Perhaps the need to identify with something powerful, is merely a manifestation of Ego.
Like they guy who Lives in an Apartment but Drives a Dodge Viper, that he can barely afford.
... the Taoist martial artist I mentioned from Tibet was a 'dragon/snake' ... which involved 90% foot work and 10% hand work... it was his persona and I guess ego - in a pure and true sense, not coming from a 'deficit' point of view...
...he was relating how in a tournament, a person he was about to fight attacked him just before it began, and ruptured his diaphragm...his 'master' was helping him recover, and then they went back into the ring... his master just nodded, and the Taoist guy just did a spinning kick that broke the guys jaw that attacked him in 4 places...
...I saw this guy many times and had deep conversations with him. He was a humble yet obviously powerful man; and when he spun around and kicked things splintered, broke and cracked - he was a 'dragon/snake' in that regard..., never ever seen anyone in the west that was so capable and flexible to the extreme..., and he was a great guy, and became a good friend of mine...
...one of the last intiations he had to do - on returning to Tibet for it, was go though a maze and survive all the hidden dangers, and then grab a red hot cauldron full of boiling oil with his forearms, and on the sides were the brands of his animals, which would be branded on his forearms for life...I don't think this man had a 'deficit mentality'...he just
'was what he was'...
and that is what I am talking about...
...he identified some of my animal types,
tiger being one of them
...there were also monkey types, cranes etc...mantis...