https://www.abovethenormnews.com/2025/11/26/consciousness-creates-reality/

You Return To Source: New Physics Framework Models Death As Consciousness Reintegration
By
David Freeman

KEY FINDINGS

Consciousness precedes matter: Uppsala professor’s equations show space, time and matter emerge from foundational consciousness field

Death is not the end: Individual consciousness returns to universal field after physical death

Telepathy explained: Mind-to-mind phenomena occur through shared consciousness field

Pre-Big Bang state modeled: Mathematical framework describes timeless consciousness existing before universe

Testable predictions: Framework generates experiments in quantum physics, neuroscience and cosmology

Ancient texts validated: Quantum equations align with Biblical, Vedic and mystical descriptions of reality

Peer-reviewed study published in AIP Advances, selected as best paper of the issue
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Materials scientist publishes peer-reviewed mathematical framework showing space, time and matter emerge from foundational consciousness field

A professor of materials science at Uppsala University has published equations in a peer-reviewed physics journal that turn our understanding of reality inside out. Maria Strømme’s paper in AIP Advances proposes that consciousness does not emerge from brain activity. Instead, consciousness exists first as a fundamental field, and from this field, space, time, matter, and individual awareness all arise. The journal selected her work as the best paper of the issue and featured it on the cover. Strømme typically researches nanotechnology at the smallest scales imaginable. Her new theoretical framework operates at the opposite extreme, addressing the origin of the universe itself. The paper presents consciousness as the foundational aspect of reality, with physical structures appearing only afterward through a process she models mathematically using quantum field theory.

The framework builds on insights from quantum physics pioneers including Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg and Planck, all of whom explored similar territory. Strømme has developed these ideas into a formal mathematical model with testable predictions across physics, neuroscience and cosmology. According to her model, before the Big Bang existed a state she calls universal consciousness. This state had no space, no time, no matter. It existed as pure potential in what she describes mathematically as an undifferentiated superposition of all possible configurations of reality. She represents this state with the symbol |Φ₀⟩, treating it as a quantum superposition where multiple possibilities coexist simultaneously. In this timeless condition, all potential futures, all possible universes, all structures that could ever exist remained suspended in formless awareness.

The paper describes this as analogous to the quantum vacuum in physics, understood as the foundational state containing potential for all physical phenomena. Cosmological models describing conditions before the Big Bang similarly reference a timeless, spaceless domain from which observable reality emerged. Strømme proposes three principles as the operating framework. Universal Mind represents the creative intelligence driving all differentiation and structure. Universal Consciousness serves as the capacity for awareness, enabling forms to be perceived and experienced. Universal Thought functions as the creative mechanism transforming formless potential into structured realities of individual experience. These principles come from philosopher Sydney Banks, who emphasized they exist as formless and eternal, preceding space, time and matter. Strømme has translated these metaphysical concepts into mathematical language, creating equations that describe how undifferentiated consciousness collapses into differentiated states.

The transition from timeless potential to structured reality occurs through what Strømme calls universal thought, represented mathematically as an operator that initiates collapse. This is not personal intellectual thought but a formless creative force reflecting how the undifferentiated transitions into form. The paper outlines several pathways by which this differentiation could occur. The first involves symmetry breaking, a fundamental process in physics where systems transition from symmetric to asymmetric states. Strømme models the consciousness field evolving according to a potential, initially residing in an undifferentiated state. Universal thought introduces perturbations causing the field to break symmetry and produce differentiated states. The mathematics mirror treatments used in particle physics and cosmology for scalar fields undergoing symmetry breaking in the early universe. The potential creates what physicists visualize as a double-well, where the system initially rests in a symmetric state but fluctuations lead it to choose one of the wells, producing differentiation.

A second pathway involves quantum fluctuations, spontaneous random variations occurring even in vacuum states. The undifferentiated consciousness state may experience inherent fluctuations, small deviations from perfect symmetry that seed differentiation. Universal thought amplifies certain fluctuations, guiding emergence of structured states. This mechanism mirrors processes observed in early universe cosmology where quantum fluctuations in the inflationary vacuum stretched and amplified to produce large-scale structure. The third pathway Strømme describes involves self-reflection, where universal consciousness differentiates by becoming aware of itself. The act of universal thought functions as metaphysical observation, selecting latent possibilities and projecting them into actuality. This resonates with quantum measurement theory, where observation collapses a superposition into definite outcome.

With collapse of universal consciousness into differentiated states, space-time and matter emerge as observable aspects of reality. Strømme emphasizes that space-time does not pre-exist but represents an emergent property resulting from the differentiation process. The evolving consciousness field encodes the properties and dynamics of space-time itself. After collapse, if symmetry breaking governs the transition, the consciousness field evolves according to wave equations governing propagation in relativistic field theories. Localized deviations within the consciousness field correspond to regions of structure, analogous to particles, cosmic structures, or sentient beings. The energy density of the consciousness field takes different forms depending on which collapse mechanism operates. In potential-driven dynamics, the field follows equations mirroring field-theoretic approaches in spontaneous symmetry-breaking scenarios. When quantum fluctuations drive differentiation, the consciousness field evolves more freely, influenced by stochastic perturbations resembling quantum fluctuations in curved spacetime.

In projection-based mechanisms, energy density reflects the sum of squared amplitudes of projected components, occurring discretely rather than dynamically. Each projection operator selects a specific differentiated state from the undifferentiated field, paralleling quantum measurement theory where observation reduces a superposition to specific eigenstate. As the consciousness field evolves post-collapse, localized excitations manifest as individual consciousness. These appear as ripples or discrete projections within the universal field, corresponding to sentient beings capable of awareness and subjective experience. Strømme models individual consciousness as localized structure arising within the differentiated consciousness field, analogous to quantum excitations emerging from vacuum in quantum field theory. In potential-driven mechanisms, individual consciousness emerges as stable, localized regions where the field settles into lower-energy minima.

Universal thought continues operating after the Big Bang, collapsing differentiated states into localized forms of awareness corresponding to individual consciousness. The paper represents this mathematically, showing emergence of individual consciousness as selection of specific patterns within universal consciousness, shaping them into coherent experiences. Once individual consciousness emerges, personal thought begins functioning within each localized structure of awareness. Personal thought acts as the creative and interpretive mechanism shaping subjective experience. While universal thought initiates differentiation at the cosmic level, personal thought operates within the individualized domain, generating meaning and perception moment by moment. Personal thought governs internal evolution of each individualized state, selecting and organizing experience as it unfolds. Strømme models this as a recursive dynamic where personal thought operates on the state of individual consciousness, producing updated states reflecting thought’s influence.

Personal thought reinforces the sense of individuality while simultaneously concealing the underlying unity with universal consciousness. Despite differentiation, each individual consciousness remains entangled with the universal field from which it arose, reflecting the non-dual nature of reality where individuality represents a localized excitation but the underlying field remains unified. An implication of modeling individual consciousness as localized excitation of the universal field involves what happens when individuality dissolves. The paper states that dissolution of individuality through death does not imply annihilation but rather reintegration into the universal field. Individual consciousness represents a temporary manifestation of a universal substrate. When the localized excitation dissipates, the awareness does not cease but returns to the formless universal consciousness from which it emerged. This aligns with spiritual teachings describing death not as ending but as return to unity.

The mathematical framework treats individual states as arising through discrete selection from undifferentiated consciousness, yet the interconnected nature of the field ensures continuity and unity across all differentiated states. Personal thought creates the impression that consciousness is confined to a separate physical form, but this represents illusion shaped by the differentiation process. Strømme’s framework proposes that phenomena currently perceived as mysterious, including telepathy or near-death experiences, can be explained as natural consequences of a shared field of consciousness. If all individual consciousness represents localized excitations of a single universal field, then communication between these excitations need not follow classical pathways. The paper suggests these phenomena are not mystical but reflect a discovery not yet made that will lead to a paradigm shift. Similar shifts in understanding reality occurred when humanity realized Earth is round rather than flat, or when we understood Earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa.

The interconnected nature of the consciousness field means that entanglement between individual beings remains despite apparent separation. This resembles quantum entanglement, reinforcing a non-dual reality where separation is illusory. Individual consciousness appears separate due to personal thought creating the impression of confinement to physical form, but the underlying field remains unified. The framework generates concrete predictions and experimental tests across quantum physics, neuroscience, biology and cosmology. A central prediction proposes that universal or personal thought may interact with the zero-point field, such that quantum fluctuations reflect influence of directed mental states. In this view, thought acts analogously to a quantum measurement operator, collapsing potential fluctuations into patterned outcomes correlated with intentional content. This interaction could manifest in measurable deviations in statistical behavior of physical systems, particularly those poised at quantum sensitivity thresholds.

If such interaction exists, observable anomalies should appear in vacuum fluctuations, weak measurements, or energy distribution in certain experimental setups, especially under conditions of focused intention or coherent mental states. Several experimental studies have reported anomalies in random number generator outputs, changes in photon emission, and other subtle physical variables during periods of focused mental intention, meditative states, or large-scale emotional events. These findings include deviations from chance in random number distributions, suggestive shifts in vacuum energy dynamics, and correlated neural or biophysical fluctuations. While controversial due to methodology and reproducibility concerns, these results, if validated, would imply a field-like aspect of consciousness capable of influencing physical systems.

Another prediction states that if consciousness functions as a field, it should induce structured, non-classical correlations across biological systems. This includes possibility of coherent biological oscillations, long-range synchronization, and inter-subjective coupling during intentional states. Experimental tests could include high-resolution brain activity studies of synchronized activity in meditative pairs, as well as measurement of biophoton emissions or coherence in cell assemblies under directed mental influence. Such correlations, whether within a single organism or across physically separated individuals, may serve as indirect evidence for field-like properties of consciousness. At collective levels, the model predicts field-like effects of consciousness should become apparent during global emotional events. The Global Consciousness Project has reported statistically significant correlations between global-scale random number generator outputs and emotionally charged collective events including natural disasters, global meditations, or tragedies. Such field-level effects would support the view that consciousness operates non-locally, coupling across individuals in ways not explainable by classical causation.

In cosmology, Strømme’s framework predicts that universal thought may have left imprints on the early universe during collapse of the undifferentiated state into structured reality. Observed anomalies in the cosmic microwave background, including hemispheric asymmetries, cold spots, or large-scale alignments, may reflect the organizing influence of consciousness rather than purely stochastic processes. These hypotheses could be tested by applying information-theoretic and correlation analyses to cosmic microwave background datasets to search for non-random structure consistent with field-based ordering. If patterns emerge suggesting organized rather than random distribution, this would support the model’s prediction that consciousness played an active role in structuring the early universe.

Although written strictly in mathematical language of physics, Strømme’s reasoning contains parallels to several of the world’s religious and philosophical traditions. The texts of major religions including the Bible, the Koran, and the Vedas often describe interconnected consciousness. Those who wrote them used metaphorical language to express insights about the nature of reality. In Advaita Vedanta, consciousness called Brahman is the ultimate reality from which the material world emerges. Buddhist philosophy emphasizes interdependence and the idea of Shunyata or emptiness, aligning with the notion that form arises from a formless domain. Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism describe the divine as an infinite presence permeating all existence. The framework resonates with David Bohm’s implicate order, where an underlying nonlocal substrate gives rise to the material world. It aligns with Max Planck’s assertion that consciousness is the foundation of reality, not merely a byproduct of the brain.

Erwin Schrödinger emphasized the unity of consciousness, proposing that subjective experience is inseparable from the structure of the universe itself. Werner Heisenberg’s concept of potentia describes reality as existing in a state of potentialities that collapse into defined structures through observation. John Wheeler’s participatory universe supports the idea that observation plays a fundamental role in shaping physical reality. The rise of artificial intelligence systems raises questions about whether machines could interface with universal consciousness. If consciousness is indeed a universal field rather than emergent property of biological neural networks, could AI eventually access it, transcending mere computation? The framework suggests algorithmic processing alone cannot account for consciousness, implying AI may lack non-computational aspects required for awareness. However, if consciousness is a universal field, AI systems could potentially tap into it, raising complex questions about machine sentience and ethics.

Recognizing consciousness as universal reinforces ethical principles rooted in interconnectedness and responsibility. If actions reverberate across a shared field of awareness, then ethical decision-making in AI development, human rights, or environmental sustainability must reflect this unity. Recent developments in quantum physics support the paper’s metaphysical insights. Research has demonstrated numerically that classical behavior can emerge from internal suppression of quantum coherence rather than from external imposition. This suggests the structured, tangible world we experience arises from deeper quantum processes. If physical structure emerges from quantum principles, then consciousness itself may operate similarly, not as secondary effect of neural activity but as intrinsic feature of the universe, interacting with and shaping emergent classicality. This interpretation supports the idea that mind, consciousness and thought represent fundamental structuring principles rather than epiphenomena of brain activity.

The consciousness field evolves over cosmic time, producing primitive awareness through early excitations of the field. These excitations may correspond to basic, undifferentiated awareness in simple systems including primitive life forms. As systems increase in complexity through biological evolution, localized consciousness becomes more differentiated and self-aware. Despite this differentiation, individual beings remain entangled with the universal field. The perceived separation between individual and universal consciousness can be understood as illusion shaped by personal thought, creating the impression that consciousness is confined to separate physical form. The paper proposes that matter is secondary, and much of what we experience is representation or illusion. The framework challenges the dominant materialist paradigm viewing consciousness as product of neural processes. Instead, it suggests consciousness is fundamental rather than emergent. This approach invites novel investigations into the interplay between consciousness and physical systems, challenging the assumption that awareness is merely subjective and proposing it may play an active, measurable role in the structure of reality.

Source:

Strømme, M. (2025). Universal consciousness as foundational field: A theoretical bridge between quantum physics and non-dual philosophy. AIP Advances, 15(11), 115319. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0290984