Consciousness Is a Universal Field Not a Brain and It Could Finally Explain Life After Death
A physicist has proposed a radical new theory of consciousness – and it could finally explain what happens when you die. Consciousness does not emerge from human brains, according to Professor Maria Strømme, a professor of nanotechnology at Uppsala University. Instead, she claims that it exists as a fundamental field - a 'building block' of the universe. If this is correct, 'mysterious' phenomena such as telepathy, near–death experiences, and even life after death could finally be explained by science. According to Professor Strømme's theory, consciousness does not end when we die.
In This Article:
- Consciousness Does Not End at Death — It Returns to the Background Field
- Consciousness as a Localised Excitation in a Universal Field
- Schrödinger’s Cat Telepathy and a Call for Rigorous Testing
- Religious Texts and Science The Path to Hardcore Investigation
- Near-Death Experiences and the New Frontier of Consciousness Research
Consciousness Does Not End at Death — It Returns to the Background Field
According to Professor Strømme's theory, consciousness does not end when we die. Instead, when a person passes away, their consciousness simply returns to the background field. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Professor Strømme explained: 'The possibility that consciousness is fundamental has been under–explored. But that is changing rapidly. 'We are reaching a point where asking deeper questions about consciousness is not philosophy on the margins — it is becoming a scientific necessity.'
Consciousness as a Localised Excitation in a Universal Field
Professor Maria Strømme of Uppsala University has proposed a radical theory of reality in which consciousness, rather than matter, is the fundamental basis of reality. Pictured: Professor Strømme's illustration of the basis of reality According to more traditional theories of quantum physics, particles and energy all emerge from vibrations in a fundamental field – like how waves emerge from vibrations in water. Professor Strømme now claims that this fundamental field might be consciousness itself. If this is true, there would be radical consequences for our view of reality. Perhaps most shockingly, if this theory is correct, the separation of our individual consciousness is simply an illusion. In the model, individual consciousness is understood as a localised excitation or configuration within a universal consciousness field — much like a wave on the surface of an ocean. A wave has a form that is temporary, but the water that carries it does not vanish when the wave subsides. What's more, the theory suggests that consciousness does not end when we die, and instead, it simply returns to the background field. The fundamental substrate of awareness does not begin or end with the body, just as the ocean does not begin or end with the appearance of a single wave,' says Professor Strømme. According to this theory, all individual consciousnesses are part of one fundamental field. This means the anomalous visions seen during near–death experiences could be due to 'atypical access to that underlying field'. According to Professor Strømme, telepathic abilities, like those seen in Stranger Things (pictured), could be explained by consciousness being the fundamental basis of reality
Schrödinger’s Cat Telepathy and a Call for Rigorous Testing
In the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, a cat is placed in a box with a vial of poison that is only opened if a radioactive particle randomly decays. According to quantum physics, the randomness of the radioactive decay means the cat is both alive and dead until we open the box and take a look, at which point it switches into one of the two options. Scientists have struggled to explain how human consciousness could trigger something like Schrödinger's cat to change from one state or another. However, if consciousness really is a fundamental part of reality, then we would expect our minds to interact with the world around us in this way. This also means that many phenomena dismissed as pseudoscience could be part of the scientific model and 'deserve renewed, rigorous scientific testing', according to the expert.
Religious Texts and Science The Path to Hardcore Investigation
The texts of the major religions – such as the Bible, the Koran, and the Vedas – often describe an interconnected consciousness,' the expert added. 'Those who wrote them used metaphorical language to express insights about the nature of reality. Early quantum physicists, in turn, arrived at similar ideas using scientific methods. Now, it is time for hardcore science – that is, modern natural science – to seriously begin exploring this.' In a recent study, scientists interviewed 48 people who had near–death experiences (NDEs) and asked them what they saw in their final moments. Their responses revealed a striking variety of content, but also several key themes that recurred throughout different accounts: Jesus God Gardens Loved Ones The Matrix Beings Black Hole Visions of the future Tunnels Strange lights An escalator
Near-Death Experiences and the New Frontier of Consciousness Research
In a study described above, scientists interviewed 48 people who had near–death experiences (NDEs) and asked them what they saw in their final moments. Their responses revealed a striking variety of content, but also several key themes that recurred throughout different accounts: Jesus God Gardens Loved Ones The Matrix Beings Black Hole Visions of the future Tunnels Strange lights An escalator The responses revealed a striking variety of content, but also several key themes that recurred throughout different accounts. The Matrix, Beings, and other visions have fascinated researchers for years, and this study adds to the growing body of evidence that near–death experiences may be more than mere hallucinations.
