Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Perfection

"Chiang, this world isn't heaven at all, is it?"

The Elder smiled in the moonlight. "You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull," he said.
"Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven!"
"No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, an it is not a time.
Heaven is being perfect." He was silent for a moment. "You are a very fast flier, aren't you?"

"I . . .I enjoy speed," Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed.

"Your will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there."


~ Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story - by Ricard Bach