Small Universe

Maybe consciousness and life are fields that pervade all of space. Maybe there is a sense in which the universe is both large and small, as claimed by both string theory (see t-duality) and Zen Buddhism.

For Dante, God is a single point such that: "every where is here and every when is now."

Divine Comedy, Canto XXIX, Paradiso, Beatrice speaking:

"I tell, not ask, that which thou fain wouldst hear: for I have seen it where every where and every when is focused."

The Metamorphoses of the Circle Georges Poulet

Les Metamorphose du cercle, Paris, Plon, 1961 in Dante: A collection of Critical Essays edited by John Freccero
Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1965

"A cui tutti li tempi son presenti, ove s'appunta ogni Ubi ed ogni Quando"
Paradiso, XXIX, 12
("A point at which all times are present, to which all When and all Where are focused.")
page 153

"In Dante's poetry, exactly as in Neo-Platonic thought, God is a Point that infinitely enlarges Itself, a radiating seat of energy which diffuses Itself concentrically, universally"
page 156

" 'In divine things,' says Eckhart, 'everything is in everything else and the maximum is in the minimum.' "
page 158

"God is a point, because He is a center, not only of the universe, but of the soul. The synderesis, l'apex mentis, the Seelengrund, the Funkelein, all these expressions profusely employed by the mystics, signify that the maximum is in the minimum, the infinity of the divine sphere is in the infinite minuteness of the center, and that this center is indeed that of the soul."
page 159

"There is no trait more characteristic of the baroque imagination than this intercrossing movement by which the immensity of the universe becomes a toy in the hands of a child, while the smallness of the child becomes the immensity of a God Who embraces the world."
page 164

"It is man, who, equally with God, discovers himself to be center and infinite sphere. Even more, it is every moment, every place where man finds himself, that constitutes itself as the ever-renewed center of this infinite sphericity; for every place and every moment offer to man a new point of view."
page 169

Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism)

"The infinite created a void within its boundless existence by contracting itself into a primordial point. It went from unbounded infinity to unbounded finity... The being of Eyn Sof is thus infinitely shrunken into a point that has an edge and boundary. This is what modern physics calls a singularity."

From The Mystic Quest: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism, David S. Ariel, p. 166.

Dogen, 12th Century Japanese Zen Master

"If one directly illumines the true awakening that is not a dream, then one will see that the universe is not large and an atom is not small. Since neither is real, on what can a statement be based?"

Rumi, 13th Century Sufi Poet

"Hark, for I am at the door! Open the door; to bar the door is not the sign of good pleasure.
In the heart of every atom is a courtyard for You; until You unbar it, it will remain in concealment."

Mystical Poems of Rumi 1, A. J. Arbery 1968 University of Chicago Press, page 30

Jnaneshwar, 13th Century Hindu Mystic

"How sweet is their love!
The entire universe is too small to contain them,
Yet they live happily in the tiniest particle."

Teachings of the Hindu Mystics, Andrew Harvey, 2001, Shambhala, page 70

Surangama Sutra in "The Buddhist Bible"

"But I concentrate my mind so as to ignore all these contaminations and return to the mysterious, enlightening nature of non-death and non-rebirth so as to be in conformity with the Womb of Tathagata. Accordingly the Tathagata's Womb becomes the clear intelligence of the true and mysterious Mind of Intuition that throws its perfect reflection and insight into all the phenomenal world. Therefore, in Tathagata's Womb Oneness has the same meaning as Infinity, and Infinity has the same meaning as Oneness, the minimum is embraced in the maximum and the maximum in the minimum. The tranquility and peacefulness of my concentration of mind in Samadhi prevails all over the ten quarters of the universes, my body embraces the vast spaces of the ten quarters, and even within a single pore of my skin there is a Buddha-land with a Buddha sitting on a seat no larger than a particle of dust, absorbed in Samadhi, but endlessly radiating there from all the forces of Life-giving Truth and ceaselessly drawing inward into its perfect unity all of its multitudinous manifestations. Since I have ignored and forgotten all worldly objects, I have fully realized the mysterious, enlightening Nature of the Pure Essence of Mind." page 189

The Flower Ornament Scripture

"On a hair tip more buddhas than grains of sand in trillions of anges rivers peaceful, peerless, teach the pure doctrine, preeminent, supreme. In a single pore are infinite lands, each with four continents and seas, As well as polar and peripheral mountains, all seen therein, uncrowded. On a point the size of a hair tip are all realms of being - Ghosts, beasts, fiends, humans and gods, goblins and serpents, experiencing the various realms of action. In all the spheres of the lands the supreme wheel of the Purifiers is turned, As the buddhas teach while adapting to the minds and thoughts of beings. In the body of each being are various lands, in the lands, beings; Those of higher development are humans and celestials - Knowing them in their variety, the Buddha teaches them. A great land comes to seem to be minute, a mote of dust comes to seem huge - These and more are the spiritual powers of Buddha, of which all beings could not exhaustively tell." page 764

The Flower Ornament Scripture: A translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra;
Translated by Thomas Cleary; Shambhala, Boston 1993