Stephen Crane authored the titular poem of this article. It goes:

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I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
“It is futile,” I said,
“You can never —”

“You lie,” he cried,
And ran on.

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Prima facie, this poem appears to criticize the human proclivity towards self-delusion (i.e., lying to ourselves). I mean, after all, the subject here is a man chasing the “horizon,” which is not a discrete “location” that can be reached through displacement. Rather, it is a function of wherever we are at any moment–it continuously recedes as we approach. As we move, the horizon moves. It is a goalpost in which one can never score.

So, it is reasonable to conclude that Crane is criticizing this delusional fellow for not only a futile act, but also for remaining wilfully ignorant by refusing to acknowledge the truth that the narrator possesses.

Now, this is interesting. When our delusional fellow cuts off the narrator with “You lie” before he even has a chance to complete his utterance, it indicates to us that the delusional fellow probably knows what the narrator is going to tell him. Ipso facto, it is not unreasonable to infer that the delusional fellow has been pursuing the horizon for some time now, and was likely warned previously of the futility of his actions. Nonetheless, he surely must’ve experientially validated the futility of his act by now, right?

So why does he continue chasing the horizon?

To me, this poem analogizes the tenacious pursuit of a seemingly impossible–or perhaps more accurately improbable–goal. No matter what others say, if we truly believe in something, we can press on–even if the cost is seemingly denying “reality” or “truth.” The narrator’s position in this poem embodies conventional wisdom (what popular society seems to currently admit into possibility). The delusional fellow is a non-conformer (an unwelcome aberration). We all are, at some point, the narrator (if not often). Achieving the impossible, however, presupposes a challenge of the status quo – an inversion of black and white. Achieving the impossible means invalidating a “truth” and, ergo, instituting a new one in its place. How many revolutions – socio-politic, economic, and scientific have flipped our truths of what is possible? It appears history shall never cease vindicating that common adage: “It’s only impossible until it’s done.”

But don’t get me wrong. I am in no manner advocating for blind self-delusion. Heck, I have a slight suspicion we may be in the midst of an epidemic of it (don’t quote me). But every once in a while we, like our delusional fellow, could benefit from a small… “You lie!”

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