Initial Impressions of Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach follows his bestselling Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which I loved. I can’t say the same thing about this book, and let’s get my bias out of the way, I detest books where you have a “sage” trying to show you your errant ways, directing you to the proper path.
Or it could be my introverted self, speaking, getting annoyed at the notion of some well-meaning person forcing you to speak, when you do not want to. I love learning, and I am open to learn from others, but it has to be done in a certain way, and the way it is done in this book, would most certainly irritate me. I had to get that off my chest.
What is Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach About?
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach is very philosophical, and the author uses his flying experiences as a basis for this very imaginative work of fiction. The story is about Richard Bach’s imagined encounter with Donald P. Shimoda, a self-proclaimed messiah. Shimoda pretty much likens himself to Jesus the Messiah in the Bible, performing many miracles.
People can touch him and be healed, he walks on water, crowds of people flock to him, and someone shoots (crucifies) him for his beliefs and he rises again. Shimoda gets tired of this way of living, so he quits his lifestyle as a religious leader, reinventing himself as a barnstormer, who travels across the United States, selling 10-minute helicopter rides for $3.00. Shimoda’s aircraft of choice is a gold and white Travel Air 4000 biplane.
Richard Bach is a disillusioned writer, and a barnstormer, also selling 10-minute helicopter rides for $3.00. One summer day, while flying his biplane just north of Ferris, Illinois, Richard Bach sees an old Travel Air 4000, so he touches down, and meets Shimoda for the very first time. The two enter into a student-teacher relationship, where the former messiah is the teacher. Shimoda gives Bach the Messiah's Handbook, a book full of wisdom, and it is special because there are no page numbers, and whenever you open it, the book opens to the page you need the most.
Wisdom from the Messiah Handbook includes:
Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.
You teach best what you need most to learn.
You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.
The world is your exercise-book, the pages on which you do your sums. It is not reality, although you can express reality there if you wish.
Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there.
Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.
In Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Shimoda and Bach travel across America, giving biplane rides. The former messiah dispenses his wisdom, teaches Bach how to perform miracles, and to reflect more deeply on the meaning of life. The book explains that the world that we live in is an illusion, the things we think are real, are not, and so is the underlying reality behind it. After all the teaching Bach receives, he concludes that each of us has to focus on our own spiritual quest, allowing others to attain their own enlightenment. We are also responsible for our own happiness. After this, Bach becomes a self-proclaimed messiah.
Final Thoughts on Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
There are some very deep messages in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach, but I do not like the way the author delivers the message.
Although I think that Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach is fantastical, according to Wikipedia, “A number of personal development teachers have cited “Illusions” as a major influence on their life path, including Dr. Joe Vitale, Bob Doyle, Brad Yates and Mike Dooley.”
