Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions

Another book by Richard Bach that, along with The Seagull by Jonathan Livingston, if not changed my life, then definitely set her direction. The plot is extremely simple, but the ideas expressed by its main characters, and the thoughts that come after it, are truly “worth a lot”.

I often think that if I remembered this story more and more often and practiced useful knowledge in life, I would have become a real magician long ago. This is, of course, a joke. But in my personal opinion, this book contains the most important magical ideas that are constantly frayed in other esoteric literature. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little. Well, read it for yourself and decide whether it is so or not. Let's start with a short story.

Richard Bach book "Illusions"

Lonely journey and meeting with Donald Shimoda

chief actor of this story is Richard Bach himself. Now he earns his living by flying his little biplane around US states, and rides everyone. His life can be called reclusive, because apart from his passengers and sellers at gas stations and shops, he, along the way, does not really communicate with anyone.

And one day another airplane lands next to him in a small field, and its pilot introduces himself as Donald Shimoda. A little later, Richard learns that Donald is not quite a common person, he is the real Messiah, who escaped from people who always want to make sure that miracles really exist.

How to quit everything and surrender to the will of Fate?

After a short introduction, short story about the Savior himself and a parable about the creatures that lived at the bottom of the river and were afraid to break away from their homes. Yes, her idea is clear without explanation, but how? How to move away from the usual life, earning money, imposed stereotypes and surrender to the will of fate and God?

Probably, many understand what needs to be done and how exactly, but ... Fear of the unknown, fear of losing what we have, and that it will be much worse than now, makes us hold on to the last of our strength. And me included...

Although, in fairness, it should be noted that from my youth I try to get away from all this. At times it even works out, but circumstances constantly bring me back. And, realizing with my soul that I can no longer do this, I continue to live the same life imposed by someone incomprehensible.

And I would leave everything, but it seems like there is nowhere to go ... These are the thoughts that periodically visit me, even when the book lies somewhere long forgotten at the bottom of the suitcase.

Why do scientists believe, but the Saviors do not?

Miracles. People are always asking for miracles. They don't want to take their word for it. That's what scientists believe. They de, provide evidence for their theories. Either the bones will show, then the shards, then the pictures, then the video.

And then it turns out that the bones do not belong to the fact that the shards are not so many years old, but the videos and photos, in general, are fake. But no, everyone continues to believe in scientists, because scientists have great weight and authority in our society.

What about Saviors and Messiahs? They, of course, the same someone believes, just like that, if he feels that it is so right. But most still require proof.

Teaching is light, but give miracles to everyone ...

How can you prove a miracle? Walk through a wall, float on land, walk on the surface of a river? Fly without gasoline and oil, without a single scratch on the hull? Land your plane on a piece of land in incredible conditions?

Or maybe immediately arrange a meeting with a real vampire? But then everyone will believe and begin to thoughtlessly worship? No, they just speak in riddles, give people only a ghostly tip and offer to figure it out for themselves ...

But people do not want to, because not everyone understands that this is precisely the meaning of any teaching. Go and search for yourself, doubting, checking, finding your own ways and truths, so that one day you will also become a real magician.

Oh no. It is difficult, there is neither time nor desire for this, it is better to see a miracle, even better not one, and believe without looking back, elevate to heaven, make a deity ...

I also find answers...

By the way, I repeatedly tried to disperse clouds and lift objects into the air. It's a bit tight with the clouds, things don't want to budge. But materialization is much better. I received my “blue pen” several times. And I remember, somehow in a dream I even tried to go through the wall. But…

I have the same excuses as everyone else. For some reason, there is always not enough time or desire for such classes. You need to earn money to somehow live, and when it appears free time want to relax or do something else.

Although I keep thoughts about this in my head all the time, perhaps I hope that one day I, without any effort on my part, will begin to walk on water, pass through walls, move in space by willpower, read minds, fly like a bird and do more many other things.

Simply put, I also want a miracle, and somehow I’m not going to do it myself. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that we completely forget who we are and what we are capable of ...

Films we choose

In this little book, you can find some great idea on almost every page. (Not in vain "Messiah's Pocket Guide" released as a separate book.) What is worth going to the movies, where Donald explains to Richard what life is.

And here I am inclined to agree, once again the thought comes that everything was decided long ago, that nothing can be changed. And if we do change something, then in fact we just follow the given plan. We just need to go through it, realize our choice.

But there is one more nuance here: it is possible that there is more than one film, that there are dozens, hundreds, millions of them according to the number of our choices at one time or another in life. By the way, it is this idea that the author develops in his third book called “The Only One”. Therefore, now I also decided to stop and reflect on this a little later.

Why is this not taught in school?

It is worth noting that Bach is a pilot, loves airplanes and flights, because he has several works on this topic. But I am not familiar with them, because at a cursory glance they are strikingly different from the same "Seagull" or "Illusions".

It feels like they were written perfectly. different people, although keeping in mind the history of creation, there is probably some truth in this. I can’t even imagine that Bach himself took and wrote in his short story everything that many philosophers and esotericists have been going to for decades.

Although, judging by the book "Bridge over Eternity", the author practiced some spiritual techniques. And perhaps all this has been known to everyone for so long ... But if it is known, then why is all this filed in an ordinary literary work? Why is it not studied as a scientific discipline in schools and universities? And why does our world continue to roll towards the edge of the abyss?

The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave...

And in conclusion, I want to recall the episode in which Shimoda dies. For the first time, it surprised me. Well, how so, because he is the Messiah, the Teacher, he has the ability. Why, oh why, did he allow himself to be killed? Moreover, it seems that he deliberately went exactly to this and did not even try to dodge it somehow.

Now I understand. The point is not that the fate of any Savior must necessarily be tragic. Just a murder or an accident is probably the only way to get away very quickly.

Perhaps this time he did everything he had to? For example, did you meet with Richard and pass on some of your knowledge to him so that he can pass it on to us? Perhaps this was the only goal of his whole life? He did it and left...

What's next for all of us?

He went to where, perhaps, he will receive his new task and return to our or some other world in order to fulfill it there. It somehow reminded me of the book by V. Kryzhanovskaya "The Wrath of God", where the main character also performed a task in another world.

When you understand this, you begin to relate to life in a completely different way, and to death too. It is difficult, of course, to say goodbye to those who are our loved ones here.

But who knows, maybe there, in another world, we will certainly meet every time, so that then we will part again ... It's a shame that we don't remember anything, but I think this also has some special divine meaning.

In general, this book is full of ideas that require serious reflection. Therefore, read, reason, draw conclusions, practice and change in order to one day become who we really are ... And in the meantime, I will take up writing a review of another philosophical book by Richard Bach -.

Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide Richard Bach

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Title: Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide

About Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide by Richard Bach

Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions. The Messiah's Pocket Guide” are works on which more than one generation has grown up. Author Richard Bach is an acclaimed American writer, philosopher and essayist. His books inspire and evoke indescribable emotions.

The first book of the collection tells about the boundless spiritual freedom. "The Seagull Jonathan Livingston" is a story-parable that calls for self-improvement. Richard Bach wrote it in 1970. Two years later, the book entered the New York Times bestseller list.

In the center of the plot of the work is a seagull named Jonathan Livingston. The hero does not understand and rejects the way of life of other seagulls. He sees meaningless simple existence, the purpose of which is the struggle for survival. Therefore, the seagull decides to devote himself to flying. For the hero, this has become not just a way to fish - but a real art.

Soon the seagull is driven out of the flock, and he becomes a hermit. But the character does not feel alone. He devotes his life entirely to the skill of flying. The fate of the hero changes when he finds seagulls with the same zeal for self-improvement.

The plot of the work "Illusions" develops around an ordinary pilot. The hero earns his living by flying. And then one day he meets an unusual person named Donald Shimod. It turned out that the character looks at the world in a completely different way. Moreover, it can work real miracles. The hero understands that every person is capable of magic - you just need to believe. The book is filled with allegories and hides subtle discussions about the psychology of Americans.

"Messiah's Pocket Guide" is closely intertwined with the work "Illusions". Messiah Donald Shimod used a certain reference book. Then he disappeared for two decades, after which he finally showed up. What is this mysterious guide? To understand this, follow the instructions: ask the right question, close your eyes, open the guide to any page. You will know the answer, and all doubts will immediately evaporate. The directory works flawlessly, giving hope and enlightenment to everyone.

If you are looking for inspiration in fiction Richard Bach will not disappoint you. His works are filled with dreams, aspirations and desires. The author is not only good writer but also a competent psychologist. Each story will change something in your mind and give you hope.

On our site about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online book Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide" by Richard Bach in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. Buy full version you can have our partner. Also, here you will find last news from literary world, find out the biography of your favorite authors. For beginner writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at writing.

Quotes from Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide by Richard Bach

New horizons, new questions.

Every turn you fear is just a void that pretends to be an insurmountable hell.

Your only obligation throughout your life is to be yourself.

A subtle twist today will lead you to a dramatic different tomorrow.

Acting ordinary is okay, as long as you don't feel ordinary.

Anger is always fear, and fear is always fear of loss.

Life tells you nothing, it shows everything.

True love will never make a man leave his path.

Ignorance of the truth does not prevent it from being the truth.

You can. For you have gained knowledge.

Download free book "The Seagull Jonathan Livingston. Illusions. Messiah's Pocket Guide by Richard Bach

(Fragment)

At the mention of the name Bach, everyone, as a rule, remembers the great composer. Meanwhile, a direct descendant of Johann Sebastian - Richard Bach - has achieved no less success than his musically gifted relative.

Seagull named Jonathan Livingston

Remember the philosophical tale-parable about a seagull named Jonathan Livingston? This work is now printed in school literature textbooks and is required reading. Since Richard Bach is seriously passionate about aviation, the theme of flight became the main theme in the story of a seagull that brought him world fame. Jonathan is small but wise, learns the intricacies of flight, learns the right attitude towards life.

“Gray boredom, and fear, and anger - these are the reasons that life is so short” - having put this thought into the head of his feathered hero, Richard Bach himself tried to live without boredom and fears. For those who sincerely love the sky, fears are unknown.

Aviation and writing "torn" Bach from two sides - in parallel with his military service, he worked as an editor in several publications, and soon, having started writing books, stepped aside from editorial activities and completely immersed himself in literature. His writing debut took place in 1963. The novel "Alien on Earth", in which aircraft are given no last role, shows the reader that to overcome any doubts and fears, storms and winds - perhaps there would be a desire ...

But, nevertheless, it was "The Seagull named Jonathan" that contributed to significant changes in his life. On the set of the film adaptation of this work, he met his wife Leslie Parrish. She inspired the writer for several new books - thanks to Leslie, "The Bridge over Eternity" (1984) and "The Only One" (1988) appeared. The couple broke up in 1991, since then Bach did not marry anyone else, not seeing the point in it.

And his bold seagull still inspires everyone to believe in the triumph of justice and in the fact that meaning can be found everywhere and always. This fairy tale-parable has such a strong inspiring energy that to this day performances are staged based on it (in the theater "Saturday" and the theater under the direction of V. Spesivtsev). A restaurant in Novosibirsk was named after Jonathan, and one of the young rock bands from St. Petersburg is called Chaika Jonathan.

Illusions

Similar in energy to "The Seagull" and the work of "Illusions". This novel tells about a pilot who, for a certain amount, is ready to help people get off the ground. He is burdened by the fact that people have become too mundane, that fears have seized them. Together with his friend - messiah Donald Shimoda, the pilot is trying to understand why this happened; talks about his successes and failures. The writer himself once admitted: “what if someone suddenly appeared here who really would be a master of this business, who could tell me how my world works and how to manage it?”. He dreamed of a mentor, an older friend. And he embodied this dream on the pages of his novel.

“By defending your limitations, you deprive yourself of omnipotence” - this quote can be called the leitmotif of Bach's Illusions. With the help of his characters, he seems to be trying to wean the reader from the habit of fear. Break the shackles of circumstances.

The passion for flying reflected in the books symbolizes freedom and courage - something that lives in each of us. Of course, for Richard Bach himself, the words “freedom” and “courage” are also not an empty phrase.

Quotes from books by Richard Baz

Richard Bach "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"

Understand what you would like to do most in the world - and do it.

“There are no mistakes. The events that we attract into our lives, no matter how unpleasant they may be for us, are necessary for us to learn what we need to learn. Whatever our next step is, it is necessary in order to reach the place where we have chosen the path.

“You don't have to fight to live the life you want. Live the way you want and pay the required price for it, whatever that may be.”

“It is not given to us to comprehend the meaning of life, because it is incomprehensible, we know only one thing: we are thrown into this world to eat and stay alive as long as we have enough strength.”

Richard Bach "Illusions"

“Every person that comes into your life, everything that happens to you, everything that happens to you is because you brought them here. And what you do with all this next, you choose yourself.

"Don't turn your back on a possible future until you're sure there's nothing there for you to learn."

“You get used to loneliness, but it is enough to break it even for a day, and you will have to get used to it again, from the very beginning.”

“Live in such a way that you will never be ashamed if something you do or say becomes known to the whole world - even if what becomes known is not true.”

“The simplest questions are the hardest really. Where you were born? Where is your home? What are you doing? Where are you going? Think about it occasionally, and watch how your answers change."

Each dream is given to you along with the forces necessary to make it come true. However, you may have to work hard for this.

Richard Bach, "Bridge over Eternity"

“The best way to pay for an amazing moment is to simply enjoy it.”

"The only thing that destroys dreams is compromise."

To attract something into your life, imagine that it is already there.

“If you want someone to stay in your life, never be indifferent to him.”

If you want magic to enter your life, give up your protective gear.

“A kindred spirit is the one who has the keys to our locks, and whose locks fit our keys. When we feel so secure that we can open our locks, then our most authentic selves come out to meet each other and we can be completely and truly who we are. Then we are loved for who we are, and not for who we try to be. Everyone opens the best sides another. And despite everything that makes us suffer, with this person we feel well-being as in paradise. A kindred spirit is someone who shares our deepest aspirations, the direction we have chosen. If the two of us are alike balloons we are moving up, there is a very high probability that we have found in each other right person. A kindred spirit is the one thanks to whom you begin to live an authentic life.

“This book by Richard Bach works in two directions at once. She gives me the feeling of flying and returns me to youth.

Ray Bradbury

The most main book Richard Bach. He didn't invent The Seagull. He heard it in its entirety, and wrote it down, and it completely changed his life, and now you can read this wonderful fairy tale.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull can change your life too.

There is no more captivating, and bright, and sad book in the world than Richard Bach's Illusions.

It is no coincidence that you are probably holding this book: perhaps there is something in these adventures that you got here and remember. I choose to think this way. And I prefer to think that my Messiah ascended into some other dimension, and this is not fiction at all, watching us and laughing with pleasure that everything happened as it was intended.

Richard Bach - Seagull Jonathan Livingston - Illusions

Transl. from English. - M.: LLC Publishing house "Sofia", 2005. - 224 p.

ISBN 5-9550-0077-1

Richard Bach - Seagull Jonathan Livingston

When the sun rose, Jonathan was training. From five thousand feet, the fishing boats looked like splinters thrown into the water, and the Breakfast Pack was a barely visible cloud of swirling pollen.

Jonathan felt alive, trembling slightly with joyful satisfaction and proud of having conquered his fear. Without much preparation, he folded his forewings, spread his short, pointed wingtips, and dived down to the surface of the sea. By the time he had passed four thousand feet, he had top speed. The oncoming flow turned into a dense solid wall of sound, through which there was no way to break through. It was the limit, Jonathan could not move faster, he was rushing vertically down at a speed of two hundred and fourteen miles per hour. He swallowed in tension, knowing that if he spread his wings at such a height, he would be gone, but only a million tiny pieces of a seagull torn by an explosion would reach the surface of the ocean.

However, there was strength in speed, and joy, and pure beauty.

Jonathan began to exit the dive from a height of a thousand feet. The tips of the wings hummed trembling in the frantic oncoming flow, the ship and the crowd of seagulls tossed before his eyes and grew at the speed of a meteor, and they were right in his path.

Jonathan couldn't stop, he couldn't turn aside either. He just had no idea how it was done at that speed.

Any collision meant instant death.

And he closed his eyes.

And then, that morning, just after sunrise, it happened that Seagull Jonathan Livingston burst into the very middle of the Flock that was eating. At two hundred and twelve miles an hour he whistled through the Pack, eyes closed, like a projectile of feathers and wind. And just because Gull Fortune smiled at him this time, no one died.

When the exit from the dive was completed and his beak was again pointed to the sky, Jonathan was still rushing forward, his flight speed was sixty miles per hour. And when it had dropped to twenty, and he was at last able to fully spread his wings, the ship, from a height of four thousand feet, again seemed to him like a piece of wood thrown into the water.

It was a triumph. He understood it. Speed ​​Limit! Two hundred and fourteen miles per chad. The greatest moment in the history of the Flock is a true breakthrough. And for Seagull Jonathan Livingston, this moment meant the beginning of a new era.

And he went to the place where he usually practiced flying. And when, at an altitude of eight thousand feet, he folded his wings for a vertical dive, his goal was to master the high-speed turn.

He found that when a single feather at the very tip of the wing is displaced by a fraction of an inch, the body describes a smooth curvilinear trajectory at great speed. But before Jonathan realized this, he discovered something else - the displacement of more than one feather at such a speed causes the body to rotate around the longitudinal axis like a rifle bullet ... So Jonathan became the first seagull on earth to comprehend the basics of aerobatics.

On that day, he did not have free time to communicate with other seagulls. He trained until the sun went down. He opened a dead loop, a semi-barrel, a barrel, a slide, a vertical wheel.

By the time Jonathan joined the Pack, who were relaxing on the beach, it was already late at night. He was terribly tired, dizzy, but he was pleased and, before landing, described wide circle over the beach, and just before touching the ground, he performed one full turn of the barrel with lightning speed. When he tells them everything, when they find out about the Breakthrough, they will be overjoyed, Jonathan mused. How much richer life will be now! After all, if before all of it consisted in a dull bustle - shore - ship - shore - now it will make sense!

We have the opportunity to get out of ignorance, we need to realize our own exclusivity and reasonableness. We are able to gain freedom. And we can learn to fly!

Years of joyful life opened up ahead, dizzying opportunities and prospects sounded in every way and shimmered with rainbow radiance.

Landing, Jonathan found that he was at a general meeting of the Pack. And, apparently, the event did not just begin. Moreover, Jonathan was definitely expected.

Seagull Jonathan Livingston! - The elder said these words in a tone that he spoke only on especially solemn occasions. - You are called to the Circle!

The challenge to the Circle meant either universal censure and the greatest shame, or the greatest honor and universal recognition.

I see, Jonathan thought, about what happened at breakfast this morning. They saw a breakthrough! However, honors are of no use to me. And I don't want to become a leader either. I would probably just like

Seagull Jonathan Livingston! continued the Chairman. - If you please, go out into the Circle and be subjected to censure, which must be witnessed by all your brothers in the Pack.

It sounded like thunder from a clear sky. Jonathan suddenly felt as if he had been hit on the head with a plank. His knees buckled, his feathers drooped at once, and an unimaginable noise arose in his ears. A shame? In the Circle - for censure?! But this is impossible! After all, this is a breakthrough! They did not understand something! There is definitely a mistake here! Well, yes, they are wrong, they are clearly not right!

For the carelessness and irresponsibility shown by you, as well as the violation of the worthy traditions of the respectable Seagull Family, deserve the greatest shame ...

Censure on general meeting. This is inevitably followed by expulsion from the community of seagulls. Excommunication from the Pack and exile to the Far Rocks, where the lot of the exile becomes complete loneliness.

And you - Seagull Jonathan Livingston - one day you will understand how ungrateful a thing is irresponsibility. We are unable to comprehend the meaning of life.

Richard Bach - Illusions

One evening in late October, after I got scared and flew away from the crowd from some town in Mississippi, I landed in an empty field, just enough to land Fleet. And again, before falling asleep, I thought back to that last moment... Why did he die? There was no reason for this. If what he said was true...

There was no one to talk to, as we talked with him, no one to learn from, no one to track down in order to attack with words, on whom to sharpen my new clear mind. I myself? Yes, but I didn't have half the fun of Shimoda, who taught me, always knocking me down with spiritual karate.

Thinking about it, I fell asleep. I slept and had a dream.

He was kneeling in the meadow with his back to me, patching up the hole in his Travel Air where the bullet had pierced it. At his knees lay a roll of A-grade percale and a can of aviation varnish. I knew that I was sleeping and dreaming, and I knew that all this was also happening in reality.

He slowly got up, turned to face me, smiling at my sadness and my joy.

Hello friend, he said.

I couldn't watch because of the tears. There is no death, there is no death at all, and this man was my friend.

Donald, YOU ARE ALIVE! What are you trying to do? I ran up and spread my arms, hugging him, and he was real. I could feel the skin of his flight jacket, squeeze his hands under that skin.

Hello, he said. - Do not mind? What I'm trying to do is patch up this hole right here.

I was glad to see him, nothing seemed impossible.

Biturate with percale? - I said. - Biturate with percale are you trying to attach? .. So you won't do it. YOU SEE PERFECTLY THAT THIS IS ALREADY DONE! .. - And, speaking these words, I passed my hand, like a screen, in front of a torn, bloody hole, and when my hand passed by, the hole disappeared. There was just a clean side of the plane, painted to a mirror shine, and no seam - from nose to tail.

So that's how you do it! - he said. IN dark eyes he shone with pride for a stupid student who had finally learned to create reality with the power of imagination. I did not find it strange, in a dream the work is done in this way.

Not far from the wing, a morning fire burned, a frying pan hung over it.

Don, are you cooking something? You know, I've never seen you cook anything. What do you have?

Flatbread, he said without any expression. - One last thing I want to do for you in this life is to show you how it's done.

He cut off two pieces with a penknife and handed one to me. Even now, as I write, I can still smell the smell... the smell of sawdust and old office glue heated in lard.

Well, how? - he said.

Revenge of the phantom, he chuckled. - I made it out of plaster. He put his piece back into the skillet. “To remind you that if you ever decide to teach them, do so with your knowledge, not with your cakes. OK?

No! Love me - love my cakes! It's our daily bread, Don!

Very good. But I guarantee your first dinner with someone will be your last if you feed them this stuff.

We laughed and fell silent, and I looked at him in silence.

Don, you're all right, right?

Do you think I'm dead? Come on, Richard!

Isn't this a dream? I won't forget that I see you now?

No, this is a dream. This is another space-time - that is, it is a dream for any sane inhabitant of the Earth, which you will be for some time to come. But you will remember, and it will change your thinking and your life.

Will I see you again? Will you come back?

I think no. I want to penetrate beyond time and space. In fact, I have already penetrated, but there is this connection between us, between you and me, and others from our family. If you get stuck on any problem, keep it in your head and go to bed with it, and we'll meet here by the plane and talk about it if you want...

Why a gun? Why did it happen? I don't see any power or glory in letting yourself be shot in the heart with a gun.

He sat down on the grass near the wing.

Since I wasn't the Messiah from page one, Richard, I didn't have to prove anything to anyone. And since you need practice in not getting drunk on appearance and not saddened by it, he added forcefully, you could use some bloody appearance for your training. And for me, it's fun too. Dying is like diving into a deep lake on a hot day. There is shock from the sharp cold, for a second the pain from it, and then acceptance is swimming in reality. But after so many repetitions, even the shock wears off. As time went on, he got up.

Very few people are interested in what you have to say, Richard, but that doesn't matter. Remember, the quality of a Master is not determined by the size of the crowd of his disciples.

Don, I'll try, I promise. But I will run away forever as soon as I stop enjoying my work!

No one touched the Travel Air, but its propeller suddenly spun, the engine emitted blue smoke, and its empty sound filled the meadow.

The promise is accepted, but... - he looked and smiled, as if he did not understand me.

Accepted, but what? Tell. Words. Tell me. What's wrong?

You don't like crowds, he said.

Yes, I'm not attracted, I like to talk and exchange ideas, but the pressure, the worship that you went through, and the addiction... I hope you're not asking me... Consider that I have already run away...

Maybe I'm just an idiot, Richard, or maybe I don't understand something taken for granted that you understand very well. But what's wrong with writing it all down on paper? Is there a rule that the Messiah cannot write down what he believes to be true, those things that are interesting, that work for him? And then maybe if people don't like what he says, they can burn his words instead of shooting him. They will burn his words and scatter them in the wind, and if they like, they can read these words again or write them on the refrigerator door or play with any ideas that make sense to them. What's wrong with writing, Richard? But maybe I'm just dumb.

Once upon a time there was a Teacher who came to earth, having been born in the holy land of Indiana...

There is no more captivating, lighter, and sadder book than Richard Bach's Illusions. "What if someone came who could teach me how my world works and how to govern it? What if Siddhartha or Jesus came in our time with power over the illusions of the world, for they knew the reality behind him? And what if I personally met him, if he flew a biplane and landed in the same field as me? What would he say, what would he look like?
It is no coincidence that you are probably holding this book: perhaps there is something in these adventures that you got here and remember. I choose to think this way. And I prefer to think that my Messiah ascended into some other dimension, and this is not fiction at all, watching us and laughing with pleasure that everything happened as it was intended.

Last time I saw Pocket Guide Messiah the day he threw it away. I used it the way Donald taught me in Illusions: ask a question in your mind, close your eyes, open the book at random, choose the right or left page, open your eyes, read the answer.
For a long time it worked flawlessly: fear was drowned in a smile, doubts fled away from an unexpected bright insight. I have always been moved and amused by everything these pages have to say.
And on that rainy day, I once again trustfully opened the Directory. “Why did my friend Donald Shimoda, who really had something to say and whose lessons we needed so much, why, why did he have to die such a meaningless death?” I open my eyes, I read the answer: In this book, everything can be a mistake ...

This is the most important book of Richard Bach. He didn't invent The Seagull. He heard it in its entirety and wrote it down, and this completely changed his life, and now you can read this wonderful fairy tale, like no other book in the world, answering the questions "Who are we?"...
“Most seagulls do not seek to learn anything about flight except the most necessary: ​​how to fly from the coast to food and return back. For most seagulls, the main thing is food, not flight. More than anything, Jonathan Livingston loved to fly. But such an addiction, as he understood , does not inspire respect for birds. Even his parents were alarmed that Jonathan spends whole days alone and, doing his experiments, again and again glides over the water itself. "
Translation: Juni Rodman

The book "The Only One" is written in the genre of fantastic-mystical revelation. The ideological basis for the work is the idea of ​​the Power of the human mind. "But the ghost mind never sleeps, and I hear the rustle of the pages turning in my sleep."
"The walls separating us have disappeared, and we, like twins separated from childhood, throw ourselves into each other's arms, laughing and crying with joy. We are together again! How much we have to say to each other! And that's it - right now, in this just a second, because already a lot of time has already been wasted, and words are too slow to express how glad we are to finally touch each other.
We wrote “the only one”, hoping that this day would come someday, but were completely amazed to learn that the book was translated into Russian - our dream came true!
Translation from English: Mikhail Shishkin

Dragons wear official costumes today, hiding behind the masks of inspections and services. The demons of society rush at us with a piercing cry, as soon as we raise our eyes from the ground, as soon as we turn right where we were told to go left. Appearance now it has become so deceptive that it is difficult for knights and princesses to recognize each other, it is difficult even to recognize themselves. But in our dreams we still meet the Masters of Reality. They remind us that we have never lost our defenses against dragons, that blue flames are flowing into us, allowing us to change our world as we wish. Intuition whispers the truth: we are not dust, we are magic!

Just because something happened in a fraction of a second doesn't mean it didn't happen. Each skeet shooter will explain this to you. That single shot blew me to pieces like a plate. No, I wasn't wrong. I've been told that we lose our perception of random objects when we see them for less than half a second. If these are geometric objects, one fiftieth of a second is sufficient. But the perception of a smile remains, even if it lasted only one thousandth of a second - such is the sensitivity of our brain to the image of a human face.

The story of this book is as follows: more than twenty years ago, a little girl Ray Hansen, who was about to turn 5, invited her friend Richard Bach to her birthday party. She was sure that he would come despite the fact that her guest lived on the other side of mountain ranges, deserts and storms. How he arrived and what gift he brought for Ray is told in this parable book.

“Despite all his efforts, the upward swing failed. He made ten attempts, and every time he went over seventy miles an hour, he turned into an uncontrollable stream of ruffled feathers and flew like a stone into the water. The whole point, Jonathan finally realized when wet to the last feather - the whole point is that at high speeds you need to keep your wings spread in one position - flap until the speed reaches fifty miles per hour, and then keep it in one position.
He climbed to two thousand feet and tried again: entering in a dive, he stretched his beak down and spread his wings, and when he reached a speed of fifty miles per hour, he stopped moving them. It required incredible effort, but he got his way. For ten seconds he raced like an elusive shadow at ninety miles an hour. Jonathan set the world record for the fastest flight for seagulls!
Translation: Juni Rodman

My truth has gone through a long process of processing. Relying on intuition, I hopefully explored and drilled its deposits, filtered and concentrated it in long reflections, then carefully tried to put it into my engines and see what came of it. There were a few exhausts, a detonation or two, and I realized how capricious my homemade philosophical concoction could be. Covered in soot, but wiser, I only recently realized that I had been working on this strange fuel for most of my life.

After The Seagull Named Jonathan Livingston came out, I was asked more than once: "Richard, what are you going to write next? After Jonathan, what?"
I answered then that there was no need for me to write further, not a single word, my books had already said everything that I wanted to say with them. At one time I had to go hungry and sell the car, and all that, so it was pretty interesting that I no longer had to work until midnight. However, almost every summer I took my venerable biplane sailing over the emerald seas of the grasslands of the American Midwest, carrying passengers, and I began to feel the old tension again - there was still something that I did not have time to say.
Translation from English: Mikhail Shishkin

It meant that I should write an article about this man, and not at all finish him off, turning him into a cold corpse. But for some reason I couldn't manage to make him believe it - the rarest case of meeting a creature frightened to a pathological state. I stood in front of him in complete helplessness, and all my attempts to explain something to him looked like I was speaking in ancient language urdu. I was discouraged by how, it turns out, words can in some cases be devoid of meaning and make absolutely no impression on a person. The man who should have been central figure narration, told me directly that he could see right through me, that I was a pea jester, a redneck, an ungrateful boor, and a whole gang of dubious personalities hiding under the frayed skin of my flight jacket.

This is a story about a knight who was dying and a princess who saved his life. This is a story about beauty and beasts, about magic spells and fortress walls, about the forces of death that only seem to us, and the forces of life that are. This is a story about one adventure, which, I am sure, is the most important at any age.
In fact, everything in life was almost as described here. In several places, I freely managed with the chronology, some characters are made up of a series real people, most of the names are fictitious. The rest I could not have come up with even if I tried - the reality was so incredible that it did not fit into the framework of any fiction.
You, as readers, will certainly see, when you look behind the writer's mask, what made me put these words on paper. But sometimes, when the light shines just like it does now, the writer can also look behind the reader's mask. Perhaps, in the rays of this light, we will meet somewhere on the pages of this book - me and my love, you - and yours.

I can no longer be silent. Because someone has to tell you airplane pilots how tired those outside of your circle are of your endless talk about the pleasure of flying and invitations to come in on a Sunday afternoon to fly a little with you and feel what is flight. After all, someone should categorically tell you "NO".

There were two moments in my life when I kind of saw the light. One of them was at night. I looked at the stars and there was like a curtain in front of me, which in fact was not there. The curtain moved aside, and I understood everything ... Another time I experienced a feeling of boundless light, which was love. The light was so strong that I begged for it to go away, I couldn't stand it. For me it was like a nuclear explosion. She, like an inspiration, gave me strength, gave me the knowledge of who we are and what our home is, and that this is a great beauty. I figured it out and then tried to explain it through a little game.

It's like the first night of a new life - only it's the first day; and instead of a majestically parting velvet curtain in concrete rails, the corrugated tin hangar doors creak and rumble, in which there is much more stubbornness than grandeur. Inside the hangar, still damp from the darkness that had gathered under the wings in two great black puddles, evaporating as the high doors parted— new life. Ancient biplane.