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THE DIVINITY OF HIGHER DIMENSIONS 37
Figure 2.12 A 4-D "God" thrusts His hand into three-space. Is there a way to lock
a 4-D being in our space by thrusting a knife through the hand? (Drawing by Brian
Mansfield.)
of cars, the bustle of pedestrians, and a man dressed in a Santa Glaus outfit
rushing by.
You turn back to Sally. "Imagine a 4-D God thrusting His hand into
our world. We'd see His cross section. Some people would certainly be fearful.
Someone too bold might stab God's hand with a knife" (Fig. 2.12).
Sally gazes out the window. "Could we harm a 4-D being whose hand
came into our world?"
"Let's think about this in lower dimensions that are easier for us to
visualize. If Flatlanders are truly two-dimensional, that means they have
no thickness. If this is so, they will be as immaterial as shadows. If they
stabbed your 3-D hand with the sharp point of a triangle, you would not
get hurt, nor would you have any problem lifting your hand out of their
space. I'm not sure Flatlanders could cut through your skin. However,
another model is to think of Flatland as a rubber sheet in which the
inhabitants have a very slight thickness. In the second edition of Flatland,
Edwin Abbott Abbott suggests that all inhabitants have a slight height,