jonathan livingston seagull by richard bach

The students struggle to understand the latter, and Jonathan ultimately decides that they must all return to the Flock and resume their lessons there. Jonathan ultimately concludes that in order to do so, he must use the skills Chiang taught him to return to Earth and share his knowledge with his former Flock.īack on Earth, Jonathan takes on several students who have been made Outcasts by the Flock, teaching them not only to fly more skillfully, but also to understand their true spiritual nature. However, before Chiang leaves for another world, he reminds Jonathan to “keep working” on the most important form of flight: love. With Chiang’s help, Jonathan learns to travel instantaneously through space and time. To that end, he begins studying with an old gull named Chiang, who teaches him that true heaven and true perfection consist of an awareness of oneself as infinite. Over time, he learns that it is in fact simply a different plane of existence in which he can continue to learn and grow. Jonathan accompanies them up into the sky and to an entirely new realm he initially believes to be heaven. One night, he encounters a pair of luminous seagulls who tell him they have come to take him to his true Flock, which he is now ready to meet.

Jonathan grows old alone, never ceasing in his efforts to teach himself more about flying. He returns to the Flock excited and eager to share his knowledge, but to his dismay, the Flock instead declares him an Outcast for his exploits. After a particularly disastrous dive, Jonathan nearly resigns himself to the life of an ordinary seagull, only to have an epiphany: by flying on only his wing tips, Jonathan is successfully able to reach a speed of over 200 miles per hour. His attempts to fly faster and higher than his fellow gulls make him suspect, and his own parents pressure him to conform. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a young gull who struggles to fit in with his Flock where the other birds are only concerned with finding food, Jonathan loves flying for its own sake.

Jonathan livingston seagull by richard bach