The Lives of the Screen People

Humans certainly have a hard time relating the material realm of the universe to the spiritual realm of God. We come to the realization that there IS a higher realm or dimension of living, but with our four-dimensional outlook (three of space and one of time) we have a real difficulty understanding the relationship of these dimensions.

God has to exist in at least one more dimension of space and one dimension of time in order to have created the universe we are in. But science now says that the universe itself contains ten dimensions (nine of space and one of time). So this actually places God in at least a twelve-dimensional realm (ten of space and two of time).

This is too much to comprehend totally. But an analogy can be very helpful.

Picture a computer screen. Mr. and Mrs. Screen are two-dimensional beings confined to the plane of length and width on a computer screen. A three-dimensional being can approach their plane from the depth dimension and place a fingertip a hundredth of a millimeter from the body of either one of them. Despite this close proximity, the Screens would be unable to detect the fingertip’s presence, much less understand and describe its physical characteristics.

We can picture in our mind’s eye the kind of relationship we could develop with some characters we design on a computer screen. Given the right software, we could give them color and animation, and we could create splendid scenes for them to move around in, all the while sending electronic signals to let them know of our presence. In reality, of course, these two-dimensional beings would not possess the capacity to think, feel, and know anything in a physical sense like we do because atoms, molecules, brains, nerves, and so on require three large space dimensions. But, for the sake of the analogy, we can pretend they are able to physically think, feel, and know.

As their designers, we know everything about them. Whatever capacities they possess, we gave them. If we enable them to move about the screen, we know the possibilities and the limits of their mobility. Whether they come to recognize the fact or not, their existence depends entirely on us. They have no control over the power supply, the “on” switch, that keeps electricity flowing into the system that is their universe.

We can imagine the difficulty these screen people would have in comprehending us and relating to us. Could they be certain of our existence? Perhaps reasonably so, if they came to recognize their incapacity to create themselves or anything else in their screen environment, and if they discern that their power source is located outside their realm. Could they perceive our three-dimensionality and how it compares with their two-dimensionality? Given adequate research, they may discover enough about themselves and their environment to recognize that a third dimension must exist for them to exist, but they will never fully comprehend what a difference that third dimension makes, nor will they be able to visualize more than two dimensions at a time.

As close as these characters may come to each other on the screen, they will remain unable to detect certain things about themselves, characteristics that we can easily observe from our three-dimensional perspective. Because we experience depth, we can stand back from them and instantly see their complete outline or shape. All they can perceive of one another are various lines. If they are round, they may figure out that their bodies are circular by carefully moving around one another, but they will not see each other’s circles as we who look on from outside the screen see them. We can program them to rebound off each other and to make a certain sound when they do, but they have only growing or shrinking lines to indicate movement.

Even if we put our hands or faces right up to the screen, perhaps covering them up completely, they cannot see or hear or feel our nearness through the glass barrier. Sending strong vibrations through the glass might only confuse or frighten them – given, of course, that we have endowed them with emotions as well as sense receptors and minds.

We observe something else about the screen people that they can never see. We can see what is inside them. The details and workings of their interior body parts, for example, are fully exposed to us. The amount of information we have about them is at least an order of magnitude (that is, at least a factor of ten times) greater than what any of them possesses.

In this simple analogy, just one dimension separates the screen people from us humans. And yet, the advantage of that one extra dimension suffices to explain how we could be closer to the screen people than they are to each other, fully comprehending them inside and out, while remaining invisible and untouchable to them. Knowing the value of seeing and touching, we could give them the capacity to detect and contact each other, but they would be unable to understand how much more limited these senses are for them than they are for us. They can only detect and contact outer edges, whereas we can see and electronically “touch” every part of them.

God’s dimensional advantage over us goes far beyond this one-dimensional difference. He can operate in at least the twelve dimensions mentioned previously – and even beyond. His capacity to maintain close and comprehensive contact with us – despite our incapacity to experience Him physically through our space-bound dimensions – becomes a comprehensible reality. We cannot begin to picture it, except by analogy, but it does make sense.

Making sense of His nearness (in fact, His living right within us as the Bible states) is more important, for now, than physically sensing His nearness. Pleasure is something our senses can give us, and it is temporary; but joy comes from a source beyond the senses, and it lasts. Pleasure and physical nearness are good, but the joy and nearness available to us in His extra dimensions go immeasurably beyond what we can think or imagine, as His written Word declares. In one sense, God’s invisibility and untouchability keep our yearnings focused where they rightly belong, on the supernatural realm that exists for our benefit now and that awaits us.

The Bible states that upon our death, we will receive new “bodies” with individual identities in the realm to which we are headed, but these bodies will no longer experience fatigue, disease, or decay. Our new bodies will be suited to our new environment. Imagine the screen people’s two-dimensional bodies trying to support the screen people anywhere but on the computer monitor’s surface. Such bodies would simply be too unstable, too limited and limiting. The same could be said of our present bodies in whatever dimensional realm He intends to place us. When we see Him with our own eyes, we will be seeing Him with a new and indescribable sight capacity. All our other capacities will be new, too. In fact, they will in several ways be capacities like His, capacities beyond our comprehension, capacities that enable us to participate fully in His Family.

Yes, God has a relationship to us as humans somewhat like the analogy of our human relationship to the screen people.

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