Stephanie Romer

A larger Consciousness is reflected in the inherent symbolic relationship of all things echoing across time, space, and scale—as the frozen “fosssil” travelogue or footprints of a universal consciousness. Symbolic universe theory shows how meaning and symbol in consciousness feed-back to create movement toward higher levels of what Giulio Tononi calls “phi” to successfully overcome obstacles to existence—not coincidentally in the same way meaning evolves backwards in time towards higher interpretations when we read a book. It is a kind of subtle self-selection operating almost imperceptibly on individuals or cells across vast timescales exactly like gravity compared to the chemistry and frictions of molecular interactions from the perspective of these atoms or particles. Gravity is decoded as the symbolic counterpart to meaning in the larger universal consciousness, is an example of reading the symbolic across scales based on the universal characteristics of experienced consciousness. This theory bridges mind and matter, in higher patterns of meaning. It puts consciousness functionally and usefully in the center of reality. Meaning is the shoreline where mind and matter meet, as symbolized by the assembly of matter toward perfect symmetry by an invisible center of gravity, or a singularity. Idealism and religion suffer from the similar maladies which are ameliorated when Symbolic universe theory based on objective science posits a larger “Universal Consciousness” as fundamental, automatic, and required for any viable universe to exist against the entropy of infinite probabilities, for brains to even be possible, and for humans to be able to use and make symbolic communication themselves. In biological evolution, it is a much better explanation of shapes and colors like the peacocks tail, or an octopus, or the eye, and of anomalous probabilities, for example. Meaning, like consciousness, is not a physical/empirical phenomenon. It has to be approached differently. The Langlands program in mathematics in particular is a great example of the use of the symbolic underlying structure of reality to advance mathematics. Looking at human symbol use, meaning forms as we travel over words, or through time and space, contextually connecting things, recapitulating the thought of the author, and this is a microcosm of all life according to the theory. This is the other litmus of truth and accuracy—our ideas need to fit with everything else contextually and logically as in reading. Ian McGilchrist’s work on what humans focus on (instrumental vs holistic) is highly relevant here. Symbolic universe theory rests on the foundation of looking at basic relationships between the world and consciousness as symbolic reflections of the underlying mechanics of reality and pointing to the origin of universes and consciousness. Meaning therefore is real, a memory palace of consciousness traveling through matter. Decoding the basic symbols like the sun, a black hole, and the earth, we can understand why the human eye symbolizes these three things (explored in the 2024 book “Eye of God: Language of Universal Mind”), We can’t truly understand brains or what microtubule are, etc. or consciousness without Symbolic Universe Theory.

4 years teaching and research fellowship PhD program in evolutionary psychology and neuroscience joint program with the medical school at Emory University. Presented original research at society for Neuroscience annual meeting. Presented many times at Toward a Science of Consciousness and at ASSC conferences. Several honor society awards.