Jonathan Livingston Seagull
by Sabeen Shalapy
(North Cyprus)
"Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that gull's life is so short and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed."
I discovered Richard Bach through one of Bashar's (channeled by Darryl Anka) videos on youtube, he was talking about parallel realities and recommended a book called one. Subject of parallel universes really interests me so I searched for this book online and found a good deal for a collection of four of Bach's books including Jonathan Livingston Seagull
, Illusions 
, The Bridge Across Forever 
and One 
. I haven't read anything by this author before and planned to read one first and the others maybe later. But someone on facebook told me that I should read the books in the order that they were written because they are sort of connected.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about reading JLS as I thought what would be so interesting about the life of a seagull but I couldn't be more wrong. With this book began a new & exciting chapter in my life. It is a story of a gull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull who dared to be different. His passion for flying led him to a magical and fascinating journey of enlightenment where he discovered his unlimited nature and overcame the restrictions of time and space. Here are some more of my favourtie quotes from JLS.
"How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there?s 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!"
"The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome."
"To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived."
"Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom."
"Why is it, Jonathan puzzled, that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he'd just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?"
"The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly."
"When you come to the edge of all the light you have known, and are about to step out into darkness, Faith is knowing one of two things will happen There will be something to stand on, or you will be taught to fly."
"If our friendship depends on space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood. But overcome space, and all you have left is Here. Overcome time and all you have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice?"
"The only true law is that which leads to freedom."
