Hate to break it to you, but your potential is not limitless. How’s that for an affirmation buzzkill?
Pick any sphere of human makeup: Spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and all the rest – NONE of it has unlimited potential. And if no single area has unlimited potential, none of us has unlimited potential.
How do you Define “unlimited potential”?
What does it even mean to have “unlimited potential”? First, let’s define what potential is:
Potential: Possibility, possible as opposed to actual,
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/potential
Capable of being or becoming
So then, unlimited potential means there is no limit to the possibility of being or becoming.
This whole “unlimited potential” affirmation has its roots in the Garden of Eden, where Satan tempted our first parents by convincing Eve that God was purposely stifling her potential, that if she had “knowledge of good and evil,” she would be free from the constraints of imperfect knowledge and she could attain to a God-like potential.
It was a great mental parlor trick, and it worked flawlessly. Eve fell for it, and humans ever since have sought to unlock our so-called unlimited potential. Good luck with that.
The modern day “unlimited potential” affirmation is nothing but a new spin on an old, demonic doctrine that teaches we can become anything, do anything, achieve anything, if only we do it the right way.
Even the false “We only use 10% of our brain” nonsense has been hijacked to justify how much more room we have to grow as we soar towards our goal of realizing our potential to infinity and beyond.
Has any mere mortal, in all of human history, achieved such lofty heights? No? Then I’m not sure why many people still believe it when they can’t point to one single successful case study. I guess it’s sort of like socialism: It doesn’t work but only because nobody has done it right yet.
a story that proves your hidden potential is not limitless
When I was younger, I took a karate class. One day we had a guest instructor. He was really into the “unlimited potential” nonsense. If you think that this affirmation wasn’t meant to be taken literally, well, he took it literally, and so do many others. And he used it to try to inspire the class.
He told us that if we practiced long enough and hard enough, each one of us could become a black belt in karate. Ok, that’s doable. We all had the potential to become black belts in that style of martial arts. (We were all white belts at the time.)
He mouthed the same old tired gobbledygook from the power of positive thinking realm that if we could conceive it and believe it, we could achieve it.
He then looked through a window, pointed to a nearby three-story building, and said this: “If I want to jump over that building, I could do it. I might not be able to do it today. I might not be able to do it tomorrow. But if I keep trying long enough and if I work at it hard enough, eventually I will be able to jump over that building.”
The moment he made that statement, I knew he was full of crap. Human beings cannot jump over multi-story buildings. Comic books have to make up a fictional character who can jump over tall buildings in a single bound. People always wish they were faster, stronger, smarter, That’s why superhero movies are always such a hit.
30+ years after that day in the karate class, with the advent of YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, and the ubiquitous cell phone, don’t you think that by now, somebody would have been filmed jumping over a tall building in a single bound? Maybe everyone is using the affirmation the wrong way.
Or… could it be that the affirmation really is a load of crap?
There is one who does have unlimited potential
To have unlimited potential in any area would mean we can become God-like. Maybe that’s the point of those who are deceived by this affirmation.
Almost since the beginning of time, man has rebelled against his station in life, his role in the existence of things, and aspired to be something he was never meant to be.
While it is true that many people never achieve half of what they could have accomplished, others overstate their abilities to become what is impossible to ascertain.
But there is One who does have unlimited potential. In fact, with Him, it’s not even potential, since He is already omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27
I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Job, speaking to the Lord – Job 42:2
And one more…
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus to His disciples about the rich being saved – Matthew 19:26
There you go. There are some things (lots of things, actually) that are impossible for human beings to do. That’s a fact, no matter how much potential you think you’ve got. And no amount of reciting positive affirmations about your supposed unlimited potential will get you any closer to God-like status.
A man’s got to know his limitations.
Clint Eastwood in some movie a long time ago
Even “Dirty” Harry Callahan in some 70’s R-rated flick knew we have our limitations.
Thought questions
- If you have poor eyesight, what are your chances of becoming a fighter pilot, no matter how much you want it?
- Whatever your IQ is, do you believe you could add 500 points to it, and be the smartest person in the world?
- If your potential for making money is unlimited, if you can attract money at will, why are you not already at least a millionaire?
- Is your body shape and weight exactly where you want it?
- Do you possess all knowledge or all wisdom? If not, why not?
- Are you able to raise dead people back to life? If not, do you think you could develop that power if you try hard enough, long enough?
- Can you add a hundred years to your life? If any of us have unlimited potential in just this one area, why doesn’t anyone live to be 200 years old and in great health?
If you honestly believe you have unlimited potential, why have you not yet met any of those lofty aspirations? Why have you never met anyone else who has?