By G.L. Millington, author of Vitaglyph
A core tenet of spirituality is that we are connected to something greater and more true. That the world we see actually obscures our true nature. Often this means seeking deeper connection with nature, or turning to the idea of a higher power, and so on.
However, there is another prospect for connection to the universe that many spiritual people ignore completely, even though this prospect was revealed to us by one of the smartest people in history.
When we take a look around us, we see a world of 3-dimensions (length, width, height). But, according to many theoretical physicists, such as Albert Einstein, there is another dimension that we cannot see.
This is the Time Dimension.
Our everyday experience has a feeling of impermanence about it. Things happen, then they’re gone, evaporated into the past, as new things start to happen. But according to theoretical physicists, this isn’t how the universe actually works.
Instead of disappearing, moments persist. They continue to exist even if our experience of them does not. Each new temporal moment (such as this one) is layered upon the last and has the next moment layered on top of it; similar to how a 3D printer creates objects by adding layer upon layer to it.
And, as with the 3D printer, the accumulated moments in the time dimension ultimately create new connected, contiguous shapes based on changes across all the layers. This is the extra dimension of our universe that we do not see, being that our perception is restricted to the present.
It’s bizarre to think that there are unseen, physical connections extending from our arms and legs and bodies. But, imagine if we could actually see the moments that have just passed, our neighboring moments. These moments appearing to us, revealing new shapes and textures, as real as the ones we already see around us. Visualizing this begins to reveal our connection to the universe as it truly exists.
The shape and orientation of your body in past moments determines what layers you currently sit upon. Even while sitting at a table, layers and layers of moments are perpetually cast off. A change in posture creates a layer that will contrast slightly with the last one. Sitting perfectly still creates uniform layers, one after another.
It’s not just the contours of our bodies that creates new layers, it’s our internal action as well. Our very thoughts, based on brain activity, cast off layer upon layer. The thought you have now adds on top of the thought you just had and so on. The changing neuronal activity from moment to moment accumulates into long, complex patterns across Space-Time.
There is a lot more going on inside us that would also characterize the layers we cast off: your circulatory system, the way your muscles contract, your heartbeat, etc. Each experience you have informs what kind of layer you cast off.
What’s amazing about this is that when you start to imagine the traces your body and mind leave, you are also imagining your true surroundings in the Space-Time universe. The nature of your lived experience and the motions you endure are what actually make up your surroundings in all Space-Time. Even though our thoughts seem to come and go, in reality, they have a permanent, fixed address in all Space-Time.
However vast all of Space-Time is, this is our little nook. Our small corner. Our span of rock wall in a dark cave. Perhaps, never interacted with or perhaps sometimes illuminated by energies beyond our knowledge. Regardless, we can know that, however ephemeral and insignificant our lives sometimes seem, we are most assuredly a part of something larger.
G.L. Millington is the author of Vitaglyph, which explores what an entire evolutionary system would look like in all Space-Time. Or, put another way: What Evolution would look like to God.