Inspirational Story by Richard Bach

1. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
By Richard Bach

2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
 Do you follow you hearts and make your own rules...?
 Do you get special pleasure out of doing something
well, even if it means only for yourself…?
 Do you feel that there's more to this living than doing what
everyone else does…?
Then let’s be right there with Jonathan, flying
higher and faster than you’ve ever dreamed.

3. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Let’s get to know something about Sea Gulls...
 They move around in groups or “flocks” . Breakfast flock
is what they are referred to as, in our story.
 They don’t bother about flying, the reason they fly is to
eat. They live on leftovers from fishing boats and
scavenge on small insects and crabs
 Their purpose is to live to eat and stay alive as long as
possible.
 Most of all they try to remain popular with other birds, and
act responsibly doing what every other gull does.

4. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
What made Jon different…
 Knew that there is more to life than just eating...
 Loved to fly... spent his whole time experimenting with the
art of flying
 Wanted to know all about what he can do in the air and
can't...
 Set off alone far in the sea, hungry, happy learning.
 Learnt by failing, due to limitations of his body
structure, but, kept up with his practice by modifying his
moves, every time he failed.
 Delivered feats of flights with unmatched speed and
control in the air which was unknown to the any sea gull
ever.

5. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 1…
Learning, Failing And More Learning
Discovery:
"How much more there is now to living!
Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing
boats, there's a reason to life!
We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves
as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.
We can be free! We can learn to fly!"

6. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 1…
He is banished to Far Cliffs by an Elders Council for being
“irresponsible” and voicing out - violating the dignity and
tradition of the Gull Family.
In the Far Cliffs he continues his learning… until he can fly no
higher…
He discovers 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…
Until one day, out of nowhere two radiant Gulls, masters of
effortless flying appear and take him along to a higher place
they called HOME.

7. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 2…
Heaven or Not?
Discovery:
Here were gulls… only a few of them… who thought as he thought,
For each of them, the most important thing in living was to
reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to
do, and that was to fly.

8. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 2…
There is no such place as Heaven
Jon meets Chiang, an Elder Flock of the new world who
explains to him …
“Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being
perfect.“
"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment
that you touch perfect speed.
And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million,
or flying at the speed of light.
Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have
limits.
Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 2…
Perfection is beyond time and space
"To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, " Chiang
said, "you must begin by knowing that you have already
arrived ...“
Chiang disappears one day…
After exhorting the learners never to stop their learning
and their practicing and their striving to understand more
of the perfect invisible principle of all life.
Chiang’s last words to Jon were, "keep working on love…”

10. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Story in Part 3… Conclusion
Homeward Bound with Kindness and love…
With all the wisdom from Chiang the more Jonathan
practiced his kindness
lessons, and the more he worked
to know the nature of love, the more he wanted to go back
to Earth.
He couldn't help but think that there might be one or
two gulls back on Earth who would be able to learn, too.
How much more would he have known by now if Chiang
had come to him on the day that he was Outcast!.
On his arrival back on earth, the Far Cliffs had the
young gulls like his former self… ready to receive his
wisdom …

11. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Moral
 What does Flying depict in this story?
Freedom / Wisdom
 What does part one of the story teach you?
There is no limit to learning, There is no limit perfection
 What does the author want to say in Part 2?
Here and Now -You are not limited in space and time
 And what is the concluding moral when Jon returns Home?
Perfection is attained only when you know kindness and love,
When you forgive and forget

12. Jonathan Livingston Seagull lives within us all…