Notes from Mathilde Scholl 1904–1906

GA 91 — 25 August 1906

7. The Fourth Dimension III

One can also call the third dimension, which represents space, the dimension of impermeability, of seclusion. On the other hand, in comparison with the third dimension, the fourth dimension can be called that of the intermediate space, of permeability, of openness. Just as in the physical the third dimension, in the psychic the sixth dimension is also a dimension of seclusion, of fortification and demarcation, because there everything psychic in a particular, the I, secludes itself from the environment. In the self-consciousness the I, the individuality, separates itself from the other beings of the sixth dimension. In the same way as the fourth dimension is a dimension of permeability, of openness in comparison to the third dimension, the seventh dimension is also a dimension of opening up in comparison to the closedness of the sixth dimension. In the seventh dimension the I goes out again as a pure, selfless thought into the environment. In the ninth dimension a closing takes place again, in self-created forms. And in the tenth dimension, on the other hand, a coming forth takes place again, the coming forth of a new cosmos.

We know that the point has no extension. It is assumed to be the boundary of a line, but it is in truth also the boundary of a three-dimensional body, and its boundary inside, at the center. A straight line goes from one starting point to another. If we assume that starting point and end point coincide with the straight line, a circle is formed. That, which is infinite, finds only in itself a closedness, but is never closed to the outside, otherwise it would be finite. Therefore also the infinite straight line is closed in itself, forms a circle. Likewise, the infinite surface, which is not closed to the outside, finds its closure in itself; it forms a sphere. In order for the line to be infinite, it must curve into a circle. In order for the sphere to be infinite, it must also curve back into itself, out of every point of its circumference.

A sphere curved back into itself, an infinite sphere, converges again in one point, its center. There the sphere is in the fourth dimension. This center of the sphere in the fourth dimension is then bounded by spheres. Twelve spheres form the boundary of the sphere which has passed into the four-dimensional. The four-dimensional sphere is the intermediate entity between the twelve spheres, a thirteenth entity enclosing the twelve spheres.

In the same way, a cube can be thought of as passing into the fourth dimension. It must plunge into the center with its three dimensions terminating in its eight corners; the eight corners then coincide with the center. To the outside then the intersecting surfaces of eight cubes arise, which, each standing on a corner - standing in the center - in which the opposite corner is folded back, appear cut through. These cut faces form hexagons. Thus, when a cube transitions to the fourth dimension, to the midpoint, the boundaries of that point form the eight cubes standing on their tops, folded back into themselves, with eight hexagons as the cut faces outward.

So, in the case of the cube that has passed into four-dimensional space, the shadow image in the third dimension is a structure bounded by eight cubes. The relation of outside and inside has changed here. The physical cubes are outside to the fourth dimension, which is inside. Nevertheless, the four-dimensional structure is just as well in the center of the eight cubes as around them, and the center is connected with what is around the eight cubes. We must imagine the eight cubes not as a boundary, like the surfaces at the cube from the outside, but as a boundary in the inside of the four-dimensional structure, so to speak - as left out of the space; and the four-dimensional structure around the physical projection, the shadow image of the eight cubes. While the third dimension is the dimension of closedness, the fourth dimension is the dimension of openness, of being in the air, of growing, of mobility.

Inside and outside stand there in constant connection. While on the one hand the three-dimensional structure in the fourth dimension flows continuously into the center, it flows on the other hand continuously out of the center. It is a continued cycle, from the center outward and from the outside back to the center. Therefore, the fourth dimension is not a fixed one, but a flowing one; to be made vivid by the curved paper strips. A thing can only change into another form, which can bend back into itself and emerge from itself again. It must go back into the starting point and emerge in a changed way. This happens by bending - curvature of the paper strips. If I divide a three-dimensional object, I always get only single pieces of the same object. If however a four-dimensional structure, which can bend itself, divides, then something new arises - paper strips with 180 degrees turn. Thus, all changes of the living arise from the ability to bend back into itself, from the ability to flow back into the point, and then to emerge from the point.

The spherical formations known as cells in all growing things, in all living things, have the ability to flow back into themselves, to form a center, and to grow forth anew from that center. This is the basic condition of all growth, to flow back into oneself, to concentrate and then to emerge anew with the gathered forces. The transition into the fourth dimension means with the sphere as with the cube a curving back into oneself and then again a going out over oneself. So center and periphery coincide, merge into each other, form one, because they are alive. They cannot do that with the dead, the three-dimensional. For this, one must go over into the four-dimensional. If we follow this picture further, we will find that the first dimension has emerged from the nothing dimension, from the point. The first dimension can be observed only at the second, at the surface, and this only at the third, at the body. So the first dimension can be observed also only at the third dimension. Now the third dimension goes over again into the nothing dimension, the point, and grows out in lines. The fourth dimension radiates out of the point and fills everything three-dimensional with its life; the atoms of the third dimension are thereby loosened and extended. Growth arises. Through the flowing together of the growing in time, in the fourth dimension, sensation arises, and through the flowing together of sensation, self-consciousness arises. This is again a closed, limited thing. Man must go beyond that again. He has to contract his self-consciousness in the I, to summarize himself in one point. He can do that if he rises above space, time and sensation and above selfishness, the desire to add something to himself. He extinguishes himself outwardly; he turns inwardly, no longer desires expansion, outward growth, but sinks into the one point where the divine shines to him, into his divine spark of life. He gives up his outer being and flows back into his inner being - turned away from the world, turned towards God. And there from this one point he sends again his inner being into the environment in the pure thought. Radiantly, he passes again into the environment, freed from all that he wanted to possess for himself; there his inner being emerges - shining like the sun and purified like the snow. His higher self crystallizes. There he enters the seventh dimension. By connecting his higher self with the higher life, he forms out of himself not only rays, but images, there he is in the eighth dimension; and by connecting himself with the will of the world, the creative power, there he brings forth forms. There he lives in the ninth dimension. Finally, he connects with the primordial being of the earth, with the planet itself, and works in such a way that he can multiply his own being and bring forth new living beings. In the seventh dimension he interpenetrates with the world-mind and produces thoughts; in the eighth dimension he interpenetrates with the world-life and produces images; in the ninth dimension he interpenetrates with the world-will and produces figures; and in the tenth dimension he interpenetrates with the world-being and produces living beings, the multiplication of himself.

Just as in the transition from the non-dimension to the first dimension, from the third to the fourth, and from the sixth to the seventh, there is always a confluence in the point and a springing forth of something new from that point, so in the transition from the ninth dimension to the tenth the whole cosmos flows into the individuality of man and emerges from him again as something new.

It is the whole evolution an inhalation and exhalation, physically, mentally and spiritually. At a higher stage, man will no longer take nourishment from physical substance, but will live and grow by inhaling and exhaling. Thus he will supply the body with the substances it needs to live and grow. Taking in physical food is related to being bound to the third dimension. Once we live more consciously in the fourth and higher dimensions, the necessity of taking in physical food falls away more and more. Then the physical body becomes more and more what it is supposed to become: a temple in which the divine self dwells, and a tool, a means through which the I can enter into connection with all the forces of the universe. It will become the key to all the secrets of the world. The secrets of the world will be revealed to man in the same measure as he learns to live no longer for the physical body, but to live through the physical body. If he learns to use the physical body as what it is, as a condensed spirit, as an imprint of the whole cosmos, as the microcosm, then the microcosm must open up to him. For this the way is the overcoming of the third dimension, the spatially solid, closed, impenetrable and the overcoming of the sixth dimension, the being closed in the I.

The ego, however, is the only way to penetrate the seventh dimension, but it is also supposed to be only this possibility. It is the way, the narrow gate, the door to the temple of the higher self. But through this gate must be passed in order to reach the higher self. One must not stand still in it, just as one must not narrow one's consciousness by the third dimension of space.

Conquering the ego is growth into the higher worlds. By overcoming the ego, the higher worlds open up.