jonathan, “don’t you know that the reason you fly is to get food?” If the reason for flying is simply because of food, then why should Jonathan be thinking of flying when all they need for food are the tiny fishes in the river? Jonathan on the other side started looking out for what exist on the land, on the seashore, on the mountains and hills around the ocean, he wanted to know more, he wanted to learn his immediate environment, he simply wanted to explore more!
After knowing a bit or two about his immediate environment, the biggest blow of his life as at that time came, he was banished, but for those singular act of exploration which he already had, he could as well choose to live on the hills and mountains around his community pack, he still chose to do more exploration and discover more. From the experience of Jonathan, exploration is another channel of education; it gives us the opportunity to learn the cultures and the ideology of various other communities. From this discovery, I have chosen to never limit my scope to my immediate environment.
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?
In literal terms, these will be like a seven points agenda that I need to always check with at the end of each day while this voyage last, I hope to be able to use these few skills in attending to the various challenges that will coming my way on a daily basis.
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.
“Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time, heaven is being perfect!”
The world is where it is today because we all are in a haste to reach a destination, not fully understanding that life in itself is a journey to be enjoyed. This gives me the urge to diligently invest the appropriate time and resources into becoming better as a person and most importantly as a leader.
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?
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? 9
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