Interstellar is more than a sci-fi drama. It’s about God.
“Love isn’t something we invented. It’s observable–powerful. Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that even if we can’t understand it yet” -Amelia Brand (Interstellar)
When Brand says this in Interstellar, I think she may be referring to God (or at least divine beings within God’s dominion). We know one thing based on chapter 4 of the first book of John (1 John 4): God is love. And we also know God to transcend the dimensions we have established in our physical universe (for He is omnipotent).
First things first: We need to understand how each dimension works before I mention the “God dimension.” These descriptions are very basic and aren’t really mathematically accurate (bear with me). There are articles on the internet that explain dimensions better with more depth, but these descriptions are to help make my point.
First dimension: a single plane (x) - think of a sheet of paper as a plane
Second dimension: 2 planes (x,y) - think of 2 sheets of paper, one horizontal and one vertical as planes
Third Dimension: multiple planes being stretched on 3 axes to form physical space (x,y,z) - This is everything we can physically observe
Fourth Dimension: Time - time is intangible. It can be measured, but it can’t really be seen/felt/heard/etc. It isn’t a physical object. It is continuous and no moment can ever be the same. It’s what drives the physical objects.
These are the 4 dimensions we know of in our physical world. But what about the 5th dimension or “God dimension” as I call it? We understand God to be physically intangible and although our physical bodies are infused with souls, we also see our souls as physically intangible. The only way we know of reaching Him is through spiritual exercises (like prayer!) I don’t necessarily believe that God physically interacts with us. But I do believe He interacts with us in various spiritual ways (the 5th dimension in Interstellar) and that these interactions can be interpreted in our normal 4 dimensions. This leads me back to Brand’s quote from the movie Interstellar. In this scene, Amelia Brand talks about the transcendent power of love and how she feels connected to someone she hasn’t seen in years and assumes to be dead. She even says that we (humans) can love people who have died which would provide no social utility making love have more of a meaning than what complex emotions can describe. This quote foreshadows a scene later in the movie in which Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is moving through a black hole and suddenly appears in a dimension in which he is beyond time and space. In this dimension, he can observe any physical moment of time that would happen in our natural 4 dimensional world, yet cannot be physically present in those moments. In this scene, Cooper tries to find ways to reach out to Murph.
Let’s backtrack to the beginning/middle of the movie: Cooper’s sole purpose of embarking on the mission was to save earth and ALSO get back to see/save his family–specifically Murph. We know that he and Murph have a wonderful relationship and that he genuinely loves her (we can tell that by his character). So, his mission was solely a product of love. I’m sure we can all agree based on the writing and development of his character.
Back to the ending sequence and theory: because we see Cooper in the 5th dimension, we can assume that he is interacting with Murph through love. Since love transcends our world, he has to communicate using signs and symbols that must be interpreted in our observable world. For the sake of length, I won’t go into too much detail about this particular scene (watch it for yourself, it’s a beautiful scene), but I’m confident you (the reader) will see what point I am making. Basically, Interstellar tries to explain how God interacts with us. I’m not comparing Matthew McConaughey’s character to God by any means. Rather, I would compare him in the 5th dimension to a saint. I love to entertain the thought that God so lovingly sends us his best, most faithful servants in a way that we cannot physically comprehend. Since God has no way of physically reaching out to us (as his dimension transcends ours), he interacts with our souls by showing love–something that only our souls (which he infused man with) can interpret. I’d like to conclude this theory with the idea that the 5th dimension is love and of God. And because we have been gifted with souls, we can interpret God’s messages to us. I like to imagine Jesus, Mary, and the saints as Matthew McConaughey’s character trying to reach Murph in the 5th dimension: they were all physical people at different points in time infused with intangible souls who constantly try to reach our souls by interacting with pure, genuine, and immeasurable love. It’s really a matter of whether we want to be open to interpreting the signs or not. “So maybe we should trust that even if we can’t understand it yet.”
God Bless!
