Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.
James JeansRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge is evolving to reveal a universe that is more conceptual than mechanical, highlighting the importance of the mind.
This quote by James Jeans suggests a shift in our understanding of the universe, moving away from viewing it purely as a machine governed by physical laws. Instead, it proposes that the universe is akin to a grand thought, emphasizing that consciousness and the mind are not mere byproducts of matter, but rather fundamental to the creation and order of reality itself.
Themes
KnowledgeMindRealityUniverseConsciousness
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussion on the nature of reality.
More from James Jeans
All quotes →...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.
James JeansRead
The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.
James JeansRead
...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.
James JeansRead
Similar quotes
Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known.
Samuel JohnsonRead
We are the intelligent elite among animal life on earth and whatever our mistakes, [Earth] needs us. This may seem an odd statement after all that I have said about the way 20th century humans became almost a planetary disease organism. But it has taken [Earth] 2.5 billion years to evolve an animal that can think and communicate its thoughts. If we become extinct she has little chance of evolving another.
James LovelockRead
It's useful to go out of this world and see it from the perspective of another one.
Terry PratchettRead
Many Christians and Christian leaders have been neutralized by the love of money and materialism. The homage paid to affluence becomes a burden that saps our energy as well as our love for God and other people...Like Jesus and Paul, we can learn to be content with what we have, living modestly in order that we may give liberally to the work of the kingdom and to meet the needs of others.
John WimberRead
The one thing with writing stories about the rise of fascism is that if you wait long enough, you'll almost certainly be proved right. Fascism is like a hydra - you can cut off its head in the Germany of the '30s and '40s, but it'll still turn up on your back doorstep in a slightly altered guise.
Alan MooreRead
Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith healing, our first attempt at philosophy.
Christopher HitchensRead