I think that the translation from 2 to 3 dimensions is what gets me. The trampoline example makes sense. But when I try to go 3D, I can only imagine it like a pool, where I'm displacing something else. But another response said that matter doesn't displace spacetime. And you said that a dot on the grid isn't separate from the grid.

I spacetime more like a magnetic field? Defining contours and routes, as well as permeating things that are in its influence?

>If you had an x/y plane and put a point on it. That point is not separate from the grid.

This is part of what I'm struggling with. I'm a mass. If it's just me and spacetime, I'm warping spacetime... around me?

Scientists talk about things "warping spacetime," like the way light is "bent" near a large mass--except it's traveling along a curve in spacetime. While that is helpful to visualize, it always leaves in my mind the impression that spacetime is something other masses are on or in, like a stapler inside jello.

But I keep wondering if spacetime is also, for lack of a better word, in everything? Does an atom displace spacetime? Is spacetime between the nucleus and the electrons? Or is it also inside the nucleus?

Maybe a bigger example. Is Earth in but separate from spacetime? Or is spacetime right beside me when I'm sitting in my living room?