What consciousness theory refers to all of us being the same observing entity?

Question

Recently I ran across this amusing but thought provoking CGI video supposedly by Zak Field (can't find the original page, so apologies for the Facebook link).

In it, the "alien" being questioned refers to "so called life":

Death is a human construct. It does not exist. You will experience and have experienced every instance of so called life. You. Me. Him. We are instances of the same life, separated by what you call death.

To put it another way, "life" is merely that singular entity observing from every potential point of consciousness. When one point of consciousness "dies" we/it move to the next to observe. Right now, "I" may be observing but in "my" future this body dies and then "I" start observing at a different point in time when a new organism that can support consciousness "comes online". This would be you, the person reading this, and it would start at the time you are capable of having subjective experience because the movement of this singular lone consciousness (you/me/us) would not follow a linear progression from one seat of consciousness to the next. Basically, infinite reincarnation into every possible life form independent of time.

Is this a particular school of thought on consciousness and is there a name for it?

I've contemplated this same theory independently for a while now but have not been able to figure out if it relates to anything formal in philosophy. To see it in this video was a pleasant surprise, but I'd like a handy classification to associate with it if there is one.

Answer 1

This is an ancient idea. But it has taken form recently as "Open Individualism" by Daniel Kolak:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_individualism

Answer 2

This seems to be a local elaboration of the Hegelian pantheistic philosophy of history. Everything is God, and therefore so are you. Time is God's way of investigating his own essence. So when the process of time is complete, all perspectives will converge, and the distinction between instances of perspective will be irrelevant.

The idea of succession obviously lacks coherence here, we are all going to be the same consciousness, when there is no time, so we are all the same consciousness eternally, and therefore now.

Answer 3

(Microscopically) “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” - Carl Sagan

(Macroscopically 1) The Gaia Hypothesis "encompasses all the living and non-living components of Earth’s biosphere and proposes that the complex interacting systems regulate the environment to a very high degree... So much so, that the planet may be viewed as a single organism in its own right."

(Macroscopically 2) "According to a study published in Nature's Scientific Reports, the universe may be growing in the same way as a giant brain - with the electrical firing between brain cells 'mirrored' by the shape of expanding galaxies." - Michael Rundle from the Huffington Post, 2012

Answer 4

A variation of this point of view forms the basis of a school of Hindu philosophy known as Advaita Vedanta. The Sanskrit word advaita is translated as “non-dual,” and reflects the belief that the self and the ultimate reality (Brahman) are essentially identical. This idea is one of the main themes of the Upanishads, which date back to the second or first millennium BCE, as well as the commentaries authored by the eighth-century Hindu scholar Shankaracharya. From this perspective, everything is Brahman and the conventional distinction that is drawn among individual selves is caused by our collective ignorance of the one true reality. In Advaita Vedanta, liberation from suffering and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth consists in recognizing the unity of the self and Brahman - the one true consciousness that is the source of eternal bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda in Sanskrit).

Note that I am not necessarily advocating this point of view, but merely pointing out that it does provide many interesting insights into the question that you have asked.