I recently went to see the 2022 film Fablemans directed by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote and produced it with Tony Kushner. He uses the film to reflect upon his own life (known in the film as Sammy) growing up with his Dad Burt, mother Mitzi, siblings and an ‘Uncle Bennie’.
Horizons
In the film he portrays two extreme aspects of the shared life of his mother and father, having spent decades trying to appreciate their own points of view and he completes the film with clarity rather than spite.
Towards the end of the film, when he was the tender age of 15, he was introduced to the famous film director John Ford who asked Sammy to look at three pictures and tell him what he saw in them. The pictures included people and various scenes from life and that’s what Sammy conveyed back to the director. However, he was asked to look again at the pictures and note where the horizons were. In replying to Sammy, Ford was annoyed and expressed his view that “if a horizon is at the top or bottom of a picture it is interesting. If it is in the middle it is boring”.
Perspective
The point John Ford was making, was that life and film making is all about perspective and how we see and interpret what we experience which can and does offer different conclusions and memories for each one of us to ponder on!
A physical horizon is a point of contact between the sky and the earth’s surface and it can seem as though the sun rises into the beyond!
Many years ago Job from the Old Testament, declared how God had: ‘marked out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness’ (Job 26: 10).
In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is acknowledged to be present in the creation and order of the world when ‘the horizon was marked out on the face of the deep’ (Proverbs 8: 27).
Thanks Sime unsplash.com
Beyond the Horizon
A metaphorical horizon represents a limit of a person’s knowledge, experience or interest. For example, a person wants to leave their family home because it compares to a boring middle horizon! They want to broaden their life experiences and interests that represent a high or low horizon!
In the seasons of life we travel from one horizon to another, graduating from nursery, to infant/junior and then senior school. We move up to higher education and then aspire to enter into a long and fulfilling working career. We experience many seasons that require particular levels of change and adjustment. In the third season of life we have to mysteriously navigate crossing over that eternal and everlasting horizon.
Often we feel that our life horizons are limited to the extent of what we want or not want to do. There are also many things that we may or may not be interested or involved in. In looking to explore new horizons we can expand our roles and actions and enthusiastically embrace them. At whatever age and seasons in life we are in at the present, it is good to think about the possibilities of going beyond the horizons we see and perceive.
There are a number of horizon business models that can be applied personally as exampled below.
- In the area of business, work and our personal lives there are various growth strategies that can maintain and defend a core business and personal life style.
- It is important to nurture emerging business and personal aims and goals.
- We can genuinely create new business and personal opportunities that may help us to move forward in life.
What do you see?
I’m sure you have heard it said: “What do you see, when looking out to the sea and the horizon”? The reply given is: “I see no ships only hardships”!
In the film the difficulties of childhood and relationships were clearly felt by Steven Spielberg and his various perspectives shared and concluded.
Thanks Drew unspalsh.com
As we look into this New Year 2023 and beyond, we may be asked as to what do we see and want to see that might be interesting or boring?
- So what areas in life do you want to broaden and expand upon?
- How do you interpret the situations in life you have experienced and see with perspective, clarity and without spite?
- How can you benefit from the wise words of John Ford when speaking to Sammy about interesting and boring horizons?
As we gather together our thoughts and perspectives may they help us to go beyond any ‘glass ceiling’ that might be holding us back and act as an interesting, rather than a restrictive or seemingly impossible horizon to focus on! Any stability, growth and organic reflections for our minds, bodies and spirits can be worked on and coordinated, even if they happen by chance or with those expectant eyes of faith.
Selah (pause to think calmly on what has just been read)
Graham
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