🌱 Patterns of Existence
Preface to Similarity Theory
By Simon Raphael
🌱 How Similarity Theory Was Born
From a young age, I found myself drawn not only to questions of existence, but to the patterns that seemed to underlie it. My earliest exposure came through the Lord’s Prayer, specifically the line “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Even as a child, something about that phrase struck me as profound — it hinted at a structural resonance between worlds. That early seed later flourished into what I now call Similarity Theory.
As I matured, I encountered the Hermetic maxim “As above, so below,” and recognised it not merely as a mystical saying, but as a universal principle echoed across spiritual, philosophical, and scientific traditions. This idea — that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm — became a foundation for my thinking.
At one point, I considered how a scientist might study the entire universe: surely, one would need samples from every corner of it. But then I realised that Earth already holds an incredible diversity of life and matter — far more complex and abundant than what we observe in most of the visible cosmos. In that sense, Earth itself is a condensation of universal variety. I began studying the patterns within this abundance and looking for resonances across scales — between what is below and what may exist above. This is where the roots of Similarity Theory took hold.
🕯️ The Three Pillars of Reality
At its foundation, Similarity Theory rests on three interwoven pillars: Consciousness, Time, and Dimensions.
Consciousness is the first and most fundamental. From the instant that emptiness became aware of itself, consciousness was born — and from that spark, both time and dimensions unfolded. Consciousness is not a product of the universe; rather, the universe is a product of consciousness. It is the animating light, flowing through every layer of reality, whether in humans, animals, stones, or stars. Like light shining through a reel of film, consciousness illuminates each frame, bringing motion, presence, and form.
From consciousness emerged Time — the measure of unfolding. For human beings, time is a current that flows forward. For higher-dimensional beings, it may appear more like a landscape: navigable, flexible, and multi-directional. Yet even for them, time is indispensable, for without progression there can be no learning, memory, or becoming.
Out of consciousness and time arose Dimensions — the structural spaces of being. Every dimension is its own cosmos: not merely a variation, but an entirely distinct order of reality. Each contains multiple layers, and the higher the dimension, the more abundant its layers. Paradoxically, progression becomes easier in higher dimensions, because patterns are already recognised and understood. The greatest leap is always the first: from nothing to something, from zero to one.
I do not believe the universe arose by random chance. For there to be structure, development, and persistence — from atoms to human beings — there must be continuing forces at work. But these forces are not singular. They are plural, layered, and interconnected.
Reality is more like the making of a chair: when we say a carpenter “made a chair,” it is never truly the act of one individual. The wood grew from a tree shaped by nature. The saw that cut it was forged from metal drawn out of the earth, crafted by others who knew how to turn sand into steel. The glue was produced by another process, perfected by other minds. The design itself came from countless generations before, who first imagined what a chair could be. The carpenter, in truth, is only the last touch in a long chain of forces, inventions, and intelligences converging.
So it is with the universe. It was not formed by one mind or one hand, but through the interplay of countless conscious fields and natural forces across dimensions. Just as no single person can truly claim to have made a chair, no single entity can be said to have created existence. Creation is always collaborative, layered, and continuous — the combined work of many, not one.
🔭 Parallel vs Higher Dimensions
A key distinction in my theory is between parallel and higher dimensions.
Parallel dimensions may contain worlds much like ours, possibly with lifeforms similar to us — perhaps more advanced, if they can traverse to our plane.
Higher dimensions, by contrast, are altogether different. The entities there may have no form at all, or forms utterly beyond human comprehension. They are not simply “more advanced civilisations” — they are categorically other. We might perceive them as godlike not because they are divine, but because our minds cannot decode their essence. Consciousness frames how dimensions are experienced — and in higher planes, the limits of our perception leave only faint echoes of their true nature.
🌌 A Living Framework of Patterns
Similarity Theory did not arrive in a single moment of revelation. It emerged slowly, through lived experience, childhood wonder, religious symbolism, philosophical comparison, and deep reflection.
At its core, it is a metaphysical and philosophical framework that proposes the universe — and all phenomena within it — are governed by recurring patterns across scales, dimensions, and states of being. Reality is not linear or random, but recursive: a system in which structures, experiences, and consciousness repeat in varied but recognisable forms, from the microscopic to the cosmic.¹
Here science offers resonance:
Fractals in mathematics display self-similarity across scales, from the branching of trees to the swirl of galaxies.
Systems theory in biology and ecology shows how life organises through feedback loops and nested networks.
Physics reveals scale invariance in turbulence, galaxy clustering, and even quantum fields — patterns that persist across magnitudes of size.
These findings echo what Similarity Theory frames as “pattern is reality.”
🎵 Analogy: Resonance Across Scales
Similarity is not sameness. Two things can resemble each other without being identical.
For example, the spiral of a seashell and the spiral of a galaxy are not the same object, but they share a common form. In Similarity Theory, patterns echo across scales — not as perfect copies, but as recognisable reflections.
It is resonance — the hum between things. Resonance occurs when two different systems vibrate in harmony, amplifying a shared frequency.
Analogy: Imagine two tuning forks, each made separately and sitting on opposite sides of a room. If you strike one fork, the other — without being touched — will begin to vibrate at the same pitch. They are not the same object, but because they share the same natural frequency, they resonate together.
That is what is meant by similarity as resonance. Things that may look different — a spiral galaxy and a seashell, a heartbeat and the rhythm of planetary orbits — can still “hum” with the same deeper rhythm.
Differences are obvious: a star vs. a cell, a human life vs. cosmic time. But beneath appearances, they follow a shared rhythm — a repeating, universal structure.
🌠 A Theory Both Scientific and Living
Unlike purely scientific models, Similarity Theory allows for the integration of metaphysical elements. Soul, memory, sentience, and higher forms of awareness are not dismissed as mystical abstractions, but understood as resonances — patterns that emerge across complex layers of being. What may appear “spiritual” or “psychic” could simply be high-frequency echoes of structures we do not yet have the tools to measure.²
Similarity Theory is not a fixed doctrine, but a living, evolving framework. It encourages synthesis across disciplines — science, philosophy, cosmology, and inner experience — offering a model through which one might recognise the repeating fingerprints of the universe within themselves, and themselves within the universe.
This theory did not arise from academia alone, but from the lived reflection, inner inquiry, and philosophical journey of its originator, Simon Raphael. It is both a cosmological vision and a personal lens through which to explore the resonant rhythm of existence.
📚 References
Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life (1996). A systems theory perspective on interconnectedness and pattern emergence.
Mandelbrot, Benoit. The Fractal Geometry of Nature (1982). On self-similarity across scales.
Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (1916). On the relativity of time perception across frames of reference.
Bohm, David. Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980). Introduces the concept of an underlying reality enfolding all things.
Jung, C.G. Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933). On archetypes and the limits of perception when confronting the “Other.”
Tononi, Giulio & Koch, Christof. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and panpsychism. Contemporary models suggesting consciousness may exist at multiple levels of complexity and form.
Raphael, Simon. Similarity Theory (2025). Unpublished manuscripts.
