The words were printed on someone's shirt. "Luck is Limitless Horizons". I think it is a gym slogan, or so it looked. It was just a random scene I walked past. No real significance. But for some reason those words just stood out. Luck is limitless horizons, they say. However, my brain tried to understand how one can even begin to describe the situation of limitless horizons as "luck".
The horizon is a definite line, the furthest point our eyes can see, the endless line on the "horizon" where the sun sets. The horizon always moves with us, as we climb the mountain to reach the horizon, it moves with us. The closer we try to get to it, the further it seems to move. The horizon is frustrating in one sense, but grounding in another.
And that is why it is so important. It grounds us. It gives perspective. Trying to see the world without a horizon is to lose a sense of groundedness. If we try to detach ourselves from the horizon, we lose what makes us human.
So, I was trying to understand these words. Why is it luck to have limitless horizons? Is it not the opposite: to become so unbounded that everything becomes limitless is utter misfortune. The only reason why perspective makes sense is because it is limited. Yes, in some superficial sense of the phrase, it seems that luck is linked to limitless freedom. But the actual meaning hides a reality that is beyond grasp.
Limits are what gives us meaning in two very concrete ways.
First, it gives us boundaries, it frames the artwork if you will. And second, the same frame that limits, also provides something to push back against. That which limits also shows what is possible.
Without having that rigid border, there is no sense of stability. Being a rebel or to rebel against something still requires something to be there. One cannot even rebel against something if there is no limit. And that is the real form of luck, in my opinion, to have something to go against. Yes, limits are not good in many scenarios, but those limits are what pushes us to become better. Limitless freedom, having no horizon is not form of luck. It is misery. Utter misery.
For endlessly floating about, having nothing to push against, having no fixed horizon to chase, does not seem to be luck.
I am probably thinking too deeply about this. But in the end, I get paid to think. But the real worry is that these pop-philosophy (pop-psychology) statements become real things people chase after. What happens when everyone thinks that having no limits is what we should strive towards? (I am not talking about the physical limits imposed by living in a society.) What happens to potential when limits imposed by horizons are taken away, in a pursuit of gaining luck?
I am not sure I want to find out...
All of these musings are my own, except the phrase "Luck is Limitless Horizons" - I am not the owner of the phrase. It was merely something printed on a shirt. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.
