Musing on Dimensions

It is commonly accepted that we live in three physical dimensions, with a constant of time as a fourth dimension. I believe that we actually live within many more dimensions than that; we just do not know how to measure them all yet.

Aside from left/right, forward/back, and up/down, I think we could consider energies for other dimensions. Certainly wavelengths of light make an easy-to-determine axis, with intensity a perpendicular axis to it. Perhaps matter/antimatter is another perpendicular axis to those.

Then there are the emotional dimensions: love/hate, happy/sad, social/antisocial. We all dwell within some level of each of those, changing position within those dimensions depending on the interplay of many, many factors.

I’m sure there are many more dimensions, that I have not really done more than scratch the surface of the possibilities.

What I find more interesting to contemplate is how the various dimensions allow us to relate to one another. Consider a shape; the more characteristics that a shape has in common with another shape, the more closely the shapes are related. When two shapes are identical, the only difference is location – placement along a single dimensional axis.

When people have things in common, they relate to one another more easily. Two people celebrating happy events are more likely to relate to one another than with someone who is in mourning; two people dealing with great stress in their lives are more likely to relate to one another than with someone who is living in ease. The more dimensions in which we draw close to another, the more likely others will identify us as similar and the more easily we can interact. It is very hard to connect when living on opposite sides of a continent; it is also hard for someone gushing with happiness to connect with someone dwelling in misery.

I believe our Creator created all of the dimensions and watches us throughout all of them as we dwell within them. I think God gives us nudges to help us grow spiritually, but that each nudge is reflected very specifically in where we are at the time. For one person, it may be a diagnosis of cancer; for another, it may be becoming a parent, for yet another it may be a chance meeting with an old acquaintance. What might seem like a calamity to some unable to perceive the critical dimension where the nudge is given, often turns out to be a blessing in the long run.