Richard Bach is not an easy writer to decode. Many have told me that they didn't understand him at all. That they prefer Paulo Coelho to him. I have read many of PC's works, he is about dreams, fantasies and inspiration. While I found Bach more inspiring, challenging and ambitious. His, Johnathan Livingston Seagull is fine. Illusions, one step more better. But the book I recently finished off, One , is remarkable. Not that it has all the answers you are seeking. The reason it is fantastic is, it is not just mere a self-help or inspirational book , it is not even closer to it. It is , in fact, a book of Discovery , of Ideas, of Fantasy and most importantly of Structures. It is a superb amalgamation of literature ( a wonderful narrative pattern ), and science ( fantastic ideas ).
When I started with the book, I broke down at hundred pages, nothing made any sense. I put down the book and didn't open it for almost a couple of months.Yesterday when I did begin reading from where I had stopped, suddenly everything began to make sense. So , I would suggest to those who pick up this book, don't mind initial pages, just keep going on.
It is funny, that the book at once begins to feel very familiar. It contains the ideas, I had cherished and practiced in my childhood. When I was young and lonely, I would go on the terrace, look at the stars and weave stories around them, think of another world that exists simultaneously, think of the possibility of many lifetimes (in serial). Though Bach tells, we have them not Serial wise, but Simultaneously.
He talks about Choices. And how they Change the course of our lives. He talks about Ideas and their power.
Some of the most powerful thoughts are scattered through the pages.
"One way to choose a future is to believe it is inevitable."
Something echoes through out the book , my philosophy - "Believing is Experiencing."
However crazy it sounds, he conveys his idea that, there are parallel worlds and parallel lives. Our choices change the courses and can take us into any of those worlds. If we focus on our consciousness, and bring it to the highest level, then with our determination and our choices we can even decide to die and not to die.
At this point, I am reminded of the same notion conveyed by Sri Aurobindo and Mother in their book -Looking From Within, with more emphasis and belief and clarity.
Our mind has immense power to change the world within and thus, the world outside. And as Bach says, the world is an illusion. It is just a trick of mind.
One, is not a book of Wisdom. It is a book of Love. You both are not two, the soulmates are One.
"You need her power. She needs your wings. Together, you fly !"
You are also One with the World you see (its your reflection), with the people you see (they are your alternative -selves). With the perspective of One-ness, Unity, comes Harmony and Love. And "Your oneness in love is reality, and mirages can not change reality...
Wherever you go you are together, safe with the one you love most, at the point of all perspective."
