Mysteries from Another Dimension . It’s been called on to explain everything from ghosts and paranormal phenomena to UFOs and even Bigfoot. It’s implicit in science fiction concepts such as hyperspace or subspace, which make faster- than- light travel possible. Esoteric teachers often invoke higher dimensions to explain mystical concepts and experiences. Even mainstream scientists talk about “other dimensions” when discussing advanced topics such as relativity and string theory. Despite the huge divergence in the way the concept is used, all these disciplines – science, esoterica, science fiction and the paranormal – can trace their interest in other dimensions to a common origin in the 1. It seems self- evident that we live in a three- dimensional world. A box has three dimensions – length, width and height. Each of those dimensions is at right- angles to the other two. It’s impossible to imagine a fourth dimension at right angles to these three (or at least, it’s impossible for most of us – a few people claim they can do it). On the other hand, it’s easy to picture fewer than three dimensions – if you draw a square on a flat sheet of paper then it has just two dimensions. You can fold the piece of paper diagonally, so that the two opposite corners – a long way apart in two- dimensional space – are now almost touching. What was previously a long journey from one corner to another becomes a short journey through the third dimension. Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider while in high school, the spider bite caused him to develop powers and abilities similar to that of a spider. He was soon able to crawl up walls and sense imminent danger, and eventually even developed his own method. Taric Taric is the Aspect of the Protector, wielding incredible power as Runeterra's guardian of life, love, and beauty. Shamed by a dereliction of duty and exiled from his homeland Demacia, Taric ascended Mount Targon to find redemption, only to discover a higher.
The science- fictional idea of hyperspace is a logical extension of this – if you could fold or warp three- dimensional space in higher dimensions then you could turn a long journey between the stars into a short one. Artist’s impression of a space warp (NASA image)The first reference to curved or warped space occurs not in science fiction, but in a work of mainstream science. It was put forward in 1. German astronomer named Karl Z. If the universe is infinite in extent, why is it dark at night? Thus distant stars “disappear over the horizon” just as ships disappear over the horizon on the curved surface of the Earth (this isn’t quite the way modern cosmologists would explain Olbers’ Paradox, although it may be a contributing factor). Although Z. He was a great admirer of the English scientist William Crookes, an outspoken proponent of spiritualism. What we perceive as ghosts are merely their three- dimensional “shadows”. With the help of an American psychic named Henry Slade, Z. He published his results in 1. William Crookes, called Transcendental Physics (available to read online). This was one of the first systematic attempts to study the paranormal using scientific methods – although the modern consensus is that Slade was a fraud, who fooled Z. He wasn’t a scientist or a mystic, but a mathematician – albeit a somewhat unorthodox one. He believed that striving to visualize four dimensional objects (which as I said earlier, is all but impossible for most people) was an effective way to expand the mental faculties – a kind of yoga for the mind. Hinton invented various shapes for his students to visualize, including a four- dimensional hypercube which he called a tesseract. His most important work on the subject was a book called A New Era of Thought, published in 1. Several people are supposed to have driven themselves insane trying to visualize Hinton’s tesseracts! As far as mainstream science is concerned, the fourth dimension became firmly established early in the 2. Einstein’s theory of relativity. This introduced the concept of a four- dimensional space- time continuum, which combines the three dimensions of space with a fourth dimension representing time. Although the idea of time as the fourth dimension wasn’t a new one, the novelty of Einstein’s theory lies in the fact that time was no longer independent of the other three dimensions. An object moving close to the speed of light becomes compressed in length and “dilated” in time. In his general theory of relativity, published in 1. Einstein was able to explain the phenomenon of gravity in terms of four- dimensional space- time. General Relativity was far from being a “theory of everything”, however – for example it could not explain electromagnetic forces. During the 1. 92. Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein proposed a theory involving five dimensions that would unify gravitation and electromagnetism. That was a step forward, but it was still unable to explain things like nuclear forces. Modern “theories of everything” need even more dimensions: the present record is held by M- theory, which invokes no fewer than eleven dimensions. Visualization of a tesseract, from Theosophy and the Fourth Dimension by Alexander Horne (1. TAGS: Astronomy, cosmology, fourth dimension, psychic, Science, Science Fiction, spiritualism, theosophy.
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