Since I am staying near the sea, I make it a point to visit the seafront everyday. It is not often that I (or most people who live in cities) get a chance to gaze in the distance. I am a little paranoid that my already weak eyesight will fade before I reach an age when it is acceptable to be half-blind, which is why I do eye exercises religiously. One of the exercises is to gaze at objects in the distance. We spend so much time in front of the computer that are eye muscles lose the ability focus at objects at a distance. Gazing in the distance provides our eyes much-needed relief as well as some much-needed exercise.
But, I also like gazing at horizons. I feel they are the physical embodiment of the concept of dialectics, which is a concept I have always been interested in. It is impossible to perceive the sky without having a concept of the earth. A horizon is where the earth and the sky appear to meet--the union of two entities that stand in opposition to one another. Is there a life lesson there? That much of life as we live it in our minds is a dance between contradictory impulses and emotions? For eg., the need for belonging versus the need for assertion of our individuality. That chasing one feeling or emotion but running away from its mirror is futile because they are two sides of the same coin, they meet at the horizon. As an aside, one of my childhood fantasies was to edit a nature magazine fashioned after National Geographic. Except that my magazine would be called Broadening Horizons.
But, I also like gazing at horizons. I feel they are the physical embodiment of the concept of dialectics, which is a concept I have always been interested in. It is impossible to perceive the sky without having a concept of the earth. A horizon is where the earth and the sky appear to meet--the union of two entities that stand in opposition to one another. Is there a life lesson there? That much of life as we live it in our minds is a dance between contradictory impulses and emotions? For eg., the need for belonging versus the need for assertion of our individuality. That chasing one feeling or emotion but running away from its mirror is futile because they are two sides of the same coin, they meet at the horizon. As an aside, one of my childhood fantasies was to edit a nature magazine fashioned after National Geographic. Except that my magazine would be called Broadening Horizons.
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