Can the universe exist without consciousness? (an observer)?

Can consciousness and hence the observer exist without the universe? If it could, then to what end and for the purpose? Just as the eye is as there is light, consciousness is as there is something to be conscious of, the universe. The consciousness exists as the observer and the universe as the observed, but the fundamental fact is both exist, both are the members of the existence club - one locked onto the other, but if both are one and the same things then why in the very same existence as two different things?

Let us say one day the observer falls asleep, a little death, and hence starts dreaming. It becomes the observer of the world of dreams. Is it not then possible that the physicality of the consciousness that once was the observer of the physical universe is lost, the common observer is no more, and the consciousness itself has transcended to some higher state whereby it is able to observe in new ways the same reality that once was visible as the physical universe?

We can assume that the universe and its observer are one and the same, i.e. two aspects of the same reality, like two rays of light stemming from a singular source. This is then most curious as to why something that in reality is just one thing should divide itself into the observer and the observed?

I see I am, as I am. I know this. I know this as I am aware of myself or as I am an observer of myself, i.e. I am in myself both the observer and the observed. I am physically a part of the very universe that I consciously observe, my conscious mind also informs me of my own singular existence, and endows me with a proper sense of my own being.

Yes, it can and does exist without conscious observers. Observation in the physics sense doesn't require humans or other conscious beings to be observed. All observation means is that photons can travel between particles. So if a photon is emitted by a particle, and that photon is captured by another particle somewhere further away, then that counts as an observation. So particles can act as each other's observers, you don't need something as complicated as a human to have observations.

The laws of physics apply

Yes

Yes it can because the universe is separate from our consciousness.

I believe whatever one can imagine ought to exist somewhere, sometime in some form or another. Since there can be no imagination without consciousness (or observer), I would say the universe does not exist in that case.

Sounds like old fashioned QM

No. Everything , even our universe, is a moving part of existence. When one dies physically his spiritual consciousness still lives. God is the observer. :D

Of course. It existed for billions of years before any life or conscious beings evolved.

The universe exists until the creator destroys it. Consciousness is a spirit. Spirits were/are created by supreme being. A human being has many consciousnesses as he/she lives with many spirits. Spirits are separate elements. A human being doesn't have a spiritual body. A human being during his/her lifetime is living with many spirits which have joined one by one since birth. They are knowledge, intelligence, skills, feelings, emotions, interests and everything. Even thoughts are not your own. For example, when you want to take a decision on a subject, one after another the spirits think and you just listen, choose or reject the ideas which they transmit to your mind through your brain in the form of thoughts. Brain is just a media to connect the spirits to your mind. A mind is just a computer's mind. After the destruction of a computer completely you will not get it's mind. The same is the case with the human beings. Soul is nothing but an energy needed for the functionality of a body. It is not a spirit or anything else. After death all spirits which accompanied a person quit and go to different places searching new bodies. All human beings are just robots made of flesh and bones and toys of the spirits for their games.