Jonathan, a bright seagull, the main character in the novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull, remains in the deep recesses of my memory. I used to have a puzzled feeling similar to that of Jonathan's: Is the purpose of life simply to look for food and produce offspring?
Jonathan courageously endured other seagulls' derision and practiced flying very diligently. Finally, he broke through the limitations of space and time; and thus, found the great-self. Then, he was able to enjoy the deep mystery and happiness of flying in the sky. When he went back to the group of seagulls to reveal the unimaginable flying art, only the bravest and youngest seagulls followed in Jonathan's footsteps.
I believe that the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull must be a very enlightened and spiritually evolved person; because, once we have tasted the happiness of spiritual practice, and realized our own real-self, we would know that no fame, wealth, honor or love between man and woman can be compared with the happiness of spiritual practice. There is nothing surprising or mysterious about knowing our true nature through the process of enlightenment. Therefore, if we step beyond our illusions about enlightenment, we will discover our real-self and achieve immediate enlightenment.
Master has said, I would like to play with you very much, but you always hide yourselves in the corners of inferiority, self-blame and regret, thinking that you are not good. You block yourselves, and do not dare to come close to me. So, we are not one!
How can a caterpillar imagine that it will be able to fly one day? We think we are ugly and can only crawl on the ground. However, only Master knows that we deserve much better, that we are the later generations of beautiful butterflies and one day we'll spread our beautiful and splendid wings, flashing under the sunlight; just like the ugly ducking that became a beautiful swan and flew off in the vast blue sky. Thus, it is time for us to liberate our souls and fly freely.
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