Chapter 6 third subordinate

A week later, Fletcher was demonstrating the maneuvers while teaching a class of new students the principles of high-speed flight.He swooped down from 7,000 feet, immediately changed his flying position, and, like a flash of white light, he flew close to the beach a few inches from the ground.At this time, a little bird that was learning to fly for the first time flew to call its mother, and it happened to block his way.The bird has to be avoided within a tenth of a second.Fletcher had to make a sharp left turn at a high speed of more than two hundred miles an hour, and suddenly met a granite cliff.

The rock seemed to him a solid door to another world.When he bumped into it, a burst of fear and panic erupted in his heart, and his eyes went black for a while, followed him as if floating in a very strange space, lost his memory, recovered his memory, regained it and lost it again; It's worrying, feeling very sad, very sad. The voice spoke to him again, as on the first day he had met Jonathan Livingston. " "The trick, Fletcher, is that we overcome our limitations step by step, with order and patience. Flying through rocks is a little later in our curriculum." "Jonathan!".

"Also known as the Son of the Gull God," said his mentor Yu Baba. "What are you doing here? This cliff! Am I...already...dead?" "Oh, Fletcher, come on. Think about it. You're talking to me right now, so you're obviously not dead, are you! What you just did, you just changed your level of consciousness to Too soon. Now your choice. You can stay and study at this level, which, by the way, is much higher than your original level - or you can go back, Keep up the work of the Flock. The elders have been hoping that something bad will happen, but they never expected you to do them such a favor."

"Of course I'm going back to the gulls. The freshmen, I've only just started teaching them!" "Very well, Fletcher. We don't always say body and mind are the same thing, remember?" In the middle of the whole gathered flock, at the foot of the cliff, Fletcher shook his head, spread his wings, and opened his eyes.As soon as he moved, there was a quack, quack, quack among the gulls. "He's alive! He's back from the dead!" "Just touch him with the tip of the wing! He was brought back to life! What a son of the Gull God!" "No! He doesn't admit it! He's the devil! The devil! He's here to destroy the flock!"

There were 4,000 seagulls in this flock, and they were all dumbfounded by what happened just now; in an instant, a voice shouting "the devil" broke out among them, with a huge momentum, like a storm on the sea.With fierce eyes and sharp mouths, they gathered around to peck Jonathan to death. "Do you think it would be better for us to get out of here, Fletcher?" Jonathan asked. "Of course I have no objection, as long as it is possible. . . . " In an instant, the two of them were standing half a mile away.The bright beaks of the furious gulls flew into the air.

"How come," Jonathan wondered, "the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he's free, and that he can prove it himself, if he spends a little time practicing it? Why is it so difficult?" Fletcher was still blinking, wondering why he had changed places all of a sudden, 'What were you doing just now?How did we get here? " "Didn't you just say that you wish to leave those thugs?" "Not bad... but why do you..." "Like anything else, Fletcher. Practice." By morning the gulls had forgotten their madness, but not Fletcher. "Jonathan, didn't you say a long time ago that you should love the gulls; you should go back to them and help them learn, don't you remember?"

"of course I remember." "I don't understand how you can love a mob who wants to peck you to death?" "Oh, Fletcher, of course you don't love that! Of course you don't love hate and evil. You should practice getting to know real gulls, seeing the virtues in each one and helping them to recognize their own. This is what I call love. It will be interesting when you master it. "As an example, I remember a very fierce young seagull named Fletcher Lynd, who was a foundling at the time and was going to fight the flock to the death and started building a hell of pain for himself on the Far Cliffs .But today, he is building his own paradise and leading the whole flock in that direction."

Fletcher turned to his mentor, a look of surprise in his eyes. "I lead? What do you mean? I lead? You are the leader here, you can't go!" "I can't go? Do you think there may be other gulls and other Fletchers in the world who need mentors more than this gulls that have already embarked on the bright road?" "Me? Joe, I'm just an ordinary seagull, and you..." "...is the only son of Gull God, isn't it?" Jonathan sighed and looked at the sea. "You don't need me anymore, you just need to keep looking for yourself, a little bit every day, to find the real, infinite Fletcher. He is your mentor. You just need to understand him and use him to practice .”

In the blink of an eye, Jonathan's body was already swinging in the air, his whole body was shining and began to become transparent. "Don't let them make up rumors about me, don't let them make me a god, okay, Fletcher? I'm a seagull, I like to fly, maybe..." "Jo-na-son!" "Poor Fletcher, don't believe what your eyes see, they see a limit. Use your intellect to see, to seek what you have grasped, and you will see the way of flight .” The flash is gone.Jonathan disappeared into the empty sky. Moments later, Fletcher himself flew into the high school, facing a group of new students who were eagerly awaiting their first class.

"First," he said, with a heavy heart, "you must understand that a seagull is an infinite idea of ​​freedom, a representation of the gull-god. And your whole body, from wing to wing, is your mind itself. " The young seagulls looked at him puzzled.Hey guy.That doesn't sound like a rule for somersaults, they thought. Fletcher sighed, then went on, "Huh. Ah... well," he said, looking at him critically. "Let's start with level flight." As he spoke, it dawned on him that, really, his friend was indeed no more holy than Fletcher himself. Infinity, Jonathan?he thought.Well, well, in a short while, I will fly out of thin air and appear on your beach, showing you my flying skills! !

Although he pretended to be very serious in front of the students, in an instant, Fletcher suddenly saw their true nature.He doesn't just like, but loves what he sees.Infinity, Jonathan?he thought, with a smile on his face.His learning voyage begins. (full text)