SPECIFIC TOPICS: LIFESTYLES14

Jonathan Livingston Seagull written by Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingston Seagull tells the story of a seagull who is bored with daily squabbles over food. Seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself, learning everything he can about flying, until finally his unwillingness to conform results in his expulsion. An outcast, he continues to learn, becoming increasingly pleased with his abilities which results in a peaceful and happy life.

The story is for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules… people who get special pleasure out of doing something well, even if only for themselves… people who know there is more to living than meets the eye. They are like Jonathan, flying higher and faster than they have ever dreamed.

Later in the book, Jonathan is met by two gulls who take him to a "higher plane of existence" in which there is no heaven but a better world found through perfection of knowledge. There he meets other gulls who love to fly. He discovers that his sheer tenacity and desire to learn make him "pretty well a one-in-a-million bird." In this new place, Jonathan befriends the wisest gull, Chiang, who takes him beyond his previous learning, teaching him how to move instantaneously to anywhere else in the Universe. The secret, Chiang says, is to "begin by knowing that you have already arrived." 

Below are some quotes from the story:

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from the shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not the flying that matters, but eating.

How much there is to living! Instead of our drab slogging back and forth 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.

Jonathan discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that the gull’s life is so short and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.

When Jonathan asks, if heaven exists:

“No. Jonathan, there is no such place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.

The Elder explains:

“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, my son is being there!”

EXERCISE: Do you think the author is really writing about seagulls or the human experience? Why / why not?

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