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Every thousand years
This metal sphere
Ten times the size of Jupiter
Floats just a few yards past the earth
You climb on your roof
And take a swipe at it
With a single feather
Hit it once every thousand years
'til you've worn it down
To the size of a pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
But it's only half a blink
In the place you're gonna be
Where you gonna be
Where will you spend eternity
I'm gonna be perfect from now on
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
Stop making that sound
Stop making that sound
I will say I forgot it
But it was only yesterday
And it's all you had to say
This metal sphere
Ten times the size of Jupiter
Floats just a few yards past the earth
You climb on your roof
And take a swipe at it
With a single feather
Hit it once every thousand years
'til you've worn it down
To the size of a pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
But it's only half a blink
In the place you're gonna be
Where you gonna be
Where will you spend eternity
I'm gonna be perfect from now on
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
Stop making that sound
Stop making that sound
I will say I forgot it
But it was only yesterday
And it's all you had to say
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386,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.
The known universe is only 14 billion years old. Randys number has 16 more zeros.
And remember, this 386 trillion trillion years is only half a blink, in the place you're gonna be.
antigravitymagazine.com/blog/doug-martsch-built-to-spill/
AG: I read somewhere that you had a professor in college who described eternity as this process of whittling down a metal sphere ten times the size of Jupiter to the size of a pea with a single feather, and that you took his words verbatim and wrote “Randy Described Eternity” from Perfect From Now On.
DM: Pretty close. I think it’s a standard metaphor that’s used by Christian religious people to describe eternity. It wasn’t exactly that. I had to change some things from how I remembered because of syllables and meter and stuff, but basically that’s the idea—something giant getting slapped with a feather [until it’s worn down to nothing], you know, just some ridiculous metaphor for how long eternity is.
I think the last few lines definitely sum up his feelings about these tactics. He wants to forget about what his friend/acquaintance said because it accomplished nothing except to make him scared as shit. It didn't provide any positive motivation to follow the same spiritual path.
I think the last few lines definitely sum up his feelings about these tactics. He wants to forget about what his friend/acquaintance said because it accomplished nothing except to make him scared as shit. It didn't provide any positive motivation to follow the same spiritual path.