Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Once in awhile you come across those stories or books that can completely rock your entire view on life. And it just so happened my mother handed me this book. It's one of them books you read and find your self and insigt to life inexplicably changed. One of those books that has done this for me is Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a bird who wants nothing more than to fly. Raised in a group of gulls that saw flying as only a means to an end, Jonathan challenged their way of life by believing that flying could be about more than transportation or getting food... it could be about joy and happiness and freedom. When told he was irresponsible for trying exceed his expectations; Jonathan replied:

"Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher

purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads -- and now we have a reason to live -- to learn, to discover, to be free!"

You find your self following the story of jonathan, and how he finds joy in his love for flight and his constant desperate desire to grow and to learn. He pushes himself to the breaking point and is never satisfied enough with his knowledge and never tires of the quest to obtain more. On his journeys Jonathan finds a group of other gulls who like him, strive for excellence and do not see flying as a means to an end, but simply love to fly for the sake of loving it. When Jonathan finally returns to his flock on Earth to try for better or worse to show that there is more to life than what they are striving for. And Jonathan tells the flock to fly, in which they reply;

"Are you saying that I can fly?"

"I am saying that you can be free."

Instantly after reading this book i thought, "if only I was given the gift of flight I would be just like Jonathan... I would ride the winds and find joy in growing and learning, always striving to be the best bird that I could be.  To live a life that isnt only a means to an end."

In my eyes Jonathan Livingston Seagull teaches us to see joy in the possibility of never being content and the beauty in striving for perfection and to follow your dreams,. If a seagull could see the truth in this, why is it so hard for us to? We don't have to be rich or famous, or falcons or eagles to be better, we need only to see that there is potential in even the ordinary, and then act upon that.

"For each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do, and that was to fly."

And to end it with my favourite quote's;  

“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have 

And step into the darkness of the unknown 

Believe that one of the two will happen to you 

Either you'll find something solid to stand on 

Or you'll be taught how to fly!”

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, A master calls a butterfly"

If this books sounds like something you might enjoy, PLEASE PLEASE borrow it. Its fucking beautiful.