In her book “The Metaverse of Consciousness: Mapping the Multiple Dimensions of Reality,”Shelli Renée Joye refers to a transcendental, multidimensional field of consciousness rather than the digital or virtual metaverse coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992. In this context, the “metaverse” is not a physical location or a cyberspace, but a larger ontological reality — a hidden, interconnected network of consciousness that includes, but is not limited to, our experiences of time and space.
Joye links this metaphysical metaverse to Carl Jung’s psychoids —archetypal structures connecting psyche and matter — and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere, a collective layer of consciousness enveloping the planet.
She is also channeling the quantum consciousness theories of Karl Pribram and David Bohm, which treat consciousness as a multidimensional, holographic phenomenon.
Joye suggests this metaverse has always underpinned reality and human experience, with evidence for “seven hidden dimensions” drawn from modern physics (such as string theory) but also accessible through direct consciousness exploration, including mysticism, meditation, and entheogens.
The conception of this ontological metaverse dates back to ancient mystical traditions and has been integrated into modern philosophical and scientific theories over the last two centuries.