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.
Where the despair of loneliness and poverty haunts every hour, the optimism to embark on new projects cannot find a place to alight on the brain's cortex. Poverty itself is an enormous obstacle to an enlightened and enlightening - not to say healthy - old age.
Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realised joy could be.
It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.
As a well cut diamond has many facets, each reflecting a different color of light, so does the word yoga, each facet reflecting a different shade of meaning and revealing different aspects of the entire range of human endeavor to win inner peace and happiness.
[The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread... and a thousand other things of the same kind.
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
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