Would you believe me if I told you that within you lies everything you could ever need to survive, to thrive, to prosper, and to fulfill your potential as a human being? Does it sound too good to be true?
The modern world is full of confusion. Millions of human beings live lives of quiet desperation, never knowing or fully realizing who they are, or why they exist. Under the hypnotic spell of the human race mind, they never believe it is possible to know or be anything other than the way society tells them they should be. Many people feel that something is wrong with the world, that life should be richer, fuller, and more exciting. They wonder why human life is so full of deceit, hypocrisy, violence, poverty, and despair. They complain about work, about politics, about their families, or spouses. They say things like,” life sucks and then you die.” Many think life should not be like this, yet we do not question it, we simply shrug our shoulders and accept it. Humans exist, but few of us ever truly live.
It is a tragedy that most people never realize that the way out of this situation lies within themselves, as a constitutive dimension of their being human in the first place. It just seems to them to be too easy, too convenient, or silly unrealistic wishful thinking. And perhaps it is, if it begins and ends as a wish and is not followed by steady and persistent desire and action. However, desire and persistent action will show convincingly that it is true; that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and have at their disposal powers given them by the creator, powers that are virtually infinite in scope and nature.
The answer to the problem of life, and the problems of life, are for every human being to take responsibility for his or her own life, and begin to make it a life of power and overcoming by tapping into and becoming a channel for the divine which lies hidden within them. Until they do, life will continue to puzzle and confuse them, and send lessons which are designed to rouse them from their hypnotic sleep and awaken them to the truth. They will live as a slave, while being secretly Noble. I will end with a fable which illustrates this fact clearly:
A fable is told about an eagle who thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do, living like a chicken, and believing he was a chicken.
A naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true. He knew that an eagle is king of the sky. He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken. The farmer explained to the naturalist that this bird was no longer an eagle. He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken and he believed that he was a chicken.
The naturalist knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he "pretended" to be a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. "I told you it was a chicken," he said.
The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. He jumped from the man's arm onto the roof of the farmhouse.
Knowing what eagles are really about, the naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle. The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, "It is a chicken."
The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting. The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke: "Eagle, thou art an eagle! Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew.
Human beings were made to soar like eagles. It is time for us to claim our birthright.
