On the threshold

I've had some complicated conversations lately with people I love but with whom I disagree. That's not fun but it's okay with me. I don't mind having my ideas or opinions challenged as long as it's done with a sincere desire to learn, to open up to new perspectives, new points of view -- to expand one's horizons. I know that the world is full of a multitude of ways of being and thinking. I think it is important for me to listen, to spend time considering what I do not believe is right or true, and to be willing to subject my own beliefs to scrutiny. I may change them or I may decide, with even firmer conviction than ever, that I'm sticking with them.

To that end, I went looking at what other people have said about different ways of seeing the world and expanding horizons. I offer their wisdom here for you.

• Never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always, I am on the threshold. ~ W. Eugene Smith. American photojournalist

• The eye sees all, but the mind shows us what we want to see. ~ William Shakespeare. Playwright

• Between two worlds life hovers like a star, twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge. ~ Lord Byron. English poet

• Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr. American author

• No matter how far a person can go, the horizon is still way beyond you. ~ Zora Neale Hurston. American author

• The eye of judgment sees at a distance what it refuses to see in its own reflection. ~ T.F. Hodge. American author and commentator

• October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once again. ~ Hal Borland. American author

• It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery. French author

• The worst sin that can be committed against the artist is to take him at his word, to see in his work a fulfillment instead of an horizon. ~ Henry Miller. American author

See the world and yourself with loving eyes. Reach for your horizons and let them keep coming so you always have more to strive for. Have a wonderful week.

Peace and love to you.