Maria Strømme, a professor of materials science at Uppsala University, has proposed a model of the universe in which consciousness is the basic building block of reality. Consciousness here means awareness or the mind's essence, seen as a vast field that connects everything. Time, space, and matter come after this field, rather than causing it.
Strømme, who usually studies nanotechnology, developed this model by combining quantum physics with non-dual philosophy, a way of thinking that sees everything as one without opposites. She uses mathematics to describe how individual minds are parts of a larger shared consciousness field.
Universal thought, which is not personal thought "but a formless, creative force," is a quantum operator in Strømme's model.
Exploring Mystical Phenomena Through Science
This approach explains things like telepathy, the idea of mind-to-mind communication, or near-death experiences, where people report visions after nearly dying. These could happen because of links in the shared consciousness field. Strømme says this model might lead to a big change in how we understand reality.
“My ambition has been to describe this using the language of physics and mathematical tools," Strømme says in a press release. "Are these phenomena really mystical? Or is it simply that there is a discovery we have not yet made, and when we do it will lead to a paradigm shift?”
The theory makes predictions that can be tested in fields like physics, neuroscience, and cosmology. It also suggests that when people die, their personal consciousness returns to the universal field. Strømme notes parallels to ancient texts in religions like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, which describe a connected awareness.
Early quantum physicists ... arrived at similar ideas using scientific methods," says Strømme. "Now, it is time for hardcore science - that is, modern natural science - to seriously begin exploring this.”
Strømme's theory is published in AIP Advances.