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Have you ever learned a subject so well, backwards & forwards, up & down, that nothing, save death, could keep you from sharing it with others? As a learner, have you ever felt at times apart from "the flock"? Did you ever find yourself learning because deep inside you had a higher vision of yourself? Did your feelings about a topic make you SOAR, while others simply stood passively on the ground watching the subject matter from a distance? Well atleast Jonathan Livingston Seagull's did. His mother would ask him, "Why Jon, why?. Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans and the albatross? Why don't you eat? Jon, you are bone and feathers!" she would exclaim. "...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." his father would tell him. But Jonathan Livingston is a seagull that chooses a different path than the rest of the birds in his flock. He spends his days looking for perfection - he prefers to learn to fly rather than eat, unlike the other birds. He is single-minded focus on and flying is not the way to make him popular with other birds. Such an attitude made Jonathan an outcast, rejected by his community and he finds himself alone but doesn't want to give up his dreams and ideas. By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness. If there is anything that this book teaches, it is that we have the ability to change reality with the power of our own thoughts. This is one of those books that no matter how many times I read it will never fail to amaze me. It's the kind of book that leaves you speechless, unable to do anything but think, and wonder. Presented in the form of a charming parable about a seagull's education in flight, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about far more than the life of one seagull. It is about each and every one of us, struggling to find the answers, to reach something higher that we are not even yet aware of. We are all a little bit like Jonathan, and when we read Bach's story, we realize that we all have the same power inside. That we can do anything, be anything that we want, if only we can believe in ourselves. Bach's message is a powerful and timeless one that stretches across all barriers to reveal the simple truth that we all, at one time or another in our lives, knew: the most powerful force that exists is that of belief, especially in ourselves. Richard Bach, who was an accomplished pilot and who has written a great deal about flight, uses the theme of flying in this book as a way of making us think. Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. The writing is nice and simple and to the point. The allegory is easy to see the lesson the author is trying to convey. But shortly into it, the story takes a turn for the mystic. We suddenly are transported to ideas that are straight out of a New Age brochure. The way I read it...was that he author was saying that all the laws of the universe only matter if you let your mind be hindered by them because we are spiritual beings who don't have to be contained by our bodies but can reach levels of greater consciousness. Moving closer to conclusion, there are some lines that I'd love to share: "You will begin to touch heaven in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that 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 is being there....heaven isn’t a place or time, because place and time are so very meaningless." I can't tell you exactly why you need to read this book. It's not about something as simple as plot or writing style. There is a rare magic in the words that cannot be conveyed by any other means than the experience of reading the book. All I can say is that once you read this book, you will understand. One thing comes as a guarantee- no matter how many times you read this book, it will never fail to amaze you. It is the extraordinary experience shared by over a million hardcover readers! |
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