Skip to content
One Mans Mind
Menu
  • Poetry
  • Podcast
Menu

The Small And The Immense

Posted on 03/07/2010 by admin

I was struck when I learned about the atom – that most of it is empty space. Electrons and protons circling at a distance a nucleus. And I vividly remember thinking how like the Universe it was: things in orbits, forces in play, unceasing motion and mostly . . . emptiness. I  doubt there are also miniature humans on the odd electron (as in some supposed science fiction magazine) but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future they find something they didn’t expect.

But it is how the small is an image of the immense that interested me and vice-vera. As if the template were fixed and everything mirrored it. Which has implications for other things. I have often said though we consider ourselves brilliant as a species, we cannot do anything nature doesn’t allow to be done. And our natures are images of her processes. Which implies that somehow, so is our reason.

There are few people who think that ‘nature’ thinks, preferring to believe in some organised brain in a  godhead for that sort of thing, but mirror images are never exact. There may well be reason in the Universe that is neither godly nor human; a reason we reflect but is unlike ours . .  . ours being so small, or ours being so personal or so especially human.

It is a reason though that is broader and wider than ours because it includes all species, all worlds, all ideas and all thoughts whereas we are terribly parochial.

Post navigation

← Wet Dogs And Sleepless Nights
What Is Beauty? →

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About me

Children’s author, novelist, editor and poet.

Recent Comments

  1. xmc.pl on John Masefield
  2. Daniel on It is quite a thing
  3. Ian MacWatt on It is quite a thing
  4. Daniel on What Makes Poetry?
  5. Daniel on What Makes Poetry?

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
© 2025 One Mans Mind | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme