Duc in altum!

There are two sorts of flying birds that symbolize two sorts of souls: the chicken and the eagle. The flight of the chicken is low, make noises, kicks up dust, and causes chaos in the chicken coop. It is a symbol of the souls that simply crawl, with horizontal ideas and short-sighted careers. They might produce a lot of noise and provide something to talk about, but they are almost immediately forgotten. When the dirt and the feathers that their rampage raised up fall to the ground, no one remembers the chicken’s flight; it was inconsequential and passed unnoticed in the history of the chicken coop. The souls that set down goals that don’t go beyond the shadows of their noses will pass without leaving any mark; they live off conquests that are as perishable as those of our chicken. The eagle’s flight is challenging, lordly, fleet, and unattainable. The eagle’s sight can be fixed on the sun, and to contemplate the fullness of the scenery from the mountain peaks to the clouds. The eagle plays with the winds, glides, throws itself into a dive, and turns to raise itself up swiftly. From its heights, it sees the seas as if they were puddles, and the lakes and rivers uncover their secrets for it as their waters become transparent. It is a bird that hunts and that fights. It is the symbol of the soul that feels cramped in by the earth, and relieved in heaven; it is the symbol of the soul that needs distant and difficult goals...