Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.
Interpretation
The vastness of space is incomprehensible, emphasizing the smallness of our existence in the universe.
This quote by James Jeans illustrates the immense scale of the universe compared to our earthly experiences. By using the imagery of a cathedral filled with just three grains of sand, he highlights how even the smallest presence can illustrate our insignificance in the grand cosmic space, prompting reflection on the nature of existence and our place within the cosmos.
In practice
In a speech about the vastness of the universe to inspire curiosity in students.
The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter...we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter.
...nature seems very conversant with the rules of pure mathematics, as our own mathematicians have formulated them in their studies, out of their own inner consciousness and without drawing to any appreciable extent on their experience of the outer world.
The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.
...to many it is not knowledge but the quest for knowledge that gives greater interest to thought-to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.
It is better to die of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance
It is an odd paradox that a society, which can now speak openly and unabashedly about topics that were once unspeakable, still remains largely silent when it comes to mental illness.
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.
e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle" ("and thence we came forth to see again the stars")
Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
Heaven - the treasury of everlasting life.
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