Determination is everything, is the message that rings true in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It is what gets you far, it is what gets you to the next level of boundlessness. A story about a seagull who would rather live to fly rather than fly to live, Jonathan Livingston Seagull teaches us that we should always pave our own path in life and never give up to teach others our wisdom. Ordinary seagulls learn how to fly so that they can search and fight for food. But Jonathan is a different bird, a one-in-a-million, who lives to perfect flying. While other seagulls are reaching a point A to point B destination, Jonathan’s life takes many twists and turns. Through trials and tribulations and successes and failures what Jonathan learns about flying eventually leads him to a place which he defines as Heaven, a place of perfection.
Once Jonathan reaches Heaven where other birds who have “perfected” flying have also reached, he realizes there is still more to learn. Thus, the determination to keep on flying should never falter. He learns through his mentor Chiang, the Elder gull, that to fly even higher, he must believe that he is a perfect, limitless creature. “To fly as fast as thought,” Chiang says, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”
This story, written by Richard Bach, though about a bird, is a clear reflection of our human tenacity. It is an expression of the committed persona and perfectionist in all of us that we should aim to tap into. We have limits through our language, but our beliefs should not stop us from achieving the best of the best. Some people will laugh at what we do, or doubt our practices, as other seagulls do with Jonathan, but we should never give up. To find a higher purpose in life leads us to never quit. And once Jonathan learns of his strong abilities, he reaches an even a higher plane than Earth and Heaven and becomes enthusiastic even more with the other birds that surround him in his mission. He finds his niche, he finds his fulfillment and becomes the most fearless bird of any flock ever before.
Jonathan is taught by Chiang to learn all about life, to keep working on kindness and especially love. And as he learns these lessons more and more, Jonathans next wish is to go back to his old flock on Earth and teach another bird who maybe wants to break free as well. As his demonstration of love, he eventually goes back and meets an Outcast bird, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, and teaches him about flying. But prideful in his desire to fly, and fierce that he has been outcaste, Jonathan tells Fletcher, “…in casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see. Forgive them, and help them to understand.” And while Jonathan in his early days was hopeful, Fletcher is not so confident in his belief of flight. He is not as self-assured to the point that Fletcher feels Jonathan is wasting his time with him. Yet Jonathan never gives up on the young bird, and after a few months, he has six new students.
After three months of training, Jonathan convinces his students that they must go back to the flock that rejected them to teach them what they have learned. Despite the flock’s rigid belief to not change their ways and despite “the law” that outcast birds should never return, Jonathan and his group hope that maybe something will be different this time. Once they arrive, arguments ensue, but the younger gulls are more accepting of Jonathan’s group. Eventually, a group of curious gulls forms at night, learning to fly under the lessons of Jonathan. No matter the limitations, the lesson to learn is to be free. “The only true law is that which leads to freedom,” Jonathan lectures. And as the days pass, the crowd of seagulls grows larger with all their praises, curiosities, questions, doubts, and fears. The story continues as each student, such as Fletcher, learns to tap into their own unlimited possibilities breaking free from Jonathan and teaching their own group of seagulls. Over the years, Jonathan eventually sees a change in the flock, especially among the younger birds. The older birds are stubborn with their ways, only learning to fly to scrap for soggy bread.
The learning curve becomes so great that students of students are becoming greater than their teachers. But after some time, despite their lessons, the newer students would become more enthralled about ideas of the “Great Jonathan Gull” and this became problematic for Fletcher, for he just wanted to him to be recognized as any other ordinary seagull so that they learn to fly as well. Eventually, “Jonathan” is not an instructor, but something like a god, a fairytale. Fewer birds were learning how to fly.
When all the original students of Jonathan die, their missions become that of storytelling rather than something to learn and imitate from. The lessons become dogma to seagulls with rituals of cairns. But after some hundred years, some birds reject the dogma, reject Jonathan as a being higher than them, or being a great flier. By rejecting everything, they become free to fly as they wish.
Jonathan’s desire to go back to earth teaches us that as humans we should always forgive, and love even those who once mocked or hated us. We should not give up, even on our enemies. Sometimes ignorance binds and blinds us, but we should not be vengeful or angry at those who don’t wish to see or seek change. But change will eventually occur, one person at a time. We should love and continue to give, for love is the greatest energy of all that changes one’s outlook for the better. Also, if we keep our wisdom to ourselves, we will never see change. Focus on one person (or gull) at a time, and see enlightenment as the goal not just a lesson learned. For as we learn, we one day hope to teach others what we have mastered (not just tell stories of our mastery).
We should all mimic each other, grow, and spread our own knowledge. Our effort to learn should cause a cycle. It should not only be kept to ourselves. This lesson is in Jonathan’s heart, as he aims to teach other seagulls to see life through his perspective: that we are not gods or better than each other. We are all divine by nature. However, as Bach puts it, “the forces of rulers and ritual slowly, slowly kill our freedom to live as we choose.” Therefore, we should no falter in our belief to be immeasurable or great. No god or any amount of gods should bring our faith in ourselves down, for faith is not in the “being”, but in the flight, the interminable adventure that leads us to fly above the skies.
