Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Alongside the two gulls, Jonathan arrives in what he takes to be heaven, finding that his own body is now bright and glowing as well; what’s more, it’s capable of speeds beyond anything he could achieve in his former life. After parting ways with his guides, he eventually arrives at a shoreline but is puzzled to find that there are very few gulls in his new world.

Over the next few days, Jonathan finds that what gulls do exist here share his own beliefs about the importance of perfecting one’s flying capabilities; in fact, those with more advanced skills help teach the others. When Jonathan asks his own teacher Sullivan why there are so few gulls, Sullivan explains that only gulls who reached perfection in their world come here: “[W]e choose our next world through what we learn in this one” (54). Sullivan tells him that most gulls have to pass through 1,000 lives before it even occurs to them that there might be something beyond the routine life of the Flock.

One evening, Jonathan approaches the “Elder Gull,” Chiang, and asks where he is if he isn’t in heaven. Chiang explains that heaven is not a place, but rather the state of perfection, and that Jonathan can begin to understand it when he realizes that he isn’t bound to any particular speed.