494. But when we see that one of the hardest and most dense substances here on Earth turns out to consist of "heavenly space" in which the "solid particles" are at the pure minimum and become quite insignificant and infinitesimal compared with the "empty space" in that same substance, then we realize that all substance is thus in reality "gaseous" which, brought to its final conclusion, is the same as "spiritual".
      But if we now go in the other direction, that is to say, with our "cosmic sight" we move away from the area of the diamond, we will see that the glittering particles in its "heavenly space" seem to merge more and more together behind us on the horizon. The "empty space" between the "stars" seems to become less and less. And as these "glittering particles" affect our senses longest, it will be these "points" which eventually dominate our view on the horizon. And the farther we move away, the denser will they seem to become until at last they apparently all become merged together. Such "fused" stars, or "solid particles" seem to form a coherent mass in the distance. It is this "mass" that we call "matter". The previously so "empty" "heavenly space" now reveals itself to our senses as "material substance".
      Now we move further on and pass the boundary of the diamond's area and approach the ordinary heavenly space of our own spiral. And the further we move out into it, the more distant becomes the tiny micro-universe we have just left and the more dense become its contents of particles or "glittering stars". Indeed, to our now less penetrating gaze, they are sliding into a kind of "petrification". Thus, on returning to our earthly starting point, we find once more that the little zone we visited and abandoned consists of the stone-hard details of our own world we are accustomed to call "diamonds". The previously so stupendous "heavenly space" within that diamond is now only a detail in a bigger universe. And that which was "gaseous" before has now turned into hard stone.