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455th out of 8,130 books
—
38,210 voters
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
by
Richard Bach
Similar to Nevil Shute’s '51 novel, Round the Bend, Bach's mystical adventure revolves around two barnstorming pilots who meet in a midwestern field. They, each doing what they really want to do, take on a relationship of teacher-student about the illusions that make reality. It sounds like the point where Jonathan Livingston Seagull left off. It may reflect what's been go...more
144 pages
Published
(first published 1977)
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Jul 05, 2007
Sfdreams
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone--especially those on a spiritual path
Shelves:
reviewed
I LOVED this book!! I read it over and over and have given copies to several people.
The book starts off with a "handwritten" and smudged story, written like books in the Bible, by a auto mechanic who discovered the Divine in himself and was followed by throngs of people,who called him a messiah, until he had to disappear.
Then the "real" book begins: A young man flys around the country in his airplane, supporting himself by selling flights in his plane. One fateful day, he meets a strange individ...more
The book starts off with a "handwritten" and smudged story, written like books in the Bible, by a auto mechanic who discovered the Divine in himself and was followed by throngs of people,who called him a messiah, until he had to disappear.
Then the "real" book begins: A young man flys around the country in his airplane, supporting himself by selling flights in his plane. One fateful day, he meets a strange individ...more
10 likes · like · see review
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I call anything sounding grand and oh-so-awesome but actually meaning squat a Richard Bach quote. Illusions, to summarize, is a compendium of such quotes.
However, I gave the book two stars only because it is consistent with the philosophy it preaches. The idea that the book is saying anything of consequence is an illusion and you are the one attaching any reality and importance to it.
The book might have had some 'message', but I was too busy smell-proofing my mind from all the shit flying aroun...more
However, I gave the book two stars only because it is consistent with the philosophy it preaches. The idea that the book is saying anything of consequence is an illusion and you are the one attaching any reality and importance to it.
The book might have had some 'message', but I was too busy smell-proofing my mind from all the shit flying aroun...more
4 likes · like · see review
Apr 11, 2010
Madeline
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
um, fans of Johnothan Livingston Seagull
Recommended to Madeline by:
its pricetag
um... probably the nicest thing to say about this book would be... a dumb mans "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
anyway, i saw this book at a garage sale for 25cents... that made me pick it up. what made me *buy* it was this introduction
"I do not enjoy writing at all. If I can turn my back on an idea, out there in the dark, if I can avoid opening the door to it, I won't even reach for a pencil. But once in a while there's a great dynamite-burst of fling glass and brick and splinters thr...more
anyway, i saw this book at a garage sale for 25cents... that made me pick it up. what made me *buy* it was this introduction
"I do not enjoy writing at all. If I can turn my back on an idea, out there in the dark, if I can avoid opening the door to it, I won't even reach for a pencil. But once in a while there's a great dynamite-burst of fling glass and brick and splinters thr...more
8 likes · like · see review
I heard about the book on Esther & Jerry Hicks Video. After reading the reviews here on Goodreads I decided to make the 10 odd minute trip to Kinokuniya to grab a copy. I never regretted it. A book which carries the message of how we mould our own future, our own life, our own outcomes in a very engaging way. I finished this wonderful book in 4 hours or so. If you need anything to lift your spirits when you are feeling down, or restore your faith in the Law of Attraction, this is one of the...more
I believe this book moved me more than any other before or since. Not because the writing was so great but the thoughts contained in it were so close to what I was feeling as a 19 year old away from home and on my own for the first time. I still believe the ideas contained here are timeless and profound. The fact that the author kind of went a bit off the deep end does not bother me (although it did for a while!)
I remember that some factions of the Christian right were outraged that the book ref...more
I remember that some factions of the Christian right were outraged that the book ref...more
11 likes · like · see review
Although I had issues overcoming some of the poor writing line to line in this book: "He smiled for maybe a tenth of a second," on the whole, this book does what it sets out to do.
It's a clever little pop-spirituality diatribe about Bach's view of the world, which is not a horrible one. It has a cool gimmick that makes it work. I can't endorse its message outright, - and you can probably guess some of the narcissistic tendencies of the work from the subtitle - but Bach is pretty straightforward...more
It's a clever little pop-spirituality diatribe about Bach's view of the world, which is not a horrible one. It has a cool gimmick that makes it work. I can't endorse its message outright, - and you can probably guess some of the narcissistic tendencies of the work from the subtitle - but Bach is pretty straightforward...more
The thoughts expressed through this book are very profound no doubt, but as a novel and as the epithet claims-"The adventures of a reluctant messiah", I think, it didn't fare well
A perfect story is supposed to have a beginning that lures the reader which this book had; but the central part where the conflict was supposed to build up, there we find that the story is just progressing on the basis of the author's philosophy; however, I must say I loved most of them.
It was as if the story and scenes...more
A perfect story is supposed to have a beginning that lures the reader which this book had; but the central part where the conflict was supposed to build up, there we find that the story is just progressing on the basis of the author's philosophy; however, I must say I loved most of them.
It was as if the story and scenes...more
Illusions is a book concerned with flight. My own copy is perhaps even more so because the pages are falling out and have a tendency to rearrange themselves between readings. But this little gem has given me great delight and different interpretations at different points in my life.
Richard Bach’s first success was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Such success lead to the questions he asked himself in writing this handbook. By saying that it is about flight I mean both in the dreaming and soaring way...more
Richard Bach’s first success was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Such success lead to the questions he asked himself in writing this handbook. By saying that it is about flight I mean both in the dreaming and soaring way...more
My friend Renee recommended this one to me, she knows I've had questions in life and I'm open to unique perspectives; what can I say, I don't know everything in life and I'm still learning. Illusions is a book of self learning or teaching by and indirect method, I'll let you decide. For me it was an indirect method learning about the illusions of life and how we limit ourselves. In this case Mr. Bach has two gentlemen who give airplane rides to people meet and we watch as one quests and learns a...more
Feb 20, 2012
Dickie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Bach, inspirational books, toaism, ect...
Recommended to Dickie by:
the girl who liked anchoives and olives - Liz.
This book changed my life. Over and over again. That is the simplest way to put it. One day a girl came into the pizza parlor I was working at and I commented on her tramp stamp. (It was as always, an attempt to get her to lower the jeans) - It was a blue feather tattoo. I asked what it represented and she told me it was the feather from the cover of a book, called "Illusions", and it had changed her life.
She brought the book into me as promised a couple days later with a four leaf clover as...more
She brought the book into me as promised a couple days later with a four leaf clover as...more
I discovered this slim volume in my brother's book rack as I looked for our sherlock holmes collection. I had seen this around at book stores before, was a little curious, but never curious enough to buy. So, it was a surprise to find a spiritual book in my brother's otherwise thriller/adventure collection. I read it because, well, I have had a spiritual void for sometime myself. And though it took only a couple of hours, I learned nothing new except a couple of things about planes. I have to sa...more
With Illusions, Richard Bach takes us on a carefree flight of fancy to a simpler time, where you not only leave cares and responsibilities behind but actually forget that there are such things. Even if you have never previously considered flying a light aircraft, you soon long for the promised freedom of that experience, and after Donald Shimoda comes on the scene you find yourself wondering why anyone would want to do anything other than field hop in a light plane around the mid west of the USA...more
I read the book since an X'er employee said he had a philosophy that "in every problem is a gift" and that was why he why he did not react to dramas the way that everyone around us did. I read the book and that one quote was the one that stayed with me. That one piece of wisdom was worth the price of the book. It's about the law of attraction, in current spiritual terms.
To me, the spiritual aspect of it was not as important as realizing that it's my choice how I look at something and more impor...more
To me, the spiritual aspect of it was not as important as realizing that it's my choice how I look at something and more impor...more
"Here is a test to find whether your mission to Earth is finished; If your alive it isn't."
Why write of the book when it could be more fun to explain the reactions of several other people who have read this one. Before I say anything else I feel it needs a health warning. The symptoms that I have witnessed as people read this book include, delusional psychosis, fantasising in public, maniac attempts at cloud bursting and one very very bruised nose. (A result of a grown man trying to swim in the...more
Why write of the book when it could be more fun to explain the reactions of several other people who have read this one. Before I say anything else I feel it needs a health warning. The symptoms that I have witnessed as people read this book include, delusional psychosis, fantasising in public, maniac attempts at cloud bursting and one very very bruised nose. (A result of a grown man trying to swim in the...more
One of my all time favorite books. Author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Metaphysics and airplanes.
Rise into your own reality. Believe, create...
Do what makes you happy.
Here is how it begins...
"Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.
The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going it's own way, knowing only it's own crystal self.
Each creature in it's own manner clung tightly to the...more
Metaphysics and airplanes.
Rise into your own reality. Believe, create...
Do what makes you happy.
Here is how it begins...
"Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.
The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going it's own way, knowing only it's own crystal self.
Each creature in it's own manner clung tightly to the...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I read this pretty quickly, thinking I would be able to come back to it later and re-read, but then I passed it on. Probably another read would be useful before writing a review. On a first read, it felt sorta Secret-ish (full disclosure: never read The Secret) in that it argues that we're all living the lives we want to be living, whether or not we're aware of this, and that we can change our realities at any time--that far more is open to us than we realize. I don't think it's quite that simpl...more
دانش،پی بردن به آن چیزی است که میدانستی
انجام دادن،نشان دادن چیزی است که میدانی
تعلیم،یادآوری به دیگران است که خود آنها به همان حد خوبی که تو میدانی،میدانند
شما همگی یادگیرنده،انجام دهنده و معلمین هستید
تنها وظیفه شما در هر دوره زندگی،حقیقی بودن خودتان است
با حقیقت بودن با هرکس و هرجیز دیگر نه تنها ناممکن،بلکه نشانه یک مسیحای جعلی است
آسان ترین پرسشها عمیقترین آنست
کجا به دنیا آمده ای؟خانه ات کجاست؟
به کجا می روی؟چکار می کنی؟
گاهی در اینباره بیندیش و ببین که پاسخها تغییر میکنند
آنچه را که بیش از هرچیز به...more
انجام دادن،نشان دادن چیزی است که میدانی
تعلیم،یادآوری به دیگران است که خود آنها به همان حد خوبی که تو میدانی،میدانند
شما همگی یادگیرنده،انجام دهنده و معلمین هستید
تنها وظیفه شما در هر دوره زندگی،حقیقی بودن خودتان است
با حقیقت بودن با هرکس و هرجیز دیگر نه تنها ناممکن،بلکه نشانه یک مسیحای جعلی است
آسان ترین پرسشها عمیقترین آنست
کجا به دنیا آمده ای؟خانه ات کجاست؟
به کجا می روی؟چکار می کنی؟
گاهی در اینباره بیندیش و ببین که پاسخها تغییر میکنند
آنچه را که بیش از هرچیز به...more
This was actually a life-changing book. It was a book that opened my mind as to my own thought process when I came upon other individuals having challenges with life's journey. Here's a story I wrote about it (Not for eyes under 18):
JEALOUS OF THE DOG
I'm in love with a man who doesn't love me. Well, love is a strange word, a strong word, a poor-excuse-to-be-miserable word. He loves me as a friend, as a sister, as a pet, perhaps. I'm always around, following him like a lost puppy.
It's cruel, un...more
JEALOUS OF THE DOG
I'm in love with a man who doesn't love me. Well, love is a strange word, a strong word, a poor-excuse-to-be-miserable word. He loves me as a friend, as a sister, as a pet, perhaps. I'm always around, following him like a lost puppy.
It's cruel, un...more
2 likes · like · see review
Oct 07, 2009
Viraj
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
None
Recommended to Viraj by:
Swanand Sahasrabuddhe
Shelves:
novels
Overall: Boring…
Directly from the book (my comments in brackets):
Pg. Quoted
49 The best way to avoid responsibility is to say, “I’ve got responsibilities.”
75 Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.
90 Negative attachments… If you really want to remove a cloud from your life, you don’t make a big production out of it; you just relax and remove it from your thinking.
92 You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it h...more
Directly from the book (my comments in brackets):
Pg. Quoted
49 The best way to avoid responsibility is to say, “I’ve got responsibilities.”
75 Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.
90 Negative attachments… If you really want to remove a cloud from your life, you don’t make a big production out of it; you just relax and remove it from your thinking.
92 You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it h...more
Please note the shelves this book is on: It's much more "junk" than "fun." I received this as a gift, and it says on the cover, "The glorious best seller by Richard Bach author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull and One", which I think pretty much sums it up. The author's note in the beginning is pretentious drivel about "I never wanted to write another book again because it's just so hard, but these characters and this story were just begging to be let out of my head..." Waah. The book isn't even 2...more
“Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah.”
“Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.”
“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”
“If you really want to remove a cloud from your life, you do not...more
“Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while, and watch your answers change.”
“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”
“If you really want to remove a cloud from your life, you do not...more
Richard Bach and Donald Shimoda, master and disciple. One, a messiah waiting to retire and the other reluctant to learn. Both barnstorming pilots in mid west America.
The book is about our perspectives and perceptions of reality, and a view that what we see around us is an illusion.. of our own making, a manifestation of what we want it to be.
Shimoda is tired of being a messiah as he thinks people are more interested in the miracles he shows them, than any understanding of what he's trying to s...more
The book is about our perspectives and perceptions of reality, and a view that what we see around us is an illusion.. of our own making, a manifestation of what we want it to be.
Shimoda is tired of being a messiah as he thinks people are more interested in the miracles he shows them, than any understanding of what he's trying to s...more
This is my treasure. It may be that every devoted reader has a book like this. It found me when I was 16. I have read it more than 10 times in the course of my life. My personal copy is marked with different markers showing the various routes I have taken through the book.
For me, this is Bach's master piece. Most people would look at Jonathan Seagull as his magna opus, but I prefer this little short story.
In it, Bach parallels the life of the biblical Christ with that of an Enlightened One who...more
For me, this is Bach's master piece. Most people would look at Jonathan Seagull as his magna opus, but I prefer this little short story.
In it, Bach parallels the life of the biblical Christ with that of an Enlightened One who...more
This book was just OK. Basically, this messiah teams up with a barnstormer (a person who flies around the country in a airplane giving people plane rides) and then gives the barnstormer lectures about the workings of life, the universe and everything.
The story itself was too thin a veil to disguise the messiah's lectures, and it soon became clear to me that this is an idea book that was not intended to actually entertain the reader.
The storyline only served to present messages that Bach obvi...more
The story itself was too thin a veil to disguise the messiah's lectures, and it soon became clear to me that this is an idea book that was not intended to actually entertain the reader.
The storyline only served to present messages that Bach obvi...more
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - first off, it is the very best title of any book EVER! Many of Bach's books I wrote off in my mind as somewhat 'self-help'-like in their mission, but there's something really deep and intellectual about his writings. JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL was the first book I ever read that showed me the meaning of symbolism (I was in 5th or 6th grade) - I still love the book because I learned about myself (self-help?!) - and ONE taught me about love and r...more
Richard’s life of flying airplanes around Illinois change when he meets a man by the name of Donald Shimoda. They create a student-teacher relationship after Shimoda decides to leave his former job of being a messiah, to teach Richard about what he knows. Throughout the story, Richard reads passages from the ‘Messiah’s handbook’ that somehow tie into the things he is learning about his life, and about life in general. The more knowledge Shimoda passes on to Richard, the more Richard begins to cr...more
This is my very favorite book. I originally read it in 1982, and it changed my life. I still have the same highlighted, dog-eared copy with my handwritten notes in it that have been written over the course of the past 30 years. The thing I have most remembered from the wisdom in this book is this: "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." I also often reflect on the ending of this book: "Everything in this book may...more
People have been telling me to read this book for over a decade. One man told me he was living in the Alaskan wilderness in a log cabin spending the summer painting. We was using the ochre from the rocks and mixing it with linseed oil and doing landscapes. One night he said the river flooded so hard that he thought the cabin might be swept away. It swamped the valley completely and for days he holed up inside hoping the water wouldn't rise. He had been dropped by plane earlier in the summer and...more
Apr 08, 2012
Surabhi
added it
n the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders...until he meets Donald Shimoda--former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard's imagination soar.... In Illusions, the unforgettable follow-up to his phenomenal bestseller Jonathan Livings...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illusions | 25 | 178 | Jan 24, 2013 02:37pm |
Richard David Bach is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. He claims to be a direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is noted for his love of flying and for his books r...more
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“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.”
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436 people liked it
“You're never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true.”
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