2.5 PMR and NPMR: Physical and Nonphysical Realities

Imagine you’re watching a movie at the cinema. The giant screen, the surround sound, the popcorn smell… for two hours it feels absolutely real. But when the credits roll, you step outside — into a different world: the street, the night sky, the smell of rain or hot asphalt.

In My Big TOE, something similar happens with what we call physical reality and nonphysical reality.

In MBT, PMR (Physical Matter Reality) is like watching a high-quality movie in a cinema. You’re fully immersed — your body is the avatar, the physical laws are the script, and you experience events as if they were “the only reality.” The environment is structured, rule-based, and offers a clear cause-and-effect learning system. You can’t pause the film to see the script or fast-forward to the ending — information is limited so that learning happens through direct, moment-to-moment experience.

NPMR (Non-Physical Matter Reality) is like leaving the movie theater and finding yourself in a larger, open world. Here, the “rules” are looser, movement is more flexible, and you can access perspectives beyond the “screen” of physical reality. Communication is faster, and you can explore creatively without the same level of consequence you face inside PMR. However, it’s not a different physical planet or a “superior” place — both PMR and NPMR are classrooms in the same school of consciousness evolution, each with a specific role in your learning.

In MBT’s metaphor, both are virtual realities created and managed by the Larger Consciousness System (LCS) — each with its own learning environment:

• PMR: perfect for learning through friction, challenge, and clear consequences.
• NPMR: more flexible, with broader access to information, where communication and connection can flow more directly.

Key insight: There’s no value hierarchy between them. PMR isn’t “more real” than NPMR, and NPMR isn’t “more spiritual” than PMR. They’re like two different classrooms in the same school of consciousness evolution.

If PMR and NPMR were two gyms in the same fitness club for consciousness, they would each have their own kind of workout. Same membership, different equipment.

The “PMR gym” is designed for impact-based learning. Just like lifting heavy weights builds physical strength, PMR’s rule-set builds decision-making strength by providing consistent, inescapable consequences. Cause and effect are clear, making lessons obvious (even if sometimes uncomfortable). It’s not random — the rules are stable, and information is limited on purpose so you develop through direct engagement, not shortcuts.

The “NPMR gym” focuses on perspective-based learning. It’s like a training area without heavy weights — you can focus on refining your technique, testing new strategies, and exploring without the same risk of “injury” that PMR offers. Communication is faster, and you can tap into a broader flow of information. But it’s not inherently “better” or “more spiritual” than PMR; it simply develops different skills that are equally necessary for consciousness evolution.

PMR teaches through impact; NPMR teaches through perspective. Both aim at the same evolutionary goal: lowering entropy, increasing coherence, and enhancing the capacity to choose with love.

The four core layers are:

• Sensory: the direct input from your environment. The raw data stream: sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch. In PMR, this is your primary interface; in NPMR, it may be symbolic or abstract.
• Emotional: how you feel about that input. The feeling-tone attached to events: joy, fear, curiosity, empathy. Emotions often reveal your deeper patterns more quickly than thoughts.
• Mental: how you interpret and structure that input. The interpretive layer: beliefs, logic, expectations, narratives you tell yourself. This is where you organise sensory and emotional input into a “story” you believe.
• Conscious: the meta-level awareness that can oversee and guide the whole process. Observing not just the world, but your own processing of it. This is where choice, intent, and entropy reduction truly happen.

Other skills — like physical fitness or financial management — may be important in daily life, but in MBT they are not considered fundamental layers of experience that drive consciousness evolution.

Think of these layers like different “lenses” in the same camera. PMR pushes you to keep them aligned under pressure; NPMR allows you to adjust them more freely and experiment with the settings.