Life in a Thousand WorldsHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Science
Life in a Thousand Worlds
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Utopias
The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language
is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains
a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by
the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable
history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every
person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same
picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very
bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but
here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping
company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public
buildings and have an enthusiastic time.
At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after
death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by
the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in
our world.
You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites
are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium.
Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden
age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of
language.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Diamond World.
When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled
with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea,
visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the
magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.
It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that
compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the
number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these
measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness
of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.
But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius
and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems,
I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad
worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to
carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.
My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star
Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of
the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.
After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this
system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at
a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than
our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.
This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and
sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light
of its own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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