Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

193 Pages·1989·10.69 MB·English

by  Richard Bach

The Adventures of a
Reluctant Messiah^
meglorious bestsellerby -<
tichard Bach
luthorofJonathan Livingston Seagull andOne
Illusions
I
was a question I heard more than
once, after Jonathan Seagull was
published. "What are you going to write
next, Richard? AfterJonathan, what?"
I answered then that I didn't have to
write anything next, not a word, and that
allmybookstogethersaideverything that
I had asked them to say. Having starved
for a while, the car repossessed and that
sort of thing, it was fun not to have to
work to midnights.
Still, every summer or so I took my
antique biplane out into the green-
meadow seas of midwest America, flew
passengers for three-dollar rides and be
gan to feel an old tension again—there
was something left to say, and I hadn't
said it.
I do not enjoy writing at all. If I can
turn my back on an idea, out there in the
dark, if I can avoidopening the door to it,
I won't even reach for a pencil.
But once in a while there's a great
dynamite-burst of flying glass and brick
and splinters through the front wall and
somebody stalks over the rubble, seizes
me by the throat and gently says, "I will
not let you go until you set me, in words,
on paper." That'show I met Illusions.
There in the Midwest, even, I'd lie on
myback practicing cloud-vaporizing, and
I couldn't get the story out of my mind
. . . what if somebody came along who
was really good at this, who could teach
me howmyworld works and how to con
trol it? What if I could meet a super-
advanced . . . what if a Siddhartha or a
Jesuscame intoour time, with powerover
theillusionsoftheworldbecauseheknew
the reality behind them? And what if I
could meet him in person, if he were fly
ing a biplane and landed in the same
meadow with me? What would he say,
what would he be like?
Maybe he wouldn't be like the messiah
on the oil-streaked grass-stained pages of
my journal, maybe he wouldn't say any
thing this book says. But then again, the
things this one told me: that we magne
tize into our lives whatever we hold in
our thought, for instance—if that is true,
then somehow I have brought myself to
this moment for a reason, and so have
you. Perhaps it is no coincidence that
you're holding this book; perhaps there's
something about these adventures that
you came here to remember. I choose to
think so. And I choose to think my mes
siah is perched out there on some other
dimension, not fiction at all, watching us
both, and laughing for the fun of it hap
peningjust thewaywe'veplannedittobe.
Also by Richard Bach
STRANGERTOTHE GROUND
BIPLANE
NOTHING BYCHANCE
JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL
AGIFTOFWINGS
THERE'S NO SUCH PLACE AS FARAWAY
THE BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER: A LOVE STORY
ONE
Illusions
TheJldventures ofa Reluctant
TVkssiah
^Richard
Bach
A Dell/EleanorFriede Book
ADELL/ELEANORFRIEDEBOOK
Publishedby
DellPublishing
adivisionof
BantamDoubledayDellPublishingGroup,Inc.
666FifthAvenue
NewYork,NewYork 10103
Ifyoupurchasedthisbookwithoutacoveryoushouldbeaware
thatthisbookisstolenproperty. Itwasreportedas"unsoldand
destroyed"tothepublisherandneithertheauthornorthepublisher
hasreceivedanypaymentforthis"strippedbook."
CopyrightO 1977byRichardBachandLeslieParrish-Bach
Designcopyright©1977byJoanStoliar
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybe
reproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyany
means,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,
recording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrieval
system,withoutthewrittenpermissionofthePublisher,
exceptwherepermittedbylaw.
ForinformationaddressDelacortePress/EleanorFriede,
NewYork,NewYork.
ThetrademarkDell®isregisteredintheU.S.Patent
andTrademarkOffice.
ISBN:0-440-20488-7
Reprintedbyarrangementwith
DelacortePress/EleanorFriede
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
OnepreviousLaureledition
NewDelledition
November1989
403938J7363534
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