“Prostrating myself mentally before my Guide, I cried, "How is it, O divine ideal of consummate loveliness and wisdom that I see thy inside, and yet cannot discern thy heart, thy lungs, thy arteries, thy liver?" "What you think you see, you see not," he replied; "it is not given to you, nor to any other Being to behold my internal parts. I am of a different order of Beings from those in Flatland. Were I a Circle, you could discern my intestines, but I am a Being, composed as I told you before, of many Circles, the Many in the One, called in this country a Sphere. And, just as the outside of a Cube is a Square, so the outside of a Sphere presents the appearance of a Circle."Bewildered though I was by my Teacher's enigmatic utterance, I no longer chafed against it, but worshipped him in silent adoration. He continued, with more mildness in his voice. "Distress not yourself if you cannot at first understand the deeper mysteries of Spaceland. By degrees they will dawn upon you. Let us begin by casting back a glance at the region whence you came.”

Source: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), PART II: OTHER WORLDS, Chapter 18. How I came to Spaceland, and What I Saw There

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Prostrating myself mentally before my Guide, I cried, "How is it, O divine ideal of consummate loveliness and wisdom th…" by Edwin Abbott Abbott?
Edwin Abbott Abbott photo
Edwin Abbott Abbott 87
British theologian and author 1838–1926

Related quotes

George William Russell photo
George MacDonald photo

“My prayers, my God, flow from what I am not;
I think thy answers make me what I am.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Source: The Diary of an Old Soul & the White Page Poems

John Milton photo
George Eliot photo
Samuel I. Prime photo
Walter Scott photo
Kunti photo

“What, O Kunti, am I to give thee? Tell me what is in thy heart.”

Kunti character from Indian epic Mahabharata

Vayu to Kunti when Kunti invoked him.
The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section CXXIII

Related topics