When Rest Mass Is Misrepresented as a Temporal Dimension

Relativity models spacetime as a four-dimensional manifold in which one dimension is assigned to time coordinates. This paper re-examines the four-dimensional spacetime interval formula through the fundamental decomposition c2=v2+d2 of World Quantum Theory. We find that coordinate time t is not an independent physical dimension but rather a relabeling of the momentum component v of world quanta in macroscopic observation. Correspondingly, the rest mass component d is packaged as the proper time interval, thereby misrepresenting the mass dimension as a temporal effect. Our analysis demonstrates that the four-dimensional structure of relativity is essentially a projective packaging of the two-dimensional orthogonal decomposition (v,d), with phenomena such as time dilation and mass-energy equivalence reducible to proportional changes between v and d. This paper reveals the historical origins and mathematical disguises of this misrepresentation, and argues that restoring the independent status of the mass dimension would simplify fundamental physics and eliminate spacetime singularities and imaginary-number difficulties. Keywords: World Quantum Theory; mass dimension; time dimension; four-dimensional spacetime; proper time; projective misrepresentation