PREFACE

The Diagram of the Infinities is a representation of the limits of human comprehension of the external world in terms of three-dimensional space and linear time. According to this diagram three-dimensional space and linear time are not physical properties of the external world but merely subjective categories of thought and perception which imposes on the external world these conditions. In other words the real world is both spaceless and timeless and, therefore, may be regarded as both transcendent and metaphysical in substance, form, and function.

It may be asserted here that the human mind's state of awareness (or consciousness) of the external world that is focused only on the physical material level of existence (the lowest level of awareness possible) that cannot see beyond sense perception (that is, perception via the five physical senses--sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch), which serves to alter and shape, according to certain universal tripartite dynamics of sensory experience and cognition, these sensory impressions of the external world into forms and experiences we recognize as three-dimensional space and linear time.

Although these assertions seem quite radical, the idea of a spaceless and timeless reality as well as the subjectivity of three-dimensional space and linear time is really nothing new.

In 1781 the German philosopher Immanuel Kant published his famous work, A Critique of Pure Reason, in which he asserts that space and time, as we ordinarily perceive and experience them, are actually only subjective (psychological) categories of thought and perception (of our internal world) and not objective (physical) properties of the external world outside our subjectivity. In other words, our perception of three-dimensional space and our experience of the passage of time as movement from past to present to future, as if along a line (linear time), is nothing more than illusion. Space and time, he maintains, are merely mental tools that allow us to cope and manage our way through some fantastic and incomprehensible reality that exists without space and time. Thus, the real world, he contends, is both spaceless and timeless.

Moreover, it was well-known that in ancient Greek philosophy the question of the 'One or the Many' was really the question as to whether reality is actually some incomprehensible, spaceless unity, as opposed to this endless diversity in three-dimensional space we all perceive, a question that was intrinsically bound to another, just as perplexing question: the question as to whether reality is actually some timeless permanence, as opposed to this constant experience of change in time we all experience. Plato himself regarded the physical material world of diversity and change as illusion, viewing individual physical objects in three-dimensional space merely as shadows of some great spaceless and timeless metaphysical entities he called Forms; and these Forms, taken together, he believed merged to form some fantastic eternal unity he called the Ultimate Good.

Eastern mystical philosophies, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, have always alluded to the idea that the phenomenal world of space and time is maya, or illusion, and that one must learn to somehow escape the deceptions of both space and time to free oneself from the limitations of physical material existence and, ultimately, achieve nirvana, a transcendent mental state wherein is revealed the true spaceless and timeless nature of reality.

Today, modern physical thought recognizes that, as a consequence of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, our perception of three-dimensional space may be thought of as illusion and, moreover, we now have every reason to believe that our experience of the passage of time is also illusion since the past, present, and future are somehow bound together as one in space-time.

What is most important to understand about the radical assertion as to the subjectivity of three-dimensional space and linear time is its even more profound implications. Needless to say, if this assertion is true, then it would be quite natural to conclude that the real world, beyond our perception and experience of it in terms of three-dimensional space and linear time, actually transcends both space and time and, therefore, must be regarded as metaphysical in substance, form and function, possessing a nature that may be both spiritual and mental (which, in principle, may be thought of as one and the same thing!).

Finally, if a man were able to begin and complete a study of his conceptions, perceptions and experience of three-dimensional space and linear time and, ultimately, establish for himself in a concrete and indisputable way that these so-called properties of reality were, in fact, purely subjective in origin and without objective merit, then he would, in essence, transform his mind into one that could be used as sensory organ capable of perceiving and conceiving the external world (and everything in it) as it truly is while developing in himself amazing capacities and abilities beyond the ordinary, a kind of wizard psychology that constitutes the foundation of what may be regarded as the mind of a True Wizard.

And the Diagram of the Infinities serves as a map or guide for this study, revealing the four limits of human comprehension of the external world marked by infinity--infinitely large space, infinitely small space, the infinite past, and infinite future. And the problem of infinity is the key to understanding the true subjective nature of three-dimensional space and linear time. Once understood, the Diagram of the Infinities allows us to go even further, providing a conceptual framework for understanding the true nature of the real world beyond three-dimensional space and linear time, and even beyond matter.