A universe small enough to cherish
anything, however huge, that can be conceived of as complete, can be conceived of as small
The miniature changes the spectator's relation to the object without changing its actual dimensions. The statue and statuette make this especially clear: representing an elephant at a smaller scale neither denies the elephant's size nor establishes a limit to the size of elephants. Here Chesterton transfers that possibility to the universe considered as a coherent whole. Calling it little becomes an affectionate act, like calling the elephant ‘Tiny.’
The preceding paragraph supplies an essential qualification: ‘large’ and ‘small’ are there called sentiments when applied to the unique cosmos without an external object of comparison. This paragraph explores what follows from choosing the second sentiment. Smallness encourages concentrated attachment and care; the imagined inexhaustibility of things encourages indifference. This is an account of the ethical effects of an imaginative stance, rather than a demonstration that astronomical space is finite. Chesterton marks the personal character of the claim with ‘I had that emotion’ and ‘I did feel.’ The contrast becomes evaluative when he describes one attitude as ‘sacred thrift.’ Orthodoxy, chapter IV, 1909 printing, pp. 111–113.
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