If we said that along with the three spatial dimensions ( up/down, left/right, forward/backward) the fourth dimension, the time dimension, was also a spatial dimension, then we would have four spatial dimensions, which would mean that time is just motion through the fourth spatial dimension.
You can visualize this by imagining a few x,y type graphs, where the x-axis for the first graph corresponds to the left/right spatial dimension, and the y-axis for the same graph (the first one) represents the up/down spatial dimension.
Now the second graph, for the horizontal axis instead of using x, which could be confusing, I'll use z, and for the vertical axis, I'll call it t. So, let the z-axis (the horizontal axis) represent the forward/backward spatial dimension; and let the
t-axis (the vertical axes) represent the fourth spatial dimension which is the time dimension.
With these visual aids we can in a way 'see' how an object would behave while traveling through four spatial dimensions.
One thing to always keep in mind though is that we can only "SEE" in real life or in our heads three spatial dimensions at one time. The fourth spacial dimension is always perpendicular to each of the 'seen' three spatial dimensions.
If we say that a body is at rest with regard to the three (basic) spatial dimensions, all of the bodies motion must be through the fourth spatial dimension, the time dimension. The object must be traveling at the speed of light = 299,792,458 meters/second through the fourth spatial dimension, the time dimension.
Using the second Graph from above, the one that used the horizontal z-axis to represent the forward/backward spatial dimension, and the vertical t-axis to represent the time dimension, the fourth spatial dimension. When the object is at rest with respect to the three dimensional axises of x,y, and z, all of it's motion is through the vertical t-axis, the time dimension and fourth spatial dimension. So on the graph using the horizontal z-axis and the vertical t-axis, a line drawn directly up the t-axis line until it reaches 2 units long, where each unit corresponds to 1/2 the speed of light-or half c., and 2 units is equal to c, the speed of light.
Here we are with all the velocity being in the vertical t-axis (meaning that the object is not moving to someone looking at it from the perspective of the 3 spatial dimensions because all of its motion is in the time dimension, the fourth spatial dimension) there is a line drawn from the origin (0,0) to (0,2), so that's a line going from the origin up two units.
Now say we speed up this body in the forward direction-in the 'forward/back' spatial dimension-to one-half the speed of light. Now how will the graph look? Since the object can't have any more speed than the speed of light, and that is already being used in the time or fourth spatial dimension, what must happen is that the speed through the t-dimension must give up some speed to the z-dimension. And now the graph would show a line going from the origin (0,0) to (1,0); that would be the line going horizontal along the z-axis showing that it's velocity in the 'forward/back' spatial dimension is one half the velocity of light. And the other line would look like a line starting at the origin (0,0) to (0,1); the line would be going vertical along the t-axis showing the component of the motion left for motion through time.
And if the object sped on up to the speed of light in the forward direction of the 'forward/back' spatial dimension, there would be no component of motion left for motion through time. Just like when all the motion was through time, there was no component of motion left for motion in any of the three-spatial-dimensions.
A body is always in motion. All the components of a body's motion will always add together to give you the speed of light.
When a body is at rest with respect to the three usual spatial dimensions, all the components of the body's motion lie in the time dimension-the fourth spatial dimension. As a body speeds up in one of the other spatial dimensions, it's transfers some component of its motion from the time dimension to the spatial dimension or dimensions, that it is going to move through.
This is one easy way to see how the speed of light is an actual unbreakable speed limit. Nothing can go faster than the speed of light. (or you could say that an object is always traveling at the speed of light when the components of its motion in all four spatial dimensions are taken into account.)
This is also a good way to visualize why time passes more and more slowly for an object as that object speeds up and up. The faster an object is traveling, the smaller is the component of motion that is in the time dimension. And when the object reaches Light speed, there is no longer any component of motion left that could be in the time dimension. So, in that case-traveling at the speed of light in a spatial dimension, all of the component of motion lies in the direction of the motion, and there will not be any component that could give it motion through the time dimension-fourth spatial dimension. So, for an object traveling at the speed of light, since the object can't go faster than the speed of light, it can't have any motion to move through the time-fourth-spatial-dimension, so time would stand still for that object.
My initial speculations centered on the idea of how do objects get mass. I'm trying to show that an object getts mass as a result of how large of a component of the objects absolute velocity, with respect to the speed of light, that lies in the fourth spatial dimension, the time dimension. (The faster an object moves in one of the 3 normal spatial dimensions, the component of it's velocity through the time dimension will decrease for every acceleration in any of the regular spatial dimensions. (Point of interest--the greater the velocity of an object in one of the 3-non-time spatial dimensions, the component of motion in the time-spatial-dimension will be less and less, and this is manifested by time passing slower when objects are traveling at high speeds. And onother way of looking at it to help get one last grasp of what I'm trying to really get at. We know that there is a limit on acceleration, and that the speed of light is the top-speed limit. But imagine that at all moments we are always traveling at the speed of light. If we were at rest relative to the three-non-time-spatial-dimensionsf, then we are moving throught the 4th-time-spacial-dimension at the speed of light. As a body starts accelerating in one or more of the 3-non-time-spatial dimensions, to accelerate in these dimensions it must use more of the component of velocity from the fourth-time-dimension, causing a proportianal decrease in the body's velocity through the time-spatial dimension, so the body is now passing through time at a slower rate, and time will pass more slowly.And I'm hypothesising that mass is a manifestation of the constantly changing rate of motion through the time-spatial-dimension. Each time a body changes velocities, directions, etc. he is causing an acceleration, and acceleration is indistinguishable from gravity, and all these phenomena come together, the amount of gravity produeced during accelration, the amount of gravity produced from changing directions, along with some other variables is the why objects have mass. (Point to ponder: as an object accelerates to half the speed of light or more, that objects mass also increases. And remember that increasing speed, or accelerating, in one of the non time spatial dimensions, and that acceleration is, again, indistinguishable from gravity. And what kinds of thing have gravity? Things with mass, things with mass 'seem' to attract other particles with mass, and that is gravity. If you understand all that, can you now see that perhaps Gravity may be nothing more than an objects accelerating in a higher spatial dimension, much like the time-spacial-dimension, in a higher dimension that is perpendicular to all points in each of the 3 regular spacial dimensions. Lets see how that would work for producing Earths Gravity. Since the earth is continually changing directions as it proceeds on it's orbit of the Sun. And a change in direction is an acceleration that is indistinguishable from Gravity. Each change in acceleration will cause the components of the total available speed (ie the speed of light) to be continually changing the component values in each of the dimensions that have part of the world in it. And as these very slight but extremely numerous component adustments are happening (and they are happening continually), one dimension needs to be given a little extra scrutiny: the fourth-spatial-time-generation. While the earth is traveling around the Sun on it's orbit, everytime an acceleration or decelreation happens, the component motion through the fourth-spacial-time dimension will be continually and by the smallest change possible--The component of motion in the fourth-spacial-time-dimension is in a way performing continual slight 'course corrections' during the orbit by releasing and collecting small changes in velocity to each three non-time spatial dimensions, as earth changes directions . And while the component of motion through the fourth-spatial-time-dimension, is continually changing, it is steadily creating an acceleration for itself (for the Earth) in the fourth-time-spatial-dimension only (but not a linear acceleration. it will probably be something like acceleration of .1 (I'm going to leave units off, I'm only using intergers here to show this idea) that lasts for .003 seconds, then it changes to an acceleration of .15, for .027 seconds. and own and own, this happening continually. Since the fourth dimension is perpendicular to the regular 3 spatial dimensions (the up/down dimension, the left/right dimension, and the foreward/ backward dimension) the acceleration of the Earth will be completely in the the in the fourth- spatial-dimension, the time dimension. Remember that acceleration manifests itself as gravity. So with all the acceleration contained in the time dimension, and al.the accelerations being very week and very short, the accelerations are fast changing, leads to a very strong manifestation of the continual acceleration-Gravity-Planet Wide Gravity-and because the 4th spatial and time dimension is perpendicular to each of the common 3 spatial dimensions, and perpindicular to every point in those three spatial dimensions, the manifestation of the constantly changing values for the component of motion in the 4th-spatial-time-dimension, that manifest-ation being indistinguishable from gravity (and if it's indistinguishable from Gravity, it's probably Gravity.) will affect every point in these three dimensions that corresponds with the way gravity does indeed interact in the 3 'everyday' spatial dimensions.
And so that's the state of my hypothesis of how if we allow a particles mass (remember,we are alway travieling at the speed of light, with our actual speed through one of the 3 spatial dimensions being the value of the component of speed in that dimension) to be the manifestation of the distribution of all the velocity dimensional comoponents. It isn't much of a jump from here to see a mechanism for creating Gravity also.