Latest / Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily / 08 - Flatland- A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin Abbott Abbott

Transcript

08 - Flatland- A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin Abbott Abbott · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

0:00
Part two, Section eighteen. How I came to Spaceland and what I saw
0:05
there? An unspeakable horror seized me. There was a darkness, then a
0:11
dizzy, sickening sensation of sight that was not like seeing. I saw a
0:17
line that was no line, space that was not space. I was myself
0:24
and not myself. When I could find voice, I shrieked aloud in agony.
0:30
Either this is madness or it is hell. It is neither, calmly
0:36
replied the voice of the sphere. It is knowledge. It is three dimensions.
0:44
Open your eye once again and try to look steadily. I looked,
0:50
and behold a new world. There stood before me, visibly incorporate all that
0:59
I had before inferred, conjectured, dreamed of perfect circular beauty. What seemed
1:07
the center of the Stranger's form lay open to my view. Yet I could
1:14
see no heart, nor lungs, nor arteries, only a beautiful, harmonious
1:21
something for which I had no words. But you, my readers in Spaceland,
1:27
would call it the surface of the sphere. Prostrating myself mentally before my
1:34
guide, I cried, how is it o divine ideal of consumate loveliness and
1:41
wisdom that I see thy inside, and yet cannot discern thy heart, thy
1:47
lungs, thy arteries, thy liver. What you think you see, you
1:53
see not, he replied. It is not given to you, nor to
1:57
any other being, to behold my internal parts. I am of a different
2:02
order of beings from those in Flatland. Were I a circle, you could
2:07
discern my intestines. But I am a being composed, as I told you
2:13
before, of many circles, the many in the one called in this country
2:19
a sphere. And just as the outside of a cube is a square,
2:23
so the outside of a sphere presents the appearance of a circle. Bewildered though
2:30
I was by my teacher's enigmatic utterance, I no longer chafed against it,
2:37
but worshiped him in silent adoration. He continued, with more mildness in his
2:44
voice. Distress not yourself. If you cannot at first understand the deeper mysteries
2:50
of spaceland, by degrees, they will dawn upon you. Let us begin
2:54
by casting back a glance at the region whence you came. Return with me
3:00
awhile to the plains of flat Land, and I will show you that which
3:05
you have so often reasoned and thought about, but never seen with the sense
3:09
of sight. A visible angle impossible, I cried, But the sphere leading
3:19
the way, I followed, as if in a dream, till once more
3:22
his voice arrested me. Look yonder, and behold your own pentagonal house and
3:28
all its inmates. Reader's note. The following paragraph refers to a detailed diagram.
3:36
The diagram shows the points of the compass, with north at the top.
3:39
Next to this, there is a large equal sided pentagon sitting on a
3:45
horizontal base. Centrally placed on the lower left edge of the pentagon, there
3:51
is an opening labeled men's door, the size of the opening being about a
3:55
quarter of the length of that edge. This door leads into a large central
4:01
space labeled the hall, which is otherwise surrounded by rooms. The position of
4:08
these rooms will now be described clockwise from the northern point. The upper right
4:15
edge is divided equally between two rooms labeled in order, my study and my
4:20
Bedroom. The left hand wall of the study runs vertically down from the northern
4:27
point, and the right hand wall is parallel to the lower right edge of
4:31
the pentagon. The study has a door into the hall, and there is
4:36
Isosceles triangle inside labeled the page. Sharing a wall with the study is my
4:45
rhomboid shaped bedroom, the right hand wall of which is the top quarter of
4:49
the lower right hand edge of the pentagon. It shares a wall and communicating
4:56
door with the room to the south labeled my my Wife's Apartment. About three
5:03
tenths down the lower right edge, there is a narrow opening labeled Women's door.
5:10
This leads into a long, narrow room labeled my Wife's apartment. This
5:15
room has doorways into my bedroom above, into the hall to the left,
5:21
and into the room to the south, also long and narrow, where a
5:26
straight line is marked my daughter. The only door from my Daughter's room is
5:31
into my wife's apartment. Continuing clockwise down the lower right edge of the pentagon,
5:40
the next room is a long and wide room with two openings into the
5:44
hall. Inside are three isosceles triangles of varying acuteness. The uppermost and most
5:51
acute is labeled the scullion, the next and middle sized is labeled the Footman,
5:59
and the lowerest and least acute is labeled the Butler. At the bottom
6:04
right point of the pentagon, a large corner room is labeled the cellar and
6:10
has a door into the hall. Along the left half of the bottom or
6:15
southern edge, there are two small rooms, each with a door into the
6:18
hall, and each with a hexagon inside labeled my grandson's. Continuing clockwise up
6:28
the left side of the pentagon, between the men's door and the northern point,
6:32
there are four small rooms. Each of these rooms, labeled my sons,
6:39
has a pentagon inside it and a door into the hall. In the
6:44
middle of the central hall is a straight line labeled my wife. Outside the
6:50
pentagon one At each end of the bottom or southern edge, are two very
6:55
acute Isosceles triangles, each labeled Policeman. End of reader's note. I looked
7:03
below and saw with my physical eye all that domestic individuality which I had hitherto
7:10
merely inferred with the understanding, And how poor and shadowy was the inferred conjecture
7:16
in comparison with the reality which I now beheld. My four sons calmly asleep
7:24
in the northwestern rooms, my two orphan grandsons to the south, the servants,
7:30
the butler, my daughter, all in their several apartments. Only my
7:35
affectionate wife, alarmed by my continued absence, had quitted her room, and
7:42
was roving up and down in the hall, anxiously awaiting my return. Also,
7:47
the page, aroused by my cries, had left his room, and
7:51
under pretext of ascertaining whether I had fallen somewhere in a faint, was prying
7:57
into the cabinet in my study. All this I could now see not merely
8:03
infer and as we came nearer and nearer, I could discern even the contents
8:09
of my cabinet, and the two chests of gold, and the tablets of
8:13
which the Sphere had made mention. Touched by my wife's distress, I would
8:20
have sprung downward to reassure her, but I found myself incapable of motion.
8:26
Trouble not yourself about your wife, said my guide. She will not be
8:31
long left in anxiety. Meantime, let us take a survey of flat land.
8:37
Once more, I felt myself rising through space. It was even as
8:43
the Sphere had said. The further we receded from the object we beheld,
8:48
the larger became the field of vision. My native city, with the interior
8:54
of every house and every creature therein lay open to my view. In miniature,
9:01
we mounted higher and lo the secrets of the earth, the depths of
9:05
mines, and inmost caverns of the hills were bared before me. AWE struck
9:13
at the sight of the mysteries of the earth thus unveiled before my unworthy eye.
9:18
I said to my companion, Behold, I am become as a god.
9:24
For the wise men in our country say that to see all things,
9:28
or as they express it, omnividence is the attribute of God alone. There
9:35
was something of scorn in the voice of my teacher as he made answer,
9:39
Is it so? Indeed? Then the very pick pockets and cut throats of
9:43
my country are to be worshiped by your wise men as being gods. For
9:50
there is not one of them that does not see as much as you see
9:52
now. But trust me, your wise men are wrong. I is omnividence
10:01
the attribute of others beside God's sphere? I do not know. But if
10:07
a pickpocket or a cutthroat of our country can see everything that is in your
10:13
country, surely that is no reason whether pickpocket or cutthroat should be accepted by
10:18
you as a god. This omnividence, as you call it, it is
10:22
not a common word in spaceland. Does it make you more just? More
10:28
merciful, less selfish, more loving. Not in the least, then,
10:33
how does it make you more divine? I more merciful, more loving.
10:41
But these are the qualities of women. And we know that a circle is
10:45
a higher being than a straight line, in so far as knowledge and wisdom
10:48
are more to be esteemed than mere affection. Sphere, it is not for
10:56
me to classify human faculties. According to merit, many of the best and
11:01
wisest in spaceland think more of the affections than of the understanding, more of
11:05
your despised straight lines than of your belauded circles. But enough of this,
11:13
Look yonder? Do you know that building? I looked, and afar off
11:18
I saw an immense polygonal structure, in which I recognized the General Assembly Hall
11:24
of the States of Flatland, surrounded by dense lines of pentagonal buildings at right
11:30
angles to each other, which I knew to be streets. And I perceived
11:33
that I was approaching the great metropolis. Here we descend, said my guide.
11:41
It was now morning, the first hour of the first day of the
11:43
two thousandth year of our era. Acting as was there wont in strict accordance
11:50
with precedent, the highest circles of the Realm were meeting in solemn conclave,
11:54
as they had met on the first hour of the first day of the year
11:58
one thousand, and also on the first hour of the first day of the
12:03
year nought. The minutes of the previous meetings were now read by one whom
12:09
I at once recognized as my brother, a perfectly symmetrical square, and the
12:15
Chief Clerk of the High Council. It was found recorded on each occasion that
12:20
whereas the states had been troubled by divers ill intentioned persons, pretending to have
12:26
received revelations from another world, and professing to produce demonstrations, whereby they had
12:33
instigated to frenzy both themselves and others, it had been for this cause unanimously
12:39
resolved by the Grand Council that on the first day of each millinery, special
12:46
injunctions be sent to the prefects in the several districts of Flatland to make strict
12:50
search for such misguided persons, and without formality of mathematical examination, to destroy
12:58
all such as were I soosceles of any degree, to scourge and imprison any
13:03
regular triangle, to cause any square or pentagon to be sent to the district
13:07
asylum, and to arrest any one of higher rank, sending him straightway to
13:13
the capital to be examined and judged by the council. You hear your fate,
13:20
said the sphere to me, while the council was passing for the third
13:24
time, the formal resolution death or imprisonment awaits the apostle of the Gospel of
13:30
three Dimensions. Not so, replied I. The matter is now so clear
13:35
to me, the nature of real space so palpable, that methinks I could
13:41
make a child understand it. Permit me but to descend at this moment and
13:46
enlighten them? Not yet, said my guide. The time will come for
13:52
that. Meantime I must perform my mission. Stay thou there in thy place.
13:58
Saying these words, he leapt with great dexterity into the sea. If
14:01
I may say, call it a flat land. Right in the midst of
14:05
the ring of councilors, I come, cried he to proclaim that there is
14:11
a land of three dimensions. I could see many of the younger councilors start
14:18
back in manifest horror as the Sphere's circular section widened before them. But on
14:24
a sign from the presiding circle, who showed not the slightest alarm or surprise.
14:30
Six Isosceles of a lone type, from six different quarters rushed upon the
14:35
sphere. We have him, they cried, No, yes, we have
14:39
him. Still he's going. He's gone, my lords, said the President
14:48
to the junior circles of the Council. There is not the slightest need for
14:52
surprise. The secret archives, to which I alone have access, tell me
14:58
that a similar occurrence happened on the last two millennial commencements. You will,
15:03
of course, say nothing of these trifles outside the cabinet. Raising his voice,
15:09
he now summoned the guard, arrest the policeman, gag them. You
15:13
know your duty. After he had consigned to their fate the wretched policeman,
15:20
ill fated and unwilling witnesses of a state secret which they were not to be
15:26
permitted to reveal, he again addressed to counselors, my lords, the business
15:31
of the Council being concluded, I have only to wish you a happy new
15:35
year. Before departing, he expressed at some lengths to the Clerk, my
15:41
excellent but most unfortunate brother, his sincere regret that in accordance with precedent,
15:48
and for the sake of secrecy, he must condemn him to perpetual imprisonment,
15:54
but added his satisfaction that unless some mention were made by him of that day's
16:00
incident, his life would be spared Section nineteen. How though the sphere showed
16:08
me other mysteries of spaceland, I still desired more, and what came of
16:15
it? When I saw my poor brother led away to imprisonment. I attempted
16:21
to leap down into the council chamber, desiring to intercede on his behalf,
16:26
or at least bid him farewell. But I found that I had no motion
16:30
of my own. I absolutely depended on the volition of my guide, who
16:34
said, in gloomy tones, heed not thy brother, haply, thou shalt
16:40
have ample time hereafter to condole with him. Follow me Reader's note. The
16:48
following paragraph makes reference to a diagram. Diagram one shows a three dimensional cube
16:55
with visible edges drawn and hidden edges dotted, giving it a three dimensional appearance.
17:03
Horizontal shading makes it appear that the cube is made up of many layers.
17:10
Diagram two shows the same figure, but all lines indicating perspective are missing.
17:15
With the effect that it no longer appears to be solid, but looks
17:19
like a two dimensional irregular hexagonal figure. End of reader's note. Once more,
17:27
we ascended into space. Hitherto, said the sphere. I have shown
17:33
you nought save plain figures and their interiors. Now I must introduce you to
17:38
solids, and reveal to you the plan upon which they are constructed. Behold
17:44
this multitude of moveable square cards. See I put one on another, not
17:51
as you supposed northward of the other, but on the other now as second,
17:56
now a third. See I am building up a solid by a multitude
18:02
of squares parallel to one another. Now the solid is complete, being as
18:07
high as it is long and broad, and we call it a cube.
18:12
Pardon me, my lord, replied I, But to my eye, the
18:17
appearance is as of an irregular figure whose inside is laid open to the view.
18:22
In other words, methinks I see no solid, but a plain,
18:27
such as we infer in flat land, only of an irregularity which betokens some
18:33
monstrous criminal, so that the very sight of it is painful to my eyes.
18:38
True, said the sphere. It appears to you a plane because you
18:44
are not accustomed to light and shade and perspective, just as in flat land
18:51
a hexagon would appear a straight line to one who has not the art of
18:55
sight recognition, but in reality it is a solid. Shall learn by the
19:00
sense of feeling. He then introduced me to the cube, and I found
19:06
that this marvelous being was indeed no plane, but a solid, and that
19:11
he was endowed with six plain sides and eight terminal points called solid angles.
19:19
And I remembered the saying of the sphere that just such a creature as this
19:23
would be formed by a square moving in space parallel to himself. And I
19:30
rejoiced to think that so insignificant a creature as I could, in some sense
19:37
be called the progenitor of so illustrious an offspring. But still I could not
19:44
fully understand the meaning of what my teacher had told me concerning light and shade
19:49
and perspective, and I did not hesitate to put my difficulties before him.
19:56
Were I to give the spheres explain nation of these matters, succinct and clear
20:03
though it was, it would be tedious to an inhabitant of space who knows
20:07
these things already. Suffice it that, by his lucid statements and by changing
20:14
the position of objects and lights, and by allowing me to feel the several
20:19
objects and even his own sacred person, he at last made all things clear
20:26
to me, so that I could now readily distinguish between a circle and a
20:30
sphere, a plain figure and a solid This was the climax, the paradise
20:38
of my strange, eventful history. Henceforth I have to relate the story of
20:45
my miserable fall, most miserable, yet surely most undeserved. For why should
20:52
the thirst for knowledge be aroused only to be disappointed and punished. My volition
21:00
shrinks from the painful task of recalling my humiliation. Yet, like a second
21:06
Prometheus, I will endure this and worse. If by any means I may
21:11
arouse in the interiors of plain and solid humanity a spirit of rebellion against the
21:17
conceit which would limit our dimensions to two or three, or any number short
21:22
of infinity away, then with all personal considerations, let me continue to the
21:30
end as I began, without further digressions or anticipations, pursuing the plain path
21:37
of dispassionate history. The exact facts, the exact words, and they are
21:44
burnt in upon my brain shall be set down without alteration of an iota,
21:49
and let my readers judge between me and destiny. The sphere would willingly have
21:56
continued his lessons by indoctrinating me in the confirmation of all regular solids, cylinders,
22:03
cones, pyramids, pentahedrons, hexahedrons, dodecahedrons, and spheres. But
22:11
I ventured to interrupt him, not that I was wearied of knowledge. On
22:18
the contrary, I thirsted for yet deeper and fuller drafts than he was offering
22:23
to me. Pardon me, said I, O, thou whom I must
22:30
no longer addresses the perfection of all beauty? But let me beg THEE to
22:36
vouchsafe thy servant a sight of thine interior sphere. My what I thine interior,
22:45
thy stomach, thy intestines sphere? Whence this ill timed, impertinent request?
22:55
Then what mean you by saying that I am no longer the perfection of
22:59
all beauty? I, my Lord, your own wisdom has taught me to
23:04
aspire to one even more great, more beautiful, and more closely approximate to
23:11
perfection than yourself. As you, yourself superior to all flatland forms, combine
23:18
many circles in one. So doubtless there is one above you who combines many
23:25
spheres in one supreme existence, surpassing even the solids of spaceland. And even
23:33
as we who are now in space look down on flat land and see the
23:37
insides of all things, so of a certainty there is yet above us,
23:42
some higher, purer region, whither thou dost surely purpose to lead me.
23:48
O thou, whom I shall always call everywhere and in all dimensions, my
23:53
priest philosopher and friend, some yet more spacious space, some more dimensionable dimensionality,
24:03
from the vantage ground of which we shall look down together upon the revealed
24:07
insides of solid things, and where thine own intestines and those of thy kindred
24:15
spheres will lie exposed to the view of the poor wandering exile from flatland,
24:19
to whom so much has already been vouchsafed. Sphere, woof stuff. Enough
24:29
of this trifling. The time is short, and much remains to be done
24:33
before you are fit to proclaim the Gospel of three dimensions to your blind,
24:37
benighted countrymen in flatland. I nay, gracious teacher, deny me not what
24:45
I know. It is in thy power to perform, grant me but one
24:49
glimpse of Thine interior, and I am satisfied forever remaining henceforth, thy docile
24:56
pupil, thy unemancipable slave, ready to receive all thy teachings, and to
25:02
feed upon the words that fall from thy lips. Sphere well, then to
25:08
content and silence. You let me say at once, I would show you
25:12
what you wish if I could, But I cannot. Would you have me
25:17
turn my stomach inside out to oblige you? I, but my Lord has
25:22
shown me the intestines of all my countrymen in the land of two dimensions,
25:27
by taking me with him into the land of three. What therefore more easy
25:33
than now to take his servant on a second journey into the blessed region of
25:37
the fourth dimension, where I shall look down with him once more upon this
25:42
land of three dimensions, and see the inside of every three dimensioned house,
25:48
the secrets of the solid earth, the treasures of the minds in spaceland,
25:52
and the intestines of every solid living creature, even of the noble and adorables
26:02
sphere. But where is this land of four dimensions? I I know not,
26:08
But doubtless my teacher knows sere not I there is no such land.
26:15
The very idea of it is utterly inconceivable. I your lordship tempts his servant
26:23
to see whether he remembers the revelations imparted to him. Trifle not with me,
26:29
my lord, I crave, I thirst for more knowledge. Doubtless we
26:34
cannot see that other higher spaceland now, because we have no eye in our
26:41
stomachs. But just as there was the realm of flat land, though that
26:45
poor, puny lineland monarch could neither turn to left nor right to discern it.
26:52
And just as there was close at hand and touching my frame, the
26:56
land of three dimensions, though I blind, senseless wretch had no power to
27:03
touch it, no eye in my interior to discern it. So of a
27:08
surety there is a fourth dimension, which my lord perceives with the inner eye
27:14
of thought. And that it must exist my lord himself has taught me,
27:21
Or can he have forgotten what he himself imparted to his servant in one dimension?
27:30
Did not a moving point produce a line with two terminal points in two
27:36
dimensions? Did not a moving line produce a square with four terminal points in
27:44
three dimensions? Did not a moving square produce did not this eye of mine?
27:51
Behold it that blessed being a cube with eight terminal points and in four
28:00
dimensions, shall not a moving cube alas for analogy and alas for the progress
28:07
of truth. If it be not so, shall not I say the motion
28:12
of a divine cube result in a still more divine organization with sixteen terminal points.
28:22
Behold the infallible confirmation of the series two, four, eight, sixteen.
28:30
Is not this a geometrical progression? Is not this if I might quote
28:34
my Lord's own words strictly according to analogy? Again, was I not taught
28:42
by my lord that as in a line there are two bounding points, and
28:48
in a square there are four bounding lines, so in a cube there must
28:52
be six bounding squares. Behold once more, the confirming series to two U
29:00
for six. Is not this an arithmetical progression? And consequently, does it
29:08
not of necessity follow that the more divine offspring of the divine cube in the
29:14
land of four dimensions must have eight bounding cubes? And is not this also,
29:22
as my Lord has taught me to believe strictly according to analogy? Oh
29:27
my Lord, my lord, behold I cast myself in faith upon conjecture,
29:34
not knowing the facts, and I appeal to your Lordship to confirm or deny
29:41
my logical anticipations. If I am wrong, I yield and will no longer
29:48
demand a fourth dimension. But if I am right, my lord will listen
29:52
to reason. I ask, therefore, is it or is it not?
29:59
The fact that ere now your countrymen also have witnessed the descent of beings of
30:04
a higher order than their own, entering closed rooms, even as your Lordship
30:11
entered mine without the opening of doors or windows, and appearing and vanishing at
30:17
will. On the reply to this question, I am ready to stake everything
30:22
deny it, and I am henceforth silent only that safe an answer sphere after
30:32
a pause, it is reported so. But men are divided in opinion as
30:37
to the facts, and even granting the facts, they explain them in different
30:44
ways. And in any case, however great may be the number of different
30:48
explanations, no one has adopted or suggested the theory of a fourth dimension.
30:56
Therefore, pray have done with this trifling and let us return to business.
31:03
I I was certain of it. I was certain that my anticipations would be
31:08
fulfilled, and now have patience with me, and answer me yet one more
31:14
question, best of teachers, Those who have thus appeared, no one knows
31:19
whence, and have returned. No one knows whither have they also contracted their
31:26
sections and vanished somehow into that more spacious space whither I now entreat you to
31:33
conduct me sphere moodily. They have vanished, certainly, if they ever appeared.
31:42
But most people say that these visions arose from the thought. You will
31:48
not understand me from the brain, from the perturbed angularity of the seer,
31:55
I say they so, who believe them not? Or if it indeed be
32:00
so that this other space is really thought land, then take me to that
32:06
blessed region where I, in thought shall see the insides of all solid things.
32:13
There before my ravished eye, a cube moving in some altogether new direction,
32:19
but strictly according to analogy, so as to make every particle of his
32:23
interior pass through a new kind of space with a wake of its own,
32:30
shall create a still more perfect perfection than himself, with sixteen terminal extra solid
32:37
angles and eight solid cubes for his perimeter. And once there shall we stay
32:44
our upward course in that blessed region of four dimensions. Shall we linger on
32:50
the threshold of the fifth and not enter therein? Ah? No, Let
32:55
us rather resolve that our ambition shall soar with our corporal assent. Then,
33:01
yielding to our intellectual onset, the gates of the sixth dimension shall fly open.
33:08
After that a seventh, and then an eighth. How long I should
33:14
have continued, I know not in vain did the Sphere, in his voice
33:19
of thunder, reiterate his commands of silence and threaten me with the direst penalties.
33:24
If I persisted, nothing could stem the flood of my ecstatic aspirations.
33:32
Perhaps I was to blame, but indeed I was intoxicated with the recent drafts
33:38
of truth to which he himself had introduced me. However, the end was
33:45
not long in coming. My words were cut short by a crash outside and
33:51
a simultaneous crash inside me, which impelled me through space with a velocity that
33:57
precluded speech. Down, Down, Down, I was rapidly descending, and
34:02
I knew that return to flat land was my doom. One glimpse, one
34:09
last and never to be forgotten glimpse I had of that dull level wilderness which
34:15
was now to become my universe again spread out before my eye, then a
34:22
darkness, then a final, all consummating thunder peal, And when I came
34:29
to myself, I was once more a common creeping square in my study at
34:36
home, listening to the peace cry of my approaching wife Section twenty. How
34:44
the sphere encouraged me in a vision. Although I had less than a minute
34:51
for reflection, I felt, by a kind of instinct that I must conceal
34:55
my experiences from my wife. Not that I apprehended at the moment any danger
35:02
from her divulging my secret. But I knew that to any woman in flat
35:07
land, the narrative of my adventures must needs be unintelligible. So I endeavored
35:14
to reassure her by some story invented for the occasion, that I had accidentally
35:19
fallen through the trap door of the cellar and had there Laan stunned. The
35:24
southward attraction in our country is so slight that even to a woman my tale
35:30
necessarily appeared extraordinary and well nigh incredible. But my wife, whose good sense
35:37
far exceeds that of the average of her sex, and who perceived that I
35:40
was unusually excited, did not argue with me on the subject, but insisted
35:45
that I was ill and required repose. I was glad of an excuse for
35:52
retiring to my chamber to think quietly over what had happened. When I was
35:57
at last by myself, a drows sensation fell on me. But before my
36:02
eyes closed, I endeavored to reproduce the third dimension, and especially the process
36:08
by which a cube is constructed through the motion of a square. It was
36:15
not so clear as I could have wished, but I remembered that it must
36:19
be upward and yet not northward. And I determined steadfastly to retain these words
36:25
as the clue, which if firmly grasped, could not fail to guide me
36:30
to the solution. So mechanically repeating like a charm, the words upward yet
36:37
not northward, I fell into a sound, refreshing sleep. During my slumber
36:45
I had a dream. I thought I was once more by the side of
36:49
the sphere, whose lustrous hue betokened that he had exchanged his wrath against me
36:54
for perfect placability. We were moving together hither towards a bright but infinitesimally small
37:02
point to which my master directed my attention. As we approached. Methought there
37:09
issued from it a slight humming noise, as from one of your spaceland blue
37:15
bottles, only less resonant by far. So slight, indeed, that even
37:21
in the perfect stillness of the vacuum through which we soared, the sound reached
37:25
not our ears, till we checked our flight at a distance from it of
37:30
something under twenty human diagonals. Look yonder, said my guide in flat Land.
37:37
Thou hast lived of line Land. Thou hast received a vision. Thou
37:43
hast soared with me to the heights of spaceland. Now, in order to
37:47
complete the range of thy experience, I conduct thee downward to the lowest depths
37:54
of existence, even to the realm of point Land, the abyss of no
38:00
dimensions. Behold yon miserable creature. That point is a being like ourselves,
38:07
but confined to the non dimensional gulf. He is himself, his own world,
38:15
his own universe. Of any other than himself, he can form no
38:21
conception. He knows not length, nor breadth, nor height, for he
38:27
has had no experience of them. He has no cognizance even of the number
38:32
two, nor has he a thought of plurality, For he is himself,
38:37
his one and all being, really nothing yet mark his perfect self contentment,
38:45
and hence learn this lesson that to be self contented is to be vile and
38:52
ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy.
39:00
Now listen, he ceased, and there arose from the little buzzing creature
39:07
a tiny, low, monotonous but distinct tinkling, as from one of your
39:12
space and phonographs, from which I caught these words infinite beatitude of existence.
39:21
It is, and there is none else beside it? What said I?
39:28
Does the puny creature mean by it? He means himself, said the sphere.
39:35
Have you not noticed before now that babies and babyish people who cannot distinguish
39:39
themselves from the world speak of themselves in the third person? But hush,
39:46
it fills all space, continued the little soliloquising creature. And what it fills
39:53
it is what it thinks, that it utters, and what it utters that
40:02
it hears, And it itself is thinker utterer, hearer thought, word audition.
40:13
It is the one and yet the all in all ah, the happiness,
40:21
ah, the happiness of being. Can you not startle the little thing
40:28
out of its complacency? Said I? Tell it what it really is,
40:32
as you told me. Reveal to it the narrow limitations of Pointland, and
40:37
lead it up to something higher. That is no easy task, said my
40:44
master. Try you hereon, raising my voice to the uttermost, I addressed
40:51
the pointer as follows. Silence, silence, contemptible creature. You call yourself
40:58
the all in all, but you are the nothing. Your so called universe
41:02
is a mere speck in a line, and a line is a mere shadow
41:07
as compared with hush, harsh. You have said enough interrupted the sphere.
41:14
Now listen and mark the effect of your harangue on the King of Pointland.
41:21
The luster of the monarch, who beamed more brightly than ever upon hearing my
41:25
words, showed clearly that he retained his complacency, and I had hardly ceased
41:31
when he took up his strain again. Ah the joy, ah, the
41:37
joy of thought. What can it not achieve by thinking its own thought,
41:44
coming to itself suggestive of its disparagement, thereby to enhance its happiness. Sweet
41:52
rebellion stirred up to result in triumph. Ah, the divine creative power of
42:00
the all in one, Ah, their joy, the joy of being.
42:07
You see, said my teacher, how little your words have done so far.
42:14
As the monarch understands them at all, he accepts them as his own,
42:20
for he cannot conceive of any other except himself, and plumes himself upon
42:25
the variety of its thought as an instance of creative power. Let us leave
42:34
this god of Pointland to the ignorant fruition of his omnipresence and omniscience. Nothing
42:42
that you or I can do can rescue him from his self satisfaction. After
42:47
this, as we floated gently back to flatland, I could hear the mild
42:52
voice of my companion, pointing the moral of my vision and stimulating me to
42:59
aspire and to teach others to aspire. He had been angered at first he
43:06
confessed by my ambition to soar to dimensions above the third, But since then
43:12
he had received fresh insight, and he was not too proud to acknowledge his
43:17
error to a pupil. Then he proceeded to initiate me into mysteries yet higher
43:23
than those I had witnessed, showing me how to construct extra solids by the
43:30
motion of solids, and double extra solids by the motion of extra solids,
43:35
and all strictly according to analogy, all by methods so simple, so easy
43:44
as to be patent even to the female sex. End of Section twenty