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.
in time of daffodils(who know the goal of living is to grow) forgetting why,remember how in time of lilacs who proclaim the aim of waking is to dream, remember so(forgetting seem) in time of roses(who amaze our now and here with paradise) forgetting if,remember yes in time of all sweet things beyond whatever mind may comprehend, remember seek(forgetting find) and in a mystery to be (when time from time shall set us free) forgetting me,remember me
So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.
In the modern technoindustrial culture, it is possible to proceed from infancy into senility without ever knowing manhood.
What good is all this free-thinking, modernity, and turncoat flexibility if at some gut level you are still a Christian, a Catholic, and even a priest!
We live in a society that compels us to go on using these concepts, and we no longer know what they mean.
If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.'
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