© 1991 Tony Rudd
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
Two ants, Brilly and Ignor, were standing together on their tennis ball one day, having one of their regular philosophical discussions.
Ignor claimed triumphantly: “I reckon I’ve discovered infinity!”
“How’s that?” asked Brilly.
“Well, you know what infinity is, don’t you? It’s something that goes on and on and on and no matter how hard you try, you never get to the end”, Ignor explained.
“Go on.”
“Well, I figure that if I walk in a straight line across this green furry world of ours, I can walk for ever and ever and never get to the end. I’d never go backwards, always forwards, always at a constant speed, deviating neither left not right. I could walk forever, an infinite distance”, he concluded.
Brilly didn’t agree
“I think you’d end up exactly where you started. And to really throw you a ”curved ball“, I also predict that you would always go through exactly the same spot at the halfway mark of any trip back to where you started.”
“Piffle”, retorted Ignor, “I still think I’d get to infinity. I told you, I’d always be going forwards, so how could I possibly end up where I started?”
Brilly explained: “Well it’s like this. We’re both on a thing called a ball, and it’s spherical, which means that it’s discreetly located in time and space. It has clearly defined limits, and hence no matter how far you walk, you are no closer to infinity after you’ve walked yourself to exhaustion, as you were when you started. Understanding about spheres as I do gives me the confidence to predict exactly where you’ll end up”.
“It sounds weird to me”, Ignor replied.
“It just depends on your perspective”, explained Brilly as Ignor slowly ambled off, muttering and shaking his head.
Tony Rudd, Melbourne