One day an Elder, who was passing by, inquired of a farmer why it was that an eagle, the king of all birds, should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. "since I have given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it has never learned to fly". replied the owner. "It behaves as chickens behave, so it is no longer an eagle".

"Still", insisted the elder, "it has the heart of an eagle and can surely be taught to fly". After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether this was possible. Gently the Elder took the eagle in his arms and said " You belong to the sky and not the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly".

The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was. Seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.

Undismayed, the Elder took the eagle on the following day up on the roof of the house and urged him again saying " You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly". But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self andworld and jumped down once more to the chicken food.

On the third day the Elder rose early and took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he urged the king of the birds high above him and encourged him again saying " You are an eagle. You belong to the sky as well as the earth. Stretch forth your wings now and fly".

The eagle looked back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Still he did not fly. Then the Elder lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble slowly stretched his wings. At last, with a triumphant cry!!! he soared into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia; it may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard, but as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.

He is an eagle, even though he had been kept and tamed as a chicken. Just like the eagle, people who have learned to think of themselves as something they aren't, can re-decide in favor of what they really are.