HYPOTHETICAL DESTINATION

April 13th, 2022

Most goals are possible. But whether they are probable or not, is an entirely different question. Probable boils down to a negotiation with reality. Hard work is convincing, but even then probable and possible remain unknown until the imagined happens.

There’s that old eye roll of a koan: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

In this context, it might read this way: If a goal is possible, but no one tries to make it happen, does that mean it’s impossible?

If all is said and done and something that was possible in theory never actually comes to light, does this mean that by the laws of cause and effect in a deterministic universe that such things actually aren’t possible, even if all the ingredients for their being seem quaintly at hand.

The colloquial version of this is reminiscent of something Wayne Gretzky apparently said: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Is a shot not taken an impossible shot?

Well yes. We have no way of rolling back time to make an attempt. 

Hypothetical destinations, be they goals, aspirations, or even real places never yet visited all remain more in the realm of fantasy and imagination, unless direct and persistent and relentless action is taken towards such things.