Who are you?
A parable from priest and therapist Anthony de Mello on the stories we tell ourselves:
“A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chickens and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that?” he asked.
“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth—we’re chickens.”
So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.”
Thought provoking indeed!
Other persons are often damaged and distorted mirrors, yielding reflections of us that are not true to our being.
Close and powerful reflections shape us early. How can we know, accept, affirm, and appreciate our true selves—shadow side and all. I believe it is a spiritual journey based on a developing relationship with God. That becomes truly transcending.
That’s very deep and beautiful 🙂
So maybe I can fly?
Spread those wings 🙂
Reblogged this on Random and Sundry Things and commented:
Best short story I’ve read in a long time!
Thank you for sharing!
Don’t be a chicken if you’re an eagle. Don’t just keep doing what’s always been done. Stretch your wings.
Absolutely!
Does it matter if eagle is happy to be a chicken ? 🙃
A very good question 🙂
What’s the answer from your side 🤔
No, it definitely doesn’t matter if the eagle is happy to be a chicken
A beautiful story, but a real downer.
Even if I have lived all this time and didn’t know who I was. I will not die like that. Loved this
This is a magnificent read!
<3
I will have something to ponder on today, and the rest of my days. A very interesting story.