Wanderlino
Arruda
Flying
up
in
the
brilliant
blue
sky,
trying
hard
to
hold
his
wings
in
tight
on
a
painful
curve,
Jonathan
lifts
his
beak,
pointing
at
the
clouds…and
flies.
Flying
is
very
important,
as
vital
to
life
as
living
or
eating,
perhaps
even
more,
at
least
for
Jonathan,
a
seagull
that
thinks
and
feels
the
flavor
of
the
infinite.
It’s
true,
that
it
costs
us
dearly
to
think
differently
from
the
rest
of
the
flock,
passing
the
days
flying,
just
learning
to
fly,
far
from
common
mortals;
content
with
the
way
they
are,
languishing
in
the
poverty
of
their
limitations.
For
Jonathan,
it’s
quite
different.
To
evolve
is
necessary.
Life
is
the
unknown
and
the
unknowable.
After
all,
any
seagull
worth
his
wings
has
to
live
to
the
shine
of
the
stars,
analyze
paradise
up
close,
breathing
lighter,
friendlier
airs.
To
live
is
to
conquer,
not
to
limit
the
illimitable.
There
is
always
more
to
learn…Always.
Look
forward.
Step
towards
perfection,
enjoy
immensely
whatever
you
do.
That
is
the
secret
of
Jonathan.
Thinking
and
rationalizing
differently
from
other
seagulls
poses
no
problem
to
him.
Even
though
he
is
only
one
in
a
million,
even
though
he
has
to
trace
an
infinite
path,
Jonathan
knows
intuitively
that
there
is
more
to
life
than
just
eating,
holding
some
important
position,
being
loved
or
criticized.
To
live
is
to
fight.
Once,
one
hundred
times,
one
thousand
lives
or
even
ten
thousand!
Until
attaining
perfection,
the
irresistible
victory
of
eternal
learning,
where
numbers
have
no
power
to
limit.
No
one
is
excused
from
the
evolution
of
learning,
and
the
eventual
truth
that
nothing
beyond
“will”
and
“life”
have
sincere
significance.
Time
passes,
places
pass
and
his
fellows
pass,
or
pass
not…while
Jonathan
strives
ahead,
flies,
learns,
trains,
soars
above
the
commonness
of
ordinary
existence.
Destiny
is
infinite;
the
direction
is
ascendant,
toward
the
heights!
It
is
completely
spontaneous
and
natural,
because
whoever
shines
out
internally,
triumphs
in
his
mission
of
light.
A
destiny,
which
holds
to
oneself
as
well
as
to
all
other
creatures.
One
great
marvel
of
love
is
its
wondrous
contagiousness.
Whatever
holds
for
Jonathan
will
hold
for
all
seagulls.
Sentiment
is
the
sanctuary,
and
its
peace
reflects
and
flows
forth
incessantly.
The
faith
witnessed
in
evolutional
effort
is
the
blessing
of
the
gifts
of
love.
It
cleanses
and
edifies,
and
bettering
itself,
it
also
betters
they
that
perceive
its
ways
and
rhyme.
Interesting,
even
to
a
seagull!
The
more
Jonathan
trained
himself
in
his
exercises
of
goodness,
the
more
he
worked
to
understand
the
nature
of
love,
and
desired
to
return
to
the
earth,
to
be
among
his
fellows
once
again,
among
his
own,
those
who
cannot
see
beyond
the
tips
of
their
very
wings.
What
good
would
it
do
to
show
them
his
paradise?
One
after
the
other,
all,
one
day,
will
learn
to
fly.
All
will
fly
because
flying
is
very
good.
Francisco
Coutinho
Seagull
and
Martinho
Seagull,
old
today,
young
tomorrow…it
doesn’t
matter.
What
matters,
is
to
walk
toward
the
infinite,
illuminating
oneself
with
the
light
that
illuminates
light
itself.
An
excellent
experience
is
the
reading
of
the
book
“Jonathan
Livingston
Seagull”.
A
reading
of
words
and
a
reading
of
images,
for
I
have
never
before
encountered
as
illustrative
a
text
as
this.
As
I
read
and
flew
with
Jonathan,
while
I
felt
the
cold
of
the
heights
and
the
transparency
of
the
infinity
of
spaces,
I
remembered
why
the
Chinese
always
put
tiny
images
of
men
in
their
paintings,
especially
their
panoramas.
It
is
necessary
for
us
to
limit
one’s
worth
before
nature,
make
one
see
one’s
smallness
upon
the
background
of
life.
Climb
a
mountain…or
fly.
Cleanse
the
human
shell
of
the
multitude
of
petty
ambitions,
futile
and
unnecessary.
Making
oneself
so
small,
one
becomes
great.
Great,
great
within
the
greatness
of
humility.
