Mind — The Forgotten Dimension

By Alan Thurley

Thoughts are the explorers of the mind.

Mind is Universal. It cannot be isolated, nor can it be limited. What is it then that we call ‘mind’ in everyday life?

We refer to it as if it were a part of each one of us individually; as if we owned it. “My mind”.

What exactly do we mean by that?

Essentially, we claim thoughts and memories as belonging to us individually, and in a sense that is correct. However, thoughts and memories, or indeed ideas, are not actually mind, are they? They are simply the products of mind, which is vastly different. Somewhat like physical objects being the ‘products’ of space-time.

Where is mind?

Ordinarily we would answer, “in the head”. But is it?

The head contains the brain and its associated principal sense organs for interfacing to the physical world. Where is the mind? No-one has ever found even a hint of a physical mind. It is not physical; that is, it does not exist in the realm of space.

But I know I’ve got a mind, don’t I? I can think, remember, have ideas, relate to the physical world in an entirely non-physical way, and I can communicate and discuss this with others of my kind. So of course I have a mind!

But in truth I do not. I only have access to mind. I do not own it. Not even a tiny little bit of it.

That would be like claiming to own a bit of time, or a bit of space.

In the same way that we occupy a portion of space or time, so we occupy a portion of mind. When we die, those portions are still there, part of the Universal Whole. They just don’t have the characteristics relating to “me” anymore.

So let us look at mind in the sense of a ‘new’ dimension of the Universe. We can then view thought, ideas, and memory, as being characteristics of this dimension.

In our previous discussion, on parallel universes, we saw that time travel is impossible without invoking a higher dimension in which it may take place. I have suggested mind to be such a higher dimension, so a test of this proposal would be to see whether time travel now becomes possible. And indeed it does.

We have been travelling in time so extensively and complacently all our lives, that we haven’t even noticed it happening. We do it almost every moment of our lives. We call it “planning” if it’s movement into the future, “remembering” if into the past, and “imagination” if it’s movement into the fourth spatial dimension.

Since these processes are so universal and commonplace, there is no further need for confirmation that Mind is Dimension. Physical time travel still remains impossible, however, at least until we discover a method of transporting our physical bodies by thought alone; in the sixth dimension.

Mind, being non-physical, indeed transcending the physical, is not bound by the Laws of the physical, of Space-Time. Thus the discovery, by Einstein, of the speed of light as the limiting speed of motion or physical information exchange, no longer applies. Current thinking on the very early expansion of the Universe, at the time of the Big Bang, suggests a period of incredibly rapid expansion at far beyond light speed. It may be that this expansion was entirely non-physical. Perhaps a manifestation of a higher order dimension. Thus the speed of thought may not be inherently limited by the physical constraints of space-time.

Communication takes place in Mind between all forms of Life on this planet. It is not too difficult to experience the alive-ness of trees and plants, as well as of the animal kingdom. One can feel and appreciate this life, and know unity with it. There is no reason to suppose that such inter-species communication should not extend to all life-forms in the entire Universe of galaxies and stars without number.

The fulfilment of God cannot be less than that.

Let us now look at the three obvious attributes of this new dimension of Mind, to see how they relate to the physical world we know.

Consider ideas. Are they a part of the brain? Can they be located as physical or electrical patterns? What gives rise to an idea? Does it grow, mature, and die, as in normal physical fife processes?

We do not. know how ideas form, but it is possible they may originate from co-incident memories or memo relationships. Thus we may have a train of thought which “touches” a related image or sequence in memory and this triggers off an entirely new thought process. An idea.

Even when written down on paper, or spoken of, an idea is clearly riot limited to the individual. It seems to have an existence of its own. It can initiate fundamental changes in the physical realm.

An idea cannot be owned, or kept exclusively by the person of origin, and retain its value. Such an idea will become fossilised, distorted; a hindrance to the idea forming process. Perhaps even cause physical ill effects, or mental dysfunction. A claimed idea becomes obsessive. It demands too great a part of memory, thus making for personal instability and aberrant behaviour.

The problem here is the memory, which is being overloaded by the idea, so that the person forgets himself.

Memory is also an attribute of Mind.

It is, perhaps, the dominant part of our perceived contact with this ‘new’ Dimension. It is clearly an interface between mind and the physical world. It enables us to make effectively, maps and measurements in the dimensions of space. If this ability were to be impaired, then one would become restricted or confined. One would be lost.

As we need to make maps of space to function in the dimensions of space, so we need to make maps of Time, and of Mind, in order to operate effectively in those dimensions also. Memory allows all of this, and also maps of the inter-relationships between maps.

Memory is a valuable and essential tool in our lives. It is also essential for our very existence. It provides the blueprint of our physical being, without which we could not exist.

It seems that memory comes in different aspects according to its purpose. A parallel exists here with computer memory, which comes in two basic kinds, “read-only’”, and “random-access”.

Read-only memory is exactly that, pre-programmed for some specific: purpose. The obvious parallel is the type of memory which determines the shape of physical entities and things. It produces effects like phantom limbs after amputation, when the memory survives the physical counter­part. This type of memory is accessed at a very fundamental (at least cellular) level.

Random-access memory, on the other hand, is appropriate to comparisons, map making, and route finding. To relationships in fact, where correlation needs to be found immediately from a vast store of mostly irrelevant information.

Our normal cognisance of memory is as storage for thoughts and images.

This is also true, and it allows us to function in the physical realm, by providing comparison images continuously, for every move we make in whatever circumstance. These images offer an option for present action, based on previous experience. Excess use of any one option constitutes habit.

Memory is also essential for our perpetual excursions in time.

If it were not for memory these would be disastrous for we would have no reference to the real world. We would be “de-ranged”; without measure or reference to the Now.

The third attribute of Mind is thought. The ability consciously to link ideas and memories together. To alter them, and ma be to create something entirely new. All without recourse to the physical world. Thoughts are the explorers of the Mind.

Another aspect of thought is in the assessment and storage of experiences in memory.

Much of the thought and activity of everyday life is relatively unimportant, and does not need to be stored in memory at an immediately accessible level. This process of grading and evaluation takes place largely and efficiently whilst we sleep. In part it is responsible for dreams.

Most dreams are related in some way to the previous waking period. If one is deprived of sleep for an extended period, the dream process eventually forces priority, with illusion and hallucination as the result. In this case the dream state cannot be separated from the real world, and one is literally beside oneself with tiredness. A very vulnerable condition, in which reality is suspended.

It is well known that a problem can be solved by “sleeping on it”. This is due to the sifting and value comparison which takes place in sleep. Like looking for related facts in a library, it is much more effectively done in silence.

In our discussion so far, nothing has been said of the brain and its part in the processes of Mind.

This is largely because the brain is still very much a mystery. It is known that removal of certain parts of the brain affect memory or physical function. What is not known, is how memory is stored in the brain; or even if memory is stored in the brain.

Certainly, as we have seen, some memory is stored in the cells of the body. This ensures survival of the entity in cases of brain damage, even to the point where brain function seems totally lost.

It is known that short term memory is stored in the brain. Aluminium salts, (and Alzheimer’s disease,) can render this ineffective whilst having no apparent effect on long term memory. Conversely, concussion causes loss of long term memory, whilst not affecting recent memory.

Thus it would seem that the physical brain is probably the site of recent memory, while long term memory is held elsewhere in mind. Access to this “elsewhere” being by means of some area of the brain which can effectively be “turned off” by a physical blow; as in concussion.

The computer equivalent of this separate area of recent memory storage is called “cache” memory, (pronounced “cash” or “kaysh”) which is used to improve the speed and efficiency of the machine. In the brain, this recent memory keeps us aware of the present situation or thought pattern.

It is not difficult to remember that pause, or blank moment, when a train of thought is interrupted. If this were the normal delay between thoughts our reactions to danger would be far too slow. Hence a cache-type memory situated in the brain, with direct access to the principal senses, has survival value.

I have suggested that the brain is in fact a sensor, or transducer, accessing Mind. Why then, if the bulk of memory is stored in another dimension, can we not access another person’s memory as well as our own?

The answer to this, of course, is that we can; in much the same way as we would enter someone else’s house. With permission, and given the address.

Again, a look at the computer may help.

Much computer memory is stored on disk, and accessed by way of a catalogue containing addresses and details of the type and size of the memory sections. Without this catalogue the disc is useless, for without this information none of the memory can be read. It is simply a jumbled pattern of magnetic impulses.

However, such a sharing of Mind is possible, with the right key. A key that unlocks complete trust.

There is only one such key; Love.

A Sufi teaching story illustrates this:

One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked. A voice asked: “Who is there?”

He answered: “It is I.”

The voice said: “There is no room here for me and thee. “ The door was shut.

After a year of solitude and deprivation this man returned to the door of the Beloved. He knocked.

A voice from within asked: “Who is there?” The man said: “It is thou.”

The door was opened for him.

Jalaludin Rumi

Thus the acknowledged ability of the Enlightened Holy Ones completely to “know” the supplicant is explained.

We seem to have moved a long way from a consideration of Mind as Dimension. However it has been necessary to remind ourselves of how we function in this dimension, and of how the dimensions of Space and Time relate to it.

It should be remembered that each “higher” dimension may hold many sets of the “lower” dimensions. Our five-dimensional space-time Universe is therefore not unique.

However, and much more interestingly, the dimension of Mind is common to all those “other” Universes, throughout the whole of time, and thus will contain the memories and thoughts of all the beings in all the Universes.

What infinite treasure!

© 1992 Alan Thurley

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