SRIA - Fourth Dimension

7/26/2019 SRIA - Fourth Dimension

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T. . T.. G.. O. . T.. S. . M.. O. . T..U. .

CO SIDERED ESP EC IALL y

WITH RELATION TO THE

ROSICRUCIAN COSMOLOGY

Delivered before Grantwood College, S;.. R: 1:. A:.

By FRATER AAHMES

Imprimatur

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Ordered for Publication, Class 11., Section B

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A NO MCMXIII


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Copyright 9 3

Society Rosicrucians Ine


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PREF E

This lecture on The Fourth Dimension was

delivered beEore Grantwood College, S.R.l.A.,

Oct. 14, 1913, as part of the regular collegiate

work. W'hile to the advanced student of

mathematics the matter therein contained

n-ay appear elementary, st ill the writer feels

that in handling a su.bject itself so intricate

nothing is to be gained by complicating it

with abstruse mathematical demonstrations.

;0 those inclined to enter more deeply into

such problems, Prof. C. H. Hinton's book on

The Fourth Dimension is recommended or

caretul reading and study.

Diagrarns, blackboard ilIustrations, etc.,

whrch are essential to a proper exposlton of

the subiect, accompanied the delivery of the

lecture in the College; and while their in-

sertion in this publication was deemed in-

expedient, the reader w ill derive much in-

tellectual enjoyrnen t from constructing these

simple diagrams Ior himself and will also add

mater lally thereby to hs comprehenson of

this unique field of study,

AAHMES.


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TH OURTH

DIME SIO

ti

OINT is the Ibeginning o~ all geomet-

rcal matter. It has neith er Iengt h,

breadth nor thickness, 'but merely

postton in space. Strictly speaking, a point

is non-exstent, for the reason that the

moment we assgu to it a definite posttlon,

we necessarily give it Iength, breadth or

tbiokness.

lf a point s moved in any direction in

pace, it generates a line. A line has one

drmenston, Iength, .hut neither breadth nor

thickness. H cannot be said that a line has

a tangible existence any more than a pont,

because even the most attenuated line that

we can conceive of would still have some

thickness. A line, therefore, is merely a geo-

ruetrical concepto It extends in one direction

only, and each of its 'boundar ies s a point.

The movement of a line in a direction not

contained in itself-that is to say, not for-

ward or backward but from side to side-

generates aplane surface. A plane has two

dmensons, length and breadth, but no thick-

ness. Here again, we are deal ing wth an

mpossible condition, as the thinnest surface

we could imagine would still have thickness.


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6 The Fourth Dimension

Our line was bounded by points ; the square

is

bounded

by

straght

lines, running in two

directions perpendicu lar to one

anonher.

Now let the plane be moved in still another

direction, not contained in the plane; that is

tu say,

not in a direction of eitller

Iength

or

breadth, as

that

would still leave us

only a

plane, but in a drection

perpendicular

to

the

ather two ; such a motion will generate a

cube. A cube has three dimensions, length,

breadth and thickness, and is bounded on al

sides by planes. It is not only conceivable

but tangible.

The problem we now have to Ideal with is,

what sort of a figure wil be generated by a

cube, movng in a fourtih direction or dimen-

sion from the other three, and perpendicular

to al three of them; and how is it possible

for us to conceive of such an appar ently rn-

posslble condition? We can only abandon

any attempt to actually realize such 11 figure,

and merely reason by analogy from tbe lower

to the hgher. IVe must first, bowever, note

tbis important fact; that since polnts are

t.he boundaries of a line, Hnes are the

boundaries of a square and squares are the

bounda.ries of a cube-the boundaries of each

figure being one dimension less taan the

figure itself-we must necessarily conclude


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The Fourth imension

necessartly labor under peculiar difficulties,

arrsug from the fact that we are living in

a world which so far as our ordnary ave-

nues of sense-perception can tell US, s corn-

posed of only three

d

mensions. It is [ust

as when

we

attempt to

explan spi

ritual con-

clitions in terms of the phystcal, or me

nnte

in terrns of the finite. From one

standpont, therefore,

it

seems best not to trv

to represent the Fourth Dimension con-

cretely, or even to imagine

it,

but rather to

SE.\lSE it.

c\o study of the Rosicrucian Cosmology, in

fact no adequate conception of the nter-re-

lation of the various worlds, vehicles of t.he

Ego

etc., is complete unless it involves at

the sarne time a comprehenson of the Fourth

Dimension. How, for example, are we to

apprehend the idea of worlds within worlds,

of various bodies, astral, etheric and physical,

all concentric and inter-penetrating? How

else can IVe realze t.he truth of the statement

that you or 1 could stay in one fixed spot,

live and die, and pass suocessively into each

of the so-called

higher

worlds until we

stood face to face with the Absolute?-all

w ithout stirring from that same spot ? The

answer necessarily and obviously involves the

supposition of another and unknown direc-

tion into whic.h IVe can pass, distinct from

the three of length, Ibreadth and thickness


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exstence of the Fourth Dmenson better

than t'he most elabor ate mathematical dam-

oustraton can prove it.

The mathernatical sclentist starts out by

saving that the human imagination is incap-

ahle of conceiving an obiect in the Fourth

Dimension, and ihen he proceeds to con-

struct such an object. This course of reason-

Ing seems somewhat paradoxcal in its con-

rlusions, but the method used is logtcal. In

this atternpt to gtve a simple exposition of

the Fourth Dimension, therefore, 1 shall

state briefiy a line of argum ent w'hich has

been used wth very excelIent results by Prof.

Hinton.

What is the Fourth Dimension? We know

cf three-Iength, 'breadth and thickness. We

know that from a given pont on the surface

of the earth we can 'travel back wards and

f'orwards, left and rig'ht, up and down; three

definite directions. What is meant, then, by

~ f'ourth direction, and how shaIl we go about

conceivng it?

Prof. Hinton draws an analogy between

our existence in three d menstons and t'he

supposed existence of beings in a world of

fewer dimensions. For example, imagine a

being confined to an existence in one dirnen-

sion only. The vlsible world of such a being

would necessarily be Iimited to a stragh t line.


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The Fourth Dmenson 9

Now suppose another world wh ich has two

dimensions, lenglh and breadlh. A being liv-

ing in such a worl d would

ibe

a flat creature

moving laterally

OIl

a ftat surface, say that

portion of aplane bounded by four right lines

and constituting a square. He could not only

go backward and torward, but from si de to

side as well. In this respect he would be bet-

ter off than the being living in a world of

only one dimension.

The two-dimensional being, however, knows

no up or down. He could conceive of another

plane world lying adjacent to his own and

parallel

w

th it, but he woul d conceive o

t

as shut in by two directions, by the straight

Iines whch bound it; and the only way he

could leave h is space would be through the

edges

01

si des. It is evident that if another

plane were placed perpendicular to this two-

dimensional world, its inhabitant would

sense ths new plane only as a straight line,

where it wou.d cut through his own plane.

For a condition in which movement is POSS

ble in any one of three directions, we must

go to our own world as we know it. On land

we can move in any lateral direction, and

all directions are made up of two fundamental

ones at right angles to each other. We can

also travel up in the air and down in the

surface of the earth. We can conceive of an-


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T

o

u r t h i

m

en

s ion

a world by trav el ng in a fourth direetion,

whieh would be neither baekwards or tor-

wards, from left to r ight or Irom side to side,

but would get us to our destination just the

came ?

Let me illustrate. Imagine two beings at

opposite ends o a two-dimensional world or

plane, say ten thousand miles apart. Now let

us take and bend this plane inward upon t-

self, in the torm o au are, so that the two

opposite edges toueh each other. These two

crea tures will suddenly appear alongside each

other, as If by magie; and yet both of them

know that they are ten thousand miles aparto

Let us take another ilIustration from a two-

dimensional world, Prof. Hinton shows that

a eurious triek eould be played on a being

eonfined within a square, or aplane world,

by a three-dimensional being outside of

it

such as you or 1. We could look down on

this two-sided creature, imagining h mself a

prisoner within those four edges, Hft him

right up uto spaee and set hirn down again

in another squar e or plane world exactly like

his own, without his bcing conscious of how

he got there. To such a creature, a trans-

formation of this kind wouId appear a pro-

found mystery. He would know that he had

been taken from one plane world to another,


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The Fourth imension

Now apply this illustration to our own

world. It is just as though aman were con-

tined within a room without opening of any

kind. Around and about him are four walls,

a floor and a roof, makng sx surf'aces all

toldo To his mind escape from such a room,

without breakiug through any of tl.e six

planes that surround hirn, would be Imposs-

ble; and yet if he suddenly found hmself

outsde the room, without Imowing how he

got there, his astonishment would be fully

equal to that of the two-dimensional creature

whom we Iifted up out of the square and

then set down insde of another square. The

important thing to note is this: that as in

the case of the two-dimensional wor ld the

transference was accomplished by passing tbe

creature first into a world of a higher dimen-

sion-a

thrd -and

then back again into the

world of two, so any passage of a man out

of a sealed room, without going through any

of the walls which surround hirn, would have

to be accomplisbed by taking him first through

a hgher dimension, or fourth dimension, be-

fore returning him to another worl d .like his

own. It is therefore apparent that by so

much advantage as we of three dimensions

have over a being of two drnensions, would

a fourth-dimensional being capable of playing

such a tr lck on us have over uso

It has been stated that as the comprehen-


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hurnan being, is bounded by aplane. Why

not by a solid ?

it '

may be asked. Because

our knowledge of a solid is limited by the

planes which bound it. F'or example, face

lhe wall of your room. You may kno w to a

certainty that it has thickness as well as

;ength and breadth, yet to your eve it pr e-

sents only a surface. IF YOU COULD LOOK

A'l' ALL PAR'l'S OF 'l'HE INSIDE OF 'l'HA'l'

WALL AS EASILY AND NA'l'URALLY AS

YOU CAN A'l' THE OUTSIDE YOU WOULD

BE SEEING IN 'l'HE FOURTH DIMENSION.

The F'ourth Dimension , therefore, is a drec-

t

ion 01 cond ition not cognizable by any of tbe

ordinary avenues of sen

se-perceptdon.

We may employ still anothe- illustration to

assst in Iorming a conception of the Fourth

Dimension. In a two-dimensional wor

ld-e-a

ulane surface--if we pass a cube through it

m a dir ection perpendicular to the plane the

cube will appear to the two-ddrnensional crea-

ture only as aplane; and that plan e will be

the particular cross-section of the cube which

happens to be passing thr ough al any given

mornent. The rest of

lb

cube, being in the

third dmensiou, and thcretore mtside the

sense-apprehension of tue two-dmensonal be-

ing, wouJd be invisible to hm.

stmtarlv, Jet us suppose that an object which

exsts in the Fourth Dimension, a hyper-cube,


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T he o u r t h Di me n s ion 3

come, rernans invisible to our eyes. Yet the

analogy between ths phenomenon and that

of t:he cube passing through the two-dimen-

sional world is perfect and appeals to our

reason.

We know, for nstance, that the so-called

higher worlds are co-exstent and interpene-

trating; that in passing rom one to the other

we do not necessarily pass in an upward or

downward directon, as one would climb a lad-

der, but that we merely pass from one con-

dton to another. Why, then, is it not log-

cal to assume that matter in passng from one

condtton which we call three-dtmensonal, to

another which we will call Iour-dmensonal,

will merely pass from one condton to an-

other?

Let us recall the Illusuraton of the sponge

and the bowl of water. A spherical sponge

represents the chemical region of the physcal

world. The sand, permeatng every part of t:he

sponge, represents the etheric regon which

permeates the physical earth. Both sponge and

sand can be immersed in a bowl of water,

whch will permeate both sponge and sand

just as the astral world permeates the earth

and the ether. Lastly, the entire cont.rlvance

of sponge, sand and bowl of water oan be


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14 T he F o u r

t

h i m e n s ion

teaches is an impossibility. Now ir this ts

true of the sprtt wor ld, there appears to be

no reason why it should not hold true with

matter, which s merely crystallized spirit.

As above, SO below. Had 1 the faculty of

projecting my body at

w

ill in a fourth dtmen-

sion, 1could 'Press my finger again.st this cube,

01

solid, and

t

he finger would gradually vanish

from our eyes INTO THE e BE. In our

clumsy Wywe should say that finger and cube

were oceupying the samc s.paoe at the same

time; in realtty, the finger has merely traveled

in. another direction whch we cannot sense

at our presen.t stage of development.

W'e have learned that to function in any

particular world we must have a vehicle

cor-

rela.ted to that world. Hence, by analogy, to

sense objects in. the F'ourth Dimension we

must necessartly get into a Iour-th-d'lmenalonal

world-say such as what we call the astral

world, where three-dmensonal objects like

our solids otter no obstacle to the progresa

of other solids 01 bengs through them, Sim-

larly we might suppose other worlds of five,

slx and seven dimensions, each successlvely

hgher world giving to its inhabitants proper-

tes and qualities not possessed by those in

the lower.

What vtstble, actual, proof, it -may be asked,

have we of the existence of a Fourth Dimen-


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T h e

o u r

t

h Di m e n s ion 5

plant growth, 01' ths transmission of electricity .

01' heat, or any of the thousand and one ather

rorms

energy that w.e see mantesced about

us every day. How is this energy transferred

01' diffused? We cannot actually say that elec-

trlcty, or heat, 01' the transmission or sunlight

to plan ts, can be measured in any one of the

three dirnensdon of our space, 'I'hey have

neither length nor breadth nor thickness.

'I'h.ey are, in fact, Iunctions of the Fourth Di-

menson, or the space of chemical reactons,

as Prof. Lockwood calls it.

F'inally, the thoughtful student following

these various lines of reasoning might ask

himself this questnon : Are we, after al l, Iourth-

dimensional cr.eatures conscious only of three

dimensions? Do we move in a world outside

our ordnarv space ut the very moruent

w

e

imagine ourselves to be most material den i

zens of

ths

world only-and is it posstble that

the physcal outlines we see around us, of our-

selves and each other, show merely a crystal-

llzation of creatures existing in raa llty in a

higher world, but functioning in a 10\V.er? As

students of the Rosicrucian phllosophy this

opens to us a field for profound reftection.

And it is not unreasonable to suppose tha;

close study

wll

reveal a definite basis for

such supposition, and point the way, th roug h


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SRIA - Fourth Dimension

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