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)

1. EEG patterns during verified cardiac-arrest NDEs
2. Quantum entanglement experiments involving conscious observers
3. 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.