Second Dimension:
The Five Senses§
OUR PERCEPTIONS IN THE SECOND DIMENSION§
The second dimension consists of things which can be both seen and touched—the surfaces of objects such as flowers, stones and water. When we observe these objects without thinking about them, without feeling like or dislike—just pure perception—then we are aware of the second dimension.§
It appears flat, consisting of only two layers of form, for it is seen without evaluation or analysis which gives depth to our observations. If we close our eyes and then open them very slowly, holding the mind steady, we can sit without relating to anything we see and therefore see it objectively as it is. This flat view of the world of objects can be experienced more easily by opening just one eye than with both eyes open.§
There is a tendency to get involved with what we see when both eyes are open. What we perceive are things that can be identified with the five senses—things we can smell, hear, touch, taste and see. These perceptions are all two-dimensional through the senses. Through interpretation they do flow into deeper dimensions of the mind.§
SECOND DIMENSION MANAGED POSITIVELY§
The mystic, in looking out at the world of objects, sees the second dimension as a coherent conglomeration of “things.” Recognizing the limited mind function of things, or the boundary of second-dimensional intelligence, he does not become entangled in his relationship to them. Nevertheless, he does relate to the second dimension by using it, by observing it, by appreciating it, or by renouncing it. He places the two-dimensional world where it belongs.§
Forms are always changing in the second dimension. However, the substance out of which they are made is recycled from one form to another form. According to the mystic’s perspective, all forms exist in all time cycles within the mind. There is nothing created; there is nothing preserved; there is nothing destroyed. All things exist simultaneously, coming into various dimensions of manifestation from time to time.§
The decay, the change of form in the second dimension through time cycles, is apparent when things of short time cycles are viewed—a flower, for instance. The brief time span of a flower lets us view its budding, blossom, life and decay within a matter of days or even hours. The atoms of a flower will go to some other forms once that flower has demagnetized itself, by breaking through a time cycle. A banyan tree or mountain are examples of objects with apparently more permanence, or which take years or centuries for the process of decay to become visible.§
SECOND DIMENSION IN DEPTH§
The second dimension has been and always will be created through certain aspects of time cycles and is comprised of two parts: time continuity or memory and the instinctive consciousness that works involuntarily according to habit patterns in man as well as in animals. Nature, then, is related to the instinctive mind. The memory patterns of a flower are very strong. It comes up the same year after year, century after century. It does not forget how to form itself. So the second dimension is created by the instinctive forces of nature, the instinctive mind of animals and man in conjunction with the memory patterns of the grand mind of nature—created by man according to his needs and desires.§
Man himself controls these time cycles to a certain extent, but not totally. For one thing, he holds the second dimension together in consciousness in short, medium, or long time cycles, depending upon the nature of the object’s construction. If he actually constructs it himself, then the amount of energy and thought put into planning and clear thinking will either lengthen or shorten the time cycle. Because his body is of the second dimension, as he enters into a particular time cycle he adds power to that cycle and objects in it and can act either as creator, preserver or destroyer and thereby lengthen or shorten a natural time cycle. Back to the chair: man could allow the chair to sit until it went into its natural decay, or man could enter the picture as another second-dimensional object and preserve or destroy it.§
The second dimension is the exterior world which most languages describe abundantly, making it seem real to us and giving it a sense of permanency, for man’s mind gives substance or recognition to things that are named or labeled. Most people acquire a possession, and instead of using that possession and disposing of it, they use it and become attached to it through like and dislike. It becomes a part of their mind. It becomes real to them. They take it seriously, and when the time comes to dispose of that possession, they are unhappy. This indicates the narrowing down of the mind which has been caused by language and attitudes which build possession and the significance of physical things out of proportion.§