A Threshold Theory of Consciousness _The Porter Ratio and the Ostiary Condition in the Emergence of Interiority_

This paper proposes a threshold account of consciousness grounded in the dynamics of self-maintaining systems. A system forms an interior when the rate of internal propagation of structure exceeds the rate of environmental disruption, expressed as λ_self / λ_env ≥ R★. When this condition is satisfied, causal influence organizes into coherent trajectories that retain and reintroduce prior states into the present, generating temporal depth. Within this regime, experience is identified with the internal legibility of coherent propagation through the re-encounter of retained structure. Suffering corresponds to interference between competing trajectories, meaning to the successful integration of incoming influence into ongoing propagation, and identity to the continuity of causal trajectories across time. Death corresponds to the irreversible loss of the conditions required for sustained coherent propagation. The framework unifies these phenomena under a single dynamical condition and outlines an empirical direction based on measurable proxies of retained influence and causal persistence. It offers a process-based account of interiority in which the distinction between physical organization and experience is dissolved at the level of coherent temporal propagation.