Time & Perspective Quote by Richard Bach

Bach’s line smuggles a hard truth into a soft pillow: separation hurts, but it’s also the engine of reunion. The opening command, “Don’t be dismayed,” is classic self-help framing, yet it’s doing something subtler than comfort. It tries to re-label grief as a transitional state rather than a verdict. The trick is that it doesn’t deny the sting of good-byes; it reframes them as structural, almost logistical: “necessary before you can meet again.” That word “necessary” gives loss a job to do, which is why the sentence lands. It turns absence into a bridge instead of a void.

The subtext is very Bach: a quasi-spiritual faith in continuity, the idea that relationships persist beyond physical proximity, even beyond time. “Moments or lifetimes” stretches the timeline until it becomes metaphysics. He’s not just talking about long-distance friendships; he’s flirting with reincarnation, fate, the romantic notion that meaningful bonds have a kind of cosmic subscription plan.

“Certain for those who are friends” is the quote’s boldest move and its most revealing. Certainty is a high-stakes word in an area where people live with uncertainty. It’s less a description of how friendship works in practice (many friendships end) than a statement of values: real friendship is defined by its ability to survive chapters, not by constant access. In the cultural context of Bach’s era of post-60s searching and New Age optimism, it’s a comforting rebellion against modern disposability, insisting that connection has permanence even when circumstances don’t.