‘Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence.’
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘The Over-Soul’

● Biocentrism posits that reality requires conscious observers to exist. When not observed, parts of the universe remain in a state of potentiality or superposition. This theory was first seriously proposed by John Wheeler as the participatory universe and further developed by Robert Lanza in his book ‘Biocentrism’.

● The theory of biocentrism suggests two levels of reality: Domain 1 (the domain of pure mind, referred to on this website as ‘The Octopus’) and Domain 2 (the observable physical universe). Domain 1 is the source of all experiences and consciousness, while Domain 2 is our limited, individual experience within spacetime.

● Despite being hidden from everyday awareness, Domain 1 can be accessed through altered states of consciousness. Techniques like Stanislav Grof’s holotropic breathwork have allowed individuals to experience transpersonal states, accessing the consciousness of other beings and broader dimensions of the cosmos, challenging the materialistic view of reality.

In the earlier introduction, I presented the mental universe theory, also known as biocentrism, as a model of reality that inherently incorporates living observers. In this simultaneously ancient and emerging perspective, biological creatures are not just passive bystanders, but have a role to fulfill which is manifesting reality. When not under observation, the unobserved parts of the universe switch to a state of unmanifested potential (called a state of ‘superposition’ in physics).

Many of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics commented on the role of consciousness in physics, but John Wheeler was the first physicist to propose a model where conscious observers are fundamental. He referred to this concept as the ‘participatory universe’. Building on this idea, Robert Lanza expanded it further in his book Biocentrism, which introduces a theory of the same name. I explore this theory in greater depth in a later essay.

For now, this will suffice: in the Western mainstream view, the universe exists as a large, mainly empty stage in which life accidentally originated. Officially known as scientific materialism, this worldview proposes that everything exists merely as a phenomenon of matter – material movement in space and time, caused by material interaction. According to this approach, life is just a by-product – a fungus on a rock – and for a long time there was no life at all and after the demise of Earth’s biosphere there will be no life again for a long time. At least not in this corner of the universe…

Biocentrism reverses this thinking. It boldly states that there is no empty and ‘dumb’ universe independent of life at all. The only universe that exists is the universe that we – conscious beings – perceive ourselves. That means that when you go to bed at night, your kitchen no longer really exists. It only exists when you perceive it. The moon wouldn’t be there if we didn’t all observe it. And if we were no longer here, the universe we know would dissolve in a cloud of potential, and would no longer exist as material reality.

Picture: Mysteries of the Quantum Universe (Mathieu Burniat en Thibault Damour, 2020)

There Is Only One Consciousness
But exactly out of what do living beings ‘create’ everything? The Hindu’s call it Brahman: the metaphysical concept that refers to the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists. In the scientific theories I discuss on Free-Consciousness, it is referred to as a.o. a field of mind, mind-as-large, the domain of potentiality or Absolute Unbounded Oneness.

It is the end-point and begin-point beyond which we – as scientists, philosophers, astronauts, psychonauts or just curious human beings – can no longer look (at least not in our normal state-of-mind). It is the source of everything – the universe, ourselves, and all that exists – and, according to biocentrism, it has a fundamentally mental nature. From this hidden domain arise our thoughts, dreams, symbols, and even the physical world itself. On this platform, I will refer to it as Domain 1, or simply ‘the Octopus’ (in contrast to Domain 2: the familiar, physical universe). I use the term ‘Octopus’ because, when I visualize it, I see an immense, energetic octopus, with each of its countless tentacles forming a living being.

Comparing The Two Domains
To clarify the concept, in the table below you’ll find the Octopus compared to the actual world we can observe:

Picture: Free-Consciousness

Of course, the fact that domain 1 is hidden will be reason enough for opponents to reject it. I mean, how can you explain consciousness if you claim it originates somewhere else? Well, the price you pay for a theory of reality that actually works is that you need to accept one assumption. The Octopus is that one assumption.

It is however not entirely an assumption. In fact, quantum theory – to which the second essay on this website is devoted – insists on a two-level reality, not the single space-time reality of scientific materialism.[1] Quantum objects are waves of possibility residing in Domain 1. When we observe these objects, they reveal themselves as particles in spacetime. Experiments with entangled particles demonstrate that in Domain 1 everything is instantaneously interconnected as would be the case if Domain 1 is indeed a single mind. By contrast, in spacetime nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.

Finding Domain 1 In Altered States Of Consciousness
Furthermore, just because Domain 1 is hidden from our everyday awareness does not mean we cannot access it. We can. However, for this we are more dependent on experiences than on purely scientific experiments. In the essays on this platform, I will explore the many clues that were found that show us that this is how reality works. In this short introduction, I would like to share one example before we move on.

Domain 1 is the mind in its immense, immeasurable totality. Domain 2 is our personal experience of a tiny portion of it. A ‘mind track’ if you will, that you call your life. If our experiences really originate in this mental field – the Octopus – then we should be able to access other people’s consciousness. There is actually research that strongly suggests that this is possible.

A well-known consciousness researcher is the Czech psychologist Stanislav Grof. He first used LSD to allow subjects to experience transpersonal experiences, but when this was banned he developed a breathing technique called holotropic breathwork. By inhaling intensively for a long time, the oxygen content in the brain changes and the test subjects reach the mental state of wholeness; they get access to Domain 1. They can tap into the consciousness of other humans, reptiles, fish, birds, insects, and even entire civilizations or the universe in its entirety! Grof had thousands of subjects undergo such experiences, and for all of them it had a profound impact on their lives. Below is the description of one of them:

‘I had never seriously considered the possibility that there was such a thing as plant consciousness. I have read some accounts of experiments pointing to the ‘secret life of plants’ and claims that the gardener’s consciousness can influence the harvest. I’ve always regarded such things as baseless New Age nonsense. But here I was, completely transformed into a giant Sequoia tree, and it was absolutely clear to me that what I was experiencing is really happening in nature, that I am now discovering dimensions of the cosmos that are usually hidden from our senses and intellect.’[2]

Picture: Pixabay (Kolibrik)

According to Grof, in altered states of consciousness, this new perception of the world becomes dominant and compelling. It completely overrides the everyday illusion of Newtonian reality, where we seem to be ‘skin-encapsulated egos’ existing in a world of separate beings and objects. In the extreme forms of transpersonal perception we can experience ourselves as the whole biosphere of our planet or the entire material universe.

It is possible to become all the mothers of the world who have lost their children to wars, all the soldiers who ever died on battlefields, or all of human history’s fugitives and outcasts. Visionary experiences of this kind have been described again and again in sacred scriptures and mystical literature of all ages.

So yes, Domain 1 is hidden, but there are ways to get there.

Now, let’s explore the mental universe further.

Go to the first essay

1. Goswami, A. The Everything Answer Book: How Quantum Science Explains Love, Death, and the Meaning of Life. Newburyport, Massachusetts: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2017, Introduction

2. Grof, S., with Zina Bennett, H. The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels Of Human Consciousness And How They Shape Our Lives. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, Page 93