Now that astronomers have detected the most distant object in space, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Francis Drake and the whole company of those who have actually contacted what were the most distant objects we could imagine can come down off their rostrums. Twenty-four thousand miles may seem a great distance but 13.5bn or 21bn eclipses them all. We don’t know whether the object is just that, one whole item, say a star, or a galaxy.
Of course, when we look into the distance we see not only far off things. We see them as they were13.5 or whatever light years ago. In terms of distance and age we realise how small our arena is. We may follow that by jumping to the conclusion that humankind or any other phenomenon is quite insignificant. The real story may be carried on somewhere else we haven’t yet seen or imagined. Or there’s no real story at all. It’s like believing that dinosaurs had feathers, scales or armour. Very often there’s no evidence. Our choice is just a whim.
This is jumping to conclusions with a vengeance. An atom is a little world, much like a universe we must suppose. The nano approach is as good as the macro approach when we come to issues such as these. Size isn’t everything. A blue whale is big but it can’t knit or till the ground. Ants and bees can organise themselves but they can’t speak.
Does this mean we can no longer accept the idea of a Creator? It does if we are happy to understand that big equals good and small equals bad. We don’t think like that when we consider human beings. Nelson was small – 5’8”– but he wasn’t insignificant. Napoleon was pretty much the same size. Nelson seriously hampered Napoleon’s plans for world conquest.. A virus is minute but it can change history. There’s no need to be intimidated by numbers.
JULES VERNE
The French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905) opened up a new seam of imaginative literature when he wrote ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, ‘Twenty thousand Leagues under the Sea’ and ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’. He greatly influenced H.G. Wells. His books attracted the continuing attention of film producers, as did Buchan’s ‘Thirty-nine Steps’.
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