June 17, 2007
How Rudy Rucker Showed Me God
One of the earliest books I can remember reading that had an influence on my spirituality was not a book on religion at all but a book by a science fiction writer, Rudy Rucker. “God” is usually talked about as a father figure, or some mystical being (who looks somewhat like us - old dude, white beard) in the sky - and while these stories might be just metaphors for the true nature of God, it created a barrier to the possibility of me ever accepting the existence of higher power. I remember that “The Fourth Dimension: And how to get there”1 inspired me to think about the possibility of this higher power in a new way. Rudy Rucker is best known as a science fiction writer, but the book “The Fourth Dimension” is a work of non-fiction. In it, Rucker draws on the works of Edwin A. Abbott who wrote “Flatland” in 1884.
In “Flatland” Abbott explores the fictional life of “A. Square”, who lives in a two dimensional world and is visited by “A. Cube” (a 3-dimensional creature). While it’s a rather simplistic example, it raises the possibility that we (3-dimensional creatures) may be surrounded by “beings of a higher dimension” who could interact with us in God-like ways. While I don’t necessarily believe that God is, in fact, a creature from a higher-dimensional universe, the book suggested the possibility that maybe God can physically exist, but still be “omnipotent”.
Rudy Rucker gave me a way of thinking about the nature of a higher power that still allowed me to understand the world from a scientific viewpoint, and while I’m sure it wasn’t his intention - Rudy Rucker opened my mind to the possibility of “God”.
- View my review on “The Fourth Dimension: and how to get there“
- Also known as “The 4th Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality“ [↩]
- Image taken from Rudy Rucker, “The Fourth Dimension: and how to get there“, p.41 [↩]
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globalizati said,
June 20, 2007 at 1:36 am
I loved Flatland when I read it as a kid, but haven’t picked it up in years. One thing that strikes me now is that this metaphor is an excellent illustration of how God is possible. However, if there is a fourth dimension that we are incapable of experience, we wouldn’t know about it until someone from that dimension interacted with us.. and how would we know that? Just some thoughts.. cheers,
globalizati
Richard said,
June 20, 2007 at 11:54 am
I think one of the greatest things about the metaphor is just that - we wouldn’t necessarily know they were from a higher dimension, because we’d only see a small 3-dimensional cross section of them (like A. Square only sees another square when A. Cube visits him). A 4-dimensional being could probably make themselves look like all sorts of weird shapes/forms by simply showing a different cross-section.
As I’ve said - not that I believe that “God” (if there is such a thing) is a creature from a higher dimension - but it’s a pretty cool idea, and it could help explain some of the more traditional notions of God.
20 gram Soul : Soft Atheist, Hard Agnostic said,
July 15, 2007 at 5:03 pm
[...] exist. I am also, however, open to the idea that perhaps “God” (if he exists) is nothing like that described by traditional religion, and therefore may one day be provable. For me, the problem with the traditional notions of God are [...]