The fourth dimension

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF FOUR SPACE

_ParMENIDES, and the Asiatic thinkers with whom he is in close affinity, propound a theory of existence which is in close accord with a conception of a possible relation between a higher and a lower dimensional space. This theory, prior and in marked contrast to the main stream of thought, which we shall afterwards describe, forms a closed circle by itself. It is one which in all ages has had a strong attraction for pure intellect, and is the natural mode of thought for. those who refrain from projecting their own volition into nature under the guise of causality.

According to Par: Parmenides of the school of Elea the all

is one, unmoving and ing and unchanging. ‘The permanent amid_

the transient—that it foothold for thought, that solid ground for feeling on the discovery of which depends all our lifeis no phantom; itis the image amidst deception of true

being, the eternal, the unmoved, the one. Thus says

Parmenides.

But how explain the shifting scene, these mutations of things!

“Tilusion,” answers Parmenides. Distinguishing between truth and error, he tells of the true doctrine of the one—the false opinion of a changing world. He is no

less memorable for the manner of his advocacy than for 23

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