One Man's Evolution of Consciousness: Richard Bach's "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah"

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach can be simply put as a chronicle of one man’s evolution of consciousness. The book begins with a tale of a Master of things born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This Master became known for performing “miracles” and instantly began drawing crowds. But the Master didn’t understand why the crowds continued to come when they were all capable of bringing to life that same “miracles” that he had. The Master wanted the people to understand that they too had this power and attempted to make this clear by telling the story of a group of underwater creature who found a sort of “false” Messiah. In the story the creatures clung to the bed of the sea for fear of being swept by the current into their death among the rock beds. Eventually one of the creatures grew tired of clinging and found the courage to let go, he was taken up safely by the current of the river which allowed him to flow pass the other creatures still clinging to the surface. As the creature passed the other who still clung to the surface the proclaimed him as their savior, but the creature protested telling the others he was no more of a messiah than they were and that the current would happily carry them if they would simply let go. The dilemma faced by the creature in the story was the same dilemma the master himself was facing. As the crowds continued to grow and the praise became too much the master decided the lifestyle was more than he was willing to handle and announced simply “I quit”.

We find ourselves reintroduced to the “master” but this time on a smaller scale as a mere pilot selling rides in an old Travel Air plane. Our “master” is introduced as Donald Shimoda and we are also introduced Richard Bach. Ri...

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...aintain that God may have an idea of where he wants you to end up in life in it up to you to choose the correct steps to get there. The choices we make help decide the path we take in life the only thing we have no choice in is where we end up after our journey here on earth is complete.

Richard Bach uses the book Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah to not only tell an entertaining story of the learning journey of a regular man being groomed into a messiah but he also uses this book to deliver two very important lessons to live by. Bach reminds the reader that we are in charge of our own destiny and also that the only limits placed on us are the ones we place on ourselves. This book and these lessons are the type that will follow you through your days with the sense of inspiration to help you to weather any storm and shape any destiny you want.