Up, Up, and Way Away

If you are of a certain age or are someone with a strange fascination with the music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the title of this blog will be familiar to you, although it is inexact. It comes from the Jimmy Webb song “Up, Up, and Away” made famous by The 5th Dimension (that’s them below).

But I’m not writing about that 5th dimension. I’m also not writing about the fifth dimension conjured up by physicists, which is “a dimension unseen by humans where the forces of gravity and electromagnetism unite to create a simple but graceful theory of fundamental forces.” That’s the description Laurie Brenner offers in her sciencing.com article “What Is the 5th Dimension?” (Said physicists are now up to 10 dimensions and string theory to explain gravity and light.) I’m tempted to write about this one, though, especially given this characterization of it by Oskar Klein, the Swedish physicist who first hypothesized an “extra” dimension:

Klein came up with the idea that the fifth dimension is invisible to the human eye, as it is minuscule and curls up on itself like a pill bug rolls up under threat.

Nor am I writing, although it’s also tempting, about Rod Serling’s description of what’s beyond length, width, height, and time:

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone.”

Opening monologue, The Twilight Zone

But no, I’m not writing about this one either. I’m writing about one that brings a different meaning to the phrase “Up, Up, and Away,” which is the spiritual 5th dimension. Here’s how an Australian woman named Andrea Oneness (scout’s honor) describes it:

The start of the process of entering into the Fifth Dimension is a sense of your viewpoint suddenly rotating within. Normally we have a sense of our inner point of view matching our vision. However all of a sudden there is a sense of your viewpoint rotating downwards, so that instead of looking straight in front of you, you are now looking straight down into the centre of the Earth. It is a strange and unsettling sensation, and there is a sense of simply being poised there, hovering. Once you are able to accept this shift in view point, there is then a strong sense of rushing downwards through this portal. Immediately there is then a sense of entering another plane. All of this is internal. Your physical body does not move or change in any way.

The plane that one enters is the Fifth Dimension.

When one first experiences this plane of consciousness it feels as though one is standing in the middle of the night sky. It is inky black, with softly glinting stars.

“Fifth Dimension,” andreaoneneess.com

It would be easy to make fun of Andrea’s vision of the fifth dimension. However, she sounds, if anything, sincere in her wish to help people reach elewareness [a higher state of consciousness], and she offers tangible ways to contact her for more information: phone number, email, and online message form.

On the other hand, there are many reasons to wonder, perhaps even be suspicious of, someone whose bio mentions only that she’s based in Australia and “continues to experience shifts as she aligns with Spirit, and comes more fully into Oneness.” Oneness, if you’re wondering, “means being at one in the heart with Divinity, God, or The One.”

Underneath all her vague, somewhat surreal prescriptions for how one can reach the fifth dimension, Andrea seems to suggest that humans can evolve into “higher beings” if they put some thought and effort into it. I agree with and applaud that idea. I even went down that rabbit hole myself for a bit with my now moribund TNTBAD concept and website. I have to say, however, that my precept, “Try Not to Be a Dick,” seems a much easier path to higher beinghood than Andrea’s instruction “to ascend into the Illuminated Heart and awaken to your Divine Self.” I’ll just stick with that one, thank you very much.

(Published originally on RatBlurt™, June 20, 2022.)