Is the "fifth dimension" more than just a singing quintet?

The MTSU Science and Spirituality Group will explore that question in a presentation titled "Conscious, the Paranormal and Higher Dimensions" at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at Unity of Murfreesboro, 130 S. Cannon Ave. in Murfreesboro.

Dr. Horace W. (Hap) Crater, a physics professor at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, Tennessee, will be the guest speaker. Crater will examine the possibility that the space-time continuum is not limited to the four dimensions accepted by physicists and cosmologists (length, width, height and time).

Crater proposes that a possible "fifth dimension" in the universe "might provide a physical way of allowing our personal consciousness to extend beyond the normal four dimensions," said Dr. Gary Wulfsberg, MTSU professor emeritus of chemistry.

"The existence of consciousness outside the normal four-dimensional physical universe cannot now be rejected out of hand as absolutely unverifiable by science," Wulfsberg said.

Crater, who teaches several physics courses at UTSI, also conducts research on theoretical physics. He earned his bachelor's degree from The College of William and Mary and his master's and doctoral degrees from Yale University.

The Science and Spirituality Group grew out of conversations among MTSU professors about humanity's place in the cosmos.

Since 2008, the group has brought accomplished speakers to campus to engage students, faculty and the public at large in dialogue that views both science and spirituality "as a valuable lens through which to explore perennial questions of human interest," according tohttp://library.mtsu.edu/spirituality/aboutus.php.