Aaron gets excited about new ideas and new inventions that come to his mind.  They’re generally on a level that my mind can’t come to grips with.  The current thoughts that are rolling around in his mind are perhaps the worst yet for my abilities to comprehend, but they have, nevertheless, set my own mind to working.

Aaron is absolutely convinced that beyond the three dimensions of height, width, and length there must be a fourth dimension.  It’s a dimension that belongs to another world and can’t be experienced by mortals.  According to him there is a field of mathematics that studies such things, and which shows mathematically that a fourth dimension exists, and that there may even be as many as nine.  These are other-worldly concepts, so Aaron wonders if they’re even supposed to be discovered or talked about.

To that question I would respond that if the thought entered his head, then in all likelihood it was put there by the Holy Ghost, and ought to be pursued.  That’s the way every advancement in science and technology has come about in the past few hundred years.

For instance, let’s think about Columbus.  In a very real sense Columbus lived in a two-dimensional world.  As far as all of his contemporaries were concerned, the world was flat.  Columbus came up with the absurd idea that the Far East could be reached by sailing west.  People laughed at the ridiculous notion; but he set sail, discovered a new world, and opened everyone’s eyes to the concept that the earth is a sphere.

My thinking is that if you know something is there, like Columbus did, you need to go looking for it.  That’s the way every great discovery has been made.  And I have long maintained that Latter-day Saints have a huge advantage where discovery is concerned.  That’s because of all the clues that latter-day revelation has given.

For example, astronomers have wondered from time immemorial if planets like earth might exist outside our solar system.  Latter-day Saints have been able to answer that question in the affirmative ever since Joseph Smith was told in June 1830 that “worlds without number have I (the Lord) created...”  (Moses 1:33).  It has only been within the past 20 years, however, that planets outside our solar system have been detected.  Astronomers have located approximately 5,000 other planets, and now theorize that every star conceivably has planets.  The latest estimates about the total number of planets exceeds the number of grains of sand on every desert and beach in the world.

Now that other planets have been found, the next questions that are being asked are, “could there be life on some of these planets, and if so, what would it look like, and could it possess intelligence?”

Again Latter-day Saints already know the answer:  Of course there is extraterrestrial life, and those planets are inhabited by people who look like us.  This we’ve known for 187 years, but scientists and the world still don’t know it.  This is one of the hidden treasures of knowledge that was promised to be given to the faithful who keep the commandments.  (D&C 89:18-19).

The way that astronomers were able to discover these extraterrestrial planets was not by seeing them with a telescope, but by measuring the intensity of the light emitted by a particular star.  Repeated measurements of the light coming from that star were made and compared.  If the star’s light dimmed at all, it was because some body had passed in front of it.  The amount of light reduction was used to calculate the size of the planet that had passed in front of the star.

So back to the question, could there be a fourth dimension of which we’re unaware?  What clues does latter-day revelation give us?

For one thing we’re told in the scriptures that one-third of the Father’s children rebelled against Him in the pre-earth existence and were cast down to the earth.  Many experiences could be cited to show that they are here, that they have power to do certain things, and that they are all around us, but are unseen.  If that isn’t another dimension, what is?

And further, we’re told that when we die, our spirits do not leave this earth.  The spirits of the billions of people who have passed on are all around us, too.  But we’re told that those spirits go to one of two different realms.  The righteous go to paradise which is a place of peace, rest, and refuge from evil; while the wicked go to a spirit prison where they are subject to the buffetings of Satan, but where spirits from paradise are permitted to come and preach the gospel to them so that they may have the opportunity to repent, to vicariously receive the ordinance of baptism, and to be “loosed” or released so that they can be transferred to paradise.

Following this line of thought, if wicked, deceased people occupy a fourth dimension with Satan and his angels, then the righteous dead are apparently in a fifth dimension where the wicked cannot go—and they’re all here on earth.

Joseph Smith said about the righteous dead:  “Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith.”  (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 326).  These people are with us.

But then there is father Abraham.  Doctrine and Covenants 132:29 states that he has already “entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne.”  He has already been resurrected and is in the celestial kingdom.  Where is the celestial kingdom?  D&C 88:19-20 says that this earth will be the celestial kingdom, “For after it hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father.

“That bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever...”

If Abraham has already achieved the celestial kingdom, he must still be here, too, in a realm above and beyond paradise where the righteous are awaiting their own resurrections.  That would constitute a sixth dimension.

And what of the terrestrial and telestial glories that are spoken of in D&C 76 and D&C 88:17-32?  Are those kingdoms going to be on other planets or will they constitute a seventh and an eighth dimension of people who will never leave this earth?  We’re not told where those kingdoms will be; but given the fact that we already know that there are several realms superimposed here one upon another without our being aware of the others, I have no doubt but what other dimensions can exist.