Atheist,
Thanks for clearing this up. This makes much more sense to me now. I have heard of this balloon analogy quite a few times, but have never really fully appreciated it because it seems way over-simplified. Can you extend this analogy to our three space dimensional/one time dimensional universe? Essentially, how does space bend back onto itself (if we start in a straight line and travel infinitely far, we will end up where we started)? I am puzzled by this, and how this works in a three-D universe. It is easy to see on the 2D surface of a balloon. Thanks!