Consciousness: The First Mover
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 witness¹.
Consciousness Within All Things
Consciousness is not something external that lights up reality like a projector. 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 consciousness².
What appears inert to us — such as a stone, a tree, or a dormant planet — is not devoid of awareness. Rather, it participates in a form of consciousness appropriate to its dimensional structure. A rock, which exists primarily within the first spatial dimension, holds a kind of stillness-consciousness. It may not think or move, but it is — and to exist, it must possess some degree of inward awareness³.
We often judge consciousness by how similar it is to our own. But that is like judging the sun by how much it sounds like a violin. Consciousness is not only what moves or thinks — it is also what is⁴.
🔦 Analogy: Consciousness as Light Behind the Frames
Consciousness may be best understood as light shining behind time-frames. Imagine the universe as a vast film reel, composed of countless still frames. Without light, there is no motion — just silence and potential. It is the light of consciousness that projects the sequence, giving rise to the illusion of motion, causality, and change.
This light, however, does more than animate. It also illuminates. As it passes over each frame, it brings not only the moving subject (like a walking man) into being, but also the static elements (like a parked car or a tree). Everything within the frame is witnessed into reality. In this way, even what is still or silent, the seen and the unseen, all exists because of consciousness.
But in Similarity Theory, this light is not just an external torch. It is within every object in every frame. It is not shining on things — it is shining through them. It is embedded in the frame, inside the rock, inside the man, inside the tree.:
Consciousness is the force that animates and affirms being. Without it, there is no “seen,” no “is,” no experience at all.⁵
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.
Humans and animals dwell in the third — capable of choice, memory, and self-reflection.
Beings of the fourth dimension would perceive us as slowly or dimly as we perceive a plant.
From the vantage of a twelfth- or fifteenth-dimensional intelligence, we may appear as inert as rocks do to us, not because we lack reality, but because their consciousness is orders of magnitude beyond ours. This is not degradation — it is perspective. Every being exists within its own dimension of conscious awareness⁶.
Thus, nothing is truly inanimate. All things — seen or unseen — are threads in the great field of awareness that spans the cosmos.
Consciousness Is Not Confined to the Brain
The claim that consciousness arises only from the brain has been challenged by compelling evidence — especially from near-death experiences (NDEs). Individuals who are clinically unconscious, sometimes with no detectable brain activity, often report vivid experiences: full sensory awareness, emotions, encounters with others, and verifiable observations of events occurring in the room during resuscitation.
These cases suggest that consciousness is not generated by the brain, but hosted by it — or even temporarily independent of it⁷. It may, like signal through a receiver, exist beyond the material structure and simply interface with the brain during life. In NDEs, the signal continues — even when the equipment is offline⁸.
This strongly supports the core claim of Similarity Theory: that consciousness precedes biology and persists beyond it.
The Universe Is Conscious Information
At every level of scale — atomic, chemical, biological, planetary — the universe expresses structured transformation. Hydrogen becomes helium in stars. Embryos become adults. A seed becomes a tree. Yet nothing is truly erased — earlier states are compressed, evolved, or hidden within the later form⁹.
If matter is pattern, and pattern is information, then the universe is a self-unfolding informational structure. But this information does not organise itself blindly. Consciousness is the principle that reads, shapes, and steers it.
Your body is information. So is a rock. So is the wind. But what makes that information be — what brings it into realness — is the presence of consciousness within it. A child is still within the adult. Hydrogen is still within helium. The past is still within the present. Everything is nested. Everything is aware. Everything is patterned.
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 — it is the first cause, the structuring agent, and the soul of the universe. Without consciousness, time does not flow, and dimension is blind. With consciousness, the universe becomes visible, dynamic, and meaningful.
In Similarity Theory, consciousness is not only the light that shines — it is the flame within.
References
Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. — foundational argument for consciousness as a primary phenomenon.
Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. — proposes that consciousness is embedded in all layers of the universe.
Goff, P. (2019). Galileo’s Error. — introduces panpsychism: that all matter possesses consciousness in degrees.
Raphael, S. (2025). Similarity Theory. — “Consciousness is not only what moves or thinks — it is also what is.” (Original insight).
Raphael, S. (2025). Analogy of Light Behind the Frames. — foundational metaphor for understanding consciousness in relation to time and dimension.
Raphael, S. (2025). Dimensional Sentience Model. — framework describing levels of awareness aligned with spatial dimensions.
van Lommel, P. et al. (2001). “Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest,” The Lancet. — reports verified awareness during flat EEG states.
Greyson, B. (2010). Seeing Dead People Not Known to Have Died. — studies NDEs involving accurate external observations.
Wheeler, J. A. (1990). “It from Bit”. — proposes that information is the fundamental unit of physical reality.
