Being Influenced by Richard Bach
“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however.” ~Richard Bach, Illusions [1977]
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah is a book I discovered in my late teens, and it’s still my all-time favorite novel. It’s about a guy who makes his living barnstorming (selling bi-plane rides to folks) and he comes across this other fellow in a farm field doing the same thing. When they meet, the book gets playfully cerebral and deeply spiritual. The main characters’ exploratory conversations and various adventures center around the classic concepts about life being an illusion and about our power over matter. If you’ve ever read The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, you’ll know what I mean by the tone and style of this book. There are certain similarities between the two…
I was heavily influenced by Richard Bach when I was a mere adolescent. After reading his most famous short novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I was inspired to draw seagulls, write poems about seagulls and ponder the deeper meanings of freedom and individual expression. That book impressed upon me the idea of remaining tenacious and steadfast in achieving my goals as well as being true to myself in spite of peer pressure, perceived limitation and even death… or, rather, changing states of consciousness.
After Illusions, I voraciously read Bach’s autobiographical The Bridge Across Forever and One, which focuses on his romantic relationship with his wife – who he calls his soulmate. In these books he also relates his handling, or, rather, mishandling, of success and his research/quest for knowledge on various topics ranging from quantum physics to ultra-light plane piloting. Much like the voice he uses in Jonathan and Illusions, he is refreshingly very honest and open in these memoirs.
Illusions still stands out as his best work though. Not only does Illusions hold a sentimental place in my heart since it entered my life at a developmentally important time, the story dared me to consider everything from a new angle. That was and still is really exciting! Every once in a while I re-read the book, and I always come away with something new. It’s so jammed packed with challenging concepts.
The above excerpt is one of my favorites because it expresses the timeless wisdom, “ask and you will receive” as well as “with free will, you have the power to co-create your situation”. I’ll close with yet another of my other favorite Bach quotes from Illusions which is “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.”
