On Jonathan Livingston Seagull
A Beautiful Fable that I could read only once, and then again just one more time yesterday
There is not beauty of one kind.
Neither beautiful of a kind are movies, songs or books. Some are beautiful in a way that feels like home, which is to say that you like to return to them when you can. They feel like a mother’s cooking, like the embrace of a lover, like a call from a long lost friend. Comfortable and warm.
Then there’s beauty of a more terrible kind, which is hard to gaze upon for a long time, lest your eyes start to hurt and bleed from its beauty. And not just your eyes, often your heart too. That beauty is lonesome; in a way that makes you uncomfortable and want to look away—because of the truth it radiates, and truth is often such—terrible, uncomfortable and yet beautiful; in how it is said through such kinds of movies, songs or books. Because it is hard to say in person.
This is about a book of that second kind of beauty, and that book is called Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.
I remember the name being mentioned in a couple of instances in a few conversations, moreso as a long lost gem of a classic that one doesn’t hear about much in contemporary recommendations. I could tell though just from instinct, that this was a book I would be reading very soon, and it would be a worthy read.
And so it was, so much so that I read the whole book in one go, into the wee hours of the night (it isn’t a very long read, and that should say something about the nature of art). I’ve never yet been able to read it again. Because my eyes are still hurting from its beauty. Because truth, like I said, is often uneasy on the eyes.
The book is a fable about a young seagull named Jonathan, who loves to fly more than anything else in the world. He sees it not just as a means to survival, travel and food as others in its flock do, but a thing of true wonder; a never ending quest of unlocking new milestones in flying. He sees beyond what others in the flock see, in vision and in spirit, as he seeks alone to learn everyday new techniques and truths about flying, and through it: life.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about the infinite beauty of craft, about being true to your passion and answering your calling, and the necessity of courage in doing so—even if it entails going against the flock, or even being banished as “Outcast”. Like the best of fiction, it instructs in the most pertinent matters of life and death, and represents a fidelity of the cost of doing so that is painfully relatable yet inspiring. Especially if you have been a craftsman of any kind, it will make you smile in recognition; tear up for Jon, and maybe a bit for yourself—but only if you’re very fortunate.
I can’t remember the whole story, for that I have to dare try to read it again—but I want to share a few quotes that are still etched in my memory (I had to reference the book for getting them verbatim here though) in the way they spoke to me when I read them, and muse on them further on.
“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, but now we have a reason to live-to learn, to discover, to be free!”
Although if Jon had known the price he was about to pay for speaking his truth (being Outcast for the rest of his life from the flock), would he have still said this? I think he would’ve.
*Sigh*, Jonathan my friend..
“Jonathan Seagull spent the rest of his days alone, but flew way out beyond the Far Cliffs. His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that the other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see.”
That sorrow is not unfamiliar to me. Jonathan and I would both hope that it is not unfamiliar to you..
“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 thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”
Not just a gull’s life I think..
“Chiang spoke slowly and watched the younger gull ever so carefully. “To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”
The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two-inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time.”
There is not one path to spirituality. Transcendence, manifestation, yin and yang, science and art..
Jacket on, jacket off..
Jacket on, jacket off……
Jacket on, jacket off………..
JACKET ON, JACKET OFF………………
(Mr Hahn, art thou listening, shall ye come now??)
“For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of his truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself”.
Huh, so is that it? A student I have been too, and I may have glimpsed truth a couple of times myself.. (although I could probably learn some courage from Jon)
By the way—I did almost read the book again collecting these.
I could have many more snippets to share, but I would like to keep the rest for myself as I finish the book one more time; and for you too to discover them. The book is not that hard to find. (Seek and ye shall blah blah)
As for me, I should probably love to try writing a fable about seagulls, phoenixes or dragons someday...
Really enjoyed this essay, especially this line: "... being true to your passion and answering your calling, and the necessity of courage in doing so—even if it entails going against the flock, or even being banished as “Outcast”."
That will stick with me as I continue to create. Thanks for sharing Abhishek.
Such a beautifully honest essay. It turned out superb. I now have this book on my list. Thank you for the introduction