and remembered it being kind of strange. However, the thought of reading a book appealed to me at the moment and my eyes started to graze on the other titles presented to my view. None of them really caught my attention and I came back to Jonathan, but I did not really want to read it. The thought that kept crossing my mind was the that often when a random object or thought catches your attention it is a message for you. I finally decided that if there was a message for me in J.L. Seagull then I wanted to know what it was. I arose and retrieved the book and opened it in the middle at the part where Jonathan Seagull was having a deep discussion with an older seagull about heaven. The older gull, Chiang, told Jonathan that heaven is not a place or time, but rather a state of being; you cannot go to heaven, you have to be heaven. These kinds of discussions interest me and before I had given myself much time to think I read to the end and started back at the beginning of the book and read to where I had initially commenced. I did not agree with all the author's philosophy, but I appreciated the point he was trying to teach through the story.
In case you have not read the story, which I would recommend you read, I will summarize the plot briefly. It starts with a seagull, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who wants more in life than to fight over food; specifically, he wants to master the art of flying. Because he dared to be different he was banished from the flock, which turned out to be a blessing for it allowed him to explore and perfect his skills without feeling the restricted by traditions, customs, and sneers. Eventually, he left this world and enters a higher world where, with similarly minded gulls, he attains greater ability and achieves more an ever before. Through the book he wonders were the limit is. In this higher world Chiang helps him understand there are no limits...none. The only thing that can limit him is his unbelief. With Chiang's help, he came to understand this principle and learns that he is whatever he wants to be and unlocked his ability to fly at the speed of thought, and with more practice he could travel to any time and any place in an instant. Having discovered this potential in himself Jonathan quickly developed the ability to see this potential for perfection in not only some other seagulls, but in every gull. He felt a strong desire to return to his home flock and there help some other outcasts learn to unlock the perfection inside. He attempted to give the flock a chance to see what they have missed out on and join the journey. Many did, but the vast majority preferred to live their miserable life of survival rather than venture on some strange path to perfection. At the end Jonathan Seagull encourages his students to continue their personal quest to unleash the perfection inside as he then moved on to help other gulls in other places. It is a very short story but was enough to bring the point home.
In my mind Richard Bach, the author, is trying to help us understand our true divine nature. To do this he used wonderful analogies. I thought the use of seagulls was a powerful metaphor of us. I have lived many years in Utah, where seagulls rule the skies, and in Maine, where these birds are so base and bold they would even attack and eat young lambs. Never would I have thought of seagulls being more than bickering, squawking, noisy, and selfish garbage birds. That is why I find the comparison powerful because many people in the world view the rest of the human population the same way, and because a few or many or even the majority of people we meet may act no better than squabbling, self-centered seagulls, it does not prove that that is what we were meant to be and can never change. People change all the time, because they are in control of their lives.
Also, probably my favorite part is how he shows that you are what you want to be. Some gulls only wanted food, they just lived to die and that is it, but they had everything necessary to become perfect like Jonathan. Some preferred not to be different from the crowd and they never did become different, though they liked the thought of doing cool things like Jonathan. Some just wanted to be beautiful flyers. Some wanted to be perfect and made all the sacrifices and effort required to make it, and make it they did. We are all like that in a very real sense, everyone decides their own life. We have the power to become what ever we prefer to be, and you will find that everyone reaches the true dreams of their hearts.
Another powerful concept was that you are already perfect inside. You are already divine, already made from eternal material. Accepting the true you takes time and consistent effort, and by true self I am not alluding to the earthly unrefined mortal you that you see and hear everyday, but the special being that came from the presence of God and has the all the potential to be just like God. This ability to see your real self can only come with God's help because that self is what He sees, knows, and loves. When you, through Christ's grace, unlock that truth your mortal body will follow, and physical limitations fade away like the the illusions they really are. Before the world was, we "are" spirits, literal children of God the Father with a developed character and potential to be just like our Heavenly Father. When we were born He combined mortal substance with our immortal being and working with this earthly tabernacle is like nothing we had ever experienced before. The flesh draws a veil over our spiritual memories and we tend to think that this weak handicapped clay is who we really are. I think Richard Bach should have stressed the vital ingredient of God's grace in the transformation from imperfect to perfect. His philosophy appears to lean more towards Buddhism (with multiple consecutive lives couple with your own efforts will lead you to eventual perfection) and not toward Christ the true source of change and perfection.
Nevertheless, Richard Bach's point was good; we are not our flesh, it is a part of us, but it is not us. We are children of God possessing the attributes and qualities necessary to become like God. Jonathan had to work at scraping away the false beliefs that he was limited and could never be anything more than a miserable seagull like the rest. Society, traditions, and customs had a powerful influence on the way he viewed himself. Sound familiar? Sounds like our day and age; governments, schools, fades, movies, movie stars, magazines, newspapers, etc. teach us to fear, tell us we limited, try to confine us to just being cool instead of helping us discover our true eternal selves. Like J. Livingston Seagull, this mirage, this restricting façade has to be peeled away and rejected so that we can access and accept the true soul inside each one of us.
All in all, this was basically what I gleaned from reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. His perfect depiction of humankind through seagulls set of the theme beautifully. Only our unbelief and desires can limit us, because we alone decide our destiny. We truly are unlimited beings, with unlimited potential, even children of an unlimited God! Though we are housed in a mortal imperfect body we must not mistake that for our true identity. Again, this is what I gained from the story of Jonathan L.S. and I encourage you to read it and draw your own conclusions from it.
Thank you for perusing this post from our Host, David. We hope you get the most out of it until next time for you never know when I may post again.
