Quest of ‘I’ with Special Reference to Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Sea gull

Abstract

Richard Bach is one of the eminent authors of twenty first century. His works entail philosophy that takes us beyond physical limits and mortality. His work Jonathan Livingston Sea gull is a huge success. It is a story about a Sea Gull who pursued higher ambition of flying rather than catching food like other Sea gulls. The idea hidden in this work is that human beings have great potentialities and power. It is observed that, man in the present era is afraid to venture into new insights, adventures and ideas. Jonathan Seagull shows a new way to the society. The present paper deals with the quest of “I” that is the highest ideal of life. Life depends on three factors subject, object and the connection between subject and object. Richard Bach portrays Jonathan as a mentor, a guide whose mission is to lift the rest of the flock above ignorance and take them into sphere of excellence, intelligence and freedom. The present paper is an attempt to put forward the fact that when there is an intrusion of wisdom within an individual self, one comes above the ignorance and walks in the ladder of enlightenment breaking the shackles of illusions, going beyond material world, space and time and finds true meaning of life.

Keywords: Life, subject, object, ignorance, wisdom, illusions

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-13-02

Publication date:July 31^st 2019