ABSTRACT
In Explorations in Autism, the idea of dimensionality of mental functioning became the central notion from which Donald Meltzer's theoretical formulations were to spring and expand. Meltzer's metaphor of the dimensionality of the mind has become a ground plan with enormous creative potential. Meltzer's concept of dimensionality of the mind, with its double aspect of space and time, is not only a creative metaphor of normal mental functioning, but represents a precious tool for a deeper understanding of autistic states. A drawing by an autistic child will illustrate the interchangeability of spatial vertices in this child's mind: up/down, left/right, as well as the indifferentiation of shapes themselves—convexity/concavity, and the haphazard quality of movement in and through space. Autistic children often seem to ignore the basic physical laws of gravity. The general concept of mental dimensionality becomes an invaluable Ariadne's thread for those who are prepared to enter and seek orientation in the one- and two-dimensional sensual world of autistic minds.
