The idea suggests that everything we know—space, time, even the human brain—emerges from a universal field of awareness, not the other way around.
The theory was recently presented by Maria Strømme, professor of materials science at Uppsala University, in a paper published in AIP Advances. Her proposal challenges one of science’s oldest assumptions: that consciousness is a product of the brain. Instead, she asks a more radical question—what if the brain itself arises from consciousness?
Most scientific models start from the ground up: atoms combine into molecules, which form cells and eventually create minds. But Strømme’s framework moves in the opposite direction. It repositions consciousness as the starting point, with matter, space, and time developing from it. That shift pulls from both modern physics and ancient philosophical traditions, yet it stays rooted in the mathematical language of field theory.
A Universe Built From Awareness, Not Atoms
At the heart of Strømme’s theory is the idea of a consciousness field, a universal presence that exists at every point in space and time. She builds her model using concepts from quantum field theory, which describes particles as ripples in underlying fields. Instead of treating consciousness as an after-effect of neural activity, she treats it as a primary field, much like the electromagnetic or gravitational fields in physics.
According to Earth, Strømme reinterprets a philosophical framework known as the Three Principles—universal mind, universal consciousness, and universal thought—and uses them as the basis for her scientific model. “Universal mind” represents an inherent intelligence in the cosmos; “universal consciousness” reflects the raw capacity for experience; and “universal thought” acts as a dynamic force shaping specific experiences.
These are not metaphors in her paper. Each component is defined mathematically, and together they form a scaffolding for reality to emerge from pure awareness. In this model, physical objects and minds appear as patterns in the underlying field, not as isolated entities.
Time And Space As Secondary Phenomena
The theory goes a step further by revisiting the origins of the universe. Rather than beginning with the Big Bang as the initial moment of time and space, Strømme suggests an earlier, timeless state—an undifferentiated field of consciousness. From this point, she introduces the idea of symmetry breaking, a process in physics that explains how structure can emerge from uniformity.
Symmetry breaking in her model explains the rise of distinctions such as “this vs. that” or “observer vs. observed.” These separations, Strømme argues, give birth to space and time themselves, which are not fundamental but emergent properties of awareness becoming structured.
Cosmology textbooks usually treat consciousness as an afterthought, but this approach places it before the Big Bang, as a precondition for the universe rather than a consequence of it. In doing so, it reframes the basic architecture of the cosmos in terms that resonate with non-dual philosophies, where the boundary between self and world is considered an illusion.
Minds, Death, And Unconventional Implications
Strømme’s model opens the door to reinterpret experiences often dismissed by mainstream science. The paper touches on telepathy, near-death experiences, and other anomalous phenomena, not as proven facts but as occurrences that might make sense under a different physics. If all minds are configurations of a shared field, then information could theoretically travel outside conventional space-time limits.
Strømme avoids linking these ideas to specific spiritual beliefs, instead focusing on how a consciousness-based physics might allow for such events without contradicting scientific rigor. She also addresses the question of death. In her view, when a person dies, their structured conscious state dissolves, but the underlying field of awareness remains intact.
The paper doesn’t claim evidence of life after death. Rather, it suggests a framework where death marks the disintegration of a pattern, not the disappearance of awareness itself. Strømme even outlines how quantum mechanics might describe this merging process, sketching the possibility of experimental approaches in the future.
Whether or not this theory gains traction in the scientific community, it offers a radical rethinking of where consciousness sits in the fabric of reality. The model uses the same mathematical language that describes physical fields—suggesting that the line between mind and matter might be thinner than we think.