Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Ideally to be read after [b:The Giving Tree 370493 The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174210942l/370493.SX50.jpg 30530] and [b:The Little Prince 157993 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367545443l/157993.SY75.jpg 2180358] but before [b:The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466865542l/18144590.SY75.jpg 4835472].

This story is a cute reimagining of the Christian story of Jesus, using a seagull who aspires to an existence beyond the simple gathering of food. It was published in the 1970's - a leftover artifact of the hippy free love revolution the late 60's, and while there's a nice story about morality and the value of perseverance, it's fairly shallow. Still, for what amounts to an elaborate short story, I found it entertaining and engaging and something worth reading.

I've read this one when I was a teenager - I didn't remember much other than the fact that Richard Bach becoming my favorite writer for a while with this book.

And reading it many decades later was such an amazing experience hence I can't rate anything but five star. I'm adding couple of his other books to my to-read list.

Short and magical story. What you will take away from it will depend on your spirituality maturity :)

Ok, so, I went an looked to other reviews for inspiration for writing. And I realized a thing.
There are two, no, three kind of different reviews.
Reviews N 1, or how I decided to call them, “I'm to mainstream for this” are the one with people who read it and then went to the part of “this is stupid, it's for people who need support, it's just too rebel” and things like that. They face the part where the book is like those things in school who just repeat the same and they believe that with those words they're going to change the world. For this reviews, it's not that you're bad or things like that, it's just that you go to negative on it. I mean, the book is kind of designed for being like that, to help, to help people realize what they can do. So, chill, enjoy!
Reviews N 2, or the way I called them “I just saw THE thing and my life is not the same”, are the ones who give this book their heart and soul. This people probably felt a lot better after reading it, in which case is the book porpoise. But they go a little to deep in the prayers for the book. And it's ok, everyone obsesses or gets changed by something. But it's funny to see the contrast between this reviews and the first one.
Reviews N 3, the “reviewers in the middle”, are the ones who go “I like this” and that's it or “Nice message” Period. They fill the reviews. There's always this kind of reviewers.

As for me, I think I go to the second kind with a touch of the first one.
When I finished the book, the first thing my mom told me was “what did you learn about it”. This was my answer

I think that the book tries to tell you that you can do whatever-WHATEVER-you want. All the things you want, you can do it, and the only barrier holding you there is yourself. Yourself, fears, Sadness, courage, bravery, happiness included. And even sometimes, the problem is that the people who restrain themselves, also restrain everybody else, and they do it thinking they have the power to do it. But they don't. They don't get to decide, you get to decided. It's your body, your mind, your soul, your ideas and, in this case, your wings. No one can't decide for you about yourself and neither do you to the rest.

I was forced to read this for school when I was 12 and... ugh.

You know, when people talk about schools killing children's potential pleasure for reading by forcing down their throats some classics without proper context and without easing the kids into them through more dynamic, age apropriate literature, it's hard for me to relate - I went to excellent schools that yeah, made us read some classics, but there was always a pretty awesome class about those books so we would know what we were getting into. It just nurtured my love for reading.

That is, except when they did this: recommend message-y, self-help drivel. The sort of annoying, preachy nonsense you get in a motivational cult. Hated those books at 12, continue to hate them 30 years on.

I did a Reading, yes, a Capital R Reading, of JLS with my magic friend Beena. For us, a Reading is a discernment, dissection, appreciation, extrapolation and unpacking of all the Moreness of a Read.
Here's Beena's TakeAway:
My Take-Away on Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.
One of the early influential books in New Age conceptionality.

“To the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all” - JLS Dedication
The power of cueing, in one line.

Another interesting read, another layered emphasis on learning and growing. Comparatively, it's a simple book. Ideas have been presented in a simple and direct manner. This simplicity becomes the first appealing motive for continuing to read JLS. What makes it interesting? It's a story of a seagull by a seagull, not narrated by any human character. Reading JLS, I was all excited and Receptive towards this story as I had no expectations but fun, what else could we expect from a bird autobiography. Having no expectations of any value other than fun became the very reason for my openness, became a leverage for not having any pre-existing calculative perceptions and pre-disposed perspectives.

Key Points:

Importance of time.
Richard emphasized the importance of how and where we spend our time. When JLS was alone and trying to figure out how he could improve flight, having no clue, still he invested every bit of energy in practice. This earnestness and dedication became his key to Moreness.

Hungry, happy learning.
For me, this, especially “happy,” is a representation of no indulgence - be deliberate in your living, in your learning, in your growth.

Wrong idea of being content.
Different people have different understandings of being content. JLS's tribe, they all were content and happy - access to food, feeling somewhat safe, no purpose other than survival. For JLS, it was not enough. He was looking for more in life, wanting to feel and experience what lies beyond boundaries and limitations, was determined to know what other high-flying birds feel and what perspectives they are able to acquire. This idea of going out of our comfort zone has been presented in a very simple and interesting way. JLS was keen to fly really high, with excellence, so he could see the world from an elevated perspective different from his flock on the shore.

The importance of Appropriate Ego. (Self)
Quest for Excellence, could mean being alone in your journey with no clear idea of your desired terminus. Appropriate ego or precise and accurate self-conception is what we need in this alone-journey, to protect us, to leverage our abilities to reach our desired stage..

Assumption of external conditioning as Inner voice.
In any situation where we have to make some choices, we mostly become caught up in lack of self-trust and our conscious/rational, and subconscious mind starts bringing up all the negative suggestions. Mostly those suggestions are either other people's perspective of us, or their own self-perceptions they might be projecting. It's crucial to understand who is playing the role of our inner-self? The question to ask ourselves: “Is it me, or external influence?”

How?
It doesn't make any difference at all whether we know how to get our objective or not. If we keep trying, keeping our focus intact and having trust that our determination, earnestness, and clarity of intent will push us forward in our journey then, sooner or later, we will figure it out. Or, we'll meet someone who can assist us in our journey.

Overall - I really liked the book.

27th of November 2021,

This is a short philosophical book that explores the cycles of community beliefs and how a single pebble can cause ripples that change far more than could have been predicted. This version is one reprinted with the fourth section (previously languishing in a desk drawer) and I definitely think the addition of that final section makes the whole story feel more finished. The cycle is completed by that last section; a full turn of the wheel.

“...the forces of rulers and ritual slowly, slowly will kill our freedom to live as we choose.”

This and my other reviews are on my website: Aspects of Me.