If you’ll humor me, I’d like to talk a little about one of my all time favorite books. Don’t worry, I’m not jumping the shark.
The book is Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach – first published in 1970. A key part of the story is the photography of Russell Munson. It begins as a very simple story about a seagull who loves to fly. Jonathan is forced to endure derision and eventually expulsion from a community that does not understand him, but in the end Jonathan learns more about life and love than he could have possibly imagined.
It’s a short book – you’ll get through it in about 20 minutes – but the themes and the messages will kindle many long hours of thought. For me, the theme of physical training and practice hits very close to home. I only recently reread the book for the first time since starting my parkour training and the passages describing the discipline and fierce joy of physical training, the agony when an obstacle defeats you, the incredibly ecstasy of overcoming that obstacle, and the enduring pleasure of molding an endurant body ring truer than ever, as do the passages of societal estrangement. While I have not yet been kicked out of Chapel Hill, judging from the number of bemused stares I got during my barefoot run yesterday, I am well past being labeled an oddball – as are nearly all traceurs, barefoot runners, and anyone over the age of 21 who thinks exuberant physical play is still a pretty good idea.
More important, however, is the larger message of freedom and love. Seagull reminds us that devoting the time and effort to mastering a skill opens our eyes to greater truths of life – and that this is the ultimate act of freedom. The more we come to understand, the more truths we discover and the more we can love. After all, what is love if not the process of understanding something? Doesn’t matter what we’re talking about; parkour, the piano, your partner, your dog, your God… loving it is a process, not a fixed and unchanging thing. And, this is a self reinforcing process. The more free we become, the more we understand, the more we love, the more free we become, etc.
I think it’s important that, for Jonathan, the ultimate act of love is to teach. Teaching something you love is food for the soul. I taught martial arts for several years in Los Angeles and I am currently helping people with parkour fundamentals (I wouldn’t dare suggest I am good enough to teach). For me, there is no greater reward than watching someone declare a task to be beyond them, only to accomplish it a few weeks later. Helping people come into their own understanding of a subject is incredible – for Jonathan (and I agree with him) the ultimate pleasure as a teacher is watching a former student begin to teach others – knowing that the long hours you have spent to learn a discipline will not simply vanish once you are gone, but will continue to grow and spread.
Of course, you could just take Seagull as a nice story about a bird who likes to fly. But I think there’s a lot more to it than that. I encourage you to check it out and let me know what you think.