Jonathan Livinston Seagull
Author: Richard Bach
Year: 1973
For me, Bach's wizardry with metaphors allowed my feelings about spiritual journeys and the meaning of learning/teaching to find an integrated understanding between my logical self and spiritual self. As the story of this lonely and motivated bird unfolds, I find myself immersed in a broader story of my own life, where Jonathan leaving his flock parallels with my own need to leave the traditional forms of education. Jonathan's all-consuming passion to fly higher and faster and more safely parallels with my own desire to ask questions that go deeper and penetrate farther into the real meaning of life and what kind of societies and communities we are perpetuating and/or creating with our educational systems.
As you read about Jonathan's story, no matter what topical area you are focused on, I suspect that you will find yourself realizing the broader underpinnings of what it truly means to be a learner, a teacher, and an evolving spirit all-in-one. It's not about the methods of how to learn or how to teach, but about the ESSENCE of being a learner who eagerly wants to soar, followed by the ESSENCE of being a teacher with the insatiable desire to share that feeling and way of being with others.
In retrospect, I am led to wonder: WHAT IF we could somehow encourage individuals not to be bound to their current flocks (communities or social systems)? WHAT IF, instead, we could allow learners to understand that by leaving one community (which feels askew from our own inner passions) so that we might follow a vision, we are not abandoning who we are, and we need not let go of connections and family from whence we came. Rather, only as we follow our inner passions to soar, while appreciating where we came from, can we move on to find, or create, other communities that are more in harmony with our own higher visions of self.
WHAT IF teaching ultimately is not about methods or curriculum or helping people to develop skills and attitudes for fitting into a certain social structure? WHAT IF teaching is merely an integral part of learning and unfolding and becoming, as we recognize our own connections with others on similar paths as we are?
Indeed, WHAT IF reading books like Jonathan Livingston Seagull were viewed as important to our human unfolding as language arts, history, and math?
Rate: 11/10
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