According to the prophet Joseph Smith, the spirit world is not on some distant planet or star, nor is it millions of miles from earth. The world of spirits is right here, around us. He also taught that many of the righteous spirits in the spirit world are able to observe our actions and hear our thoughts. Sometimes they are saddened by the things they see us do and think.

The best scientific explanation for two entities being in the same location where only one is able to view the other is dimensionality. Dimensionality is a Euclidian concept that refers to the number of specific points needed to define any location within space.

We live in a 3 dimensional world where we are able to define any point in our space with 3 spatial dimensions (up or down the y-axis, left of right on the x-axis, and in or out on the z-axis). In our 3rd dimension world we are able to view 1 and 2 dimensional space because they are lower than our 3rd dimension. Yet, an entity restricted to 1 or 2 dimensional space would not be able to experience our higher 3rd dimension world. 

Know where this is going?

Could it be that the spirit world is in a higher 4th dimension of space? If this is true and we apply the same logic, then spirits in the 4th dimension would be able to see our 3rd dimension world, but we would not be able to see their world. All the while our two worlds could be in the same location because the 3rd dimension exists within the 4th dimension.

Here are a couple of short video clips that describe this process in greater detail. The videos describe a fictional 2 dimension world called Flat Land and its relationship to a 3 dimension world. The denizens of 2-D Flat Land are unable to “see” our 3-D world but we are able to see them because we are in a higher dimension. The first video is a comic description of Flat Land by Dr. Quantum (may be skipped). The second video is a more sophisticated but easy to follow presentation of Flat Land by Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan also gives some insight into the mind boggling essence of the 4th dimension, the possible location of the spirit world.

Are we like the Flat Landers, living in a lower dimension than the 4-D world of spirits, unable to see their world, yet being visible to them?  Or is the world of spirits in a dimension higher than the 4th, possibly the 5th or 6th? These are interesting questions to ponder.

 


Comments

Randy LaMonda

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 3:41:42 pm

I thought that time was the fourth demension. Brian Greene, in Elegant Universe, talked though about multiple demensions in String Theory. (If my memory serves me, I think it was like 17 demensions). I do agree with the basic premise though or even that during the 14 billion years of the universe's existence, life could have evolved into a spirit form. Always thought that God had a true form, a form that he took when dealing with humans and a spirit form to take on for travel.

 

Dave C.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 3:50:23 pm

Randy,

Time is the 4th in Minkowski space which is different from Euclidean space referred to in this post. String theory is absolutely mind boggling. I saw a special on String Theory and it took me a few hours to recover from trying to conceptualize strings. The entity that gives God his omniscience and omnipresence/transcendence is the Light of Christ.

 

Bookslinger

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 9:50:19 pm

Yes. String theory and Stephen Hawkings' speculations on the universe have certain things that can be seen as overlapping some parts of Mormon doctrine, or "Mormon Thought" as few consider the King Follet Discourse to be doctrine.

In Hawkings' world, our universe is a bubble in a bigger multiverse. That might allow each god to have a universe of their own.

 

Dave C.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 8:48:51 am

Bookslinger,

The concept of each god having his own bubble universe is an intriguing concept. It would definately satisfy the criterion of having worlds without number. However, if there is just one universe, then I am inclined to think that each god "owns" a galaxy, which also satisfies the worlds without number criterion.

 

Jason C

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 2:57:56 pm

I think it is recorded in the DC that what is light, is spirit, is matter, is truth. Because of this I have always surmised that either the spirit world exists in a band of the EM spectrum that we are unable to perceive, or, as Joseph Smith taught also, spirit is matter, only more refined. Because what we perceive as matter is mostly empty space, and I think spirit, or matter more refined, is even emptier space, we do not perceive spirit at all (except by feeling in our own spirits). However, to a spirit with a more refined perception, they can perceive their own matter and ours more crude form.

The dimension thing was interesting, and although I may be missing the boat, I think talking as though the 2-d world people could "see" each other automatically assumes they are in a 3-d world anyway - what are they "seeing" except the very small thickness of the edge of the neighbor shape? and even if that thickness could approach zero to the point of being completely 2-d, thickness still exists, therefore up and down.

 

Dave C.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 5:51:19 pm

Jason,
There was a star trek NG where the Enterprise encountered a 2-D world. I might have to go back and watch that episode while keeping your aforementioned comment about the 2-D world in mind. Your hypothesis about the spiritual domain sounds plausible.

 

S.Faux

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:09:38 am

Interesting thoughts. I do not know about the dimensionality thing or your conceptualization of time, but I do strongly believe there is more to the universe than is now realized by both our current science and our religion. Hence, there is a need for more scientific research AND continuing revelation. (I do NOT mean to suggest that we can be confident of nothing).

Thanks for thinking about these issues.

 

Lost in Peanut butter

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 8:41:41 pm

I totally agree with your conceptualization of time and space. I believe God is the Universe and there is no entity can be even bigger than universe, however, universe do span and the universe is multi-dimensional. I agree with you that spirit world is in 4th dimensional world within universe, and it interact with 3D world, yet not in the same time and space. When the time and space of these two worlds fold together, which is impossible but do exist.

 

Ricos

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:30:22 pm

I feel that Adam and Eve were able to see the other dimension before they took the forbidden fruit,according to scripture

 

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