Our eyes marvel at the heavens. Stars are little pinpoints of what we know to be immense quasi-eternal furnaces. We are now able to see entire galaxies due to the advancements in telescope technology. The Hubble telescope can see thirteen billion light years into the universe. Even with the naked eye on a dark night your eyes might be able to find the fuzzy blob of the Andromeda galaxy…2.4 billion light years away. Everything up there is unimaginably huge and distant.
On the other hand, everything down here is unimaginably small and near. The reality of all matter is built upon infinitesimally small atomic bricks. The Supreme Mason has designed 118 types of brick to be used in building matter. Depending on how and where each brick is mortared into its neighbor will determine each matter’s unique structure. For example, the bricks called C, O and H are the basic components of what we call wood. Sand is built from bricks of Si and O. Bronze is an alloy of Cu and Sn bricks. And so on and so forth.
But what are the bricks themselves made of? Think of brick as a very tiny solar system. In the center of this imaginary solar system is a is a comparably massively dense object called a proton, metaphorically much like our sun. And like our sun, there are planets circling the core endlessly at incalculable swiftness. These are called electrons. The size of a proton’s mass is 1800 times greater than an electron which makes the electron the smallest foundational object in the created universe. (Some say that God occupies the space between the core proton and the swirling electron path.)
Mankind has always been in awe of the heavens. The breathtaking splendor of a clear, dark sky glittering in its majestic expanse has inspired art literature, poetry, and spirituality. The night sky is always with us. The engine that holds the universe together is the fundamental brick of all matter. And the brick is held together by the formidable electron. The electron never gets admiration or the respect it is due. It is the invisible sustaining particle of the universe.
Pity the poor electron.