The Temporal Expressions of Being: A Unified Framework of Consciousness Through Recursive Self-Observation

This paper contributes to interdisciplinary inquiry at the intersection of consciousness studies, mathematical formalization, and philosophical ontology. By modeling consciousness as recursive self-observation and formalizing its developmental dynamics through phase transitions, boundary functions, and saturation thresholds, the work aligns with ongoing efforts to mathematize consciousness (Mathematics for Consciousness), deepen its ontological understanding (Philosophy of Mind), and pursue a unified theory of conscious systems (Consciousness, Nature of). The paper is also shared in the spirit of open theoretical development and independent scholarship.

Version 3.2  License changed to CC-BY 4.0 to enable full scientific dissemination. No changes to content.

Version 3.1
- Restores brief Note on Methodology as Appendix A
- Corrects Math footnote to the full methodology disclosure.
- Added DOIs to references where available
- Removed uncited bibliographic entry Williams2023 and Sundararajan2022
- Corrected DOI and lead author attribution to Norris2021
- Updated the Kim2025 reference and DOI to the current version
- No changes to the core arguments, figures, or theoretical structure.

Version 3: This update introduces formatting improvements to align the paper with academic publishing standards. Key changes include: placing the abstract on a dedicated front page; standardizing section headers; refining figure placement and scaling for narrative continuity; correcting typographic dash usage; and ensuring consistency across references, math notation, and appendix integration.

No changes have been made to the theoretical content, formulations, or citations. This version supersedes the original for citation and archival purposes and brings the presentation in line with the subsequent entries in the trilogy.