Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Richard Bach

Delacorte Press, 1998 - Fiction - 143 pages

Richard Bach made a promise, fifty years ago, to come back through time and teach himself everything he had learned from living. The pledge was forgotten until the day when, midair in his paraglider, Richard met Dickie Bach, age nine, who expected the promise to be kept. In this intimate adventure of mind and heart, Richard sets out to show Dickie the things that matter, and finds his teaching doesn't go as planned. Here is a book spun from delight and disaster, and from surprising notions about old questions: Who are we? What do we want to do with our lives, and why aren't we doing it? Must we be the victim of circumstance instead of its master? How do we learn to love? Throughout, Leslie Parrish-Bach shares the journey, offering her counterpoint to some of Richard's more challenging beliefs. This is a journal of terror and triumph, of forgotten childhood and its keys to grown-up mysteries. Running from Safety entertains, exhilarates, inspires; a gift to those convinced that angels can meet us in the midst of storms to remind us why we've chosen to live.

Contents

• Chapter 1: 9
• Chapter 2: 25
• Chapter 3: 37

About the author

A direct descendant of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Bach was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1936. He attended Long Beach State College in 1955 and had a successful career in aviation, as an Air Force pilot, a flight instructor, an aviation mechanic, and an editor for Flying magazine. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the novel that made him famous, was written as the result of a vision. Halfway through the book, the vision disappeared and, finding that he was unable to continue, Bach, put the novel aside. When the vision reappeared, Bach finished the work. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, published in 1972, was an unexpected success and became the best-selling book in the United States for that year. The book is heavily influenced by Bach's love of flying and provides a marvelous inspirational message. The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story, One, Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul (2004), and Hypnotizing Maria (2009) are some of his other novels that blend inspiration, love, fantasy, and hope. In recent years Bach has written Thank Your Wicked Parents: Blessings from a Difficult Childhood (2012), Rainbow Ridge and Travels with Puff: A Gentle Game of Life and Death (2013), NiceTiger,

Bibliographic information

• Title: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah; Delta trade paperbacks
• Author: Richard Bach
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0385319258, 9780385319256
• Length: 143 pages
• Subjects: Body, Mind & Spirit / Spiritualism; Fiction / General; Fiction / Visionary & Metaphysical; Philosophy / Mind & Body