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Sri Aurobindo & Hyperspace, by Garry Jacobs

Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Thu 25 Jan 2007 01:59 PM PST  

Sri Aurobindo & Hyperspace

By Garry Jacobs

Nov. 27, 1999

(Musings on modern theories in physics presented by Michio Kaku in his book Hyperspace)

1.      The Special Theory of Relativity views time as a dimension. It finds that space and time are interchangeable. They can rotate into each other in a mathematically precise way. Reality is space-time.

Is there any sense in which Sri Aurobindo would view space and time as a single reality?

·        According to him, all reality resides in and issues from the Absolute. By a process of Self-conception, the Absolute manifests Being/Existence (Sat) and all that issues from it. The principle of time emerges when Being extends itself subjectively to become Consciousness-Force (Chit). The principle of space emerges when Being extends itself objectively to become an object to its own Self-Conscious experience. Space and time are different expressions of the same reality.

·        All Space and Time are the product of Chit, of a relationship between the Self-Consciousness that perceives (subjectively) and the Force that formulates itself as forms and movements of those forms (objectively).[1]

·        Space is the self-extension of Being in the form of constant or persistent movements that give the appearance of stable forms in contrast to Time, which is the same self-extension of Being in the form of changing movements. The same Being moves in two ways, as stable pattern of movement (space) and changing pattern of movement (time). The stable pattern appears as the backdrop for that which is changing.[2]

Is there any sense in which he would view space and time as interchangeable?

·        Being is one and indivisible. Only consciousness--not being, not existence--can be differentiated into multiple forms of the one Being by supermind and divided infinitely into smaller and smaller forms by mind and ego, forms with the appearance but not the reality of separate existence.

·        To human consciousness, time is a reflection of subjective inner reality and space is a reflection of objective external reality. But for Sat, there is no inner or outer. All is the Self-Conscious Being seen from the perspective of divided consciousness. What is subjective experience of imagination to one person is objective experience of reality to another. What is objective at one moment in time is retained as subjective experience afterwards. What begins subjectively as conception in mind becomes later objective reality in life and sometime later is converted back again into subjective experience in memory. 

2.      As matter speeds up, its mass increases and flattens (shortens in the direction of motion). Matter and energy are interconvertible. E = mc2

Would Sri Aurobindo agree that matter and energy are interconvertible?

·        According to him, all manifestation is a projection of energy as forms of force. All forms (physical, vital, mental and supramental) are nothing but formations of force.

·        Substance is inherent in Existence (Sat). Consciousness-Force (Chit) is an extension of Existence. Energy is an expression of Consciousness-Force. Therefore, Substance is inherent in Energy. [3] On the material plane, this means that matter, material substance, is an inherent property of material energy.

3.      General relativity suggests that all force may be a simply a consequence of geometry, not an action of one thing on another. Space-time is warped by matter-energy, giving rise to the appearance of forces acting. The curvature of space-time is directly related to the amount of energy and matter within the space. Matter-energy determines the curvature of space-time. Using Riemann’s mathematics, Einstein was able to unite gravity and electromagnetism by conceiving of time as the fourth dimension.

Would Sri Aurobindo agree that space-time and matter-energy are directly related and interdependent realities?

·        Since all issues from the Absolute and from Sat, the discovery of interdependence of the primary aspects of existence seems to bring physics to the very borders of spiritual truth.

·        Sat manifests itself as the universe through an act of Self-conception which is at once Consciousness (knowledge) and Force (will). The consciousness gives rise to subjectivity and objectivity. The Force gives rise to all energy and form, including material energy and form.

·        The appearance of material energy and form presupposes an act of conscious Self-conception which goes hand in hand with the manifestation of space-time.

·        Matter is Sat manifesting as form perceptible to the senses. Form is created by contrast and apparent division of spiritual substance that is one and indivisible. That act of manifesting Form-Matter simultaneously manifests Space by the same process of apparent division and contrast. As we know that Matter is Sat, so also Space is Sat. Everything in space is Sat. The field of perception of matter in space is Sat. All are representations of the same reality – the status of being.

·        Matter is Energy in motion manifesting Forms of Force. Space may be Energy at rest manifesting as field for the Forms of Force.

·        So also, we perceive energy or force as change of form in a succession over time. But all is Sat that modifies they way it divides itself. Instead of dividing spatially to distinguish forms, it divides itself temporally to distinguish moments and produce the experience of movement, force, time. In other words, the same spiritual substance changing its form is perceived as energy-time.

4.      Quantum theory seems to abandon Einstein’s conception of force as geometry in favor of explaining all force as the exchange of quanta of energy (e.g. photons, gravitons)  between various groupings of quarks and leptons which are also held together by small quanta of energy (e.g. gluons, bosons ). Quantum theory does not explain gravity. Also it appears that quantum theory dispenses with geometry and higher dimensions, thereby dispensing with Einstein’s wonderful insight into the relationship between space-time and mass-energy. It is a return to the reductionist’s hunt for the smallest manifest unit of matter and energy. Quantum theory formulas describe but cannot explain the symmetries observed between groupings of particles. The formulas are very complex and ‘ugly’.

·        It is fascinating to read how two completely different views of reality can both yield extremely accurate and reliable predictions within the scope of the reality they seek to describe. Obviously both cannot be true. That requires a theory which can be fully reconciled not only with the four forces but with space-time as well. The capacity to explain a part of the whole fully yet be unable to explain other parts or the whole of which they are parts is a characteristic of partial knowledge, partial truths, in any field and an indication that the answer lies at a higher or deeper layer of principles, that we are still looking at superficial expressions or symptoms, not root causes.

·        Economic development theories based on a single factor such as money or technology or institutions or information, etc. are of this type. The whole truth lies at a level that integrates all these partial factors within a wider framework.

·        Similarly, a theory of business development based on the five components or energy conversion or value formation would be internally consistent, but incomplete unless it was reconciled at a higher and deeper level with each of the other two aspects. They all meet at the point where external acts (and their higher counterparts--activities, systems, structures) of the organization express the internal energy of individual human character (internal organization of personality).

5.      Superstring theory is an attempt to describe energy as the vibration of infinitesimal strings. That answer may help unify all four forces and all subatomic particles with a common nomenclature and mathematics. But as Kaku points out more than once, there are no concepts or principles of reality upon which the theory is based. They have discovered a mathematical representation without a theoretical framework, whereas Einstein’s discoveries started with theory and led to the discovery of appropriate mathematics to express them. Superstring theory combines quantum mechanics with Einstein’s notion of geometry in a world of 10 or 26 physical dimensions.

What is the source of the energy or vibration which physics observes?

·        Sri Aurobindo departs from modern physics in one crucial respect. Whereas physics is searching to explain the existence and origin of energy from some antecedent or smallest finite source, he states that the origin of the energy is energy at rest, energy held in silent, motionless potential.

·        Is there any comparable concept in physics? Physics has the concept of potential energy, but potential energy is that which is stored in matter, one could say converted into mass, such as the potential energy of a stone placed on the top of a hill. But he is looking at it quite differently. The origin of all energy is Sat, which is energy at rest or in potential. The source of that energy is the will of sat (Chit) projecting potential energy into forms.

·        Sri Aurobindo writes in Archives that science will make a major breakthrough when it conceives of the silent, still source of energy underlying all existence.  The Absolute contains all in potential, both the capacity to manifest as existence (sat) and the capacity to remain unmanifest (asat--which Shankara and Buddhism misperceived as a void or non-existence, rather than an infinite unmanifest potential for existence).

·        The Absolute manifests as Sat, which at this stage has not yet become Consciousness-Force. Therefore all energy is held in potential. When Sat expresses itself as Consciousness-Force through the power of Supermind, it manifests as energy and forms. Therefore, the foundation, basis and origin of all energy is energy at rest held in potential.

·        In the chapter on Conscious Force in Life Divine, he described the condition of Chit prior to manifestation in form as a sea of energy or force at rest, ether. (It was interesting to read that Einstein did not reject or disprove the existence of ether, he only concluded that it was unnecessary to explain his theory.) The creation of vibrations (waves) in the sea by the self-conception (will) of Sat, which the Sankaya represent as the principle of ether, sets in motion the process by which forms are created in the universe. This primordial vibrations have something in common with the strings of Superstring theory.

The article (Superunification) excerpted below from Britannica on superstring theory postulates a void as the origin of everything and the emergence of forces from the void as a splitting into opposites (particles and anti-particles.)

·        The idea in this article that everything is created by splitting into opposites corresponds with what Sri Aurobindo describes as the differentiation of consciousness by Supermind into subject - object - experience and the division of consciousness by Mind into opposite values.

6.      Kaku’s whole book is an endeavor to support the idea of higher physical dimensions which are compressed or rolled up in so small a space that it is beyond and may forever be beyond our capacity to verify their existence.

What does Sri Aurobindo have to say about higher dimensions?

·        He has much to say about higher, non-material planes of existence which can be considered dimensions in the sense that they are unperceived by the material plane but act upon and interact with it.

·        Ancient tradition variously speaks of seven, eight, ten or more planes. In Life Divine, he settles for eight (physical, vital, mental, psychic and supermind, being, consciousness, bliss). But only one of these eight is physical.

·        Kaku says that the ‘magic numbers’ 8 and 24 appear over and over again miraculously in superstring theory as well as in Ramanajam’s work. From these are derived the 8 + 2 and 24 +2 dimensions. Interestingly, the Mother says that in all ancient occult traditions, 8 is the number signifying the Infinite and 10 is the number of manifestation (something established in manifestation). 

·        Ignoring the psychic plane, (which may not appear in the descending involutionary hierarchy of planes but only in the evolutionary hierarchy?), you get seven planes. Counting the physical as four dimensions as Einstein does would make a total of ten.

·        It is not clear whether non-physical planes could substitute for purely physical ones in the scientists’ formulas.

·        Sri Aurobindo and Mother also refer to the subtle physical as a plane which can be directly experienced. It is a subliminal plane which is closely related to the physical plane. All physical events occur first there. All physical beings and objects exist there.

·        It is not clear how many dimensions exist on each of these planes. Does the subtle physical have only three spatial dimensions? What about the others?

·        It is also not clear from what Sri Aurobindo has written whether there is any inherent reason why the physical plane should necessarily have three or four dimensions and not more or less. Since manifestation consists of an involution of consciousness-force within forms and its gradually evolution out of them, we might argue that a third dimension of depth (inner-outer) is essential to Nature. We live on the surface of a infinite inner being. But why not more than three dimensions?

7.      Time: Einstein said: “People like us…know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

·        Sri Aurobindo says that in Comprehending Supermind one has the triple-time vision, simultaneous knowledge of past, present and future because all exist simultaneously in that plane like a river flowing from one direction to another than can be traced to its source or followed to its outlet. In supermind, space and time appear as one reality and seem to be interchangeable.

·        Kaku worries that if time travel were possible, the laws of causality would crumble (e.g. we could go back and change the past ad infinitum). Since Sri Aurobindo defines time as the subjective self-extension of Being, Time travel may be better conceived of as a movement in subjective consciousness than as an objective movement in space. Time travel is not done by a machine, but by an act of consciousness. There are countless examples to demonstrate that the action of the supramental force can alter past causality and create a new present (e.g. consecration of the origins of a disease that has been carefully diagnosed as chronic or fatal has been followed on many occasions by a physician’s rediagnosis that the disease does not exist).

8.      Physics and Mathematics: Citing the great mathematician Alfred Whitehead,  Kaku says that no one has a reasonable theory to explain why mathematics and physics share concepts and are so intertwined.

Sri Aurobindo provides the link between form and numbers. [4]

·        All substance (physical as well as spiritual) is derived from Existence (Sat). Substance, including material substance, is form given to Existence.

·        Existence extends itself as Consciousness Force (Chit). All energy is an expression of Consciousness Force. Therefore, Substance is a latent property of Energy and is inherent in it.

·        In order for Substance to become perceptible to us as Matter, the Energy must give that substance Forms which can be apprehended by our senses. That is the role of Mind (the universal principle of mind). Consciousness Force uses the instrumentation of Mind to divide the indivisible existence into individual Forms. Consciousness Force or Energy manifests forms out of the formless One by a process of division (Consciousness Force is divided and parceled into small pieces, not Existence).

·        This division into numerous Forms gives rise to quantity and number. The apparent division by the One creates a field of Many forms. Therefore, quantity, number and design, which are the basis of mathematics, are inherent characteristics of Substance (Existence), i.e. of Matter.

·        He goes on to say that quality and property are inherent powers of Consciousness-Force. Consciousness-Force manifests quality and property by an apparent division and aggregation of substance, i.e. by creation of quantity and number. “Design, quantity and number manifest quality and property by a rhythm and process of substance.” 

·        All force and form is an expression of the truth and beauty of the Existence. Truth manifests as rhythm and balance. Beauty manifests as symmetry. Rhythm, balance and symmetry are basic attributes of mathematics.

·        In summary, creation is by a process of division into quantity, quantity is the basis for the differentiation and expression of quality. For example, the eye perceives the quality and properties of material forms by the number of color cells on the retina that are stimulated by the visible energy reflected by each object. Color itself is a manifestation of quality derived from the numerical frequency of visible light. The artist conveys the quality and intensity of objects by the quantity of paint applied to the canvas. The composer conveys the quality and intensity of music by the volume of sound and variations in the quantitative rate of vibration of the instruments. The basis of everything digital, audio as well as video, is number.

·        Mathematics is not only the basis for physics. It is the basis or language of all life. Ultimately all branches of knowledge will discover a mathematical basis for truths of life.

9.      Holism and Reductionism: Kaku describes the on-going war in physics between those who want to focus on the cosmology of the big picture and those who search for truth in the smallest indivisible parts. In the current search for a unified theory, the Relativists are the holistic cosmologists and the quantum theorists are the reductionists. Neither by itself is able to unify all four forces of Nature. Superstring Theory combines and integrates Relativity and Quantum theory within a larger framework that encompasses all four forces.

How does Sri Aurobindo define the appropriate relationship between holism and reductionism? Does he provide a methodology for their integration?

·        According to Sri Aurobindo, the whole is the indivisible One (Self-Conscious Being, Sat), the parts are the Many. Both are partial truths. The Absolute is the infinite potential which is greater than either the whole or the parts but contains and exceeds both, since it also includes that which is beyond manifestation.

·        Mind can know the One or the Many, but not both simultaneously or in relationship to each other. It can know by division or by aggregation, but neither of these generates integral knowledge. That is why the materialist and the spiritualist have mutually exclusive perspectives. One knows the physical world (the manifest infinite), the other spiritual truth (the unmanifest infinite), but neither can reconcile the one with the other and see the process of the One becoming the Many and evolving back to Oneness. Supermind can know the Absolute and therefore it can simultaneously know the One and the Many in relation to each other. That knowledge which integrates the whole and the parts has the character of supermind.

·        In development theory, we view the whole as the entire fabric of the social organization than evolves as an increasingly complex web of interconnectedness. The parts include all the known components of development such as technology, infrastructure, education, money, markets, etc. The micro-unit and microcosm of the whole is the individual human being, which is an organized universe in itself. Our theory views the organization of the collective and the organization of each individual in the society in their relationship with each other as integral parts of a greater whole. Thus we identify the subconscious will of the collective and the exercise of conscious individual human choice as two as two crucial aspects of a dynamic interaction between the individual and collective. Here the largest unit of society and the smallest unit of the individual are reconciled within a single consistent framework governed by the same principles. The underlying and integrating theoretical basis for the development theory is the Process of Creation described by Sri Aurobindo, which reveals the same principles and creative process taking place at all levels.

What practical benefit (methodology) would the scientist derive from knowing Sri Aurobindo?

·        Instead of starting with either the parts or the whole, scientists would start with the theory of creation that is valid at all levels in the universe. That theory shows the Whole and the Parts in proper relationship to each other and describes the process by which the formless One becomes the Many forms of energy and matter in the universe. It would trace the origin of space, time, substance and energy from Self-Conscious Being as Sri Aurobindo does in the chapter in Life Divine on Cosmic Determinants. It would consider what physicist Ivo Slaus called ‘a third hypothesis of conscious Volition’ (Self-Conception) that reconciles the Chance of quantum theory and the Necessity of Relativity within a wider framework. It would seek for the source of energy not in its smallest manifest quanta but in the formless sea from which all manifest energy emerges and it would seek to understand the process by which that energy at rest gives rise to forms as described in the chapter on Conscious Force.

·        Physics is considered the first of the sciences because it is the foundation of physical matter and energy. Thus, physics has become the model which all other sciences seek to emulate because matter is assumed to be the origin of all in the universe. But if Sri Aurobindo’s view is accepted that Consciousness is the origin of all in the universe, perhaps physics should be considered the last science and the least suitable model for others to follow, because it deals with the most deeply involved processes of the inconscient, where the action of consciousness is the most difficult to detect. Since the process of creation is the same at all levels of manifestation, the more conscious sciences and arts of mind (psychology, artistic creation, business creation, social development) may be models from which physics can benefit enormously. For in these cases the process of creation is at least partially conscious. We can see mental intention generate and release energy and energy manifest as forms.

·        A physics modeled after the more conscious sciences (not as they exist today but as they would develop based on Sri Aurobindo’s process of creation) would focus on the interactions between matter and energy and consciousness, rather than trying to remove consciousness from the equation. It would seek to understand the nature of matter and energy in terms of consciousness force, rather than consciousness as a by-product of matter and energy.

10.   Kaku expresses concern that the progress of Superstring theory has brought physics to the borders beyond which physical experimentation may be very difficult, forcing theoreticians to take the lead in the development of science.. Science states that any theory must be testable in order to be considered a theory. Some scientists argue that since superstring theory is not testable, due to the enormous energy it would require, it is not really a theory.

What constitutes valid theory?

·        Kaku quotes English philosopher David Hume, who was famous for advancing the thesis that every theory must be grounded on experimentation. Hume states that the essence of experimentation is reproducibility. But it seems that even Hume concluded that it is impossible to verify any theory of Creation. If this is the case, than surely Sri Aurobindo’s theory of creation warrants a rational consideration by science based on the same principles applied to evaluation of superstring theory. In fact, Sri Aurobindo would say that his theory is amenable to experimental verification, but not of the type now prevalent in physics.

·        Since Superstring theory cannot be verified, some scientists ask whether Beauty is a physical principle that can be substituted for experimental verification of a theory. If so, what could be more beautiful than universe as a self-conception and manifestation of  Satchidananda?

What is science?

·        According to many of the scientists quoted by Kaku, science must confine itself to those fields that are subject to experimental verification.

·        In practice, physics and all science today starts with an in-built bias, an unstated assumption that the nature of reality is physical and it must be verifiable by physical experimentation. There is no evidence or logical reason for presuming this to be true. It is only a prejudice derived from the historical emergence of science as a reaction to religion and superstition in Europe.

·        True science is knowledge of reality, regardless of whether that reality proves to be purely physical as the physicist assumes or purely spiritual as Sri Aurobindo maintains.

 What is the rightful role of experimentation in science?

·        Experimentation can be used to generate data that leads to the formulation of theory and it can be used to validate theory once formulated. But it cannot, as it often is made to do, serve as a substitute for mental processes. Knowledge exists in Mind, not in data. The rightful emphasis in science should be on generation of consistent and coherent mental formulations and then the testing of those formulations.

·        Science may object that a spiritual hypothesis cannot be entertained by science because it is not experimentally verifiable. That means science is saying that even if the nature of reality is not physical or verifiable, we will assume that it is and pursue that as ultimate truth.

·        Actually, there is ample scope for experimentation and validation of rational hypotheses based on Sri Aurobindo’s view when the bias against consciousness and the apriori insistence on examining only material factors is removed.

·        The nature of the experimentation must, of course, be appropriate to the nature of the reality we are trying to assess. We cannot expect to understand higher mental processes such as the artistic creation of Shakespeare or the genius of an Einstein by taking blood samples or monitoring brain waves. We would want to at least talk with the subject and find out what they experienced at the moment of creation and the subjective process in consciousness that they went through.



Excerpt from Brittanica 1998 CD article on Space-Time and Origin of Universe

Superunification and the Planck era

Why should a net baryon fraction initially of zero be more appealing aesthetically than 10-9? The underlying motivation here is perhaps the most ambitious undertaking ever attempted in the history of science--the attempt to explain the creation of truly everything from literally nothing. In other words, is the creation of the entire universe from a vacuum possible? (see also Index: superstring theory)

The evidence for such an event lies in another remarkable fact. It can be estimated that the total number of protons in the observable universe is an integer 80 digits long. No one of course knows all 80 digits, but for the argument about to be presented, it suffices only to know that they exist. The total number of electrons in the observable universe is also an integer 80 digits long. In all likelihood these two integers are equal, digit by digit--if not exactly, then very nearly so. This inference comes from the fact that, as far as astronomers can tell, the total electric charge in the universe is zero (otherwise electrostatic forces would overwhelm gravitational forces). Is this another coincidence, or does it represent a deeper connection? The apparent coincidence becomes trivial if the entire universe was created from a vacuum since a vacuum has by definition zero electric charge. It is a truism that one cannot get something for nothing. The interesting question is whether one can get everything for nothing. Clearly, this is a very speculative topic for scientific investigation, and the ultimate answer depends on a sophisticated interpretation of what "nothing" means.

The words "nothing," "void," and "vacuum" usually suggest uninteresting empty space. To modern quantum physicists, however, the vacuum has turned out to be rich with complex and unexpected behaviour. They envisage it as a state of minimum energy where quantum fluctuations, consistent with the uncertainty principle of the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, can lead to the temporary formation of particle-antiparticle pairs. In flat space-time, destruction follows closely upon creation (the pairs are said to be virtual) because there is no source of energy to give the pair permanent existence. All the known forces of nature acting between a particle and antiparticle are attractive and will pull the pair together to annihilate one another. In the expanding space-time of the very early universe, however, particles and antiparticles may separate and become part of the observable world. In other words, sharply curved space-time can give rise to the creation of real pairs with positive mass-energy, a fact first demonstrated in the context of black holes by the English astrophysicist Stephen W. Hawking.

Yet Einstein's picture of gravitation is that the curvature of space-time itself is a consequence of mass-energy. Now, if curved space-time is needed to give birth to mass-energy and if mass-energy is needed to give birth to curved space-time, which came first, space-time or mass-energy? The suggestion that they both rose from something still more fundamental raises a new question: What is more fundamental than space-time and mass-energy? What can give rise to both mass-energy and space-time? No one knows the answer to this question, and perhaps some would argue that the answer is not to be sought within the boundaries of natural science.

Hawking and the American cosmologist James B. Hartle have proposed that it may be possible to avert a beginning to time by making it go imaginary (in the sense of the mathematics of complex numbers) instead of letting it suddenly appear or disappear. Beyond a certain point in their scheme, time may acquire the characteristic of another spatial dimension rather than refer to some sort of inner clock. Another proposal states that, when space and time approach small enough values (the Planck values; see below), quantum effects make it meaningless to ascribe any classical notions to their properties. The most promising approach to describe the situation comes from the theory of "superstrings."

Superstrings represent one example of a class of attempts, generically classified as superunification theory, to explain the four known forces of nature--gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and strong--on a single unifying basis. Common to all such schemes are the postulates that quantum principles and special relativity underlie the theoretical framework. Another common feature is supersymmetry, the notion that particles with half-integer values of the spin angular momentum (fermions) can be transformed into particles with integer spins (bosons).

The distinguishing feature of superstring theory is the postulate that elementary particles are not mere points in space but have linear extension. The characteristic linear dimension is given as a certain combination of the three most fundamental constants of nature: (1) Planck's constant h (named after the German physicist Max Planck, the founder of quantum physics), (2) the speed of light c, and (3) the universal gravitational constant G. The combination, called the Planck length (Gh/c3)1/2, equals roughly 10-33 cm, far smaller than the distances to which elementary particles can be probed in particle accelerators on the Earth.

The energies needed to smash particles to within a Planck length of each other were available to the universe at a time equal to the Planck length divided by the speed of light. This time, called the Planck time (Gh/c5)1/2, equals approximately 10-43 second. At the Planck time, the mass density of the universe is thought to approach the Planck density, c5/hG2, roughly 1093 g/cm3. Contained within a Planck volume is a Planck mass (hc/G)1/2, roughly 10-5 g. An object of such mass would be a quantum black hole, with an event horizon close to both its own Compton length (distance over which a particle is quantum mechanically "fuzzy") and the size of the cosmic horizon at the Planck time. Under such extreme conditions, space-time cannot be treated as a classical continuum and must be given a quantum interpretation.

The latter is the goal of the superstring theory, which has as one of its features the curious notion that the four space-time dimensions (three space dimensions plus one time dimension) of the familiar world may be an illusion. Real space-time, in accordance with this picture, has 26 or 10 space-time dimensions, but all of these dimensions except the usual four are somehow compacted or curled up to a size comparable to the Planck scale. Thus has the existence of these other dimensions escaped detection. It is presumably only during the Planck era, when the usual four space-time dimensions acquire their natural Planck scales, that the existence of what is more fundamental than the usual ideas of mass-energy and space-time becomes fully revealed. Unfortunately, attempts to deduce anything more quantitative or physically illuminating from the theory have bogged down in the intractable mathematics of this difficult subject. At the present time superstring theory remains more of an enigma than a solution. back2

Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica



[1] “Subjectivity and objectivity are only two sides of one consciousness…any given time or Space or any given Time-Space as a whole is a status of being in which there is a movement of the consciousness and force of the being, a movement that creates or manifests events and happenings; it is the relation of the consciousness that sees and the force that formulates the happening, a relation inherent in the status, which determines  the sense of Time…” Life Divine, p.362.

[2] “the two would be then a dual aspect of one and the same self-extension of the cosmic Eternal…Time could be a dimension of Space necessary for the complete action of the Energy, but not understood by us as such…” Life Divine, p.360.