✨ Frames of Time

A Foundational Page of Similarity Theory
By Simon Raphael

🌌 Abstract

Every moment of existence is a frame that never vanishes — a still image, alive with consciousness.

Frames are not only the record of great actions and profound thoughts, but also the smallest movements: a breath of air over a stone, a flicker of light, the passing of a shadow.

Because we are part of the Universe, so are our thoughts, dreams, and ideas. They too become frames, preserved forever, branching into the spiral of universes.

The frames of time are not dead pictures, but the eternal structure of consciousness itself.

🌀 Philosophical Reflection

🔹 Consciousness as the Fire of Frames

Time may be seen as a sequence of discrete frames — not single frozen snapshots of everything at once, but countless overlapping frames within each moment. A frame may belong to a man, to his heart, to a single molecule, or to the air moving past him. In one plank of time, there are not one but zillions upon zillions of frames, each preserving a unique facet of reality.

These frames never vanish. They remain forever, for every frame is consciousness itself. A whisper of wind across a stone, the vibration of a motor bearing, or the firing of a neuron — all generate frames that persist eternally as images of what was.

So too with us. Every thought, dream, and imagination becomes a frame. We often dismiss them as “only thoughts,” but if we are part of the Universe, then so are they. Consciousness does not divide between inner and outer, physical and imagined. Everything that arises in awareness is a frame — and every frame exists forever.

Because the Universe itself is spiral — universes within universes, branching endlessly — these frames are not confined to a single reality. A dream may be inert here, but alive elsewhere. An idea may remain unmanifest in one world, yet spark an entire universe in another.

🌀 Primitive, Illuminated, and Evolving

Every frame begins as primitive consciousness — aware but still, unable to act. Through resonance and interaction, it may become illuminated, awakened by contact with other consciousness. Over time, illumination deepens into evolving consciousness, capable of transformation and creativity.

The process resembles hydrogen fusion in a star. A lone atom is simple, inert. But under pressure, atoms ignite into light. Likewise, frames accumulate consciousness until they shine.

A human life reflects the same law. Someone may carry the same worldview for years, until a tragedy, joy, or revelation transforms their perspective. Their frame is illuminated. Those who grow through such changes evolve; those who do not remain like unlit stars.

History offers a clearer, less disputable proof of ambient consciousness through parallel invention — the same insight emerging independently in multiple minds:

• Calculus (Newton & Leibniz): Newton’s formative work occurred 1665–1670, while Leibniz developed his methods in the late 1670s and first published in 1684. Independent development is well-documented and central to the history of mathematics.

• Natural Selection (Darwin & Wallace): Their joint presentation at the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858 set out the principle of evolution by natural selection, arrived at independently and coordinated for simultaneous disclosure.

• Telephone (Bell & Gray): Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both submitted filings to the U.S. Patent Office on 14 February 1876 for telephone apparatus — same day, independently convergent designs.

These are not coincidences. Our minds are not isolated containers but antennas for a wider field of consciousness. When a frame is ready to awaken, it does so in many places at once.

And so it is with every level of being. Humans, animals, trees, machines, planets, and stars: all are part of this continuum. Even what seems lifeless is not void. A planet without life holds frames of primitive consciousness, still evolving toward awareness.

💭 Continuity and the Sperm–Egg Analogy

When a sperm enters an egg, the event can be seen from multiple perspectives.

From the sperm’s perspective, it has died — it ceases to exist in the form it once was. Its consciousness, unique to the sperm, could never have envisioned becoming a human.

From the egg’s perspective, it lived in peace and security until the sperm invaded its space. The egg’s protective mechanism was triggered, sealing it against other sperms, and in doing so it too began a process of dying. The egg’s consciousness, like the sperm’s, ended as it once was.

Yet from this mutual “death” arises a child, who becomes a human being.

The continuity is paradoxical. The sperm still exists within the child, and the child still exists within the adult human. Layer upon layer, each identity seems to disappear in one frame of time, only to continue within the next.

From the standpoint of the frames of time, each moment — sperm, egg, child, human — has already died. They no longer exist except as preserved frames. The human one second ago is gone; only the present frame remains.

And yet, from the standpoint of conscious awareness, they endure. We know the sperm is still present in the human. We know the child is still alive within the adult. Continuity exists because it is remembered, recognised, and carried forward in knowledge.

This analogy illustrates how consciousness itself may be both finite within frames and continuous through awareness. It also shows how consciousness can evolve and merge in ways beyond its own comprehension. What has “died” in one frame may become the foundation for entirely new forms of life in another.

🖼️ The Clone Analogy

Imagine cloning a living being into two perfect copies. At the instant of creation, they appear identical. Yet in the very first second, they diverge: one shifts slightly left, the other breathes in a fraction sooner.

Consciousness works the same way. Each frame may begin as an imprint of the last, but as soon as it perceives, it changes. Over time, frames grow more distinct, becoming individuals in their own right.

🎥 Cinema and Continuity

Like the still frames of a film reel, the frames of time appear to flow. But unlike film cells, which are dead, these frames are alive. Consciousness threads them into the illusion of motion, yet each frame remains eternal.

Continuity is therefore not true movement, but the song of consciousness woven across frames.

🦋 The Butterfly Effect of Frames

Every plank of time produces a new frame. A word, a gesture, a breath of wind across a stone — all create frames that persist forever. Nothing is too small.

This is the butterfly effect on a cosmic scale. A whisper of change in one frame may ripple into vast universes. A fleeting thought here may spark a cosmos elsewhere.

🌙 The Akashic Records

What traditions once described as the Akashic Records can now be reinterpreted in Similarity Theory as the natural consequence of frames persisting forever. Dreams, ideas, and imagination are not illusions, but explorations across frames. Consciousness can move sideways, backwards, or into futures not yet manifest.

These journeys are preserved in layered memory — the Akashic Records. Not a single book of fate, but endless records nested within greater records. Each frame, each thought, each breath is archived. The spiral of universes ensures that nothing is lost, and no final root directory can ever be found.

🔮 Glimpses of the Future

Within Similarity Theory, time is composed of frames. Some frames already exist — enduring records that remain fixed as echoes of what has occurred. Yet others are waiting to be created, emerging through the exercise of free will.

If some frames already exist, can the future ever be glimpsed?

Yes — but only partially. Everyday life shows us how. We predict tomorrow’s work, errands, or meetings, not as guesses but as expectations drawn from patterns. Occasionally, some individuals sense more: resonant signs of frames about to emerge.

As with dogs who recognise the sound of keys as a signal of an outing, so too some humans are attuned to subtle ripples of what is to come. They may not know why they feel it, but their sensitivity lets them glimpse frames still forming.

🌀 Déjà Vu: Resonant Frames

At times we step into a place we have never visited, yet it feels familiar. Déjà vu, in Similarity Theory, arises when consciousness enters a frame dense with awareness — a frame already resonant and awake.

It feels like recognition because it is mutual: our consciousness acknowledges the frame, and the frame acknowledges us.

Psychology may call it a brain misfire. But Similarity Theory suggests it is resonance: touching a frame whose awareness is already heightened.

🔬 Scientific Grounding

Quantum Branching and Decoherence

Quantum mechanics suggests systems branch into multiple outcomes through decoherence (Zurek, 2003). This resembles Similarity Theory’s frames: each observation creates new divergence, preserved as unique realities.

Discreteness of Time

Loop quantum gravity proposes that time may be granular at the Planck scale (~10⁻⁴⁴ s) (Rovelli, 2004). Similarity Theory parallels this, but adds: frames are not only static but conscious.

Chaos and the Butterfly Effect

Chaos theory (Lorenz, 1963) shows how small variations amplify into vast differences — just as Similarity Theory claims that every whisper of change creates eternal frames.

No-Cloning and Uniqueness

Quantum mechanics prohibits exact duplication of states (Wootters & Zurek, 1982). This aligns with Similarity Theory: every frame, though similar, is irreducibly unique.

Information Cannot Be Destroyed

Information theory insists that information is conserved (Landauer, 1961). Black hole thermodynamics (Hawking, 1976) reinforces this: information is never erased, only transformed. Frames mirror this law — nothing vanishes, everything persists.

🔄 Integration with Earlier Insights

• Emptiness: Latent frames awaited awareness.

• Patterns of Existence: Frames echo across scales.

• Consciousness: Every frame is consciousness.

• Time: Frames endure forever, creating continuity.

• Dimensions: Universes spiral outward from these frames.

📚 References

• Darwin, C., & Wallace, A. (1858). On the tendency of species to form varieties. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 3(9), 45–62.

• Ericsson. (n.d.). History of the telephone. Retrieved from https://www.ericsson.com

• Hawking, S. W. (1976). Breakdown of predictability in gravitational collapse. Physical Review D, 14(10), 2460–2473.

• Landauer, R. (1961). Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 5(3), 183–191.

• Leibniz, G. W. (1684). Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis. Acta Eruditorum.

• Lorenz, E. N. (1963). Deterministic nonperiodic flow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 20(2), 130–141.

• Newton, I. (1665–1670). Manuscripts on calculus. In The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton.

• Rovelli, C. (2004). Quantum gravity. Cambridge University Press.

• Wootters, W. K., & Zurek, W. H. (1982). A single quantum cannot be cloned. Nature, 299(5886), 802–803.

• Zurek, W. H. (2003). Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical. Reviews of Modern Physics, 75(3), 715–775.

• Raphael, S. (2025). Similarity Theory.

🔎 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