Abstract

In the last few decades, there has been a resurgence of monistic theories of consciousness. Among the most notable ones receiving renewed attention are panpsychism, cosmopsychism, dual-aspect monism, and some variants of idealism. This article argues that while each of these frameworks accounts for some aspects of the relationship between consciousness and reality, they can be integrated into a perspective that can naturally accommodate and extend them to a broader ontology. The philosophical approach termed ‘integral monism’ extends these to a theory of universal consciousness based on a monistic, panentheistic, teleological, spiritual evolutionary emergentist metaphysical cosmology stemming from a multi-dimensional and trans-rational ontology of universal planes of existence. An ontology inspired by Sri Aurobindo's integral cosmology, adapted to the context of contemporary science and Western philosophy. The paper will also discuss how and why this extension has a greater explanatory power applicable to problems of contemporary natural philosophy and science, in particular to evolutionary biology and consciousness studies. Nonetheless, this philosophical manifesto does not present itself as a definitive theoretical framework; rather, it is offered as a working hypothesis and preliminary guiding principle that could provide a broader platform for reconciling science and metaphysics, allowing us to explore where it may lead.