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MAN as EAGLE: One may choose to see the eagle either as a primitive beast driven by murderous urges, restrained only by the threat of superior force, or as a magnificent creature imbued with mystical qualities and magical abilities, the perfect symbol of freedom and dignity. Both images ring true, as the eagle IS a killer with many stupid and (to us) disgusting habits, yet is also equipped to do gracefully that of which we may only dream. The male human can be viewed with similar ambiguity, both from without and from within. Others' opinions of me are fuel for discussion; but my own self-image affects how I live my life -- and I need both perspectives: I must know my own limitations, failings, weaknesses, uglinesses, lest they catch me unprepared; yet I must expect also the eagle's grace from myself, lest my best efforts yield only a reduction of disgrace. And not least, I must accommodate the knowledge that I know neither myself nor the eagle in any but the most fumbling approximation. Seeking to choose between these pitiful projections of the being itself onto our puny consciousness is a hilarious folly! (2002-03-02)