written 25 August 2023
published 3 September 2023
Last week, over 3 inches of rain fell in a few hours in Ohio, 8 inches of rain created flash floods in Las Vegas, and floods devastated 2/3 of Slovenia. Heat index in Lawrence Kansas hit 134°F, and Greenland was 27°F above normal for this time of year. Wildfires ravaged northeastern Greece, British Columbia, Canary Islands, Tenerife Spain, and eastern Washington, displacing thousands near Spokane. Fires in Canada already burned three times the previous seasonal record, set just last year
Mathematically, a point has zero dimensions, and the quality of existence. A line has 1 dimension, and the quality of length. A plane has 2 dimensions, and the quality of area. A cube has 3 dimensions, and the qualities of volume and density. Each increase in dimension adds new qualities, not possible in the previous dimensions. Einstein added time as a dimension, with the quality of endurance. We now describe material reality as 4 dimensional "space-time".
We tend to think in terms of integer dimensions (0, 1, 2, 3, 4), but picture a squiggly line on a piece of paper. If the line never crosses itself, it could be considered a 1.2 dimensional shape, as the line extends into the next higher dimension. If it almost completely covered the paper, it might even be a 1.8 dimensional shape. Another example is the 2 dimensional surface of the ocean, extending into the third dimension as what we call waves. The choppier the surface becomes, the more it can be considered greater than just two dimensional.
We mostly experience the world as four dimensional. However, we don't seem to fully experience the fourth dimension of time, but live eternally in the NOW, inexecrable transitioning from the remembered past to the unknown future.
In mathematics, there are no limits to dimensions, inviting consideration of what higher orders might be. Quantum physics shows that matter is "non-local", operating within systems that transcend space-time. A photon, with no mass, travels at the speed of light, which means it experiences no time or distance, arriving when it sets off. String theory physics postulates 10 or more, dimensions, most of which are curled so tightly that they can't be perceived. Chaos theory, which describes apparently random complex physical systems, has strange attractors, orderly functions in higher dimensions. All this suggests that material four-space actually extends into higher dimensions, mostly unseen.
One of the fundamental assumptions of western rational materialistic science is that matter is the ground of reality, and consciousness arises only within sufficiently complex material form. This scientific limitation comes from being forced to evolve from under the lethal spiritual dogma of the Church, and leads to viewing matter as "dead" and life as "meaningless". It presents a significant problem explaining how dead matter can become alive.
An alternate view is that consciousness is the ground of reality, a quality of an all-encompassing dimension higher than the space-time continuum. In this view all material form is an expression within consciousness, similar to seeing all waves on the surface of the ocean being part of the same ocean. If we view consciousness as awareness and volition, we can see it expressed in all living forms, from simple bacteria, which is aware of its environment and moves toward nutrients, on up to humans. What we conventionally call human consciousness is really self-consciousness, a subset of general consciousness. Examples of self-consciousness have been documented in many species other than human.
Consciousness has also been shown to be "non-local", not limited to space-time, existing in a higher dimension. Australian aboriginal "dreamtime" is a cultural practice of intentionally communicating across space-time. Reincarnation, near death experiences, and all psychic phenomenon demonstrates this as well.
Rupert Sheldrake's book "Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home", demonstrates this quality is not limited to humans. Parrots have reported dreams their owners are having. Sheldrake postulates morphic resonance, higher dimensional orthogentic fields, which hold information relevant to the formation of growing living systems. These fields also aid formation of mineral forms, and even information systems. The more a particular form, or information, exists, the easier it is for that form, or information, to express again. Inspiration and creativity are individual experiences of
connecting with this larger, connected consciousness.
As we open ourselves to the experience of already being part of a conscious, inclusive whole, even if unseen, our lives change and possibilities bloom.
