Jonathan Livingston Seagull  
by Richard Bach

"When they hear of it, he thought of the Breakthrough, they'll be wild with joy. How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back 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!" p. 30-31

"A seagull never speaks back to the Council Flock, but it was Jonathan's voice raised, 'Irresponsibility? My brother!" he cried. 'Who is more responsible tha a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live--to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I've found ...

The Flock might as well have been stone.
'The Brotherhood is broken,' the gulls intoned
together, and with one accord they solemnly
closed their ears and turned their backs upon
him.

... His sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see.

... What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid.

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with these gone from his thoughts, he lived a long fine life indeed." p 39-41

"He spoke of very simple things--that it is right for a gull to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form." p. 114

"Are we ahead of our time? ...Well, this kind of flying has always been here to be learned by anybody who wanted to discover it; that's got nothing to do with time. We're ahead of the fashion maybe. Ahead of the way that most gulls fly." p. 115

"Oh, Fletch, you don't love that! You don't love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That's what I mean by love. It's FUN when you get the knack of it."  p. 123

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I was in my junior year in high school in English. We were studying this book in literature class. After studying it for several days and watching the movie, the teacher was talking with another teacher and pulled me aside. She asked me to tell her and the other teacher what I thought the book was about. I gave a very concrete answer and said it's about a bunch of seagulls learning how to fly.

She smiled at me and looked at the other teacher. I watched their exchange of facial expressions and I knew my answer was somewhat lacking. My teacher said thank you and I could go back to my desk. I knew I had witnessed something important to my life but I had no idea what it was at that young tender age. I had a knowingness that told me to make a mental note and never forget this book. It is important to me. I knew there was something much deeper to the meaning of the book from that moment on.

As the years passed, I noticed anything related to the book but didn't do much with it. In 1991, I bought a new copy of the book and reread it. I didn't underline anything or write in the margins, but I could see deeper into the meaning. Since 1991, my life has taken such an unforseen turn which has brought me, again, full circle to my little book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

As I watched the above video, my heart soared to the heights on the wings of Jon, the seagull. I found my copy of the book I bought in 1991 and just sat down and reread it. I can assure you, passages are underlined and there are many notes in the margin this time. What a beautiful journey! My heart overflows with gratitude for my English teacher prompting me to pay attention to this book. It feels much like my journey in this life. I'm not sure my teacher consciously knew the impact she would have on me with her questioning, but the Consciousness which came through her knew for sure. We are awakening!

As we travel this journey together,

Debbie

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