Large Numbers

Exploring Oyarsa’s Warning: Reverence, Immensity, and the Limits of Knowing

“My people have a law never to speak much of sizes or numbers to you others, not even to sorns. You do not understand, and it makes you do reverence to nothings and pass by what is really great.”
— Oyarsa, Out of the Silent Planet

Overview: What Does This Mean?

In this pivotal moment of Out of the Silent Planet, Oyarsa explains why his people avoid speaking about size or number to humans. At first, it may sound like a restriction—a denial of information. But as the story unfolds, Lewis invites us to consider a deeper point: some kinds of knowledge don’t enlighten—they overwhelm.

We are not just seekers of truth; we are shapers of reverence. And when our reverence is misplaced—when it flows toward scale, quantity, or abstraction—we often miss what is truly meaningful.

Contextualizing the Quote

The Seduction of Immensity

Here are a few real-world examples that illustrate the kind of scale Lewis may have in mind:

• The universe is 13.8 billion years old.
• The Milky Way is 100,000 light-years across — that’s over 588 quadrillion miles.
• The observable universe spans 93 billion light-years — more than 546 sextillion miles.
• A single light-year equals 5.88 trillion miles.
• Human recorded history spans only about 5,000 years.

These facts can provoke awe—but they also risk flattening our sense of significance. Faced with such vastness, we may feel small, irrelevant, or numb.

Oyarsa seems to say: You do not yet know how to carry this kind of knowing. Until you do, it may distort rather than deepen.

Discussion Questions

1. How do you feel when you read or hear vast numbers like the age of the universe or the size of galaxies?
   Do you feel reverence, insignificance, or confusion? How do these emotions shape your understanding of what matters?

2. Can you recall a time when size or scale impressed you more than substance?
   Think of social media, financial figures, or historical timelines. What did you revere? What did you overlook?

3. Why do you think Oyarsa sees this kind of reverence as a problem?
   What might it mean to “pass by what is really great”? What things are harder to see when we are focused on scale?

4. Is Oyarsa’s “law” about restriction or protection?
   Can you think of situations (in life or faith) where limits on what is revealed or emphasized actually help us grow?

Reflective Practice

• Meditate on something small.
  Spend 10 minutes with a leaf, a bird’s song, or a single paragraph of poetry. Let the smallness teach you something about greatness.

Key Takeaway

Out of the Silent Planet doesn’t tell us to stop asking questions—it simply reminds us to ask the right kind, in the right spirit. Not all knowledge is nourishing. Some truths require interior readiness. Some forms of awe lead us toward meaning. Others just stun us into silence.

Oyarsa’s wisdom offers a gentle but radical reorientation:
Until we learn to carry knowledge with humility, it may be better to speak less of sizes and more of what is truly great.