A Thought Experiment on the 3 Dimensions of Consciousness

With appreciation to Galileo and Einstein:

Assume the existence of a 3-dimensional co-ordinate system; “x” representing the horizontal axis, “y” representing the vertical axis, and the “z” axis representing depth.

Assume that a train is moving along the horizontal axis at a constant rate of speed on a track which is both level and straight; that is, with no motion along either the “y” axis or the “z” axis.

Assume that an observer on the moving train drops a ball and measures the length the ball falls along a line perpendicular to the floor of the moving train; also observing that there is no motion of the ball at all along the “x” axis since both the ball, the observer, and the floor of the train are moving at a constant rate of speed.

Assume the existence of an observer in a train station who also observes the path of the falling ball; but observes that path as, instead, a curved line; that is, with motion along both the “y” axis and the “x” axis; which he then communicates to the observer on the train by means of a cell phone.

The observer on the moving train drops the ball ten thousand more times; ten thousand times measuring the distance the ball falls along a straight line perpendicular to the floor of the moving train; ten thousand times observing that there is no motion at all of the ball along the “x” axis.

And, on that basis, the observer on the moving train concludes that the observer in the train station is: 1) evil; 2)possessed by demons; 3) a “Gnostic”, a heretic, an infidel, an Albigensian, or a ‘witch’; or, 4) “crazy”, a “lunatic”, or a megalomaniacal, paranoid schizophrenic who ‘hears voices from God’ and has ‘delusions of grandeur’.

Explanation:

The observer on the moving train has been born on the moving train, has lived his entire life on the moving train, but has no knowledge that the train is even moving. This represents the consciousness of the “self” and the ‘thinker’—that is, two of the three dimensions of consciousness; whose only information about the motion of the ball is with regards to the distance the ball falls along the “y” axis.

The observer in the train station represents the “observing consciousness”—that is, the third dimension of consciousness; which is capable of observing both the consciousness of the “self” and the consciousness of the ‘thinker’ (that is, the motion of the falling ball along the “y” axis); but, also, has additional information with regards to the motion of the ball along the “x” axis; information which is simply not available to the consciousness of the “self” and the ‘thinker’ (unless it can receive that information from the observer in the train station) as a result of the motion of the train along the “x” axis.

Oh, by the way, the observer in the train station had previously been on the moving train himself; but had been killed in a train wreck in which the motion of the train went from 80 m.p.h. to a dead stop in half of a second.

He was then ‘raised from the dead’ as an observer in the train station.

His goal is to inform the other people on the train—people who are absolutely unaware that the train is even moving at all—not only that there is motion along the “x” axis when a ball is dropped on the moving train; but, also, that the train itself is heading for a steep gorge over which the trestle bridge has been washed out by a flood.

This will soon result in a massive train wreck and death to most if not all of the passengers on the train.

He is accused of being a “false prophet”, the “dajjal”, or a lunatic who ‘hears voices’…

He is running out of words…

So he is waiting for the train wreck.

Michael Cecil