This paper proposes a novel experimental approach to the detection of dark matter and dark energy — not by adding energy to probe reality, but by systematically subtracting it. The proposal inverts the prevailing methodology of experimental physics, which for over a century has relied on increasingly powerful energy inputs (particle colliders, laser interferometers, photon detectors) to investigate the structure of the universe. The experiment places experienced meditators in verified states of objectless awareness (no-thought meditation, confirmed by real-time EEG monitoring) inside deep underground physics laboratories — the same ultra-low-noise environments used by dark matter detection experiments such as LUX-ZEPLIN and XENON. The hypothesis is that the systematic removal of energy from both the environment (underground shielding, cryogenic cooling, electromagnetic isolation) and the observer (cessation of directed cognitive activity) may create detection conditions qualitatively different from any previously achieved in experimental physics. The instrument array includes SQUID magnetometers, atom interferometers, single-photon detectors, and environmental monitors. The protocol employs four controlled levels of consciousness: (1) empty chamber baseline, (2) sleeping subject, (3) subject engaged in active cognition, and (4) subject in verified no-thought meditation. Triple-blind analysis ensures that neither the subject, the instrument operators, nor the initial data analysts know which condition produced which dataset. The paper is grounded in published theoretical physics, including the Wheeler-DeWitt equation (timelessness of quantum gravity), Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Penrose-Hameroff), Integrated Information Theory (Tononi), the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation (consciousness causes collapse), and Wheeler's Participatory Anthropic Principle. The experimental design includes specific, falsifiable predictions for each instrument under each consciousness condition, pre-registered statistical thresholds, and explicit criteria for null results. This paper introduces the term "The Candle Paradigm" to describe the existing energy-additive approach to experimental physics, and proposes its complement: the systematic subtraction of energy as a new experimental methodology. The estimated budget is 2M-5M for a proof-of-concept phase. Null results are designed to be scientifically valuable, establishing upper bounds on consciousness-matter interaction and constraining the parameter space of consciousness-inclusive theories of physics. This is the founding paper of what the author terms "silence physics" — the investigation of what becomes detectable when energy, signal, and cognitive activity are systematically removed.
Clifton Bacon (Wed,) studied this question.