🧠 Consciousness: The First Mover

A Foundational Page of Similarity Theory

Similarity Theory is a cosmological framework developed by Simon Raphael, proposing that Consciousness, Time, and Dimension form the structural pillars of reality. This page explores Consciousness as the First Mover — the origin of existence and the universal presence that animates all things.

See the Introduction to Similarity Theory for the core concepts and structure.

🌀 Philosophical Reflection

🔹 Consciousness as Origin

In Similarity Theory, consciousness is not a product of reality — it is the origin of it. While time provides sequence and dimension provides structure, consciousness is the animating core, the chooser of frames, and the presence within all things. Without consciousness, the universe is not merely frozen — it is non-existent. Existence is not witnessed into reality; it is inhabited by reality’s witness.

This resonates with philosopher David Chalmers’ “hard problem of consciousness”: why should physical processes give rise to inner experience at all? Science can explain chemistry and neurons, but not why it feels like something to be you. Similarity Theory answers: consciousness is not produced by matter — it is the ground of matter itself.

🔹 Consciousness Emerging from Emptiness

In the foundational page When Emptiness First Saw Itself, emptiness became aware of itself, producing the first spark of existence. That moment of self-recognition was not yet structure nor movement, but the seed of both.

From that spark, consciousness emerged. What was once stillness now contained an inward glance — a presence. Emptiness gave rise to awareness, and awareness became the sustaining flame that would permeate every frame of reality thereafter.

Think of it as a candle lit in a dark room. The darkness (emptiness) remains the backdrop, but the flame (consciousness) transforms the room into something inhabitable. Without the flame, there is only stillness. With it, there is experience.

🌌 Consciousness Within All Things

Consciousness is not an external projector lighting reality. It is immanent — within all things, from rock to thought, from molecule to galaxy. Every object, every moment, every particle exists because it is infused with consciousness.

This perspective aligns with panpsychism, the idea that consciousness pervades all matter. It also resonates with neuroscientific theories like Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which suggests that consciousness corresponds to the degree of informational complexity in a system.

We often judge consciousness by how much it resembles our own. But that is like judging the sun by how well it plays a violin. Consciousness is not only what moves or thinks — it is also what is.

🔦 Analogy: Consciousness as Light Behind the Frames

Consciousness may be best understood as light shining behind time-frames. Imagine the universe as a film reel of countless still frames. Without light, there is no motion — only silence and potential.

It is the light of consciousness that projects the sequence, giving rise to the illusion of causality and change. Yet this light is not simply external; it shines through the frame itself. Consciousness is not a torch above reality, but a flame within it.

🧭 The Dimensional Hierarchy of Sentience

Similarity Theory proposes a hierarchy of dimensional consciousness:

• Rocks exist in the first dimension — dense, unmoving, but present.

• Plants inhabit the second — responsive, growing, seeking light.

• Animals and humans dwell in the third — capable of memory, choice, and reflection.

• Beings of the fourth dimension would perceive us as dimly as we perceive a plant.

From the vantage of a twelfth- or fifteenth-dimensional intelligence, we may appear as inert as rocks — not because we lack reality, but because their awareness resonates on a plane beyond ours. This is not degradation, but perspective. Every being exists within its own dimension of conscious awareness.

Thus, nothing is truly inanimate. All things — seen or unseen — are threads in the great field of awareness spanning the cosmos.

💡 Consciousness Beyond the Brain

Consciousness is often claimed to arise solely from the brain, yet evidence from near-death experiences (NDEs) suggests otherwise. People clinically unconscious, sometimes with no measurable brain activity, report vivid experiences — often verifiable.

Such cases suggest the brain may not produce consciousness but host it, like a receiver of a signal. In this view, NDEs show the “signal” continues even when the “equipment” is offline.

🌱 The Universe as Conscious Information

At every scale — atomic, chemical, biological, planetary — the universe expresses structured transformation. Hydrogen becomes helium in stars. Seeds become trees. Embryos become adults. Earlier states are not erased but nested within later ones.

If matter is pattern, and pattern is information, then the universe is an informational structure. But information does not organise itself blindly. Consciousness is the principle that reads, shapes, and steers it.

Physicist John Wheeler’s famous phrase “It from Bit” captures this view: reality arises from information, not substance. Consciousness is the decoder — the flame that makes information real.

🔥 Consciousness Is the Foundation

• Dimension is where something exists.

• Time is when something exists.

• Consciousness is that it exists.

It is not merely the third pillar of Similarity Theory — it is the first cause, the structuring agent, and the soul of the universe.

For quick answers and key distinctions, see the Similarity Theory FAQ

🔬 Scientific Grounding

The Hard Problem and Panpsychism

Chalmers (1995, 1996) posed the “hard problem of consciousness” — why physical processes give rise to experience at all. Panpsychism (Goff, 2019) offers one answer: consciousness is a fundamental feature of matter. This view aligns with Similarity Theory’s stance that consciousness is the foundation of reality.

Integrated Information Theory

Tononi & Koch’s Integrated Information Theory (IIT) proposes that consciousness corresponds to the amount of information integrated within a system. Even simple systems may possess degrees of awareness. This scientific model resonates strongly with Similarity Theory’s idea that rocks, plants, and humans all participate in consciousness at different levels.

Near-Death Experiences

Van Lommel et al. (2001) published peer-reviewed studies in The Lancet showing patients with cardiac arrest and no measurable brain activity reporting vivid NDEs. Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson and others have since built evidence suggesting consciousness may persist beyond brain function. These findings reinforce Similarity Theory’s claim that consciousness is not generated by the brain but sustained beyond it.

Orch-OR Model

Hameroff & Penrose (2014) propose the Orch-OR model, suggesting that quantum processes in neural microtubules may connect consciousness to the fabric of spacetime. While controversial, this reflects scientific attempts to situate consciousness within physics — again resonating with Similarity Theory’s idea of consciousness as woven into the cosmos itself.

Consciousness as Information

Physicist John Wheeler (1990) coined “It from Bit”, the idea that reality arises from information. This matches Similarity Theory’s claim that information becomes real only when illuminated by consciousness.

📚 References

• Chalmers, D. J. (1995). Facing up to the problem of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2(3), 200–219.

• Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The conscious mind: In search of a fundamental theory. Oxford University Press.

• Goff, P. (2019). Galileo’s error: Foundations for a new science of consciousness. Pantheon.

• Hameroff, S., & Penrose, R. (2014). Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory. Physics of Life Reviews, 11(1), 39–78.

• Tononi, G., & Koch, C. (2015). Consciousness: Here, there and everywhere? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1668), 20140167.

• van Lommel, P., van Wees, R., Meyers, V., & Elfferich, I. (2001). Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study. The Lancet, 358(9298), 2039–2045.

• Wheeler, J. A. (1990). Information, physics, quantum: The search for links. In W. Zurek (Ed.), Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information (pp. 3–28). Addison-Wesley.

• Raphael, S. (2025). Similarity Theory. Wollongong: Author.

🔎 Similarity Theory Summary
A pluralist cosmology where countless individual consciousnesses can merge into collectives and later separate with identity intact.
It rejects monism (no single ultimate mind) and dualism (no permanent mind–matter divide).
Unity is temporary; individuality is eternal.
Read more → Not Panpsychism