Philosophy: How to Understand the Fourth Dimension

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE FOURTH DIMENSION

By Marsigit, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia

Email: marsigitina@yahoo.com

Nick Sandberg, 2002,  The Two Towers Fall - Awakening to the Fourth Dimension: Some Qabalistic reflections on the September 11 Tragedy, introduce his writing with the following excerpt:  "I scarcely move, Yet swiftly seem to run;  My son, thou seest,  Here Space and Time are one." - Wagner's "Parcifal". He called this piece as a personal Qabalistic reflection on some of the symbols arising from the tragic events of the date September 11th 2001; and, from this, he hope the subject can be viewed as a valid topic for discussion; while hoping to  utilize the esoteric works on higher dimensional experience to show that behind the terrible human tragedy of the day remains a very positive and powerful symbol for human and planetary development, reflection, perception, and judgement of something associated with superconsciousness - the divine.

It learned us how human consciousness on both a personal and planetary level and their effort of experiencing more dreams intended to integrate deep and dark aspects of the human psyche in which then Mikuma Yoshifumi, 1995, in his  "Welcome to the 'Fourth Dimension' ", stated that we could expand a streach of time when a backlog is killing us, and contract it when we can't wait for a next date; however,  people seem to think of it as a science fictional world, which does not exist, in which he believes, however, that in a way, we can say it really does exist. And this belief will open up a whole new world for us; so here today, we need to take on a journey through the world of the fourth dimension. In which the concept of the "fourth dimension" unthinkable, we still hear the word "time," we usually think of the kind of "time" which is indicated by a clock or watch; and  seems everything to exist irreversible sequence of occurrences, and thus is bound by time.

The idea that we live in a world with more than three dimensions said to be tantalizing one by Charles H. Hinton, (2004), in his “On the Fourth Dimension”. He stated that it's commonly accepted that time is the "fourth" dimension, but it's too easy for people to just say, "Time is the fourth dimension," and leave it at that and strived to visualize what a fourth spacial dimension really means by starting to think about what the world would be like with less dimensions and what it means to expand that world into higher levels of existence. He claimed that we do not know what the universe was doing before it was expanding; a leading theory, inflation, is an attractive addition to the framework, but it lacks cross bracing in a so called cosmology. Cosmology on the other hand, deals with the nature of the universe and concerned with how the universe is put together, and what underlying rules and properties does it have, in which, according to Ross, K.L. (2000), there is a debate about whether a universe with structure can have randomness or a universe that is chaotic that can have structure. 

Adams, C. and Zachariah, C. (2004),  imagined that the fourth dimension was a step between the 3rd and 5th dimensions where you saw a little of both in one moment; there would be corruption and ignorant yet also lightness and beauty. They perceived that in the fifth dimension, we are more able to keep the angelic part of your nature at hand at all times. This is truly the beginning of your ascent up the stairway to the heavens, your true home; many have worked together to bring this joyous awakening about; our hearts cried out for the light and for the truth to be known on earth of who we are. We are, accordingly, light-beings of great beauty and love and at last beginning to awaken and bring our full awareness to earth life; we are growing closer to whom we truly are. With this higher dimension we are more able to see the light in others as well as in ourself.

Meanwhile, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) in his “Tertium Organum” developed method for understanding the four dimension by employing four mutually interchangeable coordinates, three of space and one of time. According to him, time is the fourth dimension of space imperfectly sensed-apprehended by consciousness successively, and thereby creating the temporal illusion; while in the same time he attempted to prove the Kantian problems of the subjectivity of space and time. Ouspensky was sure of place in the hierarchy of philosopherto solve the problems of human existence by employing the binocular vision of the mathematician and the mystic.

According to Oupensky, the fourth dimension is the dimension of problem of superior states of consciousness in which there shall be time no longer. The people of the fourth dimension are in the world but not of it; their range is far wider than this slum of space; in them dormant faculties are alert, like birds of the air, their fitting symbols, they are at home in realms which others cannot enter, even though already there; nor are these heavenly eagles confined to the narrow prison of the breast and their bodies are as tools which they may take up or lay aside at will.

Damardjati Supajar (2002) in his “Nawang Sari” excerpted the Whitehead’s work that the universe shows us two aspects: on one side it is physically wasting, on the other side it is spiritually ascending; and excerpted the Herakleitos’ work that “This world order, which is the same for all, none of the gods nor men has made. It wasever, is now and shall be: an Ever Living Fire, kindling in measures and being extinguished in measures”. Further, he noted “Keep our mind widely open, to a new ideas and evidence”. Agreed with Oupensky, Damardjati Supajar emphasized that people who have developed their self-consciousness and cosmic-consciousness are able to uncover the mysteries of the fourth dimension.

Hinton, C.H. (2004), claimed that the very most basic state of existence is zero dimensions; a single point by itself exists within no dimensions; if there was an inhabitant of such a place, it would be the only one. It wouldn't understand the concept of "something else" existing, as there is no room in a point for anything but one, single point. He felt that living in a one dimensional world would be fun for about 5 minutes, and quickly lose its appeal; if we go one step further and expand the line into a plane, there are many more possibilities. Further he insisted that, in our reality of three dimensions, it's easy for us to visualize what would result if the point were given a dimension to travel in; suddenly, the point is no longer all that exists, as there are an infinite number of other possible points between any two points on a line or in space; the point can now travel back and forth on a line, and it might even eat up some other points and get fat, turning itself into a line segment. Therefore, life in one dimension would get boring pretty quickly, as all there is to do is bounce back and forth between whatever two boundaries you run into; if there is another line segment blocking your way, there is no going "around" it; we could turn around and go the other way, or push the other line segment further down the line in order to expand your area of movement.

Hinton, C.H. (2004), continued to provoke that it may also be possible to somehow consume the other line segment, such that it becomes part of our selves and then we could see what lies beyond it (some more space to move, and then another line segment); now it's possible for the line segments to combine in different patterns and shapes. If we were in this world, we could slide around in all kinds of directions, running into other inhabitants and going around them; there would be all sorts of shapes of things to look at, but you still would have to slide around and look at them from all directions in order to see the whole of their shape. An interesting thing about living in two dimensions is that we can essentially see the insides, or guts, of a being living only in one dimension; to a line segment, all it can see is the point on one end or another of the other two segments with which it can interact.

Meanwhile, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) argued that the world and consciousness are facts which we decided to organize as existing; by the world we mean the combination of all the causes of our sensations in general; by the material world we mean the combination of causes of a definite series of sensations; space is either a property of the world or a property of our knowledge of the world. Therefore, three-dimensional space is either a property of the material world or a property of our receptivity of the material world; and our inquiry is confined to the problem: how shall we approach the study of space?

Heckey, J. in Derrick Coetzee, 2004, elaborated that 0 dimension is a point, 1 dimension is a point dragged right or left, 2 dimension is the line dragged up or down, 3 dimension is the squared dragged forward or backward; so, logically, the fouth dimension is the cube dragged ana or kata (the two directions in the fourth dimesions) a hypercube. Therefore, what about the spatial objects that aren't square?  I think that, just like a circle can be pulled into a sphere and a cube, a sphere can be pulled into both a hypersphere, a sphere surrounded by other spheres in a somewhat spherical pattern, and a hyper(sphere/cylinder), which is taking the sphere and stretching it either ana or kata only.

While, Oldani, T. in Derrick Coetzee, (2004) strived to explain that two universes, if they intersected, would intersect on a plane; this makes sense, because two lines intersect on a point, two planes intersect on a line, so it would make sense for two universes to intersect on a plane. Further, he perceived that from the fourth dimension, every point within a three-dimensional object would be visible; one other thing, a four dimensional object going through our universe would appear as a three-dimensional object changing shape and color as it goes through our universe. He noted that, as it goes through, it would shrink down to a point and disappear; this can be proved by thinking of the way in which a three-dimensional object would go through a two-dimensional plane.

On the other hand, Gee, Q., in Derrick Coetzee (2004) thought that if we think about a 2-d square, it exists on the z-axis point of 0; well if we take a 3-d cube it exists on the "4-d" point of zero. So, he perceived that we could keep a sqaure and move it along the z-axis and it really wouldn't exist as a part of it, having only 2 dimensions; so we could move along the 4th dimension and not really feel like you are a part of it. He thought that every point on three dimensional objects(you, me, the world, the universe) is located at the exact same point in the fourth dimension; even if the fourth dimension were moving, we wouldn't feel it moving because everything that we know is three dimensional; we can go back and see everything physically in three dimensions. However, he argued that time exists as something that you cannot go back and see no matter where you are in the universe; we are just thinking about it now, but he thought its a pretty good explanation.

If we perceive that 3D space is an infinitely thin "slice" of the fourth dimension, and the fourth dimension is composed of an infinite number of them, so, all "stacked" on top of each other in the direction of the fourth dimension. While the fourth dimensional beings could not fit in the third dimension, as we could not fit in the second dimension, and thusly cannot visit it; upon observation of our dimension, these fourth dimensional bodies would consider it extremely simple, just like the second dimension is simple to us. Otherwise, if  the fourth dimensional beings would see advanced 3-d (not quite 4-d) pictures, then 3d beings can only see in an advanced 2-d (not quite 3-d). This is true because if you ever look at something still while being still yourself, and only look with one eye, you are seeing a flat image of 3d space(just like a photo.). While this idea is not really accurate (we really see in 3d), the idea that images can appear to be a image of the lower dimension is the comparison we use to explain the relationship of 3-d and 4-d space (Coetzee, D., 2004).

Further, Coetzee (2004), elaborated that a 4-d being that could see in this advanced 3-d would look upon a three-dimensional house, and see all of the house and it's contents; this can be compared to how we can view all of a section of 2d space and how 2-d beings would observe simply a line when they look at other 2d objects. A hyper (4-d) body would view a hypercube head-on as a 3d cube; as it changes its angle of viewing the hypercube, the view of the hypercube would change. Therefore, there is a theory about space is that it is spherical in the direction of one dimension higher. For instance, to a 1-d object (a line) the space would be a cirle (a 2-d shape); the space that a 2-d object lives on would be a sphere (3-d object). Our space may be a hyper-sphere (4-d sphere). Note that this would provide us the ability to go in on direction forever and never reach the end and it is done in a non-infinite space. But this would also mean that our entire universe is 4 dimensional and that a 2d being's universe is 3 dimensional. Meanwhile, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921), supporting Hinton’s point of view, noted that the four-dimensional body is the tracing of the movement of three-dimensional body in the direction which is not confined within it; it containing an infinite number of three-dimensional bodies, where there is incommensurability of a three and a four-dimensional body. Parts of bodies and entire bodies are in three and in four dimensions.

Analogical Approach to Understand the Fourth Dimension

Abbot, E. (1884), elaborated that because we have three possible directions, it will take three values to describe the position of any point (x,y,z). In two dimensions, we only need two points: (x,y). In three dimensions, if we  go forward 8 feet, right 12 feet, then you reach a rope; climb up the rope 6 feet. Notice that each of these three directions are perpendicular to each other. He then conclude that any of the directions is its own and not combined of any of the other directions; that means we can go forward or backward all I want but I won't be going left or right, nor up or down; so if we were to consider a fourth dimension (x,y,z,t), it would have to be a new perpendicular direction in addition to the three directions we have free movement in.

Meanwhile, Abbot, E. (1884) added, that often it is helpful to visualize the way dimensions increase when considering the fourth dimension. He then strived to perform that if we examine the chart on the right, the zero dimension is represented by a point, 1 dimensions is represented by a line, and 2 dimensions is represented by a square. When we try to express three dimensions on a flat surface, like your computer screen, we draw two squares and diagonal lines connecting the vertices; accordingly, it represents a cube, but it is not actually a cube. However, he argued that perhaps when we draw a 4 dimensional cube, we can draw two cubes and connect the diagonal vertices; that figure is called a hypercube. He suggested that if we keep in mind that trying to express a 4 dimensional hypercube on a 2 dimensional surface is not very helpful; but it at least helps us understand the kind of progression going on. He claimed that visualizing 4th dimensional objects is not important if we merely want do some simple computations.

Since it is hard to try to directly picture the fourth dimension in our minds, perhaps using analogy can help us, further, Abbot, E. (1884) explained the following:

“You may have already guessed, but Flatland is a 2 dimensional, flat plane and A. Square is a square shaped guy who lives there. He has two dimensions of free movement. He can go left/right and back/forth, however because he is restricted to his 2 dimensional Flatland plane, he cannot go up/down off the plane. By analogy, we humans are restricted to our "plane" of existence... and it would be impossible for us to freely move in the fourth dimension. Let's go back to A. Square again. Note that A. Square can only see what lies in his plane of existence, which means if a 3 dimensional sphere were to pass through Flatland, A. Square would not see the sphere, but just 2 dimensional "slices". Taking this further, imagine if a sphere passed halfway through Flatland but stopped in the middle. the sphere would interesect Flatland as just one circle and A. Square could see it! Furthermore, imagine if as the sphere approaches Flatland, A. Square watches as the sphere slowly moves through his plane. What would A. Square see? Recall that A. Square can only see 2-d slices of the sphere (or circles) so what A. Square would percieve is a circle suddenly appearing, then growing... then reaching a maximum size as the sphere was halfway through and as it exited, the circle would grow smaller until it disappeared. This means that 3d objects could be explained to a 2d being as a bunch of "slices stacked" on top of each other. Try to imagine taking a bunch of circles and stacking them. They would begin to form a skeleton framework of the actual 3d image. Similarly if a 4d hypersphere would intersect our plane of existence, we would see a 3d sphere appear out of no where. It would grow until the hypersphere was halfway through, then it would shrink back to nothing. Theoretically, we could stack these spheres to form a hypersphere, but we can't stack them in the usual sense, but rather it would have to extend in the fourth dimension which takes us back to the original dilemma of trying to visualize it”.

Abbot, E. (1884), concluded that, ultimately, it is best to think of the fourth dimension analogously; considering that the 3rd dimension is a "new direction" to a square, we realize that the 4th dimension is a kind of new direction to us and to say that we don't have free access to it, it not to say we are in no way effected by it. Pickover, C. (2004) developed analogical approach by first delivering the question: “Have you ever considered how a four-dimensional being would appear to you if it suddenly came into your room?”. Consider his explanation as the following:

“Think of it this way. Consider a two-dimensional world resembling a sheet of paper. How would you appear to the inhabitants of such a world if you tried to interact with with them? The 2-D creatures would only see cross-sections of you as you intersected their universe. Your finger would look like a flat disc that grew in size as you pushed it through their world. Your five fingers might looked like five separate circles. They would just see irregular shapes with skin boundaries as you entered their world. Similarly, a hyperbeing who lived in the fourth dimension would have a cross-section in our space that looked liked a bunch of skin blobs. A 4-D being would be a god to us. It would see everything in our world. It could even look inside your stomach and remove your breakfast without cutting through your skin, just like you could remove a dot inside a circle by moving it up into the third dimension, perpendicular to the circle, without breaking the circle. A hyperbeing can effortlessly remove things before your very eyes, giving you the impression that the objects simply disappeared. The hyperbeing can also see inside any 3-D object or life form, and if necessary remove anything from inside. The being can look inside our intestines, or remove a tumor from our brain without ever cutting through the skin. A pair of gloves can be easily transformed into two left or two right gloves. And 3-D knots fall apart in the hands of a hyperbeing, much as a 2-D knot (a loop of string lying on a plane) can easily be undone by a 3-D being simply by lifting the end of the loop up into the third dimension”.

Similarly, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) employed our knowledge of geometrical “movement” to analogically trace of its movement of figures in the fourth dimension. He elaborated the follows:

“The point, moving in space, and leaving the tracing of its movement, a line, moves in a direction not contained in it, because in point there is no direction whatsoever. The line, moving in space, and leaving the tracing of its movement, the surface, moves in a direction not contained in it because, moving in a direction contained in it, a line will continue to be a line. The surface, moving in space, and leaving a tracing of its movement, the solid, moves also in a direction not contained in it. If it should move otherwise, it would remain always the surface. In order to leave a tracing of itself as a solid, or three-dimensional figure, it must set off from itself, move in a direction which in itself it has not.

In analogy with all this, the solid, in order to leave as the tracing of its movement the four-dimensional figure (hypersolid), shall move in a direction not confined in it; or in other words it shall come out of itself, set off from itself, move in a direction which is not present in it.

In analogy with this, it is possible to consider that it is necessary to regard a four-dimensional body as an infinite number of three-dimensional bodies, and four-dimensional space as an infinite number of three-dimensional spaces.”

Temporal Approach to Understand the Fourth Dimension

Mikuma Yoshifumi, 1995, in his  "Welcome to the 'Fourth Dimension' ", delivered the question “How, then, can we make a trip into the fourth dimention? He exhibited the following:

“We can look at "time" from a slightly different point of view. Mr. Tatsuo Motokawa, a biologist, says that mammals' time is proportional to the one fourth power of their weight. It means, the larger the size of the animal, the slower the passage of time becomes. Besides, the number of breathings and heartbeats and so on, which they do till they die, are all the same regardless of species. That is to say, each body size has a different unit of time. For example, it's usually said that an elephant's life is about one hundred years long and a rat's life is only a few years. Never let it be said that their lives are "transitory." Because, according to Motokawa, elephants have their own sense of time and so do rats. In other words, how long we perceive rats can live is far less important than how long they would perceive they can live. I think this disrupts our precept of what "time" is. We tend to think "time" defies logic and is sensed exactly the same way across species. Thus, we believe time is unchangeable, meaning "NO CONTROL OVER TIME." But if we take Motokawa's view on time seriously, time is not as absolute as we think it is. It does change”.

Yoshifumi, M. (1995) continued to then strived to redefine "time”. He thought that  "time" belongs to both each person and each case; let's think about a lecture of ninety minutes. He gave the example in the same room, some students feel this period to be too long while others feel it is very short. This difference in reaction occurs even within the same person. If they happen to take a real liking to the subject, they perceive the ninty minutes to be short, and if they don't, it's the other way around. This means that everyone has their own sense of time and they have different feelings about "time" in different cases. It's not that "time" exists first and we're all exclusively in it. It's that "we" exist as individuals who measure time differently in any given circumstance. And personal time has its own speed. I think "time" becomes long or short depending upon our point of view. If we could start thinking like this, wouldn't it be our first step into the "fourth dimension?"

Further, Yoshifumi, M. (1995) showed that today we are living in a very busy society; and time ticks away as we move on. He thought that our general reaction to daily routines would be "Too Much To Do, Too Little Time”; therefore, this attitude has something to do with one of our current problems, that is, 'stress.' According to him, many of us are under increasing amounts of stress these days and there are even children suffer from stomach ulcers, which are considered to be a disease caused by stress and many of us seek out the ways to alleviate the stress. But he concluded that whether we suffer from stress or not depends largely on whether we can go on a trip to the "fourth dimension."

Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) has had clearly temporal approach on four-dimensional body. He claimed that there are two kinds of motion, motion in space and motion in time; time is the fourth dimension of space and the time-sense is a limit of the space-sense. Further, he claimed that by time, he means the distance separating events in the order of their succession and binding them in different wholes; this distance lies in a direction not contained in three-dimensional space, therefore it will be the new dimension of space.

Poly-metric Relations Approach to Understand the Fourth Dimension

Yool, G.R. (1998) strived to delve into the relationships that exist between families of dimensions and specific polyhedrons, as well as the geography of those polyhedrons with respect to specific dimensions within the family by, to some extent, examining both where relationships exist and where they do not exist between processes within “mensonnomy” and the processes exhibited by the polyhedrons. However, he found that  there are few differences, inclining the belief, as with extraneous data in other sources, that either the absence of relationship is a matter of misjudgment of variables or more likely a lack of understanding or recognition of all the processes involved.

Yool, G.R. (1998) began to minimize mathematics and thoroughly explained to allow the common reader to understand and visualize without being a mathematician; and for the convenience of the reader, the sections are ordered by the family of dimensions being discussed. According to him, the families and their polyhedrons (with number of faces in parentheses) are:

          Holistical Sphere (1)- 1 Dimension Holistic,

          Paralogical Tetrahedron (4) -2 Dimensions Time,

          Axiological Octahedron (8)-3 Dimensions Matter,

          Locustical Hexahedron/Cube (6)-4 Dimensions Space,

          Metaphysical Dodecahedron (12)-5 Dimensions Energy,

          Antithetical Icosahedron (20)-6 Dimensions Definitive

Further, he explained that anything that can be measured, added or increased may also be subtracted from, reduced or decreased; this sounds remarkably profound and obvious; accordingly, if it is not stated however, it is easily neglected. This rule is perhaps the most important, as it indicates the potential of a dimension. It is also of extreme importance when applied to time, whose tradition of being mono-directional is discarded in mensonnomy.

 Yool, G.R. (1998) claimed that every dimension has, at minimum, a potential of two values, one positive the other negative. The Potential of other dimensions may cause a family to exhibit greater Potential values as a function of the contributing dimensions. Two or more dimensions may comprise a plane with two times the vertices as there are dimensions on that plane; and the total number of vertices of a polyhedron representing a family of dimensions is equal to the potential times the number of dimensions in one period of the family. Two, three and four dimensions may be represented as having ninety degree (right) angles from each other; a complex plane consists of two or more angles where one or more dimensions use a complex number to differentiate them from another dimension or group of dimensions, providing means to represent those dimensions two dimensionally and to show mathematical relationships between the dimensions involved.

Further, he elaborated that complex planes intersect at right angles which become eccentric respecting the complex angles of each plane; connecting dimensional vertices with the fewest edges yields a regular polyhedron. The dodecahedron (12 faces) is a cross between the tetrahedron (4 faces) and octahedron (8 faces), whose sum of faces, potentials, and number of dimensions involved coincide. He added that Einstein's energy equation applies as modified by the dimensional transform to the tetrahedron, octahedron, hexahedron, and dodecahedron, specifically to number of faces, angular multipliers, and row values; and when isolated to one side yield the sphere. Treating the faces of the dodecahedron as vertices, connected with the fewest possible edges yields the icosahedron (20 faces); the functions of dimension families provide direct relationships with values on the icosahedron. The relations, respecting eccentricity, are at right angles from each other; while the Locus family provides the topology system for all the dimensions, as well as values from which the regular polyhedrons are constructed, limited and defined. He claimed that per these rules, we can easily follow a logical sequence through the first four families of dimensions, and then with some ambiguity the next two families.

Yool, G.R. (1998) finally resulted the following kinds of relationship:

The relation between Holistic and the Sphere:

“Of the polyhedrons, the sphere's application is perhaps the most ambiguous. With regard to the Holistic, it is presented as both infinitely vast and infinitely small. Neither case is actually contradictory, though one may tend to think a vast difference exists between a singularity (a sphere with no dimension) and a sphere with infinite dimension. Even more baffling is the idea that the sphere can have an infinitely negative dimension. This is a consequence of rule #1: anything that can be measured or added to may also be subtracted from. The sphere, no matter the human value applied thereto, is a unit sphere, meaning any dimension may be applied, but that the root dimension (radius) is one. This is supported by the row and column values, which provide D⁰ = 1.”

The relation between Time and the Tetrahedron:

“Time and antitime provide crossing dimensions, each with positive and negative values. Because each belongs to a separate relation, we know these dimensions are at right angles from each other. Also, because they belong to separate relations, they are likewise polarized by spatial planes, each having two dimensions. Time thus exists in two separate two dimensional spaces, each at a right angle from the other. Rather than a simple cross as with traditional Cartesian/Euclidean two dimensional space, two dimensional time is twisted (see figure) like a mobius cut off before it begins its circuit back to the beginning. It is highly likely this analogy goes the distance, allowing these dimensions to complete the transitions into each other when one approaches its maxima and the other approaches zero. We will not explore that possibility here. Our chief interest here is its relationship to the tetrahedron”

Yool, G.R. (1998) concluded that if this brings up a cosmology issue, many argue that stars and planets are formed from dust clouds, while celestial bodies certainly absorb dust and particles from space, this is by no means their primary source of naissance. He suggested that we  may observe in our own planet not just the expansion, but the observations of the heavy, molten core and our atomic energy sources. If the universe began with the bang and bodies formed from the dust, then why would our planet be expanding under its own power? The amount of mass Earth accumulates each day from space is stunning, but insignificant compared to its own growth from within; likewise, black holes are young while quasars are immensely old.

Interested to the work of  Van Manen,  in perceiving the fourth-dimensional globe, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) excerpted that it was an ordinary three-dimensional globe, out of which, on each side, beginning at its vertical circumference, bent, tapering horns proceeded, which, with a circular bend, united their points above the globe from which their started; three circle are formed, the lower one representing the initial globe, the upper one representing empty space, and the greater circle circumscribing the whole. If it be now understood that the upper circle does not exist and the lower circle is identical with the outer circle, the impression will have been conveyed, at least to some extent.

Cosmological Approach to Understand the Fourth Dimension

Emil Mayev, 2003, in his “Glow from the inside out (Great Central Sun  transmissions)” elaborated “ascension” to indicate that the third-dimensional physical plane would turn into a fifth-dimensional world within a certain time frame (some claim a couple of decades, some 1000 years); before it would enter this 'fifth dimension' it would go through the fourth dimension. He lectured the following:

“Earth shall continue to illuminate from within following entry into the Great Central Sun. Inside of the Great Central Sun, Earth shall be bathed in light day and night. The illumination of Earth shall be experienced as an increasing   light inside and outside of all form. At first the light may glow in the form   of a more present auric field or "halo". Later, all living things shall glow   from the inside out as if they have a light bulb inside that has been turned on. Over time, the light shall continue to increase until all that appears solid appears semi-etheric, or can be seen through. It is at this point that Earth shall have entered the fourth dimension. It is anticipated that Earth shall not move into the fourth dimension in full for some 300 years into your future. After Earth has stabilized in the fourth dimension, the illumination within  all form shall continue to grow, gradually and over time. From a third   dimensional experience, Earth shall begin to "melt" with most rock and stone   as you know it becoming liquid. However, form shall continue to appear solid   within the fourth dimension. As the fire increases in the third dimension to   enough of a "heat" over time and with continued illumination, all of Earth   shall combust and enter the fifth dimension. At such a time, in the third dimension a star shall be born, and Earth shall be inflamed. However, upon the   fifth dimension, all shall appear as it should or solid, but lighter, less   dense, more illuminated, more transparent than you experience in present time. Earth is not anticipated to ascend to the fifth dimension for some 1000 years into your future”.

Mayev,E. (2003) further noted that the planet has passed to nadir of its descent into matter, and is now ascending towards the fourth dimension, and this would   be a long slow process if there not a steadily increasing body of beings in   the fifth dimension who are here to facilitate an accelerated transition   towards the fourth dimension. He then perceived that this translates into meaning that all of those angelic forces who inhabit the fourth dimension will have more influence and effect on your lives, and you will begin to experience that you do create your own experiences though your thoughts and emotions. He confined that we create an energy field around ourself of emotionally charged thoughts, and these attract various types of devic beings who work to bring people and events of a similar vibration into your sphere of activity.

Further, Mayev,E. (2003) believed that this is where ideas of flow come from, where synchronous events just happen; so, the burden is upon us, as the earth accelerates to higher frequencies, to keep your thoughts positive and kind. As you work on keeping a positive focus, meditating, and purifying your energy field, you will draw to yourself helpful devic beings, and you will experience a greater sense of synchronicity and flow in your life. He then stressed that our material world is accelerating rapidly towards the fourth dimension, and just as we cannot always sense speed while traveling in a large vehicle, so we cannot directly sense this acceleration. At this time it, he confined, is important that we maintain a constant attitude of faith, hope and   cheerfulness no matter what your circumstances are, since your thoughts and   feelings will affect your energy field on the fourth dimension, and the devic beings who work on this level will have increasingly more power and influence on the physical level.

Meanwhile, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) correlated the different grades of consciousness observable in nature, those of vegetable-animal and animal-man, with the space sense, showing that as consciousness changes and develops, the sense of space changes and develops too. Ouspensky concluded that nothing except consciousness unfolds, develops, and as there appears to be no limit to this development and conceived the space as the multi-dimensional mirror of consciousness and of time and motion as illusion; what appears to be time and motion being in reality only the movement of consciousness upon a higher space.

For all those issues, Ouspensky, P.D. (1921) needed to clarify the cosmic consciousness. Accordingly, it is a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man, due to the fact that there are three kinds of consciousness, simple consciousness, self consciousness and cosmic consciousness. He noted that the prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is the life and order of the universe.

Spiritual Approach to Understand the Fourth Dimension

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) in their “The 'Self' as Hyperbody: Nested Realities and the 'Fourth Dimension'” explained  'The Enneagram as Triple Mandala' to show how mandalas in general are often viewed as comprised of superimposed 'outer', 'inner', and 'innermost' layers, and how these correlate to three approaches to spiritual path - the 'Path of Renunciation', the 'Path of Transformation', and the 'Path of Realization'. They described that from the liminocentric structure of the Enneagram as Symbol - the manner in which the outermost figure (which is a circle) is identical to the innermost, secret figure (also a circle) - we infered the presence of (nine) Spiritual Qualities. Further, as attributes of the Self, these can be considered transcendental qualities that pre-exist the characterological 'flaws' or 'defects' around which the Ego-traits that characterize the 9 Enneatypes are constellated. They inscribed that in Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi path-of-realization teachings, these Spiritual Qualities are likened to 'hidden jewels'. They explained that in the Path of Realization teachings of the MAHAUTTARATANTRA SHASTRA this metaphor branches off into nine similar metaphors, related to nine Qualities, and also into parallel motifs that play a central role in the KALACAKRA texts - the idea of a 'hidden kingdom', profound 'buried' or 'hidden' teachings (terma), and a yet-to-be-born universal monarch.

In term of the literal status of spiritual truth, Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) the  METAPHORS themselves seem to insist on the literal and physical status of what they represent; the image of wheels falling from the sky, individuals waking from dreams with pages of physical texts in hand, or actual fruits - all seem to want to depict acts of embodiment, in which some THING comes literally out of nothing. They elaborated that the seeming insistence, in 'path of realization' teachings, on the literal nature of spiritual truth has a somewhat fundamentalist ring to it. They delivered the question, “Is it sufficient (as we previously suggested) to argue that what is being represented is simply the RETURN of the seeker from the spiritual 'heights', to an embodied existence in the ordinary, mundane world? Or is this too facile an explanation?

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) strived to uncovered that the truths that are being expressed should not be construed as MERELY literal but also have a function simultaneously at two other 'levels of meaning' that are sometimes called 'figurative', and 'transcendental', in which, they might more aptly be considered 'super-literal' truths - and by this we mean to suggest statements that are literally true, but in a reality at a higher level of description. They found that for the OBJECTS that are symbolized by the 'path of realization' metaphors under discussion are ones that exist not exclusively in mundane (ego-based) reality, nor in some 'other', separate reality, however, they exist in a 'super-reality' or 'sur-reality' that CONTAINS the mundane world, but also extends beyond it - in the same way in which two-dimensional planes are contained within three dimensional cubes; borrowing a term from contemporary science, we shall use the word 'hyperspace' to describe such a reality.

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) found also that realities can be likened to 'spaces' having a certain number of specifiable 'dimensions'; if the reality in which one exists has an n-dimensional space, then a reality that has n+1 or more dimensions can be said to constitute a 'hyperspace' with respect to it. Further, bodies in n-dimensional space will, of course, have n (or fewer) dimensions; so bodies that need n+1 dimensions to be adequately described can only fully 'exist' in the appropriate n+1 dimensional hyperspace - and we can refer to them as 'hyperbodies'. Accordingly, from a 3-dimensional perspective, a 4-dimensional cube is, by this definition, a 'hypercube'.

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999)  found that “self” can be perceived as Hyperbody, with 'Qualities'. Then, they explained that the 'Self' (in the Jungian sense of the word) is a HYPERBODY with respect to the typological space in which mundane personality resides; the words that Jung uses to refer to the Self - such as the 'philosopher's stone', for instance - all seem to suggest that this is the case. Furthermore, according to them, Jung's images are consistent with the 'Path of Realization' Buddhist metaphors that we have been considering in this series: - the 'precious jewel hidden in the lotus', and its variants. They noted that all fall under the rubric of metaphors pointing to the appearance of what we have called the 'superfluous ninth', metaphors dealing with the production of 'spiritual body'.

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999)  learned that 'The treasure', as Edward Edinger succinctly puts it, 'is the Self, the suprapersonal center of the psyche'; and the 'Qualities' that characterize this hyperbody (which is sometimes called 'vajra body' in Tibetan Buddhism) - its attributes or facets, as it were - are more likely to appear in the lesser-dimensioned ego-based 'mundane' reality as 'contradictions' or 'conflicts', and sometimes 'mysteries' and 'paradoxes', than as simple 'traits'. Accordingly, the word 'vajra' refers to a pure, unobstructed space that is the quintessence of emptiness. They perceived that this space is somehow also capable - however paradoxical this might at first seem - of presenting itself in solid form. Next, they delivered the question, “Isn't it a similar quality, after all, which is the one that we find perennially fascinating when we experience it in mundane jewelery - the fact that jewels are transparent and invisible - nearly nonexistent - but nonetheless adamantine, impenetrable?”.

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999)  found that the 'qualities' of the Self are likely to appear just as elusive as the light reflected from the FACETS of a jewel; and they will manifest as contradictions, paradoxes, and mysteries in the lesser-dimensional Ego-space which is the home of our mundane 'personalities' simply because some of the attributes of objects in an n+1 dimensional space will remain inaccessible ('ineffable') in n-dimensional spaces; and these contradictions indeed form the CORE of mundane pesonality. At the bottom of the 9 EnneaTypes are 9 characterological riddles that point to the hidden presence of the 'Self'.

To show those contradictions, Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999)  toke a simple example of the level-specific nature of 'qualities', volume as an attribute of objects in 3-dimensional physical space. In 2-dimensional space the concept of volume has no meaning - although there is an equivalent concept ('area'). So a 2-dimensional being might, from the concept of 'area', the quality with which she is familiar, EXTRAPOLATE the existence of a similar quality ('volume') in 3-dimensional space. However, they perceived that she will not, however, be able to directly experience it in the (2-dimensional) objects to which she is privy; it will seem like a theoretical 'construct' to her, although it is a palpable 'quality' to those of us capable of experiencing in 3-dimensional space.

Three Types of Meaning (Literal, Figurative, and Transcendent) were described by Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) as follows:

“In her book on Shambhala, LePage correlates what she calls the 'three planes of reality' (physical, psychic, and spiritual) with the three types of 'meaning' about which the nineteenth century French mystic Edouard Schure spoke. Schure reported that the ancient Egyptians had a language which expressed their thought at three levels simultaneously - The first was literal, the second symbolic and figurative, the third sacred and hieroglyphic. At their wish, the same work assumed a literal, a figurative or a transcendent meaning. This language had a singular eloquence for the adept, for, by means of a single sign, it evoked the principles, causes, and effects radiating from divinity into blind nature, in the human consciousness and into the world of pure spirit”.

Relating to the “’Superfluous' Nature of Hyperobjects”, Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) elaborated as follows:

“The notions of 'hyperspace' and 'hyperobject' are handy concepts when it comes to trying to specify the relationship between 'transcendent' objects (eg, the Self), their 'qualities' (eg, the 'Spiritual Qualities' of the individual), and coming to understand how such qualities might manifest at the mundane level of reality in which we normally abide (eg, as 'characterological defects', around which 'personalities' form). The word 'hyperspace' is a relative term. In using it one is simply referring to a reality that has more dimensions than the base-line reality with which one is primarily concerned. A three-dimensional space, for instance, is a 'hyperspace' for the flatlander caught in a two-dimensional existence. The term 'hyperspace' is basically just a scientific substitute for the religious notion of a 'transcendent reality', although it is useful because it specifies that it is by virtue of additional DIMENSIONS that such a reality transcends ordinary reality. And it also treats transcendence as a relative term. No space is 'absolutely' transcendent, only relatively so with respect to some other particular space. The notion of a 'hyperobject' is similarly useful, particularly in the context of a discussion about the nature of symbols. A hyperobject is simply an object IN hyperspace - ie, an object with more dimensions than one can directly detect if one is a being in a lesser-dimensional reality. So for the two-dimensional flatlander, a three-dimensional cube is a 'hyperobject'. The flatlander cannot see it. Or perhaps we should say that the flatlander can't see ALL OF IT - as he can see it only AS a square. Or that he sees 'its reflection' in two-dimensional space, or its 'shadow', or a collapsed version of the object - a dumbed-down (or dimensioned-down) version. We might even call this version of the object a 're-presentation' of it - ie, a symbol. As beings in three-dimensional space, we humans cannot directly preceive a four-dimensional 'hypercube'. But such a thing 'exists', and can be described, and we can talk about its 'qualities', even if we are not in a position to directly experience them. Scientists do it all the time. According to mathematicians, the figure to the left is what a four-dimensional 'hypercube' looks like in three dimensional space. In the same way in which a three-dimensional cube has six square faces, the four-dimensional hypercube is comprised of eight three-dimensional cubes, one of which is completely hidden from view (because each of its six sides interfaces with another cube that obscures our vision, no matter what angle we might try to look at it from). 

Fudjack, J. and Dinkelaker, P. (1999) then also elaborated the relation among Hyperbody, Coagulatio, and the Birth of 'Inner' Children as follows:

“For Edinger, who follows Jung in this regard, the Crucifixion is a 'coagulatio' symbol, representing the particular stage in the inner 'alchemical' process of individuation in which concretization takes place. Coagulatio is an embodiment or incarnation that is mythologically linked with desire, a 'fall from heaven', and with 'Saturnine' evil (that is associated with 'materiality'). Honey, Edinger tells us, is 'an agent of COAGULATIO'. Interestingly, honey, as we've seen, was one of the nine alternate metaphors for the 'hidden jewel' in the 'path of realization' text, the MAHAUTTARATANTRA SASTRA. Edinger quote's Jung's discussion of Dorn's use of honey - Thereby the mixture acquired the property not only of eliminating impurities but of changing spirit into body, and in view of the proposed conjunction of spirit and the body this seemed a particularly promising sign. To be sure, the 'sweetness of the earth' was not without its dangers, for as we have seen ... the honey could change into a deadly poison. According to Paracelsus it contains 'Tartarum', which as its name implies has to do with Hades. Further, Tartarum is a 'calcined Saturn' and consequently had affinities with this malefic planet. Embodiment can be construed as a 'fall'. The lowly circumstances of Christ's birth correspond to the ordinary and commonplace aspects of being concretely real. The events of the Passion also apply. Christ's condemnation and execution with criminals present him as a willing carrier of evil. His carrying the cross represents the realization of the burden of one's being. The outstanding image is the crucifixion itself - being nailed to matter. In alchemical terms, the cross represents the four elements from which all manifest being is made. FIXATIO is one of the synonyms for COAGULATIO”

Ouspensky, P.D. (1921), did not explicitly elaborated the fourth dimension in term of spiritual point of views, except that his trying to trace to understand the aspects from various kinds of religion including Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Excerpting from Muller’s work, he learned that if God had once been recognized as the Infinite in nature and the soul as the infinite in man, it seemed to follow that there could not be two infinites. He noted that the Eleatics perceived that the “infinite” is only one, for it there were two they could not be “infinite”, but would be infinite one toward the other. Oupensky admitted that nothing can be more definite than this Eleatic Monism, and with it the admission of a soul, the infinite in man, as different from God, the infinite in nature, would have been inconceivable.

Damardjati Supajar (2002) in his “Nawang Sari” introduced his descriptions with the simple question to the students of what does it mean by the pen held by their teachers in a certain lesson class. He employed the possibility of the various students’ answers to indicate the relatively characteristics of pen held by people in the world and the absolutely characteristics of pen held by God in the what probably he called  it as the fourth dimension.

Javanese society is characterized as full of spiritual culture as it identified as “Sangkan Paraning Dumadi” in which the relation of individual people and God “Kawula-Gusti” is the centered. Damardjati Supadjar indicated that philosophy of “Sangkan Paraning Dumadi” reflects philosophical processes of the beginning up to the end in which the power of God reflects in each event; how it is coming from and how it comes to finish. Beginning process reflects also the potentials of events in such away that each event has its role in the process and  it called as “becoming of continuity”. The philosophy consists of three elements “pandam” means the light, “pandom” means the rule, and “pandum” means the measure.

Following, the writer strive to freely interprete in English of Damardjati Supadjar’s notions. In order to perform good relationship between individual people and God, in Java, individual people should develop three kinds of consciousness;  “melik” means consciousness of the self;  “melek” means consciousness of the rule and the structure as well as the component of the nature and all of things in side; and “melok” means the cosmic consciousness.

In term of the relation between individual people and his/her God, cited from Ki Kusumowicitro, Damardjati Supadjar said that “a birth” is a spiritual process; therefore, between individual people and his/her God there are functional relationships i.e.  temporal and spatial. In a spatial relation, the individual people is in the lower dimension the of the God. However, the God is not in the temporal dimension. Damardjati Supadjar, cited from Ki Kusumowicitro, exposed that, in order to be successful, people needs to follow the rule of the nature, the rule of the life and need to reflect into inner-spirit.

Most of the people, as we perceived, that are still in difficulties to perceive the fourth dimension due to the fact that there are also many people have their different perception to that matter. However, we learn that there also many things make people then aware to some how to have any effort to understand about it. Nick Sandberg, 2002, for example gave an illustration how people ultimately reflect on some of the symbols arising from the tragic events; until to reach in such a condition to hope to utilize the esoteric works on higher dimensional experience in order to judge of something associated with superconsciousness - the divine.

In term of the perception of the fourth dimension, it's commonly accepted that time is the "fourth" dimension, but it's too easy for people to just say, "Time is the fourth dimension," and leave it at that and strived to visualize what a fourth spacial dimension really means by starting to think about what the world would be like with less dimensions and what it means to expand that world into higher levels of existence. The is a perception that the universe was doing before it was expanding; a leading theory, inflation, is an attractive addition to the framework, but it lacks cross bracing in a so called cosmology.

With a very simple logic, we can perceive the fourth dimension by elaborating that that 0 dimension is a point, 1 dimension is a point dragged right or left, 2 dimension is the line dragged up or down, 3 dimension is the squared dragged forward or backward; so, logically, the fouth dimension is the cube dragged ana or kata (the two directions in the fourth dimesions) a hypercube. Otherwise, we learned that any of the directions is its own and not combined of any of the other directions; that means we can go forward or backward all I want but I won't be going left or right, nor up or down; so if we were to consider a fourth dimension (x,y,z,t), it would have to be a new perpendicular direction in addition to the three directions we have free movement in.

With a poly-metric relations approach to understand the fourth dimension we may

delve into the relationships that exist between families of dimensions and specific polyhedrons, as well as the geography of those polyhedrons with respect to specific dimensions within the family by, to some extent, examining both where relationships exist and where they do not exist between processes within “mensonnomy” and the processes exhibited by the polyhedrons. However, we also found that anything that can be measured, added or increased may also be subtracted from, reduced or decreased; this sounds remarkably profound and obvious; accordingly, if it is not stated however, it is easily neglected. This rule is perhaps the most important, as it indicates the potential of a dimension. It is also of extreme importance when applied to time, whose tradition of being mono-directional is discarded in mensonnomy.

In a cosmological approach, we learned that from the inside out (Great Central Sun  transmissions)” elaborated “ascension” to indicate that the third-dimensional physical plane would turn into a fifth-dimensional world within a certain time frame (some claim a couple of decades, some 1000 years); before it would enter this 'fifth dimension' it would go through the fourth dimension. We also learned that a constant attitude of faith, hope and   cheerfulness no matter what your circumstances are, since your thoughts and   feelings will affect your energy field on the fourth dimension, and the devic beings who work on this level will have increasingly more power and influence on the physical level.

In a spiritual approach we noted that that realities can be likened to 'spaces' having a certain number of specifiable 'dimensions'; if the reality in which one exists has an n-dimensional space, then a reality that has n+1 or more dimensions can be said to constitute a 'hyperspace' with respect to it; in which they comprised of superimposed 'outer', 'inner', and 'innermost' layers, and how these correlate to three approaches to spiritual path - the 'Path of Renunciation', the 'Path of Transformation', and the 'Path of Realization'.

Oupensky, lastly concluded that the true motion which lies at the foundation of everything is the motion of thought. True energy is the energy of consciousness; and the truth itself is motion, and can never lead to arrestment, to the cessation of search. Therefore, the true and real progress of thought is only in the broadest striving toward knowledge, that does not recognize the possibility of arrestments in any found forms of knowledge at all. By searching the fourth dimension that may be Opensky noted as that the meaning of life is in eternal search and only in that search can we find something truly new. Finally, Ouspensky suggested that both science and religion begin to search true knowledge when in them commence to manifest the sensing and finding of some inner property in things.

Javanese people perceive the fourth dimension from spiritual perspective in the relationship between individual people and his/her God in the spatial and temporal dimension. In order to understand the fourth dimension, Javanese peoples need to develop three kinds of consciousness “melik”, “melek” and “melok” in the scheme of the “Kawula – Gusti” philosophy.

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© 1998-2000, The Open Diary, Site software and design

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