Chickens and Eagles, What are You?
Anthony de Mello was a Jesuit priest, psychotherapist, and spiritual teacher who lived from 1931 to 1987. Born in India and spending the majority of his life there, he was known for his teachings on spirituality and the integration of psychology and spirituality.
The story below is from the foreword of the book Awareness written by Anthony de Mello.
“A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks 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 on his 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 neighbour. “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.” – Anthony de Mello (1931 – 1987) Jesuit Priest
The Eagle Who Thought He was a Chicken
The story of the eagle who thought he was a chicken is a powerful one about the importance of self-awareness and understanding our true capabilities. This parable speaks to the idea that without knowing your true self and potential, we can often limit ourselves from achieving our goals and reaching our full potential.
The eagle in this story was born into a world where he was surrounded by chickens and was raised to think and act like a chicken. He grew up believing that his place was on the ground, and that his only abilities were to scratch for worms, cackle, and fly a few feet into the air. This was his reality, and he was limited by his lack of self-awareness imposed by his environment.
Even after seeing an eagle soar in the sky above him, he was unable to recognize his own true potential. With eyes wide open, his limiting beliefs kept him from seeing himself for what he truly was.
For the eagle, better self-awareness could have been the beginning of a journey of growth and potential reaching past the barnyard. Had he realized that he wasn’t limited to the ground and that he had the capacity to fly high, one can only imagine the life he could have led.
This little story can be a reminder about the importance of our environment and how we interact with it. Are your close acquaintances keeping you from seeing who you really are? The sad part about this story is that many of us will be like the eagle, never seeing or believing who we truly are. This is not only a loss to ourselves but also our communities for us not being able to give the best of ourselves.
With directed effort and a willingness to learn more about ourselves we might just surprise ourselves in how much we can grow. There might be more waiting for us than clacking and clucking in the barnyard.
Are you willing to investigate and determine what your true potential is?
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