Maria Strömme’s 2025 Theory: Consciousness Is a Fundamental Universal Field That Survives Death
In November 2025, Uppsala University professor Maria Strömme published a peer-reviewed paper in AIP Advances that is already being called one of the most important consciousness papers of the decade.
Core idea in three bullet points
- Consciousness is not produced by the brain — it is a fundamental universal field.
- The brain acts only as a filter/localizer that creates the illusion of a separate “me”.
- At death the filter disappears → consciousness returns to the universal field (like a wave returning to the ocean).
Direct quote from the paper
“Individual consciousness is a localised excitation in a universal consciousness field — much like a wave on the ocean surface. The wave rises and falls, but the water remains.”
— Maria Strömme, AIP Advances, 24 Nov 2025
Why this perfectly explains near-death experiences (NDE)
When the brain shuts down (clinical death, coma), the filter collapses → direct access to the field → identical NDE patterns reported worldwide:
- Tunnel + blinding light (87 % of cases)
- Meeting deceased relatives (74 %)
- Verified out-of-body perception (52 %)
- Instant life review (68 %)
- Precognitive visions (41 %)
Additional phenomena the theory explains
- Telepathy and remote viewing
- Brain-wave synchronisation between meditating/praying people
- The fine-tuning of physical constants
- Non-local effects in quantum measurement experiments
Testable predictions (Strömme insists this is science, not mysticism)
- EEG patterns during verified cardiac-arrest NDEs
- Quantum entanglement experiments involving conscious observers
- Long-distance brain synchronisation in emotionally bonded pairs
Bottom line
If confirmed, Strömme’s model would be the biggest paradigm shift in science since relativity: consciousness is not in the brain — the brain is in consciousness.
