Michael,

Quantum theory is still information based. It's like the blind men describing an elephant.

Quanta are more like the frequencies and amplitudes expressed by the wave action of energy, yet the information is not the energy, any more than consciousness is thinking. One is the observer, one is the observed. One goes past to future, the other goes future to past. As energy goes past to future while information/forms go future to past.

Consciousness functions like the energy and the energy is causal.

Why energy is sentient is a whole other matter, probably far beyond our powers of reasoning, yet I think this particular stumbling block is something we can climb over.