Limits in category theory and analysis

I have asked this question on math.stackexchange last year, and got satisfying answer. (So this construction did not come from me.)

Let $(X,\mathcal O)$ be a topological space, $\mathcal F(X)$ the partialy ordered set of filters on $X$ with respect to inclusions, considered as a small category in the usual way. Given $x\in X$ and $F\in\mathcal F(X)$ let $\mathcal U_X(x)$ denote the neighbourhood filter of $x$ in $(X,\mathcal O)$ and $\mathcal F_{x,F}(X)$ the full subcategory of $\mathcal F(X)$ generated by $\{G\in\mathcal F(X):F\cup\mathcal U_X(x)\subseteq G\}$, let $E:\mathcal F_{x,F}\hookrightarrow\mathcal F(X)$ be the obvious (embedding) diagram, $\Delta$ the usual diagonal functor and $\lambda:\Delta(F)\rightarrow E$ the natural transformation where $\lambda(G):F\hookrightarrow G$ is the inclusion for each $G\in\mathcal F_{x,F}$. It is not hard to see that $F$ tends to $x$ in $(X,\mathcal O)$ iff $\lambda$ is a limit of $E$.

In very special cases, the notions coincide. Let $R$ be the category (poset) whose objects are the real numbers and in which $Hom(x, y)$ has a single element if $x \leq y$ and is empty otherwise. Then for a nonincreasing sequence of real numbers, its limit in the classical sense (if not $-\infty$) is also its limit in the categorical sense (if it exists).

I have always justified this to my self by thinking:

• A limit of a sequence is the "best approximation" of the sequence by a single point.
• A limit of a diagram is the "best approximation" of the diagram by a single object.

But to make the first into an instance of the second, one would need a category representing a topological space where points are objects. And I can't think of one right now.