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 THE
HEALING OF SUFFERING
Presented at the Youth Workshop organized by Child and Youth for Peace Network in Freetown, Sierra Leone on the 29th April 2004 by Mr. Sammy Jacobs Abbey If you have come to listen to an advocator who it is thought transmits wisdom, you have mistaken your way, for true wisdom is not communicated through books or speeches-true wisdom is found in the depths of your consciousness, just as true love is found in the depths of your heart. You are listening to somebody who does not know the laws that rule the universe, who is not privy to the laws of history, who is ignorant of the relationship that governs the people of the world, all that I’m about doing is addressing myself to your conscience. Over the cities and villages where each day is a struggle, a hope cut short by death, where love is followed by hate, where forgiveness is followed by revenge: over the cities of the people rich and poor; over the immense fields of humanity, a mantle of suffering and sorrow has fallen. You suffer when pain bites your body, you suffer when hunger seizes your body, but you suffer not only from your body’s immediate pain and hunger- you also suffer from consequence of the diseases that afflict it. There are suffering that occurs during illness and that recedes with the advance of science, just as hunger can recede if the empire of justice advance. There are also the suffering that does not depends on the sickness of your body but yet derives from that sickness: if you are disabled, if you cannot see, if you cannot hear, you suffer, but though such suffering derives from your body or from the disease of your body, that suffering is of your mind. There is yet another kind of suffering that does not recede even with the advance of science or with advance of justice. This type of suffering which belongs strictly to your mind retreats before faith, before joy in life, before love, you must exists in your own consciousness. You suffer because of you fear losing what you have, or because of what you have already lost or because of what you lack, or because you fear in general. These, then are the great enemies of humanity, fear of sickness, fear of poverty, fear of death, fear of loneliness, all of these forms of suffering pertain in your mind, and all of them reveal your inner violence, the violence that is in your mind. Notice how that violence always stems from desire. The more violent a person is, the more gross that person desires The aphorism, "As a man thinking in his heart, so is he," not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts A 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. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the flaws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of character, circumstances, and destiny. Men are eager to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life? I will like to tell you a story that took place long ago. There was once a traveler who had to undertake a long journey. He yoked his animal to a cart and began the journey to his faraway destination, a journey he had to complete within a certain length of time. He called the animal necessity and the cart desire; one wheel of the cart he call pleasure and the other he called pain our traveler turned his cart sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, yet he never ceased moving towards his destiny. The faster the cart traveled, the faster turn the wheels of pleasure and pain, carrying as they did the cart of desire and connected as they were by same axle. But the journey was very long, and after a time our traveler grew bored. So he decided to decorate his cart, and he begun to adorn it with all manner of beautiful things. But the more he embellished the cart of Desire with these ornaments, the heavier became the load for Necessity to pull. On the curves and steep hills of the road, the poor animal grew too exhausted to pull the cart of Desire. And when the road was soft, the wheels of pleasure and suffering became mired in the earth. One day, because the road was long and he was still very far from his destination, our traveler grew desperate. That night he decided to mediate on the problem, and in the midst of his mediation he heard the neighing of his old friend, Necessity, comprehending the message, he arose very early the next morning and began to lighten the cart of its burden, striping it of all its fine adornments. Then he set off once more toward his destination with the animal Necessity pulling the cart at a brisk trot. Still our traveler had already lost much time-time that as now irrecoverable. The next night he sat down again to mediate, and he realized, thanks to another message from his old friend, that now he had to undertake a task that was doubly difficult because it involves his letting go. At daybreak he sacrifices the cart of Desire. It is true that when he did so he lost the whole of pleasure, but then he also lost the wheel of suffering and so abandoning the cart of Desire, he mounted the animble called Necessity and galloped on its back across the greed fields until he reached his destiny. See how desire can trap you. But notice that there are desires of different qualities. Elevate desire, purify, desire and in so doing you will become free of the wheel of suffering. Spurred by desire, the violence in a person does not simply remain like a sickness in the consciousness of that person-it acts in the world of other people and is exercised upon them. And do not think that when I talk of violence I am speaking only about the armed act of war, where some mend destroy others. That is only one form of physical violence. There is also economic violence. Economic Violence is the violence through which you exploit other people; economic violence occurs when you steal from another. When you are no longer a brother or sister to others but a bird of prey feeding upon them There is also a racial violence or do you think that you are not being violent when you persecute someone because that person is not of your own race? Do you think that you are not engaging in violence when you malign that person for being of a race different from you own? And there is religious violence: Do you think that you are not engaging in violence when you refuse work to. Close your doors to or dismiss a person because that person does not share your religious belief? Do you believe that it is not violence when you use words of hate to build walls around other people, excluding them from your society, because they do not share your religious beliefs-isolating them within their families, segregating them and their loved ones, because they do not share your religion? Only inner faith and inner mediation can end the violence in you, in others and in the world around you. This world is on the verge of exploding with no way to end the violence! Do not choose false doors. There are no politics that can solve this mad urge for violence. There is no political party or movement on the planet that can end the violence. Do not choose false doors that promise to lead away from the violence in the world…… I have heard that all over the world young people are turning to false doors to try to escape the violence and inner suffering. They turn to drugs as a solution. Do not chose false doors to try to end the violence. By fellow Africans, keep these simple commandments, as simple as these rocks, this snow and this sum that bless us. Carry peace within you and carry it to others. My brother, my sister-if you look back to history, you will see the human being bearing the face of suffering. Remember, even as you gaze at that suffering face, that it is necessary to move forward, and it is necessary to learn to laugh and it is necessary to love. Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit. To you, my brother and sisters, I cast this hope-this hope of joy, this hope of love-so that you elevate your heart and elevate your spirit, and so that you do not forget to elevate your body. Sammy Jacob's Abbey STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT Because it has a medical definition and scientific evidence to support its harmful negative effects, stress has become increasingly popular as a topic of conversation. Unfortunately, it has also become an almost too easy scapegoat for whatever happens to be troubling one-physically, mentally, or emotionally at a given time. But stress need not be a scapegoat. In fact, dealing with stress successfully –making it works for instead of against you- is easy. It is also demanding for successful stress management depends on changing from a passive victim role to an active take-charge one. Here some short term signs of stress: Long term signs of stress CATEGORIES OF STRESS SPECIFIC SOURCE OF STRESS Within your job Interface between home and work Changes Causes of Stress TIPS ON HOW TO MANAGE STRESS Here are some ways to mange stress-with success and satisfaction SAMMY JACOBS ABBEY Responsible
Leadership Philosophically and cognitively, a leader is simply someone who leads. The question does not arise as to whether for a good or bad outcome. Here, leadership is simply headship, rulership, guidance, influence and inspiration. In a religious vein, leadership is conceptualized by the Bible in Exodus 18:21 as a responsibility that must be entrusted to persons “who are trustworthy and who hate bribe” That was Jethro, Moses father-in-law talking. In politics, a leader must be highly alert to his or her power base, must constantly remind himself or herself that policies is a power winning business, and must be astute and manipulative enough to gain and retain power. Political power gives access to economic and financial benefits, which in turn lead to social benefits and fame. Military, the leader is expected to guide and inspire his or her men to win battles and wars, whether or not a war is socially, legally and morally justifiable, and to constantly deter their opponents from becoming unbecoming. For example, it seems now quite clear that while the military leaders of coalition forces can be commended militarily for a good job done by defeating the Iraqi armed forces in the recent invasion of Iraq, the same cannot be said of the political leaders of America and Britain for instigating and organizing a war now seen by the larger world as morally and legally unjustifiable. And from socio-economic development point of view, leadership requires rulers- politico-economic administrators-to change society, socio-culturally, psychologically and economically for the better. The practice of leadership may be founded on what I have called elsewhere the beehives development co-ordination, depicting the purposeful, disciplined and diligent division of responsibility manifested by honeybees in the establishment and maintenance of their hive. In the world of the honey bee, every individual knows and diligently
performs its responsibility for the general well-being of their colony. The
queen eats well to be healthy, attractive and receptive to the many
aggressive drones that by responsibility must ensure that her eggs are not
laid unfertilized. Indeed, a drone, for example will be dragged out of the hive if it is
sound incapable of performing its task of aiding population maintenance in
the colony by adequately mating with the queen. There is another form of dictatorial leadership, a milder one, which is dubiously described as paternalistic leadership. Here, stronger or richer people or nations subtly make the weaker and needy ones feel inadequate, requiring protection, assistance and direction. These stronger nations and people fail the sincerity test whenever the weaker ones try to assert themselves or do anything to break the hold of them. The stronger gets offended and does everything including sabotage to restore “normality” That is the paradox of social justice in the paternalistic society that now engulfs developing countries. In Sierra Leone, the perpetual leadership assigned through chieftaincy to some people by birth is nothing but paternalistic dictatorship. It is as if particular groups of people, particular families, have monopoly over wisdom, knowledge and capacity for leadership. There is another funny one called democracy where real power is said to reside in the people who perform the ritual of electing the political leadership of a society. Political entrepreneurs present themselves to a people who are generally ignorant of the global socio-economic dynamics and are apathetic to their internal environment. These vulnerable masses get bombarded with manipulative political products to choose a national leader out of a no-choice-not-to-choose situation. Suddenly legitimacy is assigned to the elected and all are expected to live by the policy direction he or she gives during the term of office. One may ask, if there are so many shades of leadership then what is the responsibility of leadership? To answer this question, a more primary one, which is “must the leader be responsible to the led?” should first be grappled with. How can a royal who feels he or she is on a throne by birthright be responsible to his or her subject? This is cognitively illogical! This is perhaps the reason why God was seemingly not pleased when the Israelites asked to have a king over them. He probably did not want them to entrust their future into the hands of “bribable” and untrustworthy humankind. One wonders how society can seriously expect political leaders to feel responsible to it when these leaders may be of the view that they bought their position with their money and eloquence. I do not expect answers to these questions in this encounter, but hope I have agitated your minds sufficiently to set you seeking answers to them in your private time. Let us now return to the question: what is the responsibility of leadership? In my humble view, four key attribute characterize and represent the responsibility of leadership in a holistic framework, which is socio-economic, socio-cultural and psychological. Leadership must be visionary, focused and tenacious, selfless and accountable. In 1963, Singapore, a city state with no minerals and sufficient agricultural land was described as being far behind Ghana in terms of economic development. But between 1968 and 1993, in a period of 25 years, that tiny island state transformed itself from a poor country to an Asian tiger nation now revered by countries the world over. China came for tilapia from Nigeria and Kenya but now leads in consumption and export while the Africans wallow in malnutrition. Do the western countries dare to call the Japanese yellow people any more? It took the visionary leadership of Emperor Meiji to force the West to eat back their words. Lest one is misconstrued, one is in no way saying that being visionary is sufficient in itself. After all in development terms, being visionary simply means being able to dream up a desired future. But to attain focus and tenacity of purpose, efforts and selflessness. And lastly, but not the least, accountability is an attribute that leadership must demonstrate abundantly if legitimacy is to be achieved and enhanced. One must seek to protect societal interest rather than self and sectional interest. If one can manifest all these ingredients in one’s leadership style, one will surely be manifesting what society views as responsible leadership does not come that cheaply. It is costly. Very costly! In society where honest poor people are looked down upon and where rich people are honoured and revered, where churches gives the best seats to rich people at official functions to solicit commensurate donation, discounting how the donor acquired their money, one must be out of one’s mind to practice selflessness. Self-denial is a self-inflicting pain, which most people cannot go through. Your spouses, children and other family members may characterize you as depraved. Your colleagues may describe you as strange, even a fool. Your spouse may even desert you for a greener pasture elsewhere. If you serve the people sincerely, some or most of them may not appreciate it. How sure you are that you will not suffer the fate of Gideon (i.e. Jerubbaal), the son of Joas the Abiezrite? How sure are you that your humility will not be despised by the people you want to serve sincerely? You remember in Judges 8:22-23 and 33-35, how in humility and commitment to God. Gideon refused to be crowned king of Israelites; and how they did not show kindness to the family of Jerubball (that is Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel”? Why should you be so odd? After all, others are dipping their hands into the state or corporate coffer, why mustn’t you too? If you fail to accept bribe or misapply funds, you may not only suffer relative poverty but also isolation and loneliness as well as loss of job because you will be seen as an obstacle, nuisance and even a danger, which must be got rid of. This is the social reality that force most people into corruption that hurts and hold society down in the dungeons of poverty. This is the social reality that has bred so much sycophancy and intellectural dishonesty in this country, making economist and other social scientists message figures in order not to endanger their daily bread and comforts. Notwithstanding the growing disturbing tendencies, I must say I have strong faith in Sierra Leonean youth. The better Sierra Leone we are looking for requires that the youth should be aware that the future is theirs and lies in their hands like an uncooked egg. They must ensure that your national assts are protected and utilized or national development. They should not waste their youthful lives on sex, drinking, smoking and drugs. Society needs to encourage the youth to take their education seriously and endeavor to acquire knowledge. But the youth must also be visionary and missionary in attitude and behaviour. Today, wealth and power are not founded so much on what mineral one sits
on, or what forest one lives in or by. One does not intend to offend any
sensibilities. But is it not true, and nearly ridiculous that our
traditional leaders often hold durbars dressed in gold in honour of those
who are returning only a bit of what they have taken from the land of these
traditional leaders? Long Walk to Freedom- The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela Part 1 - Content I have been arguing for a very long time that Nelson Mandela never deserve to be given the Nobel Laureate Peace Price, because as a young boy I have the least idea of his achievement but until I finish this book, The Long Walk to Freedom. I have had a deep change of mind and currently advocating for more international and national awards for Nelson Mandela. To re-emphasis how the New York Times described him 'The Nelson Mandela who emerges from long walk to freedom is considerably more human than the icon of legend.' Honestly speaking, I wish I had not finished turning the pages of this wonderful but life transforming book, long walk to freedom, and each chapter keeps a lot of suspense and makes meaningful point to one's life after reading, indeed Nelson Mandela is a living legend of our time. To begin reviewing the entire book, there are so many points which were most significant and meaningful for sharing. One of the most significant point of this reading was how submissive Nelson Mandela could be even as a child being brought up in a village, as a proud son of Transki, he brought a lot of joy to the citizens of his community, even as a child he sees freedom and liberation of his people and I like the way he puts it, 'The year of my birth marked the end of the great war.' Another meaning point ought looking at after reading this memorable book is the name given to him by his father at his birth, 'Rolihlaha' which literally mean 'pulling the branch of a tree' but which colloquial meaning as 'trouble maker' and like as he described the name by himself, as if the father was a prophet, but the significant of it is that, in spite of how our fathers of old, looks illiterate, they still understand the divinity of life. And this goes a long way to buttress my assertion that, whenever transformation takes place, a change of name occurs - Jacob name was change to Israel, Saul to Paul, Abram to Abraham just to name but few, all this people had their names change because there was transformation in their life and Nelson Mandela change of name wasn't a surprise to me, its significance is that it indeed pull down the oppressor rule in South Africa and indeed brought a lot of trouble to those who didn't want peace. Another wonderful significance of the book, long walk to freedom, as a child, he never depart from his Christian and traditional values, this point looks significant because in spite of all success story and how he was brought out, he never compromise the distortion of his culture and values, going through circumcision and has a great respect for his culture, but what do we see of our generation today, distortion of our culture, lack of respect for our tradition. I could not continue with this review without making few comments of how the regent brought Nelson Mandela up, its significance is that, when we are trusted with responsibility we must live according to our word, the regent never discriminate and was so passionate of Nelson development, sent him to the best schools and even at the expense of his children, he still gave Nelson the best of education, now relating this to our present day situation, a lot of people who are ask to take responsibilty of their cousin, aunty, nephew and the needy treat them as slaves instead of showing them love as the regent showed to Rohihlaha as he prefer calling him. Another important significance of the book is when he elaborated how he elude to Johannesburg, in spite of all the appreciation and the support he received from the regent, he was never compromising what he term as force to do what he doesn't want, he never compromise wrong doing and was always prepared to take responsibility for his action, I remember coming over to Johannesburg when he worked as a watchman just to make a living, the significant of this point is that, most people of our time today are selective of their jobs and this has brought a lot of unemployment and poverty. Part 2 - Personal Impact My personal impact and practical value after reading this wonderful book, long walk to freedom, my commitment to peace and helping the needy has been elevated and I see that I am very much empowered to take up more challenges in life, one of the significant point is this context is how nationalistic Nelson was, relating this to current generation and me in particular, I have been very much commitment to the development of Africa, I have remain in Africa and though travel around, I still return to back to my country to help build structures, to emphasis this portion, when Nelson Mandela go to Addis Ababa, he could has abscond to another country as others left for exile, he return back to South Africa to join the struggle because he felt its his civic responsibility to join the long walk to freedom. Another section which we can relate to our new generation is the quotation from Nelson Mandela during a trial process in South Africa during the struggle, 'A nation should not judge by how it treat its hightest citizens but its lowest ones' this goes to suggest that, even in our present nations we always potray good governance and democracy among our citizenory to the international community but the lowest people suffer more in secrecy, to enable rule of law to prevail, all must be judge equally and on the same platform. Another significant aspect of the book which has a direct effect on my personal and practical value is the mention of education, recalling how Nelson was challenge to go through his education, even from prison he was still studying and working on his LLB making his goal of becoming a lawyer comes true, after several years of struggling to pass his examination, he never gave up, instead keep working hard to attain the height of education he desire. In the book, long walk to freedom, education was described as the engine of personal development, it is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, the son of mine worker can become the head of the mine, that children of farm workers can be come the president of great nations. I have long agitated for higher education in my life, at times I feel discourage when circumstances don't permit me to move, but as I mentioned in my educational goal during the level three IIGL studies, I take delight and motivation from those who makes the mark through difficult circumstances. After reading this book, I have result to continuing perusing of my dream to be an academic giant to the height of a doctorate. Another important significant from this reading is how Nelson Mandela continued to advise his wife our his children education and how he continue to use his leisure time reading and learning new things, this to me plays an important role in our/my situation, its gives the impression of father supervision of children. Something I never had. Now Nelson Mandela continued to see exercising as a pivotal part of human development and to maintain one discipline, he/she must continue to remain fit, I respected Nelson Mandela how he continued to exercise even at prison room in spite of all the circumstances, in my case, I have always taken my health especially my physical fitness very serious, hence my registration at various fitting clubs Part 3 - Summary To summarise the entire book, long walk to freedom remain a book I shall continue to read and recommend to every individual to read, all peace seekers, freedom fighters and leaders must have a feel of reading. In spite of all the respect and love I have had for Nelson Mandela after reading this wonderful book, I still have my reservation of his continuing intention to use violence to justice the struggle and that is where I think Nelson felt below the belt, the continue advice from the ANC leaders never seem to go through him, I have recounted a number of his speeches and smuggles letter from prison at Robben Island and eventually that led to his life sentence imprisonment. The use of force and violence I condemned and the formation of MK or umkhonto we Sizwe also brought a lot of disadvantage to the struggle, as a lover of peace and somebody reading and following the principles of Martin Luther King JR and Mahatma Gandhi and the use of non-violence, I think Nelson Mandela had it wrong. To end my review of the book, long walk to freedom, I wish to salute the International Community for the role they play in bringing the change in South Africa and therefore wanted to also salute the leaders of ANC especially Oliver Tambo Once again I recommend to all to have a feel of the book Long Walk to Freedom The Celestine Vision- James Redfield 1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples The book Celestine vision, living the new spirituality awareness brought several important ideas, for me one of the most important ideas the book mentioned was the fact that it was talking about the quality of life in organizational deterioration. I got the understanding that the author want to say that people don't have a sense that their work has meaning. Cynicism reigns. He mentioned that people don't want to live and work in this way and organizations don't function. Another important ideas the book mentioned was that fact that as we make the transition from the age of information to the age of ideation, leadership will need to attend source of enthusiasm and inspiration.- our soul. The age of information focuses on knowledge and technology. The age of ideation will focus on people, culture, and generating new sources of gain. Another important point to mentioned was moving toward a spiritual culture, To go further into the recesses of the Being beyond the teachings of the mind and into the core of all living forms, we must also recognize that next to emerge for educational structures will be the recognition that we need more for our own sustainability. Spirituality is defined as by many in so many ways yet saying the same in essence. As a member of a group from The World Spirit Forum 2006 of Arosa, we developed the following definition. Spirituality is a dynamic process of consciousness and an ever-evolving path that brings us in deeper touch with our whole selves, with one another, with our diverse ecologies, the earth, our wider cosmos and the eternal source of all that is. It is the common thread that weaves all life into a tapestry transcending borders into a world of meaning, for love of life and for the understanding that all is interconnected and at every moment we are co-creators of our realities. Spirituality, as we understand from the deepest region of our heart, is the essential basis of all being- the "Planetary Consciousness". Being aware of this consciousness allows us to feel the connectiveness, the interaction and the alignment with all humanity, animals, nature, economy as well as the cosmos, leading to ethical, holistic and responsible thinking and acting beyond all personal, national, ethical or religious boundaries. In addition, we need to understand that this consciousness is used to create our future, and that is spirituality in action. 2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation. one of the concepts in the book which personally affects my life and I want to share how it did was the importance of uplifting others, I have been a source of inspiration to several people in my community and among several groups, I recall a situation where I was called upon to help uplift the spirit of a young lady who had broken heart from the fiancée. This was the letter I sent to this young lady and I can tell you that she is currently the happiest lady. I told her that many people would experience emotional emergency at least once in their relationship with others. Many would have their heart broken in the process while others would be confused, feel harassed and depressed for no apparent reason, he broke up with you and begin seeing another person. You try your very best to find out why he has suddenly lost interest in you but he rebuffs you. You spend sleepless night trying to analysis why he left you, is it because of your poor looks? Are you too fat\thin? What went wrong? Did your educational background scare him? Why? Why? Why? Quit analysis his behavior or criticizing yourself, this obviously isn't going to bring him back to you, beside a guy who does not think much about your feeling and walk out on you is not worth losing over instead of brooding over what you mi9ght have done wrong, focus on your best qualities, after all does it not take two people to make a relationship work? Go out with friends who make you feel good about yourself, use the period to do things you love doing remember the visit of pools, or other interesting places you love going, get out and book appointment and start visiting those places with colleagues. The more you concentrate on what you love and enjoy doing, the less time you will spend brooding over the ifs and whys. You remember the good times you had together and you wonder if you would ever find another man like him? What if no man ever proposed to you? Can you ever fall in love again after what he did to you? Can your emotion be healed? Admittedly, its not easy to deal with broken relationship no matter who asked for the break, breaking up can be a painful decision. How to get over the relationship is not to pretend he never matters to you. Accept that he has play on important in your life and give yourself sometime to grieve over the broken relationship also talk about what happened to a close friend or any relative who will listen to you. Don't let the period of releasing tension drag on. Get over it and move on, do the things you love doing and go out with those people who make you feel good with time you will get over such break-up blues and who knows Mr. right may just be around the corner. It is normal for absence to make the heart grow fonder but remember you broke up for a reason, write down your diary as a remember all the reasons you asked for a break and be honest about it. When you are through with the list, it would be crystal clear to you why you could never have stayed in that relationship. Although remembering some of the good times you both share may be natural try to be realistic for if the two of get together again, in no time you would be scrambling out again. Put all that reminds you of him into your relationship relics box and create room in your heart for something new and exciting. 3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain. The most important new ideas I got from the book was the fact that the book mentioned and challenged me to expand my perception, for me, I consider this as very important because many at times we are limited with choices and prejudice, in as much as we are women and we shall continue to express this problems of perceptions and prejudice, I have already developed free thinking to enable me expand the perception and then work at turning negative perception into positive one 4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how? Oh yes, the book has really challenged my new spiritual understanding and as awakening my understanding in dealing with spiritual and in relations to physical needs. The book also challenged me to know who am I because the steps and strategic mentioned in the book helped me to really know who I am. 5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why? Reading chapter two of the book “THE CELESTINE VISION” when the author talks about experiencing the coincidences, this is where the disagreement comes in, he mentioned that meaningful coincidence can happened at any moment and can involve the timely arrival of some special information that we want but have no idea how to get or the sudden realization that our experience with a past hobby or interest was actually a preparation for landing us a new opportunity or job. Personally I disagree with the author because I have held a long thought that I do not believe in coincidence, either. Everyone comes into our life for a reason and it is our task to explore and develop why. 6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book? The most helpful topic in the book was the topic on dealing with poor me, for me I consider that as the most helpful topic in the book, I have personally been battling with poor me syndrome when I was fighting my heart out to get a university degree, until I realized that with intention and actions, I could attain it, dealing with the issues and facing realities brought me out of that situation and now university is non issue for me again because I dealt with it positively and then got myself organized, now I am even a visiting lecturer at International Universities both in Africa and beyond, this clearly makes the topic an outstanding in the book, dealing with issues with positive mental attitude. 7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey The book provides methods for engaging in the transformation process, Grounded in reality. It contains practical ways to measure healthy communities, healthy people, and quality of work life. It crystallized a new spiritual vision for millions of people around the globe. Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor. |
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