--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once the solar parallax is known,' they…" description: "\"“Once the solar parallax is known,' they told me, 'once the necessary Degrees are measur'd, and the size and weight and shape of the Earth are calculat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/thomas-pynchon-533_quote_once-the-solar-parallax-is-known-they-to_927347.jpg" --- # Once the solar parallax is known,' they told me, 'once the… ![“Once the solar parallax is known,' they told me, 'once the necessary Degrees are measur'd, and the size and weight and shape of the Earth are calculated inescapably at last, all this will vanish. We will have to seek another Space.' No one explain'd what that meant, however ...? 'Perhaps some of…” quote by Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/thomas-pynchon-533_quote_once-the-solar-parallax-is-known-they-to_927347.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/thomas-pynchon-533_quote_once-the-solar-parallax-is-known-they-to_927347.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/thomas-pynchon-533_quote_once-the-solar-parallax-is-known-they-to_927347.jpg) > ““Once the solar parallax is known,' they told me, 'once the necessary Degrees are measur'd, and the size and weight and shape of the Earth are calculated inescapably at last, all this will vanish. We will have to seek another Space.' No one explain'd what that meant, however ...? 'Perhaps some of us will try living upon thy own Surface. I am not sure that everyone can adjust from a concave space to a convex one. Here have we been sheltered, nearly everywhere we look is no Sky, but only more Earth. -- How many of us, I wonder, could live the other way, the way you People do, so exposed to the Outer Darkness? Those terrible Lights, great and small? And wherever you may stand, given the Convexity, each of you is slight pointed away from everybody else, all the time, out into that Void that most of you seldom notice. Here in the Earth Concave, everyone is pointed at everyone else, -- ev'rybody's axes converge, -- forc'd at least thus to acknowledge one another,-- an entirely different set of rules for how to behave.”” [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human perception of space is limited; shifting perspectives reveal new realities. **In simple terms:** Our view of space changes with perspective. Key Takeaway Question assumptions about reality. Themes perception space reality philosophy Mood thought‑provoking introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - architectural design - virtual reality - cultural exchange Key Concepts relativism cosmology Questions to Reflect On - What would change if you saw the world from a convex view? - How do cultural lenses shape your reality? A Different Perspective Perspective shifts can cause disorientation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [It's not easy for you, Dad You seek your own space You slope off to watch telly But still see (Mom's Mum's Mam's) face](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walter-bratton/it-s-not-easy-for-you-dad-you-seek-your-own-space-you-slope-off-to/) [John Walter Bratton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walter-bratton/) > [There was a time when everyone thought that Earth was flat. 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But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annalee-newitz/think-we-re-still-stuck-in-that-agricultural-mindset-where-we-imagine/) [Annalee Newitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annalee-newitz/) > [“The village that voted the earth was flat doubtless modified its own behavior and its system of physics accordingly, but its vote did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/the-village-that-voted-the-earth-was-flat-doubtless-modified-its-own/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) ## More by Thomas Pynchon > [“How strange tonight, this city. 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I am not sure that everyone can adjust from a concave space to a convex one. Here have we been sheltered, nearly everywhere we look is no Sky, but only more Earth. -- How many of us, I wonder, could live the other way, the way you People do, so exposed to the Outer Darkness? Those terrible Lights, great and small? And wherever you may stand, given the Convexity, each of you is slight pointed away from everybody else, all the time, out into that Void that most of you seldom notice. 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