The End of the Road for Materialism
In part three of our trilogy of articles we see
Materialism replaced by Mind. This is nothing other than
Hegelian metaphysics written in scientific notation.
The Universe That Thinks: Physics Crosses a Threshold
By John D. Wise, PhD
Consciousness as Foundational Field
Careful CEH readers have probably noticed my ongoing fascination with consciousness. It is central to everything I do as a philosopher. They have also noticed my fixation on the corrosive effects of G. W. F. Hegel’s metaphysics, which hollowed out Western thought while pretending to complete it.
This final article in our December trilogy brings those two concerns together in a way I did not expect to see so clearly, so soon, or in so mainstream a science venue.
“Universal consciousness as foundational field: A theoretical bridge between quantum physics and non-dual philosophy,” in AIP Advances, November 13, 2025.
This is not a fringe journal, nor a speculative blog post. It is a physics paper, promoted by Sweden’s prestigious Uppsala University as “a new theory of the nature of reality.” The paper does not try to squeeze consciousness out of neurons as a late and “emergent” by-product of brain chemistry. It does something much more radical.
It places consciousness before the Big Bang:
The concept of universal consciousness before the Big Bang is central to this framework. In this state, reality exists as a timeless and undifferentiated potential, without space, time, or matter.
In other words, in a stunning inversion of scientific dogma consciousness precedes and grounds the material universe.
This is not materialism. Gone are the elaborate narratives of consciousness “emerging” from a material substrate. This is a metaphysical picture in which an infinite, formless consciousness exists prior to the universe, and the universe itself is a kind of structured episode within that consciousness. Space, time, matter, and individual minds are all “differentiations” of a deeper, undivided reality.
A Triad Before Time
To build this model, the paper draws on “The Three Principles” (3Ps) of Sydney Banks, a spiritual teacher I suspect most physicists have never heard of. The author writes:
By integrating the 3Ps with quantum mechanics and field theory, this paper proposes a mathematical framework for consciousness. Mind is modeled as the universal intelligence driving the evolution of reality. Consciousness is represented as a fundamental field underpinning awareness and experience. Thought serves as the mechanism for transforming potentiality into structured realities.
So the proposed structure is triadic: Mind, Consciousness and Thought.
Mind is modeled as the universal intelligence driving the evolution (you didn’t think they are giving that up, did you?) of reality. Consciousness is represented as a fundamental field underpinning awareness and experience. Thought serves as the mechanism for transforming potentiality into structured realities.
This triad cannot fail to evoke the Christian trinity. The author herself even notes this resemblance, but insists (no surprise here, right? She wants to be taken seriously by her scientific colleagues) that her theory remains within a non-dual,[1] non-theistic framework.
That non-dual commitment is key. The paper is explicit that the ultimate reality is not a Creator distinct from creation, but a single universal consciousness in which all apparent distinctions are illusions. Individuality, including yours and mine, is a temporary ripple in an infinite ocean of Mind.
This is nothing other than Hegelian metaphysics written in scientific notation.
The Universe That Thinks Itself
No concept in the paper is more revealing than the role given to Thought:
… thought may … serve as the fundamental collapse mechanism at the universal level…. Thought collapses formless potential into structured forms, operating seamlessly at metaphysical and physical levels…. [T]hought not only shapes perception but also actively participates in the very act of creation and differentiation.
In other words, the universe exists because a universal consciousness “thinks” it into differentiation.
The paper is quite candid about this, explaining that:
self-reflection represents a unique mechanism through which universal consciousness may differentiate by becoming aware of itself… This mechanism underscores the creative and participatory nature of awareness, suggesting that the universe, through the function of mind and thought, ‘observes’ itself into differentiated form. [my emphasis]
Finally, the core claim is put in unmistakable terms:
The consciousness field Φ acts as the source for both metaphysical awareness and physical structures. Its evolution bridges the metaphysical principles of mind, consciousness, and thought with the physical principles that govern space–time and matter.
We are no longer doing standard physics.
Exactly what we are doing is metaphysics. Admittedly, it carries with it a toolbox of equations and operator symbols. It borrows concepts from quantum field theory, symmetry breaking, and cosmology, then uses them as metaphors for an underlying spiritual picture drawn from non-dual Eastern traditions.
The Collapse of Materialism
To be clear, this metaphysical inversion does not make the author unserious. Quite the opposite. She is facing directly what most materialists are still trying desperately to deny and ignore: consciousness steadfastly refuses to be absorbed into matter and energy without residue.
Long before I began writing for CEH, my own philosophical work on Hegelian logic convinced me that when materialist science honestly confronted the full weight of the consciousness problem, the road forked. If you refuse a real Creator distinct from His creation, you must eventually retreat into some version of “universal consciousness” that sounds very much like divinity with the name filed off.
This paper is a textbook example of that move.
From a creationist perspective, two points stand out.
First, the paper shows that the old complaint about “untestable metaphysics” cuts both ways. This model proposes a pre-Big Bang consciousness field, a triad of metaphysical principles, and a universal Thought that collapses potential into reality. It even suggests that anomalies in random number generators, quantum fluctuations, biological coherence, and the cosmic microwave background might carry signatures of this field. If such speculative, field-like theories of consciousness can be countenanced under the banner of physics, then it is no longer credible to exclude design, purpose, or a transcendent Creator on the bare claim that they are “unscientific” or “untestable.”
Second, this paper quietly confirms what many have been saying for years. Materialism is not winning the debate over consciousness.[2] Faced with questions it cannot answer, it is giving way to models that look more and more like theology while refusing to admit God.
Christine Stromme, our author, is in a sense ahead of the curve. She is brave enough to step into the metaphysical space that her more timid colleagues will eventually be forced to confront.
The real question is not whether consciousness is fundamental. We have that answer.
It is.
The deeper question is whether the consciousness that grounds reality is personal, a righteous Creator who speaks the world into being, or impersonal, a field that thinks us into and out of existence.
Those two options, resist them as you will, exhaust the possibilities.
TRILOGY CONCLUSION
On Tuesday, our fern paper sped confidently along the evolutionary highway, unaware that its own developmental logic was steering it toward design. On Wednesday, the thermodynamics paper reached a bridged-fissure and found warning lights flashing: the laws of thermodynamics cannot carry the weight of life. A “fourth law” was called in like a repair crew to reinforce the scaffolding.
And today, in this consciousness paper, the road ends abruptly – a sheer drop-off into metaphysical space. The deeper irony is that Hegel himself would never have accepted the map drawn by modern science’s Faustian bargain. He knew that dialectic severed from Spirit becomes incoherent, and that materialism must dissolve in the universal solvent of his logic.
The “hybrid synthesis” was doomed the moment it was conceived.
Yet the scientific community has spent nearly two centuries fleeing that metaphysical starting point. The logic of the starting point, however – Hegel’s logic – has pursued it relentlessly. Now, after all its “explorations,” science is brought back – kicking and screaming – to the place it began. And this time the mechanisms of denial fail. This time the repression collapses, and the scientific mind must face the reality it has long banished, and recognize it for what it is.
And now that hybrid worldview – the mapmaker of the modern scientific age – calmly folds the chart and puts it away, leaving secular science suspended over the reality it has denied since the 19th century.
The lesson?
Reality, in the end, cannot be fled.
It must be faced.
[1] The author chooses the term “non-dualism” not because it is clearer than monism, but because it is safer. Monism affirms a unity; non-dualism denies distinctions. And the one distinction modern science cannot abide is the distinction between Creator and creation. Non-dualism is the metaphysical firewall that keeps the divine foot from entering the room.
Succinctly: non-dualism is not simply an alternative metaphysics. It is the last metaphysics available to a worldview requiring the benefits of transcendence (Nietzsche’s “corpse of God”) without admitting the transcendent Cross.
[2] And as we’ve seen in our trilogy, it is not just in the study of consciousness, but in biology and even physics itself where the materialist mask is slipping.
John Wise received his PhD in philosophy from the University of CA, Irvine in 2004. His dissertation was titled Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the German Idealist Tradition. His area of specialization is 19th to early 20th century continental philosophy.
He tells the story of his 25-year odyssey from atheism to Christianity in the book, Through the Looking Glass: The Imploding of an Atheist Professor’s Worldview (available on Amazon). Since his return to Christ, his research interests include developing a Christian (YEC) philosophy of science and the integration of all human knowledge with God’s word.
He has taught philosophy for the University of CA, Irvine, East Stroudsburg University of PA, Grand Canyon University, American Intercontinental University, and Ashford University. He currently teaches online for the University of Arizona, Global Campus, and is a member of the Heterodox Academy. He and his wife Jenny are known online as The Christian Atheist with a podcast of that name, in addition to a YouTube channel: John and Jenny Wise.