I like walking the beach. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.
I stand looking at the water. As I turn my head 180 degrees from east to west, the distant horizon appears as an arc where outbound ships disappear. No wonder many years ago civilizations thought our world as flat.
Perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet. Each of us know different amounts of different things. Nobody knows all – so for each of us, the unknown lies beyond the horizon.
Perhaps the horizon is a different edge – an edge separating graspable concepts that we can comprehend – but beyond the horizon lie concepts one fails to approach – failing to comprehend. But the bigger question lies in the same one-word question for all – why?
Perhaps the horizon separates our life known up to the moment to the unknown of tomorrow. The horizon separates our yesterday from our tomorrow. Looking across the water to the horizon that separates our past from our future.
Perhaps the horizon is a metaphor beyond the waters that refresh my feet. After all, the hills of home have a horizon. What lies in the uncertainty over the next hill? Yes, looking up the hill is the same as viewing across the water. Thinking about what lies over the next hill is the same as thinking beyond the horizon that I see at the moment.
Perhaps the horizon is about the dreams of today and the unknown of tomorrow for all of humanity. The dreams of curing cancer, reducing poverty, travelling to the great unknowns of the universe, and more.
Perhaps thinking beyond the horizon is wondering about the unknown of the next frontier – whatever it may be.
Perhaps the horizon is where geniuses reside – those few who have the ability to think beyond the border – beyond the horizon – think in an inspired, creative way with an uncontrollable curiosity that is different from the norm – to see more and more deeply than others – thinking beyond the horizon.
Meanwhile, as I ponder the arc-like horizon that I see, I’m reminded that I enjoy walking the beach, for it is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.
My favorite line is “Perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet.” We live in an area with so many trees that I struggle finding a view of the horizon unless I am at the beach and I love pondering about the next frontier. The beach is a wonderful place for deep thinking! Lovely, Frank!
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Debra,
Why am I not surprised that you enjoyed this one. 😉 … hope you watch the video, too! Others enjoyed the same point you mentioned!
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This beach walk really spoke to me Frank – my eyes are so often on the horizon as I walk. It pulls me out, into the world and then beyond. When I was very young I wanted to know what lay beyond the horizon line and it grew in me as the urge to travel. I still love the horizon and all the contemplations it arouses.
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Pauline,
Glad this walk touched you and thanks for the kind words. As one who enjoys travel, I appreciate you linking horizon and travel. Oh yes … the world has much to offer … so much variety, let alone the cultures within it. Some day I hope to see your land!
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That mystical line where the sea and sky meet and ships like bobbing specters disappear beyond is elusive. So beautifully pondered here Frank. Though we pursue the horizon it is always just out of reach. Have a lovely day out there.
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Holly,
You have a way with words Your first sentence is so poetic to me. Thanks for sharing!!!!
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It is beautiful and how fortunate to be able to stroll the shore of the beach , watch the horizon sink into the sea. You’ve expressed this experience beautifully Frank.
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Absolutely. This was our second year snowbirding … very enjoyable. Here’s the first beach walk that tells the story of how this series started. https://afrankangle.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/on-a-beach-walk-no-1/
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This is my favorite of your beach walk meditations, Frank. I love “Perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet.” and “Perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet.” Beautiful and thoughtful. Thank you for sharing.
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Merril,
Reading high praise from a thinker as yourself made me feel very good about this post. Thank you. And wow … you are early, and it seems others liked that like, too … and another one related to knowledge.
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🙂
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I envy you for your beach walks. There is something spiritual about living near water and being able to listen to the water rush up to the shore and then return to its body. Thank you for sharing. Favorite graf: “Perhaps the horizon separates our life known up to the moment to the unknown of tomorrow. The horizon separates our yesterday from our tomorrow. Looking across the water to the horizon that separates our past from our future.”
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Karen,
Welcome to my little corner of the world. It’s good to have at least one of the trio here for this post. (I have no idea where the other two are.) Thanks for sharing your favorite lines. Horizons are symbolic in many ways.
Because this is your first walk, thought I’d take you back to the first one that sets the stage. After all, beach walking isn’t normal in Cincinnati. Here’s the link. Enjoy. https://afrankangle.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/on-a-beach-walk-no-1/
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Thanks. I’ll check it out.
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My parents are in Ft Lauderdale every winter. I love going to visit. Thanks for sharing the first post.
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Oh wow … now there’s a space that’s warm in the winter. Glad you get to visit!!! As you saw, I stumbled into this series … and it’s been a fun one. I think this year I wrote over 20 (3-4 have been posted).
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Thank you for a wonderful, thought-provoking, beach walk, Frank. Like others who have already commented, I love ““Perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet.”
This was timely, too, in that I was just looking up the definition of “event horizon.” I’m still not quite sure I understand it, but maybe horizons of any kind are difficult to understand without taking time to explore them as you did in this walk. 🙂
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Robin,
Glad you enjoyed this bit of rambling as I walked the sand. Horizon is a very useful metaphor, at least I tapped into several. Thanks for sharing your favorite line.
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I’ve liked all your beach walk posts, but you hit this one out of the ballpark and into the Ohio River! Really beautiful writing linking the horizon idea to the video. I’ll be thinking about your post when my wife and I are driving along U.S. Route 2 in Nebraska this summer and looking out upon the vast prairie horizon.
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Tim,
Glad you enjoyed this walk and thanks for the kind words. I imagine numerous thoughts engage your nerve cells. Driving through Nebraska is something that I haven’t done … not even sure if it is on my bucket list … but I imagine the sky would seem endless.
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Perhaps this video will bring more peace of mind. You’ll love it. 🙂
Sneaker Pimps – 6 Underground (Fila Brazillia Remix)
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Charlie,
Wow … love the song (didn’t know that one). That would fit the mood walking the beach!
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You welcome. You should listen to the original song. The Band is called: Sneaker Pimps. Song 6 underground. 🙂
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What a wonderful piece of music, Charlie. Thanks for sharing!
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You welcome, Dale. I love the band ‘Sneaker pimps.’ What better way to introduce a great mind calmness song for our friend frank. Bless him so much. 🙂
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I had never heard of them.. So thank you again for the introduction.
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Nice walk today Frank. The horizon tends to be unknown to most of us. It is there but not. It is like those shimmering wet looking spots on the highway. Once you reach them they have moved. The horizon does the same. So to believe that maybe very magical things go on there is not too far fetched. I like your line “perhaps the horizon is where the known and unknown meet.” Maybe it is also where ignorance and knowledge trade places. Enjoyed the post.
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John,
Glad you enjoyed the walk and thank you for your thoughts. Love your “where ignorance and knowledge trade places: … that’s real good!!!!
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If only it were true. We could send Congress on a cruise. 😀
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Anything to get rid of the peudo public servants.
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Between the horizon and the sound of the surf, it’s easy to see why a walk on the beach fuels the soul. Sheer Nirvana.
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Monika,
Oh yes … I think Nirvana is a good descriptor for the combination of sand, surf, and horizon. During my 6-weeks there this year, I did a lot of thinking! More walks to come!
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I’m here! I’m here! Apologies for my tardiness… I am still catching up on the Beach Walks and am on Beach walk no.10. However, because of your chastising, I have jumped to this one. And you’re right. I am in agreement with everyone. This one is particularly enjoyable and thought-provoking. I am no more original than everyone else in loving this paragraph:
“Perhaps the horizon separates our life known up to the moment to the unknown of tomorrow. The horizon separates our yesterday from our tomorrow. Looking across the water to the horizon that separates our past from our future.”
Some fabulous writing, Signore… Fabulous indeed.
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Dale,
Well now … welcome Lady of the North. Now I have two of the three here. Someone else must be on a Sammy hunt.
Thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed this one – which also happens to be one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing your favorite of the metaphors. Oddly enough, the video is what made it for me.
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Oh have no fear, Frank… He’ll be by. I let him know you had chastised us 😉 Besides, he’s now working on – gasp, yuck, blech – his Twinkie post…
Of course. It was a most lovely beach walk.
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Hey … it’s Karen’s fault! … I just got an idea … a deep fried Twinkie dipped in chocolate!
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Ah geez…. you guys just KILL me…
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Nirvana calls!
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That and a defibrillator…
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There’s probably an appropriate liqueur that could be injected into the center. Damn … this is getting better and better!
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Some Frankie! Or Frangelico as it is properly called… 😉
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Unsure … the choice would have to fit into the flavor profiles. I’m up to be a taster!
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Hazelnut… can’t be bad… Think Nutella, boozed up. Waitaminute… Now that’s a combo!
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Bottom line: Would you try a deep-fried Twinkie dipped in chocolate and injected Hazelnut liqueur?
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I will try anything once.
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Twinkie filled with Nutella is another idea!
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See? I’m not completely close-minded…
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Woo hoo … progress! I knew you were a gamer!
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I can’t lose face. Not with you…
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LOL 😀
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So… it is so windy here, we just lost power.
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Oh! And I love that “Beyond the Horizon” video too
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That a way! 😀
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Frank,
I’ll have you know that I didn’t even read your comment on my blog yet . . nope . . had to rush over here on the intel of a certain individual who resides on the north side. Okay . . maybe I did catch your first line as I was hopping over. And yes sir, I think this is your finest beach walk post yet.
I love how you paint the horizon as this place beyond our grasp but always worth the journey, because that’s life. Not knowing why but even so, turning it into how. A wonderful metaphor, indeed!
To horizons, lost and found. To the knowing and the not knowing. And to the mind and body and soul that gets replenished for the journey towards that horizon. And to turning the ‘why’ into ‘how’. It’s the dream.
Beautifully penned, Cincy.
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Marc,
Ah ha. …. so there is a snitch north of the border. Hmmmmm … that narrows down the possibilities.
Glad you enjoyed this one. After drafting this one, I kept tweeking it – so I guess all the tweeks paid off! Your closing turns into a wonderful toast!
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Frank,
I do believe she is a double agent, so . . tread carefully.
You really outdid yourself with this piece, though. It was beautiful.
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You could be on to something about a double agent. Those types are so smooth and believable. Glad you enjoyed this little trip to the horizon.
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Yep . . they know what they’re doing, those peeps . . .:)
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This is so beautifully written Frank. And it mirrors the contemplative nature of my infrequent beach walks. I always love the sound of the ocean and the feel of the rough sand beneath my feet. As you say, it is very good for the soul.
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Colline,
Glad you enjoyed this walk and thanks for the kind words. This walk has been well received – maybe the best so far – which is a good feeling. Unfortunately for me, I’m only at the beach for part of the year, but that’s better than not going!
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I teach my creative writing students how useful repetition can be as a rhetorical device in our writing. You show us a great example of that here in this post. Beautiful!
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Pam,
Wow … I had no idea I would be an example for a creative writing class. If you want to share it with the class, you have my blessings – and I would be honored. Otherwise, thanks for the kind words.
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Wow! That’s really deep. Beautiful thoughts. Beautifully expressed. Loved every bit!
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Saloni,
My beach walks have turned out to be well-received by my readers. I wrote about 15 for so lost year, over 20 this year – so many more to come. Here’s the first walk. https://afrankangle.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/on-a-beach-walk-no-1/
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It reminds me of “Reveries of a Solitary Walker”, written by Rousseau!
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I’ve never read that one, but it seems you are giving me high praise. 🙂
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Whatever the horizon may be, we need to move toward it with all speed. The adventure keeps us sane. Without that forward moment, we can self destruct, and I worry that we maybe doing that on this small planet. Just thinking about what we don’t yet know, without fear, can save us.
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Greta,
Oh yes … the horizon as a philosophical moment about humanity – well stated.
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Hope you don’t mind that I used your post as inspiration for a poem, Frank! 🙂 https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/2018/04/05/horizons-napowrimo-day-5/
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Absolutely not … I’m touched by the honor. Haven’t commented yet because I’m working.
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Amazing beach walk, Frank! You wax eloquent on the philosophy of a horizon. Wonderful, prose-ish in a way! I listened to the song. It worked nicely with your post.
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Resa,
Thank you. This walk was so well received by many. Thanks for watching the video because I thought it was a great fit for this post.
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Your wonderful words evoked me Kitaro’s music: “Shimmering Horizon”. When I was teenager, this old enough, spiritual enough music made me cry. For the first time, I understood the english vocabuary “horizon” and its meaning.
Your beach walk again let known meet unknown. To meet unkown, it means hopes, right?
“Say Yes! to the future” –said Derrida.
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Velvet,
This walk has turned into one of the best received by readers. Your Kitaro song is perfect for this walk. I know Kitaro’s music, so thanks for the remind because I may use some in the future. 😀
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Beautiful! Horizon Hope, what may come meets what is, another excellent walk, Frank!
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