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because you dislike yourself, to prepare for failure, to fend off criticism
by others, to seek sympathy and nurturance, to avoid responsibility, to
try to hurt those who have hurt you, or to have some other motive
(see method #1 in chapter 14). What seem to be some of your
games? or your destructive motives?
There are three major roles in stories--hero or heroine, villain, and
a victim (or according to Greek Drama--rescuer, prosecutor, and
victim). We tend to see ("feel" is more accurate) ourselves in one of
those roles. If you can uncover which role has the greatest emotional
appeal for you, you are closer to finding your life script.
"The Parable of the Eagle" by James Aggrey (1959) is helpful in
sorting out those roles. As you read this story, notice your feelings.
Which character do you most identify with? The eagle who is being
held down and controlled but is confused about escaping (the victim)?
The person who seems to care but holds someone back, perhaps by
being dominant and/or over-protective (the villain)? The naturalist who
helps others grow and become their true selves (the hero/heroine)?
Read the parable:
"Once upon a time, while walking through the forest, a man found a young eagle.
He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat chicken feed
and to behave as chickens behave.
One day, a naturalist, who was passing by, inquired
of the owner why it was that an eagle, the king of all
birds, should be confined to live in a 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 naturalist, "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 naturalist took the
eagle in his arms and said, "You belong to the sky and
not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The
eagle, however, was confused; he did not know who he
was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he
jumped down to be with them again.
Undismayed, the naturalist 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 and the world and jumped down once more for the
chicken feed.
