Today I want you to fly with me as I share with you a fable called Jonathan Livingston Seagull – A Story, in novella form. You may have read it, so it’ll be a refresher for you. Chances are however that you are not aware of the Part Four that was rediscovered in 2014. And if you’ve never read the story- you’re in for a real treat.
By the Way – The book was made into a movie with a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. The music is good, but I don’t recommend the movie. There’s only so much you can do with a cast of seagulls.
Anyway, over the years, this novel became a classic and it is often considered one of the best inspirational or motivational books ever written. The author, Richard Bach, wrote 20 other books, is a former fighter pilot, a gypsy barnstormer, an airplane mechanic, and a seaplane flier.
Interestingly, this book was not written as one complete novel initially; Bach wrote it as a series of short stories which were published in a magazine called “Flying” in the latter half of the 1960s. Richard claimed that he was divinely directed to write it. Once he put it into book form Bach struggled to get it published because it was so ahead of its time. Eventually it became one of the best-selling books ever after it was finally printed in 1970. And then, as I mentioned earlier, the lost Part Four of Jonathan Livingston Seagull was added a half century after the original instalments were penned. Bach reported that a near-death experience inspired him to finish that fourth part. He dedicated the book to “the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all”.
I first ran across the book way back in my early 20’s and then it found its way to me again a few months ago. It’s about a very special seagull. A story for someone who yearns to fly. It’s a story for those of us who realize that our true freedom is to love and to choose to live every day of our lives as we best can.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is named after John H. Livingston. He was a friend of Richard’s, a Waco Aircraft Company test pilot who died of a heart attack in 1974 at age 76 just after test flying an acrobatic home-built Pitts Special. By the way, in case you are interested, Jonathan, or Jon for short, means “YHWH has given” in Hebrew.
Now, to be honest I should tell you that I have sort of a love-hate relationship with seagulls. They’re loud, greedy, invasive, polluting, and aggressive. They eat anything that moves and a lot of things that don’t. My wife and I live in Port Stanley where you will find lots of them. On the beach, soaring over the lake in the breeze, fighting over a dead fish on the sand, or trying to steal some of the French fries that I just purchased for my grand-kids.
I recall the one and only camping trip that my wife and I took together. She is not a camper. We were on our way up to the near north and were standing on the deck of the Chi-Cheemaun ferry, having left Tobermory on our way to Manitoulin Island. It was a gusty day, and there were seagulls soaring up ahead at the front of the ferry near the smokestack. We were looking up at them and admiring what must’ve been a very joyful experience for them when several of them just let the crap fly. Seagull poop. It splattered on our clothes, our faces, our hair. I spent pretty well the remainder of our ferry ride in one of the washrooms trying to get the foul faeces off my sweater.
Good old seagulls.
Seagulls aren’t mentioned in the traditional sacred texts: Bible, Quran, Talmud, The Vedas and Upanishads. But some consider Jonathan Livingston Seagull to be a sacred narrative, a gospel all on its own.
So, here’s a question that some have asked: “Is Jonathan Livingston Seagull about Jesus?”
Well, the story is replete with allegorical references to the biblical story of Jesus Christ. Allegory being a story within a story. A story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Jonathan the seagull is ridiculed, punished, and banished for his gospel of truth, which is to believe in one’s own greatness. Jesus too was ridiculed and punished at the end of his life. But they both overcame death and returned to the earthly plane to teach others.
Eric Butterworth was one of the leading spokespersons on “practical mysticism.” He is considered a legend and spiritual icon in the Unity movement. He said this in his lecture called Dare to Dream:
“One of the things that has been very hopeful and enlightening in the last few years, was the little fiction story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Totally impractical story. Editors didn’t know what to do with it. They didn’t know whether it was a child’s story, a fantasy, or what. Defying everyone, it became one of the all-time best sellers.
You may recall in this story, Jonathan Livingston Seagull has a talk with Maynard Gull, who was the gull with the broken wing, who is symbolic of the pitiful state that so many people are in- with habits of self limitation, and physical afflictions, and race prejudice, and social injustice, and poverty, and so forth, living lives that go on without hope.”
Eric goes on to say: “Jonathan said to Maynard Gull, “You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.” Maynard said, “Are you saying that I can fly?” He’d been walking, dragging this wing around with him for a long time. Jonathan said, “I say you are free,” and Maynard Gull rose himself to the highest stature, raised his wings and flapped them, and he flew away, and he was totally healed. “
The helpless gull dropped his helplessness and rose and flew. Sounds a bit like healings performed by Jesus, does it not?
World renowned contemporary abstract artist and writer Gheorghe Virtosu said this about the book:
“The one book which has always stayed with me since early childhood is Richard Bach’s A Seagull Called Jonathan Livingston. This is a short story which talks about overcoming limits and getting to be the best version of yourself. The seagull Jonathan Livingston is an individual who gets set apart in a class of his own by his exceptional ability to fly fast and high. Even when his kind turns their back to him, he perseveres in following his true calling, and in doing so, he breaks the bonds of ignorance and fear and makes it his mission in life to guide others in finding their way to freedom. It is an impactful story on soul-searching and self-discovery, while always staying true to oneself, under all circumstances.”
So, let’s go deeper into this fascinating allegory, this story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
In PART 1 we learn that Jonathan Livingston is a young gull who is quite different from the other birds in his Flock. His fellow seagulls only care about food and eating and are suspicious of him because he loves flying and wants to fly faster and higher. Loves practising airborne acrobatics and testing the limits of his speed and form. Even his parents are dismayed that Jonathan spends whole days, all alone, experimenting with flight.
After a failed dive, Jonathan nearly gives up on his dream, but he rises to the challenge. He triumphs by giving up his fear of failure! He achieves terminal velocity in his dive and wild with joy he realises the reason for life! To lift himself out of ignorance, to find himself as a creature of excellence and intelligence and skill. To be free.
Excited about this new discovery, Jonathan returns to his flock eager to share what he learned with the members, but they declare him an Outcast for breaking their rules. He is shamed for his reckless irresponsibility and for violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family. He is cast out of gull society and banished to a solitary life.
Many years pass, and Jonathan has aged, having lived a fine, long, but solitary life while learning to perfect his flying. One evening he is flanked in flight by two gleaming gulls who invite him to ascend with them to a higher plane of existence. And he does so.
In PART 2 we are told that Jonathan believes that he is now in heaven. He finds that his outer form has changed. His new body glows brilliant white and flies more surely and easily, though it still does have some limits. He is met by a group of other gulls who communicate with him telepathically.
They think as he does, that the most important thing in living is to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most love to do; and that is to fly.
Jonathan then trains with an instructor named Sullivan Gull, who admires Jonathan’s abilities, and tells Jonathan he is the best pupil he’s ever had, that he is a gull in a million, having learned so much at one time on earth that, like most other gulls, he did not have to go through a thousand lifetimes to reach his present state of perfection.
In his conversations with Chiang, the Elder Gull of this new Flock, Jonathan learns that his true nature lives everywhere at once across space and time and that there are ways to transcend even the physical limits of his body. Eventually, Jonathan masters instantaneous teleportation, becoming Chiang’s special pupil. Before Chiang eventually leaves for another world, Jonathan learns from him that true heaven consists of being aware of oneself as infinite.
As Jonathan learns more and more, he cannot stop thinking about the world he left behind on earth—he longs to return and teach other gulls the truths he has learned in this new realm.
So, Jonathan comes back to earth and approaches a recently outcast gull from his own Flock named Fletcher Lynd Seagull. Admiring Fletcher’s flight, Jonathan offers to take Fletcher on as a pupil on the condition that he forgives the Flock and that one day they will both return to this Flock and share with it the things they have learned together. Fletcher agrees, and the two begin flying lessons.
In PART 3 we learn that after about three months, Jonathan has amassed a small group of six special pupils [Disciples], outcasts all, whom he trains in flight techniques and mental exercises to help them break the chains of their bodies.
He also teaches them about their true spiritual nature and how they can reconnect with the flock. The students are confused at first but slowly begin to understand what he is talking about. When one gull with a bad wing manages to fly after speaking to Jonathan, rumors begin to spread that Jon is divine.
One day, Jonathan tells his students that the time has come to return to their Flock and share their knowledge. His students are doubtful but agree nonetheless to follow him back to their old shore. Not unexpectedly, the Flock shuns Jonathan and his pupils as they demonstrate their feats of flight, but slowly, some curious gulls begin approaching Jonathan and his group, asking to learn to become better fliers.
Soon hundreds and hundreds of gulls gather every day to listen to Jonathan’s messages. Messages about the glory of freedom and about the rituals, superstitions, and limitations that stand in the way of true freedom. Jonathan is rumored to be the Son of the Great Gull himself, though Jonathan frequently laments the fact that the others cannot simply see him – as one of them.
After Fletcher crashes into a cliff and has a near-death experience, the other gulls begin to hail Fletcher, too, as a Divine gull. Jonathan tells Fletcher that it is time for him to ascend, and leaves Fletcher behind to continue his legacy. Fletcher, distraught but determined to carry on Jonathan’s teachings, assumes his new role as instructor of Jonathan’s pupils.
In the rediscovered PART 4 we read about Fletcher and his new Flock of pupils, [who like St. Paul of the New Testament] travel up and down the coastline on their missionary journeys, spreading their messages to new Flocks. As more and more gulls take up Jonathan’s message, a golden age of flight and innovation commences. Fletcher becomes an icon in his own right.
As Jonathan’s adherents grow in numbers, they begin ignoring his original teachings and focus on idealising and idolising Jonathan and his original pupils. As these first students pass on, their graves become shrines where devotees, in ritual, drop pebbles on their tombs. Groups of gulls gather weekly, on Tuesdays rather than Sundays, to obsessively recount the miracles of Jonathan’s making, and after a few centuries, hardly any flying is done any more. Jonathan’s teachings are only discussed in the abstract. Sound familiar?
Some gulls, however, begin to resist the rituals and sermons, the ceremonies and rites. They practice better flying and end up circling back to Jonathan’s original desire for his Flock. That of expanding the self through pushing one’s physical limitations in flight and becoming the best possible version of oneself. One of the disenchanted, a young gull called Anthony Seagull, feels he is surrounded by hypocrisy and empty ritual, and seeks to end his life by dive-bombing out of the sky. On the way down to the water, though, he is approached by a gleaming gull who compliments him on his style and form. When Anthony asks the gull his name, the gull introduces himself as “Jon.” And so, ends the story.
Richard Bach, the author, was asked about the one insight that he would want to give his readers. He said this:
“I think the source of our sorrow and the source of our joy are intimately entwined. Our sorrow is that we have forgotten who we are, we have forgotten we are one with that source of all life–absolutely indestructible, perfect, joyful. The source of our joy is when we remember that. So, if I could say one word, in the deepest sense, without any explanation, to myself, I would say “remember.”
So, say to yourself: Anytime I need a reminder of my spiritual strength and capacities, I recall the seagull and I remember that I am one with that source of all life. And that I too soar on the wings of divinity.
Keep manifesting only good things 
Tony
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