A work of classic, they say, -be it a book, movie or any kind of dialogue between the creator and the audience- has a calling! You would delve into it again and again and yet find it afresh, renewed, holding unto itself an ever changing kaleidoscope.
I had have my first such magical experience with Mr. Doyle’s Holmes, for which I have lost the count I’ve rummaged through his masterful and majestic skull busting cases. But my favourite book till date is One by Richard Bach.
“I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it?” The back cover read so. Then I opened and took off to the most elating flight of my life with One. I had already taken to his writing with Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. But with One, page after page I got lifted to such heights I’ve never known.
One is a journey Richard embarks upon to Los Angeles along with his wife, Leslie, but rather ends up in a revelation of his lifetime. They travel into different alternate presents and meet their own selves at different points and stages in their lifetime. They converse with them and try to stop them from making the same mistakes they committed. But again and again they are forced to think “…even if one of your future self appears in front of you and opens up the gate to your perfect future, will you follow him?”. Richard and Leslie visit their different pasts facing problems and standing at crossroads. Not only do they meet their own alternate self, but also different forms of their life force, which enlightens upon them that we all are one. They land in an ancient desert to see an alternate Richard as a warhead, and then in 12th century France to meet Leslie’s alternate self. They meet their alternate Russian couple in Russia and in future Shanghai, futuristic alternate them. After meeting them all, they feel how we all are one, made different apparently just by our choices!
One is a most fascinating story of how a single choice diverges our lifeline into different paths of life and how our choices govern our own lives. It’s such a beautifully crafted story and deals with divine queries with such finesse and courage that you feel one with Richard and Leslie. One made me look at ideas more respectfully and make choices more confidently. It also gifted me some of my all time favourite lines, viz, “ …we have infinite choices. Our choices lead us to our experiences, and with experience we realize that we are not the little creatures we seem to be.We are interdimensional expressions of life, mirrors of spirit.”, and “A human being is an expression of life, bringing light, reflecting love across whatever dimension it chooses to touch, in whatever form it chooses to take. Humanity isn’t a physical description, it’s a spiritual goal.It’s not something we’re given, it’s something we earn.”
One may not have given me too many lines to remember or quote, but it has touched upon several novel and pleasant ideas which got engraved in my memory. Who wouldn’t dig being a bookworm if allowed to dwell within books like One!
