The Difference Between The 3rd and 4th Dimensions

On spiritual paths, the term ‘dimensions’ can have many different interpretations, depending on the matrix a particular path is using. For example, some traditions refer to the 3rd dimension as the ‘plane of thought and mind’ and the 4th dimension as the ‘astral plane’.

The ‘dimension’ matrix I’m using is a completely different map altogether, and should not be confused with the above. Let me lay out the map…

When I reference dimensions, I’m referring to the actual state of consciousness, the level of awareness one is experiencing in a given moment.

Let’s investigate! What is the 3rd dimension?

The place to start is to be curious, and really pay attention to, the actual state of the consciousness of our familiar egoic experience. With just a little honest self-observation, what we see is that we’re typically in a constant kind of a daydream. The mind is chattering away, projecting into the future and mulling over the past, wandering back and forth between the two. This drifting meandering generates a kind of fuzzy perception ‘in the moment’, but I’m so habitually familiar with that state that it seems perfectly normal to me. I’m not really attuned to the fact that my awareness is immersed in what the spiritual sages call the state of Identification. My consciousness is ‘lost’, sucked into whatever has ensnared its attention. The key characteristic to note is that there’s no one ‘home’! By that I mean I’m not ‘awake’, not ‘Present’ in that moment. I’m in a kind of ‘waking sleep’. This is not a judgment. It’s simply getting an accurate snapshot of the actual ‘lay of the land’ of my typical inner state. Most people will spend their entire life living from this 3rd dimensional range and world-view.

Enter the 4th Dimension!

If you’re interest is in consciousness, here’s where things get fascinating! If I continue to inquire into my awareness, I discover that my consciousness has the potential to move vertically, up or down. In any given moment I can ‘raise it’, I can be more ‘awake’, more ‘Present’, or, conversely, more in a kind of ‘waking sleep’. That is no minor discovery. Waking up and stepping into my Presence is discovering the portal to an entirely new, fresh and infinitely more real part of my Self; my True Nature. It’s like suddenly lifting up out of a fogbank and into a new world of clarity that’s crackling with an aliveness. My inner state shifts from a vague fuzziness, to a Field of Being. This 4th Dimension is when we discover, and step into, our own Personal Presence.

Make no mistake, this 4th Dimension is very refined and delicate in the sense that it’s so slippery, so easily lost in the blink of an eye. To remain fully ‘awake’, ‘looking through the windows of my eyes’, mindfully Present for even a half dozen breaths before plunging back into my 3rd dimensional reality can be a remarkable feat! But once you experience the difference between the 3rd and the 4th dimension within your own consciousness, it literally alters who you take yourself to be. And our true Spirit celebrates being discovered…

The 5th dimension is a realm to be explored in future posts…