As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Lilian Syombua (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
James Allen (1864-1912) was an Englishman who retired from the business world to pursue writing and philosophy. James is best known for As a Man Thinketh, but he wrote several other books on the power of thought to increase one’s capabilities. He is considered a pioneer of the self-help movement.
About As a Man Thinketh
As a Man Thinketh is a self-help book by James Allen. It was published in 1903. According to Allen, the book is not intended as a complete essay on the power of thought. But rather, it is intended to help men and women realize that “they themselves are makers of themselves” through their own thoughts. The title of the book is based on this quote from the Bible. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”
The book is organized into 7 chapters:
1. Thought and Character
2. Effect of Thought on Circumstance
3. Effect of Thought on Health and Body
4. Thought and Purpose
5. The Thought-Factor in Achievement
6. Visions and Ideals
7. Serenity
How you experience everything in life flows from your mind’s thoughts.
Thought leads to actions that lead to circumstances.
Want to change your circumstances? Change your actions.
Want to change your actions? Change your thoughts.
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. Lesson 1: What you do is the result of what you think.
The very first argument Allen lays out is that man is the sum of his thoughts. Just like tiny seeds turn into big plants, a single thought often turns into a major decision, which makes your thoughts the roots of your actions. Over time, these actions shape into patterns, which will eventually make up our character. This is why most pessimistic people tend to give up more easily on the things they care about, because your attitude and your actions are directly linked to one another. If you don’t start out with confidence and expect very little of yourself, that’s exactly what you’ll deliver.
But if your thoughts shape your actions, then by changing your thoughts, you can change your actions and subsequently, your character too! The time to start weeding out bad thoughts is right now. Today is the day to stop accepting negative thoughts as normal and fight back. Take control of your mind, and you’ll take control of your life.
ii. Effect of Thought and Circumstance
iii. Lesson 2: You shape the world just as much as it shapes you.
The reason your thoughts and actions are so deeply connected is because they live in a constant cause-and-effect relationship with the outside world. What does that mean? You might see your life as mostly determined by external factors. The weather, the economy, politics, your co-workers, your boss, whether you have good luck or bad luck, your life depends on so many things you can’t influence. But it’s not as black and white as that. Playing the victim is easy. You can just push off responsibility and blame the world for everything.
In reality, your thoughts, your actions, your character, they all take at least as much influence on the world, as the world does on you. The thoughts and attitudes you have are what lead you into the situations of your life, some of which you then end up assigning to good or bad luck, when it’s really yourself that got you there. Therefore, you can’t describe a person’s character just by looking at the environment she lives in, or predict the circumstances she’ll end up in, because of the way she is. There are many admirable and probably genuinely good people in jail, while some greedy bastards live happily off other peoples’ misery.
iv. Lesson 3: Be careful what you think, it might make you age faster.
A crucial aspect almost no one looks at when examining thoughts is your health. When we talk about the power of positive thinking, we usually speak of affirmations, goals, priorities, etc. But not about health.
Yet, what you think massively impacts your heart rate, sleep, chronic pains like migraines and your skin. Yes, you can think yourself to wrinkly skin. Do you know that saying “be careful what you wish for?” This book extends it to “be careful what you think about.” On the other hand, thinking very positively and dwelling on energizing thoughts can keep you young. So take every chance you get to weed out negative thoughts. Pretend your mind is a garden, and everything that doesn’t help it grow has to go. You’ll thank yourself for years to come.
v. The Thought Factor in Achievements
vi. Vision and Ideals
vii. Serenity
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 will help me know that my brain and what I think I should be more alert.
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.
“As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.”
“Act is the blossom of thought; and joy and suffering are its fruits.”
“Man is made or unmade by himself.”
“Man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.”
“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 continue to produce their kind.”
“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.”
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”
“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.”
“Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life; and righteousness, not corruption, is the molding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world.”
“The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colors, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.”
“A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.”
“As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.”
“Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.”
“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.”
“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that 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.”
“By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends.”
“He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
“Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.”
“Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.”
“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve.”
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”
“People will always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanor is strongly equable.”
“The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.”
“Only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.”
“Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power.”
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?
The book is 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 author states that our brain is the key to anything we want in life, good things are manifested in our brain
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 very clear and well understood.
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 Lilian Syombua (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
Richard paints a glorious picture of what most people would see when they view a flock of seagulls. But then he takes us right into the lone seagull ripping through the wind learning how to fly with accuracy and precision. But this story is way more than that.
Almost right away, as the reader, you can glean the message Richard Bach is going for.
Not only does Jonathan love to fly, he has pushed himself to new limits by experimenting with flight. Not everyone will understand what your passion is. Not everyone will understand the need to push yourself through challenges and to new opportunities.
Not everyone will be comfortable with leaving their comfort zone. Some people are just destined to split off from the norm and challenge themselves. Jonathan was praised for flying so passionately, claiming he could do so unlike any other seagull in history.
The book’s portrayal of going after what you love, even if it means leaving behind people who don’t understand, it’s an important message. I think many people can relate to this, especially those who would like to follow their passion but are afraid they might be judged by others.
This book reminds us that, in the pursuit of the dreams, in leaving behind people who just don’t fit into that dream, you will always find like-minded people who are as passionate as you. If you need reminding that the path you are going on (no matter how crazy or lofty) is worth going on, this is the book for you.
Also, we hear this All the time. Practice makes perfect. Practice gives you the ability to teach others. Practice makes you a professional. If you feel like the skill or passion you’re going after is something that is taking a long time to learn, be patient with yourself. Keep practicing. You will only get better with practice.
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. Self-Determination Through Mind, Body, and Spirit
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an ode to self-determination through transcendence of the body and discovery of the limitless nature of the mind and the spirit. Seagull longs to be in control of his own life and govern himself independently of his hegemonic, small-minded Flock. His experiments in airborne acrobatics begin as a way to distinguish himself from the rest of the group and explore the possibilities of his small life. However, as Jonathan becomes a more serious flier and eventually ascends to a new plane of existence where mystical, gleaming gulls practice flight in peace all day long, he realizes that flight is a means of integrating his mind, body, and spirit as one singular entity. Through Jonathan’s journey toward self-discovery and self-determination, Bach uses Jonathan Livingston Seagull to make the controversial argument that the self; the product of mind, body, and spirit in perfect harmony is a limitless entity that reaches its fullest potential when they are united in harmony with one another. Though the specifics of how to achieve this integration are left vague and intentionally circular (Jonathan achieves transcendence of his physical limitations in the instant that he tells himself he is unlimited and truly believes it), Bach uses Jonathan’s journey toward perfection as a means of illustrating the importance of striving to align one’s mind, body, and spirit in synchronicity.
At the start of the novel, it seems as if Jonathan’s journey will be one simply of learning increasingly complicated aerodynamic tricks. As Jonathan becomes a more accomplished flier, though, he is recruited by a group of gulls on a higher plane of existence who see flight not simply as an athletic or physical pursuit, but a spiritual one as well. Under the tutelage of Chiang, the Elder Gull of the higher plane, Jonathan comes to understand that the fastest kind of flight; transportation from one place, or one time, to another in the blink of an eye can only be accomplished by understanding that one’s body, mind, and spirit are all connected. That “perfect speed,” Chiang the Elder says, “is being there” when “there” is understood as the borderline holy place where all aspects of the self are united. With Chiang’s help, Jonathan begins to understand that he is not “trapped inside a limited body” but instead exists “everywhere at once across space and time.” He then accomplishes feats of flying he’d never dreamed of. Forget mere loop-de-loops, nosedives, or barrel roles. Jonathan, with the newfound knowledge that his body, mind, and spirit are one unified entity, is able to travel between planets, planes, and spiritual realms with ease. Jonathan’s spiritual transformation, and resulting godlike powers, have been seen by Bach’s readers as an allegory for the powers of self-help, positive thinking, and even attempts at spiritual and philosophical transcendence through meditation. The book’s controversial spiritual bent, and its associations with late 1960s and early 1970s “hippie” counterculture, has been seen as facile by many of Bach’s critics, but nonetheless speaks to a very real belief many spiritual people hold that the body, mind, and spirit are all united, and only through realizing this can one’s larger goals of happiness, unity, and peace be achieved.
As a novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is many things: Self-help guidebook, religious parable, and time advocating for the pursuit of spiritual unity. Bach, who himself had had near-death experiences in his youth and longed to spread a message of peace, gratitude, and the search for higher meaning, created a character whose spiritual self-actualization might serve as an inspiration to others, and as an emblem of the glory that self-determination through unification of the mind, the spirit, and the body might bring.
ii. Individualism vs. Collectivism
The titular character of the book is an independent gull who would rather practice aerodynamic flight techniques than forage for food in the wake of the fishing boats that chug up and down the shoreline of the Flock’s home Jonathan’s staunch individualism initially seems in direct opposition to the collectivism of the Flock. The members of the Flock do everything the exact same way, day after day, and never question the rote routines of boring, straightforward flight or the endless pursuit of nothing but food. However, when Jonathan finds himself a part of a mystical new group of seagulls whose self-exile from their home Flocks has rendered them “Outcast,” Bach makes the complex and nuanced argument that individualism and collectivism do not have to exist in stark opposition. The individual cannot thrive without a solid, supportive community; likewise, a truly successful collective will be composed of individuals whose independence of thought and action inspires and nourishes those around them.
At the start of the novel, Jonathan is already something of a loner within his Flock but it is his own drive towards individualism that isolates him, rather than the external derision of his fellow gulls. Jonathan’s love of flying outweighs his desire to make himself “popular with the other birds,” for example, and even his parents’ disappointment is not enough to deter his dreams of testing his limits through flight. He tells his parents that he “just want[s] to know” the extent of what he can do, and as his flight practice allows him to reach new speeds and quite literally new heights. Where other gulls are concerned with maintaining the status quo and merely living to eat, Jonathan finds himself thinking only of how he can achieve more and more, and break records the other gulls have never even dreamed of. When Jonathan is “centered for shame by the Elder gull and the rest of the Council; the governing body of his Flock; he is affronted by the slight and made nervous by the prospect of being “cast out of gull society, banished to a solitary life on the Far Cliffs.” Nevertheless, once Jonathan leaves his Flock, his “one sorrow” is not solitude; rather, it is that the collective Flock “refuse to believe the glory of flight.” Jonathan’s banishment frightens him despite the fact that he has always been a solitary gull. His inability to make his Flock see the “glory” of a different way of life, however, cements in his mind the idea that he is meant to be alone. This reflects his initial conception of a collective group as something restrictive and antithetical to individuality.
iii. Solitude
Jonathan enjoys his solitude until the fateful day when he finds himself brought up to a new plane of existence, where he encounters a new Flock of mystical seagulls who embrace the ideals, goals, and questions Jonathan has had all his life. In this new realm, Jonathan sees how collectivism can, in fact, allow for the advancement and nurturing of every individual member of a group. The few gulls he finds there have similarly faced hardship and isolation from their Flocks as they moved through their lives. However, now that they have all arrived in this new world, they are free to practice flight and attempt to improve, learn, and grow until they come to an understanding of their own inherent perfection, and the notion that their consciousness exists everywhere at once across space and time. With this new understanding that collectivism can be a positive thing, Jonathan longs to implement the mutually respectful, inquisitive, and encouraging collectivism he has experienced in this higher realm back on earth.
In the years following his departure from the Earth, Jonathan has become an icon renowned the world over, revered as the “Great Gull Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” A messiah of sorts, Jonathan is seen as a divine being but his lessons about the joys of flying have been long forgotten or misrepresented as entreaties for other gulls to strive for Oneness; a vague concept that seems to denote a bastardization of the state of collective consciousness Jonathan initially tried to bring back to earth from the higher plane. Flocks all over the world have recognized Jonathan’s unique vision, but are focusing on the wrong things when it comes to his “doctrine;” gulls who follow Jonathan’s teachings focus too much on remembering or reassembling the exact words he spoke, but they do not seem to care about the meanings behind the words. As a result, the world has been swept up in chaos as the gulls fervently try to reconstruct their idol, all the while ignoring the heart of his message: that flying “fast and free and glorious” in the sky is a way of transcending the physical realm. In this way, collectivism has swung from one kind of exclusionary cadre to another, as the earthly gulls continually aim for a homogenized society organized around a single idea. By neglecting the chance to develop a kind of community that supports one another while still honoring individualism and the virtues of unique beings, the gulls have failed to truly understand, interpret, and disseminate the teachings of the “Divine Gull” they purport to revere and worship.
Bach condemns neither individualism nor collectivism in the book. Instead, he uses the world of the gulls as a metaphor for the human world’s readiness to erase individuality and favor a homogenized collective. By using the parable of Jonathan Seagull and his journey to another plane and back again, Bach extolled the virtues of a society in which people or, in this case, gulls are allowed to come as they are and be appreciated as individual members of a variegated whole. In doing so, Bach highlights the inequities in our contemporary society and ultimately urges his readers to apply the knowledge Jonathan was unable to share with his Flock within their own lives, social circles, and societies.
iv. Innovation vs. Tradition
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is, at its core, a story of how innovation, progress, and self-discovery all require what can often be a painful or difficult break with tradition. Longing to free himself from his Flock’s rigid, boring routines, and convinced that there is more to life than just hunting for food, Jonathan practices increasingly difficult and dangerous flight maneuvers, edging away from not only the Flock’s comfort zone, but also from his own. As he studies and practices flying; a metaphor throughout the book for experimentation and liberation; he realizes that, although breaking with tradition draws the ire of the Flock and renders him an exiled Outcast, these sacrifices are necessary in order to change and grow. Through Jonathan, Bach allegorizes humanity’s tendency to seek comfort in the familiar, or in easy answers, and argues that this impulse is directly at odds with the sacrifice and courage required for genuine innovation.
v. Boundaries
Jonathan Seagull longs to break boundaries, change the status quo, go where no gull has gone before and do what no gull has ever done. Speed, for Jonathan, is the means to such innovation. What’s more, it is a road to “power,” “joy,” “and pure beauty.” To this end, Jonathan practices complicated, groundbreaking aerodynamics; high speeds, complicated rolls, and the manipulation of his own wings to achieve the form and velocity he desires. He is disappointed, however, when such moves are seen as offensive to his fellow gulls. In lieu of glory, recognition, and the ability to pass on his knowledge to his Flock, Jonathan is publicly shamed and then Outcast from the Flock altogether. Jonathan fears that he will never be able to share his innovations with others until he is taken to another realm, a new plane of existence where he is able to practice his flight in peace. Jonathan surprises himself as he achieves even newer, more impressive goals, and grows determined to bring the advancements he has made back to the Flock he loved and left. In allowing Jonathan to achieve transcendence of seagull knowledge only when he travels to another plane (and gets as far away from his Flock as possible), Bach highlights the oppressive, stifling reality of excessive adherence to tradition, and argues that overcoming that oppression requires a courageous if frightening step into the unknown.
vi. Communication and Connection
Back on earth, though, Jonathan finds that it is still difficult to get through to the other gulls, and must focus instead on improving the lives and flying techniques of only a few devoted, disciple-like pupils. Some other members of the Flock watch as his pupils study and train, but Jonathan is met with questions and doubt just as often as he is met with interest and idolatry. Though Jonathan reaches only a small group of students during his lifetime, he has still managed to achieve his goal of bringing innovation to earth. With this accomplished, Jonathan disappears and ascends to an unknown place, leaving his star pupil fletch in charge of keeping his legacy alive. Jonathan has changed his Flock, albeit in a small way, proving that truly devoted innovators can influence even the most staunchly traditional community.
By the end of the novel, however, the innovations Jonathan pioneered; the ideals and practices that were so odious and foreign to his original Flock have become the status quo, and a tradition in and of them. The narrative flashes forward into the future, revealing the world of the gulls to have been completely transformed by Jonathan Seagull’s influence. A kind of religion has even cropped up, dedicated to the “Great Gull Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” As the years have gone by though, devotees of the “idol” Jonathan are less interested in practicing his innovative flight methods than they are in hearing bits of “trivia” about the figurehead himself. Even further into the future, a veritable cult has taken the place of the movement, which once simply inspired gulls to fly and experiment with aerodynamics. Eventually, “no flying [is] ever done by anybody,” and all of the movement’s teachings become obsessive glorifications of Jonathan’s or the “Divine One’s” every word and movement during his time on earth. In exploring how Jonathan’s innovative nature brought change to his community, but then wound up as the genesis for yet another staunch tradition perhaps even more obsessive and inflexible than the gulls’ original way of life Bach suggests that society longs to seek comfort in familiarity and simplicity, and will always fall back on answers and paths that are easy.
Jonathan’s story is a cautionary tale of sorts meant to demonstrate how the line between beneficial innovation and radical overhaul of society is a fine one, and that the stronger a society adheres to the concept of tradition, the more difficult it will be to gently and intuitively fold innovation into a staunchly-ordered, conservative ecosystem. Through Jonathan’s allegorical tale, Bach argues that growth and innovation are a continuous process: one spark of innovation can create a wave of change, but the match that formed the spark in the first place must continually be relit, or society will fall back into its lazy, easy ways.
vii. The Misinterpretation of Doctrine
The fourth and final section flashes forward nearly two hundred years after Jonathan’s disappearance from the face of the earth and supposed ascendance to heaven. In the centuries that have passed, Jonathan’s teachings of introspection, self-determination, and the pursuit of one’s individual truth have been misinterpreted, warped, and picked apart like so much chum. As the reader works their way through the final pages of the story, an obvious parable emerges: Richard Bach has composed a tale that mirrors the perceived failures of religions and belief systems the world over, and which indicts religious and spiritual movements for their creation of cults of personality and the self-centered search for validation through “holiness.” In pointing out the ways in which religious doctrines are often misinterpreted and misused, Bach suggests that religious and spiritual movements must or at least should reexamine their roots and return to the simplistic messages of self-discovery, charity and community, pursuit of a greater collective good, and the sacredness not of one figurehead but of each member of the larger community.
In the two hundred years since his departure from earth in a glimmering haze, “nearly every element of Jonathan’s teaching [has been] taken out of daily practice by the simple pronouncement that it was Holy, and beyond the aspiration of common gulls.” The central ethos of Jonathan’s message to his fellow gulls; the use of flight as a way to unify mind, body, and spirit around the goal of self-determination has been replaced by obsessive rites and rituals that exclude many would-be disciples of Jonathan’s message. Jonathan has become an icon, depicted in rich plumage, wearing crowns of shells and other baubles. His likeness has been pecked into the sides of cliff faces from coast to coast, and adherents must place pebbles at his shrines in order to appear holy or in possession of “Oneness.” Jonathan’s image has been warped and morphed into something unrecognizable, used in pursuit of obscure and esoteric rituals that serve only to make gulls feel superficially pious without forcing them to actually work to expand their mind, test their bodies, or improve their spirits. As a result, the “thinking gulls” who long to shy away from the exclusionary and sacred rites and rituals of the movement eventually “close their minds at the sound of certain words,” and will not even hear anything associated with the concepts of “flight” or the “Great Gull.” They want nothing to do with Jonathan’s legacy, as they see through the sham it has become, and feel depressed by the false devoutness and self-serving shows of piety all around them. This backlash against sacrosanct but obscure rite and ritual in the world of the gulls mirrors the backlash against strict, dogmatic religions that exclude all who do not fit within the bounds of “Holiness.” As atheism and agnosticism grew out of frustration with the growing obscurity of practical applications of religious doctrine such as seeing “love thy neighbor” being preached but never practiced so too do the gulls develop a sense of apathy as regards the empty façades of faith which have sprung up all around them.
The gulls who shirk the trappings of the cult of personality that has sprung up around Jonathan’s image are nonetheless curious about his message, and begin experimenting with flight. Though they reject the traditions of the religion, they are still unwittingly practicing the message he originally intended to bring to the Flock; the pursuit of self-knowledge through pushing one’s limits in flight and aerodynamics. This demonstrates how even when doctrine becomes perverted or bastardized, there are still ways for the message to ultimately transcend the figurehead, and live on. The irony of the gulls’ accidental return to the truth of Jonathan’s message shows how false zeal can never overshadow the seed of truth buried beneath it. Anthony seagull the last gull to be introduced in the novel, is a casualty of the ways in which the “doctrine” of Jonathan Livingston Seagull has, in its vast dissemination throughout gull society, strayed from its roots and become something so unrecognizable that it actually engenders pain and confusion in both its followers and dissenters. Anthony Seagull is young, and as a curious youth, he questions the religion all around him. He knows that dropping “a million pebbles” at one of Jonathan’s shrines won’t make him any more holy. Anthony does not believe that Jonathan truly accomplished the great feats of flight he is said to have accomplished, and Anthony himself is disappointed that his own attempts to reach great speeds and heights have failed. Feeling that life is a bore and that the idol that everyone around him worships is a “fairy tale,” Anthony attempts suicide—only to meet, in the middle of his death-driven dive bomb out of the sky, Jonathan himself, who introduces himself to Anthony simply as Jon. As the novel ends abruptly after Jon’s reappearance, the reader must interpret whether he has appeared to Anthony to restore the faith of a lost adherent, whether he knows that Anthony is special because he has so deeply questioned what it means to be “holy,” or because Jonathan longs, through Anthony, reset the entire movement which has flown so far off course. All of this can be read as a metaphor most directly for the ways in which modern Christianity has often been criticized for idolizing its figurehead, Jesus Christ, while shirking the very things he preached: love, understanding, and compassion for fellow human beings no matter their social standing, past sins, or present misfortunes. Jonathan’s return to earth speaks to Bach’s argument that if the figureheads of many world religions were able to see the state of their legacy, they would feel shame and discontent, and would long to return to earth to guide their followers in the direction of their original intentions.
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 will help me know that I have the power to do what I want without caring what people will speak about.
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 wind was a monster roaring at his head. Seventy miles per hour, ninety, a hundred and twenty and faster still. The wing-strain now at a hundred and forty miles per hour wasn’t nearly as hard as it had been before at seventy, and with the faintest twist of his wingtips he eased out of the dive and shot above the waves, a gray cannonball under the moon. He closed his eyes to slit against the wind and rejoiced. A hundred forty miles per hour! And under control! If I dive from five thousand feet instead of two thousand, I wonder how fast. His vows of a moment before were forgotten, swept away in that great swift wind. Yet he felt guiltless, breaking the promises he had made himself. Such promises are only for the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in his learning has no need of that kind of promise.”
“He was alive, trembling ever so slightly with delight, proud that his fear was under control. Then without ceremony he hugged in his forewings, extended his short, angled wingtips, and plunged directly toward the sea. By the time he passed four thousand feet he had reached terminal velocity, the wind was a solid beating wall of sound against which he could move no faster. He was flying now straight down, at two hundred fourteen miles per hour. He swallowed, knowing that if his wings unfolded at that speed he’d be blown into a million tiny shreds of seagull. But the speed was power, and the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty.”
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull! Stand in the 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 a 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!”
“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand! And then another hundred lives until we begin to learn that there is such a thing as perfection, and another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth. The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”
“I want to learn to fly like that,” Jonathan said, and a strange light glowed in his eyes.
tell me what to do.”
Chiang spoke slowly and watched the younger gull ever so carefully. “To ly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived. The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two-inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time.”
“Jonathan kept at it, fiercely, day after day, from before sunrise till past midnight. And for all his effort he moved not a feather-width from his spot.”
“Forget about faith! Chiang said it time and again. You didn’t need faith to fly, you needed to understand flying. This is just the same. Now try again.”
“Jonathan stayed and worked with the new birds coming in, who were all very bright and quick with their lessons. But the old feeling came back, and he couldn’t help but think that there might be one or two gulls back on Earth who would be able to learn, too. How much more would he have known by now if Chiang had come to him on the day that he was Outcast!”
“Sully, I must go back, [Jonathan] said at last. Your students are doing well. They can help you bring the newcomers along.”
Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue. “I think I’ll miss you, Jonathan,” was all he said.
Sully, for shame! Jonathan said in reproach, and don’t be foolish! What are we trying to practice every day? lf our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
Fletcher Lynd Seagull was still quite young, but already he knew that no bird had ever been so harshly treated by any Flock, or with so much injustice.
“The voice came inside his own head, and though it was very gentle, it startled him so much that he faltered and stumbled in the air. Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull. ln casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see. Forgive them, and help them to understand.
An inch from his right wingtip flew the most brilliant white gull in all the world, gliding effortlessly along, not moving a feather, at what was very nearly Fletcher’s top speed.
There was a moment of chaos in the young bird.”
“What’s going on? Am I mad? Am I dead? What is this?”
“Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly? Yes, I Want to Fly!”
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?
The book is 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 author gives out a lot of examples to be done if we want to achieve whatever we do.
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 very clear and well understood.
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