The real Jonathan Livingston Seagull (within all of us)

Thirty Seven years after it was first published and after considerable recommendation from friends and folks, coupled with very superior reviews I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull last year after I bought the book from a store in Connaught Place, New Delhi on New Years day in 2007.

Barely into a page, I noticed the ease with which Richard Bach introduced the subject whose only purpose was to deeply inspire the reader while helping to take the person deep within the self and understand that being extraordinary was not after all a state limited to the (so-called) extraordinary alone! We have long been conditioned to believe that it takes a superhuman effort to excel and hence become contented with the idea of mediocrity! As children, wide differentiations between the brilliant and the average were imbibed in us, coupled with poor direction and support as a result of which many of us lost trust in our potential and undermined ourselves a great deal only to be condemned to the belief that despite efforts, all results were a direct result subject to the intervention of fate! We have consistently failed to draw inspiration from within and around to make ourselves better, and yet strained hard to achieve the unimaginable only to be violently thrust into dismay in the event of failure.

The story of Jonathan apart from being very simple is a must read. It teaches the most important lesson that one can learn in life, that the individual is unique, whose capability is almost always decided by the manner in which that person looks within and relates to the world outside.

But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve - slowing, slowing, and stalling once more - was no ordinary bird. Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.

This is perhaps the case with many of us (me included)! We deem it not in our purview to try what we ought to and seek the help of yet another when the time of judgement arrives, in the bargain immensely compromising not only our will to do what we could have otherwise 'easily' done, but also shatter the mind's confidence while creating a pseudo support system aimed at momentarily calming ourselves. Hence we have come very hard on ourselves and confined our abilities within a boundary out of which we will dare not venture for the fear of failing! Does this sound familiar? I'm sure it does. It is called 'staying within the comfort zone.' Which is why this book does wonders to teach our psyche and the inner self that the first lesson to learn is to be boundary less and unconfined.

The mind does exactly what it has been trained to do, tell it to sleep and it does just that and so, before embarking upon anything it is imperative to train the mind to believe that a possibility can be made a reality by the sheer act of conceiving a thought and executing an idea.

And that is exactly what Jonathan did! He believed with all conviction that he was ace flyer, more than any other fellow gull and flew higher and higher to reach a realm unknown to his kind.

He climbed two thousand feet above the black sea, and without a moment for thought of failure and death, he brought his forewings tightly in to his body, left only the narrow swept daggers of his wingtips extended into the wind, and fell into a vertical dive. The wind was a monster roar at his head. Seventy miles per hour, ninety, a hundred and twenty and faster still. The wing-strain now at a hundred and forty miles per hour wasn't nearly as hard as it had been before at seventy, and with the faintest twist of his wingtips he eased out of the dive and shot above the waves, a ray cannonball under the moon.

It is quite a thing to seek inspiration from within and learn alone! It requires courage, conviction, effort, consistency and belief!
What it certainly does not require is being 'extraordinary.'

I will leave you with the lyrics of one of my favourite numbers ever, from the animated movie - The Prince of Egypt, sung by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
It is called 'Believe.' Do spend a few moments reading the lyrics, since it conveys a very strong meaning and speaks of a thought that is very relevant to every single one of us despite who we are!

Read on......

Many nights we've prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood
Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
You will when you believe

In this time of fear
When prayer so often proves in vain
Hope seemed like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away
Yet now I'm standing here
My heart's so full I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words
I never thought I'd say

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
You will when you believe

They don't always happen when you ask
And it's easy to give in to your fear
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see your way safe through the rain
Thought of a still resilient voice
Says love is very near

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
Now you will
You will when you believe

You will when you believe
Just believe
Gotta believe
You will when you believe