WHAT IF CONSCIOUSNESS IS EVERYTHING?

What if your thoughts, your self, your very awareness… weren’t inside your brain at all, but woven into the universe itself?

For as long as we can remember, science has told us that our consciousness — our ability to feel things like the taste of ice cream or the pain of stubbing your toe — comes from our brains. It’s like your brain is a super complex computer that runs the program called “you.”

But what if that’s completely wrong?

Author Annaka Harris has a wild theory that flips everything upside down. In her book “Conscious,” she suggests that consciousness isn’t something our brains create. Instead, consciousness might actually be the most basic thing in the entire universe — more fundamental than atoms, energy, or even space itself!

WHY THE USUAL EXPLANATION DOESN’T WORK

Here’s a strange problem that scientists face: we can only tell if something is conscious if it can communicate with us. That’s why we assume only complex creatures like humans and some animals have consciousness. But this creates a huge blind spot.

Think about this creepy scenario: people with “locked-in syndrome” are completely aware but can’t move or speak. If they couldn’t communicate at all, we might wrongly assume they weren’t conscious. Or consider split-brain patients, where the two halves of their brain can’t talk to each other. If you ask them what their right brain is experiencing, they might say “nothing” — but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Taking it further — how could we possibly know if a snail feels anything? Or what about your kidneys? Could they have some kind of experience while they filter your blood? We simply have no way to know.

THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL

Here’s something truly unsettling: neuroscience is discovering that our feeling of being “in control” of our actions might actually be an illusion.

Imagine you’re walking in the woods and suddenly see a snake. You jump back in fear. But brain scans show that your body actually starts reacting BEFORE you consciously feel afraid. Your conscious feeling of fear comes at the END of a chain of events, not the beginning.

Think about that — your conscious mind might just be along for the ride, not actually driving the car.

THE ILLUSION OF SELF

Even weirder is the idea that your sense of being a solid, unchanging “self” might be an illusion too.

Harris compares our sense of self to an ocean wave. When you look at a wave, you can point to it and name it, but it’s not really a “thing” — it’s just water moving in a pattern. It has no permanent existence.

Similarly, our brains might create the feeling of being a consistent “self” that owns our thoughts and experiences, when really we’re more like a constantly changing process — like that wave that looks solid but is actually always in flux.

WHAT IF CONSCIOUSNESS IS EVERYWHERE?

This is where things get truly bizarre. What if consciousness isn’t something that emerges when things get complex enough (like brains)? What if instead, consciousness is what EVERYTHING is made of at its core?

Harris found that cutting-edge physics actually supports this view. Physicists like Carlo Rovelli and Lee Smolin describe the universe not as a collection of separate objects, but as a web of relationships. Nothing exists independently — everything only exists in relation to everything else.

As Rovelli puts it: “The external point of view is a point of view that does not exist. Every description of the world is from inside it.”

This matches perfectly with consciousness, which can only ever be experienced from the inside. You can never truly know what it’s like for someone else to see the color blue or feel pain—you can only know your own experience.

A UNIVERSE MADE OF EXPERIENCES

If consciousness is fundamental, then the entire universe could be described as a flow of experiences constantly arising and influencing each other — like an infinite tapestry where pulling one thread creates ripples elsewhere.

Everything we call “real” — trees, stars, other people — would actually be conscious experiences interacting with our own conscious experience. The universe wouldn’t be made of tiny physical particles; it would be made of experiences all the way down.

MEMORY CREATES THE ILLUSION OF CONTINUITY

Our sense of being a consistent person moving through time might just be an illusion created by memory.

Consider this disturbing case: Clive Wearing was a man with severe amnesia who could only remember things for about seven seconds. He constantly described his experience as “waking up” or “becoming conscious” again and again, saying: “I haven’t been conscious since I’ve been ill.”

But what if he was conscious the whole time, just without memory connecting those moments?

If consciousness is fundamental, then what we call “you” might just be countless brief flashes of experience woven together by memory, creating the illusion of a continuous self.

THE ULTIMATE REVELATION

The strangest part? If consciousness is fundamental, then we’ve always been in direct contact with the most basic reality of the universe — not by studying it or thinking about it, but simply by experiencing anything at all.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds suspiciously like GOD to me.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS… CONSCIOUSNESS?

The Gospel of John opens with a profound declaration: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This verse presents a striking parallel to our discussion about fundamental consciousness.

The biblical narrative doesn’t begin with matter or energy, but with something even more fundamental — the divine consciousness, intellect, and creative power of God. Scripture portrays God not as emerging from the universe but as existing before it and bringing it into being through conscious, intentional acts.

A RELATIONAL UNIVERSE

When Harris and physicists like Rovelli describe reality as fundamentally relational, they echo something the Bible has proclaimed for millennia. “Let us make mankind in our image,” says Genesis 1:26, revealing God as inherently relational even within Himself.

The biblical account presents a universe designed for relationship — between God and humanity, humans with each other, and humanity with creation. Nothing exists in isolation; everything finds its meaning and purpose in relation to everything else, ultimately centered on its relationship to the Creator.

BEYOND THE MATERIAL

The Bible consistently challenges purely materialistic views of reality. When the Apostle Paul writes, “The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal,” he’s suggesting that what we perceive with our physical senses isn’t the whole story — or even the most important part.

This aligns with the idea that physical reality might not be fundamental. However, unlike the universal consciousness theory, the biblical perspective doesn’t see consciousness itself as fundamental, but rather as a gift from a personal God who is the true foundation of all reality.

THE ILLUSION OF SELF… OR SOMETHING MORE?

When Harris describes the “illusion of self,” she’s touching on something biblical writers recognized: our tendency to see ourselves as independent, autonomous beings. “In Him we live and move and have our being,” wrote Paul, suggesting our very existence depends on our connection to something greater than ourselves.

Yet the Bible diverges sharply from the view that our individual identities are merely illusions. Scripture portrays humans as bearing the “image of God”—with real, enduring identities that matter profoundly to our Creator. We aren’t just fleeting patterns of consciousness, but beloved children with eternal significance.

MEMORY AND ETERNITY

The biblical concept of memory goes far beyond neural connections. When God “remembers” His covenant, or when Israel is commanded to “remember” their deliverance, it’s about maintaining relationship through time. This resonates with Harris’s insight about memory creating continuity of experience.

Yet Scripture takes this further, suggesting our identities are preserved not just by our own fallible memories, but in the perfect memory of God. “Your names are written in heaven,” Jesus told his followers, promising that their identities – their consciousnesses (or souls) – would endure beyond physical death.

CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND THE BRAIN

The biblical view has always maintained that consciousness transcends physical processes. When Jesus says, “God is spirit,” he’s pointing to a consciousness that exists independently of matter. And when Scripture speaks of life after death, it is essentially saying that consciousness continues even after the brain has ceased functioning.

This aligns with Harris’s questioning of consciousness as merely a product of brain activity. But the biblical account goes further, suggesting not only that consciousness might be fundamental, but that it originates in a personal Creator whose own consciousness preceded and created everything else.

A UNIVERSE OF PURPOSE

Perhaps the starkest contrast between these views concerns purpose. If consciousness is simply a fundamental property of the universe without a conscious Creator behind it, then purpose becomes subjective — created rather than discovered.

The bible, however, insists that the universe was consciously designed with intention. “For I know the plans I have for you,” God declares through the prophet Jeremiah, suggesting that meaning and purpose are woven into the very fabric of creation.

TOUCHING THE FACE OF GOD

Harris suggests that in every conscious experience, we’re touching the fundamental reality of the universe. The Bible makes an even more extraordinary claim: in consciousness, we might be touching something of the divine.

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, he was told, “No one may see me and live.” Yet Scripture also promises, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This paradox suggests that while the fullness of divine consciousness remains beyond our comprehension, every genuine experience of beauty, truth, and goodness gives us a glimpse of the ultimate Reality behind all reality.

DIFFERENT STORIES, SHARED WONDER

While these perspectives differ in profound ways – whether you take the biblical message to heart, or the secular view – they share a rejection of the brain being the center of all that we are, and point to a sense of wonder at the mystery of consciousness. Both invite us to question our assumptions about reality and consider the possibility that the universe is stranger and more wonderful than we’ve imagined.

Whether consciousness emerges from a personal Creator (as I believe) or constitutes reality itself (as those who don’t believe in God may believe), the fact that we can contemplate these mysteries at all, remains perhaps the greatest wonder of all.

(Sources 01, 02, 03 | Photo: ChatGPT)