Saturday Evening Posts
February 28 to March 6
How A Bird Changed My Life
I believe in freedom. I believe that the most glorious
miracle of all is the triumph of the human spirit.
I believe in that “Perfect idea of
freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.”
One of my favorite books is the
literary phenomenon that transformed the lives of millions: Jonathan Livingston
Seagull by Richard Bach.
The book is a story in itself. One
night during the swinging 60s, Richard Bach was walking alone in a California
beach. He was a pilot – a special breed of aviator in the same league as
Charles Lindbergh and Antoine St. Exupery.
Then from out of nowhere, he heard
a voice say distinctly, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull!” The adventures of a
maverick bird began forming in his mind. Upon returning home, he started to jot
down his epiphany – and the story wrote itself.
But it suddenly stopped.
To Be Continued
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Narrated by Richard Harris
19 comments:
My life was changed forever by of the inspiring story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. If I had not read this "glorious bestseller," I would never be who I am, and I would rather be me than anyone else. I will never find the words to express my gratitude to the author Richard Bach for my deeper appreciation and more profound understanding of our true nature and our place in this magical universe.
I met up earlier this week with a friend from a company where I used to work to give him the key to my locker. "I'm not using my Jedi powers," I said as we played billiards because the cue ball still kept jumping off the table.
Our true nature is our spirit and not our physical body that we have been conditioned to believe. "What we commonly call man," says Ralph Waldo Emerson, "the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, does not, as we know him, represents himself, but misrepresents himself."
Man is the individual expression of the Infinite Mind that created the universe. "There is in all of us a higher man," as Plotinus said during the second century, "a man more entirely of the celestial rank, almost a god, reproducing God. When the soul begins again to mount, it comes not to something alien but to its very self. The self thus lifted, we are in the likeness of the Supreme."
“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, 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.” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip," Jonathan Livingston Seagull would say, other times, "is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”
“Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now." ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“Heaven is not a place, and it's not a time. Heaven is being perfect." ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“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!” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way".” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
“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.” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
"The gull sees farthest who flies highest” ~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
The body is continuously trying to attain that state of perfect health which is our birthright but we are always blocking it with our negative thoughts and emotions. "The power within can cure a cancer as easily as a cold," says John Randolf Price. "But in order to re-adjust your bodily functions, it must flow through your consciousness." Remember: "Your body reflects your mind."
One of my most favorite scenes in the novel–and a constant source of personal inspiration–is when a young gull named Kirk Maynard prostrated himself in front of our hero because he wanted to fly but his wings are paralyzed.
“Help me,” he pleaded, “I want to fly more than anything else in the world.”
Jonathan said, “Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.”
Man is the individual expression of the Infinite Mind that created the universe. "There is in all of us a higher man," as Plotinus said during the second century, "a man more entirely of the celestial rank, almost a god, reproducing God. When the soul begins again to mount, it comes not to something alien but to its very self. The self thus lifted, we are in the likeness of the Supreme."
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
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