According to the Oxford dictionary, the meaning of “universe” is:

• 1. All existing matter and space considered as a whole
• 2. A particular sphere of activity, interest, or experience.

The prefix “uni” means one. Yet I am talking about more than one universe. My understanding of “universe” and possibly yours starts with the first meaning in the definition above. Scholars and scientists imagined the setting of humans to be in space with atoms, planets, star systems and galaxies. To this day, the academics conducted in universities works under the paradigm belief system that human phenomena isa manifestation of just physical stuff and physical forces.

I invite you to consider this setting, which we can physically experience with our 5 physical senses. It is a setting for our collective experiences as humans during our respective lifetimes. We humans have made a lot of progress in studying this setting. The primary science context for studying the physical universe is physics. Over time, we have collectively come to understand that the physical universe, the setting for the ground under our feet, our solar system and our galaxy is a setting that is characterized by space, time, mass, charge, photons, quarks, etc.

Now consider. In your experience, are there variables and forces that are not purely physical? What about the love a parent has for a child? What about fear? Boredom? The experience of psychologists is that people spend a significant amount of time and energy trying to get their emotions to conform to their will; trying to control emotions with thought or thinking. You think about what you want to do on any given day. You were taught things in school, ideas and associations. These ideas and associations taught in school are not physical objects, yes? There are physical events that happen in the physical brain as a result of feeling and thinking, but the executive cause of these effects is not physical.

I assert that there are variables and forces associated with humans that involve nonphysical noun meanings and verb meanings related to emotional feelings and reasoned thinking. Human beings are present in a setting involving emotions and thinking. This is a major setting, similar to the physical setting, but independent from it. It is not a universe like the second meaning above, rather it is another kind of space and matter.

I propose that each human has a soul, and it is this soul which experiences the activity related to thought and emotional feeling. The universe of human experience with thinking and feeling is what I call the soul universe.

We can ask the question whether animals and plants are present in the soul universe as well. Plants thinking? Not in the sense that humans do, but there may be some simple activity behind the observations of plants responding to speech or music. Most dog owners attribute thoughts and emotions to their dogs. Horses show a kind of intelligence, as well as apes. Rocks, water and light, on the other hand, show no signs of soul activity. This gives some sense of why I believe the soul universe is independent of the physical universe. If it is not identified as independent, the variables and forces of this soul universe cannot properly be studied scientifically.

Moving on, there is another aspect of human beings that is not covered by physical events or soul events. It involves matters of ethics, right and wrong.

Consider that a lion or tiger had no moral dilemma over killing a gazelle. There are no observed organized protests among female birds decrying the unfairness of males having the more attractive coloring and ornamentation. On the other hand, step into the human activity related to politics and religion and you will observe that there are variables and forces related to what is right or wrong. Are certain actions and thoughts morally proper or not gets discussed quite a lot in these settings. There are strong beliefs that people should think making certain values more important than other values. Morals, values, justice, being fitting or right, laws, rights and authority, these are all a part of what I call the spiritual universe.

I also assert that the matters of the spiritual universe can be studied in a scientific manner. We have very limited understanding of the variables and forces that are fundamental to the spiritual universe currently. Enmeshing, ambiguity and inconsistency are common features of dialog about these matters in the public square. May it not be so forever.