The idea that consciousness is the foundation of the universe – and that everything else arises from it – is still far from a mainstream view.

Even people I would expect to be open to this idea often don’t seem aware of it.

Take Susan Cain, for example – the author of the brilliant book ‘Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’. She recently posted an announcement on her website that caught my attention:

But first! Please also mark your calendars for our Candlelight Chat for May, which will be on Sunday, May 4. We’re hosting Annaka Harris, the New York Times bestselling author and host of LIGHTS ON, a dazzling new audio series on the mysteries of consciousness. We’ll be talking about consciousness generally — what is it? Is consciousness a fundamental building block of the universe, like gravity? Can AI ever truly replicate the subjective experience of being conscious? And how does understanding consciousness change our own lives?

Here we have someone like Susan Cain – highly conscious, deeply thoughtful, well-read, and informed about psychology – yet she refers to consciousness as a ‘mystery’.

And to be clear: consciousness is a mystery in terms of how it operates or manifests. But the idea that consciousness itself is the ground of being – the very source from which everything arises – seems, to me, self-evident. Yet this possibility isn’t even mentioned in the announcement.

Instead, consciousness is framed as just another building block of the universe, like gravity or electromagnetism. I understand where this framing comes from. Over the past century, Western thought has been largely shaped by scientific materialism – the view that matter is the fundamental ‘stuff’ of reality, and everything else, including consciousness, somehow emerges from it.

Materialism is a form of monism – the philosophical position that everything is, at root, one thing. It’s a compelling position because explaining a universe made of two or more fundamentally different things – like mind and matter, as in dualism – raises tricky questions. Chief among them: how do these fundamentally different things interact?

But materialism faces its own serious challenge: the so-called ‘hard problem of consciousness’. How do arrangements of matter – neurons, synapses, and particles – produce subjective experience? How does the firing of neurons give rise to the taste of vanilla or the color purple? Some of the brightest neuroscientists in the world have wrestled with this question – and have yet to offer a satisfying answer.

This impasse has led researchers like Annaka Harris to explore alternative views, such as treating consciousness itself as a fundamental building block of reality. And there’s nothing wrong with this – it’s a step in the right direction.

Still, what strikes me is how rarely the most straightforward possibility is even on the table: the other form of monism – idealism – the view that consciousness (or mind) is primary, and matter arises from it.

Figures like Susan Cain and Annaka Harris have tremendous reach and influence. And their audiences are likely among those most receptive to the idea that consciousness is fundamental – an idea with potentially profound implications. Imagine a world in which people no longer fear death, feel connected to their essential spiritual nature, and recognize the vast possibilities this opens in their lives.

But we’re not there yet. This simple yet powerful idea still sits largely on the fringes of mainstream thought – lingering in the shadow of Western materialism, waiting to be rediscovered.

As far as I’m concerned, that day can’t come soon enough.

Read also: Materialism Rules Our Culture: Why Biocentrism Is Still A Dwarf Within The Current Scientific Paradigm And How This Can Change