The Fifteen Layers of Persistence

This work presents the Fifteen Layers of Persistence, a conceptual framework for organizing how physical structure, stability, and information retention emerge and endure across scales in the universe. The framework does not introduce new fundamental forces or modifications to established physical laws. Instead, it provides a layered description of persistence domains in which certain configurations of matter, energy, and information survive environmental constraint long enough to influence subsequent structure. Persistence is treated as a selective outcome rather than a generative force: most configurations decay, while a limited subset endures through constraint, symmetry, and environmental filtering. The Fifteen Layers are presented as an explanatory scaffold rather than a closed physical theory, intended to support cross-disciplinary analysis, guide future formalization, and clarify how complexity accumulates within established physics.