The Yale expositor., 1911-05-18
The Center of
Things
By DR.. FRANK CRANE

universe. In a minute this morning
this flashed on me. and the puzzle of
the ages was solved.
No more dispute as to whether the
earth goes round the sun. or the sun
round the earth, or both round the con-
stellation of Hercules, for the whole
business revolves about me. am the
axis.
When Proctor Knott extolled Du-
luth as the spot where the horizon
comes down at equal distance in every
direction, he spoke the sober. Gods
truth. | write these lines on ship
thousand miles at sea; all around is
water and sky; and right in the exact
geographical center of everything am
l and my ship. Come to think of it,
this has always been the case all my
life,
My father and mother existed for
the purpose of bringing me into the
world; my brothers being by-products.
The old Third ward school house in
Springfield, ILL.,, was built THAT might
attend there, and ct has since been
torn down learn to spell; indeed, the
entire educational system came into
being in order that might go to that
school
Emperors die in China, and kings
are upset in Portugal; earthquakes
shake Sicily and panics Wall street,
and all simply that the news thereof
may be laid before me at the break
fast table
The big and little dippers whirl
about the pole star, Antares winks,
and Venus CLOVIS, and Halley's comet
comes and goes-for me.
And In all this there Is no egotism.
For in saying l am the center of the
COSMOS do not at all imply that you
also are not the center Of the cosmos.
In fact, you are; everybody is There
are as many centers as there are con-
scious beings The mistake we have
made all along is in supposing there
can be but one center. If you look
through a window pane covered with
rain drops or frost crystals at point
of light, you will notice that any way
you move your head the light always
remains the center of innumerable con-
centric rings formed by the glistening
reflections. It is even so in life, as you
move the center moves.
There are as many worlds as there
are creatures. AS Zangwill says: "The
scent world of dogs, the eye world of
birds, the uncanpy touch world of
bats, the earth world of worms, the
water world of fishes and gyroscopic
world of dancing mice, the flesh world
of parasites, the microscopic world of
microbes, interest one another mex
tricably and with an infinite inter
lacing, yet each is a symmetric sphere
of being, rounded whole, and to its
denizens the sole and self-sufflcient
cosmos.
The account OF creation as given in
the Pentateuch is therefore psychology
ically and essentially correct; God did
make the sun and give man light by
day, and the moon and stars to shine
on him by night, as far as man is con-
cerned.
If the Bible had been written for
angels 1t might have stated the case
differently. When the penitent at the
mourner's bench Is told that he will
never find peace until he believes that
the son of God came to save him per-
sonally, he is told the plain truth; the
meaning Of which is that he is to move
in from the suburbs into the center Of
creation.
For it Is only when a soul feels the
stars rise and fall about him orderly,
angels and devils Juggling at him, and
all creation recognizing his geocentric
supremacy, that he gets poise and
ceases to be eccentric. Eccentric means
having the point about which wheel
revolves at one side of the center.
There are so many discontinued, uu-
happy people in the world, simply be-
cause there are so many eccentric. lop-
sided, bumpy, flat-wheeled, irregular
souls. Move in! Move in! Occupy
your due place in the spotlight of des-
tiny! Worms do it, why not you?
Philosophers have ridiculed this
homocentric theory. Goethe turned
from it in disgust. Pope wrote causti-
cally:
while man ,exclaims, See all things
for my use!
See man for mine!' replies the PAM
pered goose"
But the instinct of humanity Is
wiser than the wisdom Of the learned.
Homer breathed truth when he repre-
scented the gods fighting for and
against Troy. The Old Testament is
right when it shows Jehovah actively
interested in the chosen people Every
people is chosen people, and there Is
no God but our own peculiar Jah or
Elohim
And Jesus was most right and true
of all when he had us appropriate.
each one of us, the special care of the
Father of All. There Is no Providence
that Is of any mortal use to me but
Special Providence; if 1t is only gen.
eral it had as we'll not be at ALL 1t Ia
precisely because he clothes the lilies
of the field that he will also clothe
ye, o we Of little faith. Because he
notes the sparrow he will note you.
You have an inalienable right to
your centricity. Occupy it, You cam
not believe In God unless you believe