As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Jenifer Ndindi (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
As the title suggests, the book is about how your thoughts influence your results in life. Allen explains that we are where we are in life because of our thoughts, and if we are in an undesirable situation, we have the power to change our circumstances by changing our thoughts because we are the directors of our lives, and masters of our thoughts.
The main message from “As a Man Thinketh” is that your thought patterns have a significant influence on your quality of life. Our ability to control our thoughts can give rise to great achievements, peace of mind, and even happiness. Our minds and what we think about can also lead to our destruction. Bad thinking can lead to terrible mistakes that harm ourselves and others.
Allen explains this in several parts of the book by comparing thought to a seed, it’s the beginning that leads to a result. What we think triggers an emotion, which often encourages an action. For example, if you feel inspired, you might be moved to start something new. The more you act a certain way, the more it becomes natural to you. Over time, those actions shape your character and influence your circumstances.
Purpose helps us understand why we do what we do, and gives us direction when setting goals and working to achieve them. If we chase achievements without a clear sense of direction, it’s easy to be overcome by worry, fear, confusion, or self-pity. And when those emotions take over, we might experience failure, loss, or unhappiness.
Allen suggests that every human needs to define a purpose; something meaningful that helps them make their mark in the world. Whatever we see as our duty to the world should be central to that purpose. Our thoughts should always be tied to it.
We shouldn’t let our minds wander to empty longings or passing fancies. That’s how we preserve self-control and true concentration. If we cherish our dreams and the things we want to achieve, we’re more likely to reach them. Allen suggests this is because when we obsess over our visions, we feel like we have to act, we can’t rest until we work toward making them real. For example, Columbus likely discovered other parts of the world because he was so consumed by his vision of another world, he couldn’t stop until he found it.
Allen encourages you to cherish all the good visions you have for yourself. In doing so, you’ll likely achieve them. Even if your current circumstances seem bad, they won’t stay that way if you allow yourself to dream of beautiful possibilities. We should recognize that the people around us who reached their goals did so because of the power of thought. Their thoughts stayed locked onto their vision, despite challenges and setbacks. Their belief gave them strength and the will to keep pushing forward.
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 Law of Being
The Core Idea: A person’s character is the complete sum of their thoughts, and their actions are the “blossom” of these hidden seeds.
Analysis: Allen argues that virtuous thoughts produce a noble life, while negative, “groveling” thoughts produce misery. There is no element of chance; as a person thinks in their heart, so they are.
Takeaway: To change your life, you cannot simply change your actions; you must first change your thought patterns.
ii. The Law of Cultivation
The Core Idea: The mind is a garden that will bring forth fruits regardless of whether it is cultivated or neglected.
Analysis: If a person does not purposefully plant good seeds (positive thoughts), weeds (negative thoughts) will naturally take over. You are the master gardener of your own soul.
Takeaway: Active, conscious cultivation of positive, pure, and constructive thoughts is required to prevent mental decay
iii. The Law of Reflection
The Core Idea: Circumstances do not dictate a person’s reality; they reveal the person to themselves.
Analysis: People often blame their external environment for their failures, but Allen argues that one only suffers when they are “out of harmony” with themselves. People attract what they are, not what they want.
Takeaway: You are not a victim of circumstances; you are the architect of your own destiny, and you can shape your life by changing your inner state.
iv. Thoughts Affect Health and the Body
The Core Idea: The body is a servant of the mind, and sickness is a manifestation of thought.
Analysis: Fear, anxiety, and impure thoughts rapidly shatter the nervous system, while joyful, serene thoughts build a healthy, vibrant body.
Takeaway: If you want to protect your physical body, you must first guard your mind against negative emotions like envy and worry.
v. Thought and Purpose
The Core Idea: Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment.
Analysis: Aimlessness is a “vice” that leads to ruin. A person must identify a clear, constructive purpose for their life and focus their energies on it, rejecting distraction.
Takeaway: Conquering doubt and fear is essential, and doing so turns the mind into a “creative force.”
vi. Your thoughts create your reality.
The way you think about yourself and the world around you will have a profound impact on your life. If you think negative thoughts, you will create a negative reality for yourself. If you think positive thoughts, you will create a positive reality for yourself.
vii. You are what you think.
Your thoughts are not just words in your head. They are powerful forces that shape your character and your circumstances. The more you think about something, the more it becomes a part of you.
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?
You can change your thoughts. You are not stuck with the thoughts that you have. You can change your thoughts by paying attention to them and by choosing to think different thoughts. Your thoughts are seeds that grow into actions. The thoughts that you think will eventually manifest themselves in your actions. If you think negative thoughts, you will eventually act in a negative way. If you think positive thoughts, you will eventually act in a positive way.
You are responsible for your thoughts. You are the only one who is responsible for the thoughts that you think. No one else can make you think a certain way. You can control your thoughts. You can control your thoughts by paying attention to them and by choosing to think different thoughts.
You can change your life by changing your thoughts. If you change your thoughts, you will change your life. You will become a different person with a different reality.
These are just a few of the lessons that can be learned from As a Man Thinketh. If you’re looking for a way to improve your life, I highly recommend reading the book. It’s full of valuable insights and advice that can help you achieve your goals.
These ideas will help me nurture my brain and be more positive and focused.
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.
“Impure thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervating and confusing habits, which solidify into distracting and adverse circumstances: thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence, and slavish dependence: lazy thoughts crystallize into habits of uncleanliness and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of foulness and beggary: hateful and condemnatory thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of injury and persecution: selfish thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of self-seeking, which solidify into circumstances more or less distressing. On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances: pure thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and peace: thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom: energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness.”
“A strong man cannot help a weaker person unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”
“Act is the blossom of thought; and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and biter fruitage of his own husbandry”
“The strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.”
“Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.”
“The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state…Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
“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 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 the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.
“Man is made or unmade by himself; 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.”
“The thoughtless, the ignorant, and indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of law, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, How lucky he is! Observing another become intellectual they exclaim,
How highly favored he is! And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, How chance aids him at every turn!” They don’t see the trials and failures and the struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heart aches; they only see the light and the Joy, and they call it “luck;” do not see the longing arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it “good fortune;” do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it “chance”.”
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?
It’s well covered and good to read.
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 book contains a life time exercise that will make me improve my thinking ways and make maximum use of it.
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 book is easy to analyze and understand.
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
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Jenifer Ndindi (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book is about Jonathan Livingston Seagull, one of the many seagulls from the Breakfast Flock colony. The gulls dodged and fought for food off the fishing boats, except for Jonathan Livingston, who would practice soaring into the sky, doing various maneuvers not intended for gulls. Jonathan would soar and then glide. Though he stalled and fell many times, he picked himself up and practiced some more. He learned from his mistakes and kept on “course correcting.”
Though Jonathan failed many times, got discouraged and tried to conform, the passion, fire in his belly, and the drive to be better, forced him to try harder. Being a very introspective gull, he would deconstruct to determine what he did and make improvements. One day he went too far, so thought the Council Gathering who summoned him to Stand to Center for Shame. Jonathan was banished from the colony.
Though Jonathan Livingston Seagull had to leave the flock because he was banished, he believed in his dream and continued to live it. He kept on practicing his flight. Eventually he met other seagulls who were banished as well from other colonies. And he took the time to train them. Jonathan continued to learn. He was able to master himself. He also learned about love. He went back to his Flock, to see if there were other outcasts who he could help.
It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water. and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning. But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one… single… more… inch. of curve. Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell. Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor.
But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve – slowing, slowing, and stalling once more – was no ordinary bird.
Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of low-level glides, experimenting.
He didn’t know why, for instance, but when he flew at altitudes less than half his wingspan above the water, he could stay in the air longer, with less effort. His glides ended not with the usual feet-down splash into the sea, but with a long flat wake as he touched the surface with his feet tightly streamlined against his body. When he began sliding in to feet-up landings on the beach, then pacing the length of his slide in the sand, his parents were very much dismayed indeed.
“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!”
“I don’t mind being bone and feathers mom. 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.”
“See here Jonathan said his father not unkindly. Winter isn’t far away. Boats will be few and the surface fish will be swimming deep. 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.”
Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn’t make it work. It’s all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I could be spending all this time learning to fly. There’s so much to learn!
It wasn’t long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. The subject was speed, and in a week’s practice he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive. When Jonathan Seagull joined the Flock on the beach, it was full night. He was dizzy and terribly tired. Yet in delight he flew a loop to landing, with a snap roll just before touchdown. When they hear of it, he thought, of the Breakthrough, they’ll be wild with joy. How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s a reason to life! 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! The years ahead hummed and glowed with promise. The gulls were flocked into the Council Gathering when he landed, and apparently had been so flocked for some time. They were, in fact, waiting.
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull! Stand to Center! The Elder’s words sounded in a voice of highest ceremony. Stand to Center meant only great shame or great honor. Stand to Center for Honor was the way the gulls’ foremost leaders were marked. Of course, he thought, the Breakfast Flock this morning; they saw the Breakthrough! But I want no honors. I have no wish to be leader. I want only to share what I’ve found, to show those horizons out ahead for us all. He stepped forward. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, said the Elder, “Stand to Center for Shame in the sight of your fellow gulls!”
It felt like being hit with a board. His knees went weak, his feathers sagged, there was roaring in his ears. Centered for shame? Impossible! The Breakthrough! They can’t understand! They’re wrong, they’re wrong!
“… for his reckless irresponsibility ” the solemn voice intoned, “violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family…”
To be centered for shame meant that he would be cast out of gull society, banished to a solitary life on the Far Cliffs.
“… one day Jonathan Livingston Seagull, you shall learn that irresponsibility does not pay. 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.”
A seagull never speaks back to the Council Flock, but it was Jonathan’s voice raised. “Irresponsibility? My brothers!” he cried. “Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live – to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I’ve found…”
The Flock might as well have been stone.
“The Brotherhood is broken,” the gulls intoned together, and with one accord they solemnly closed their ears and turned their backs upon him.
Jonathan Seagull spent the rest of his days alone, but he flew way out beyond the Far Cliffs. His one sorrow was not solituile, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see. He learned more each day. He learned that a streamlined high-speed dive could bring him to find the rare and tasty fish that schooled ten feet below the surface of the ocean: he no longer needed fishing boats and stale bread for survival. He learned to sleep in the air, setting a course at night across the offshore wind, covering a hundred miles from sunset to sunrise. 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. Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.
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. Individualism vs. Conformity
Jonathan defies the “Breakfast Flock” to pursue his passion for flight, embodying the struggle between personal ambition and rigid societal expectations.
ii. The Pursuit of Perfection
The book highlights that life is not about survival (eating), but about mastering one’s skill, knowledge, and potential.
iii. Freedom and Transcendence
Flight serves as a metaphor for spiritual freedom and breaking through self-imposed mental boundaries.
iv. Mentorship and Enlightenment
After achieving a higher state of consciousness, Jonathan returns to teach others, focusing on compassion, breaking the cycle of exile, and mentoring, specifically guiding the young seagull, Fletcher.
v. Exile
For refusing to conform to the flock’s rules, Jonathan is cast out.
vi. Higher Learning
He enters a new, metaphysical society of like-minded, advanced gulls who focus on speed and the “mind” over body.
vii. Return
He returns as a teacher to help other outcasts find their own potential, eventually leaving a legacy of freedom rather than just a cult of personality
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?
Key Lessons from This Book:
Master the fundamentals in your field and then build on that.
Experiment until you get “it” right, and “it” depends on your role in life.
Know and master yourself; know what you can and cannot do – and work to push beyond your limits one step at-a-time.
You have the capacity for much more than you think, so keep challenging yourself.
Learn from you failures.
It’s okay to break promises to yourself if they no longer serve you.
Embrace your passions.
Let go of the life that no longer serves you.
Embrace new ideas and ways of doing things.
Never stop learning.
The book is packed with many profound lessons. This book reminds me of the importance of giving back. Of teaching what you know to others. Everyone is unique. And you have knowledge and experience that others do not have. It’s up to you to share your gifts.
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
“For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself.”
“For a long time Jonathan forgot about the world that he had come from, that place where the Flock lived with its eyes tightly shut to the joy of flight, using its wings as means to the end of finding and fighting for food. But now and then, just for a moment, he remembered.”
“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch the perfect speed. And it 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.
“Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve; slowing, slowing, and stalling once more–was no ordinary bird.”
“By morning the Flock had forgotten its insanity, but Fletcher had not. ‘Jonathan, remember what you said a long time ago, about loving the Flock enough to return to it and help it learn?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘I don’t understand how you manage to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you.’ ‘Oh, Fletch, you don’t love that! You don’t love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by love. It’s fun, when you get the knack of it.”
“And though he tried to look properly severe for his students, Fletcher Seagull suddenly saw them all as they really were, just for a moment, and he more than liked, he loved what it was he saw.”
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?
It’s well covered and good to read.
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 book contains a life time exercise that will make me improve my personal skills
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 book is easy to analyses and understand
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