‘A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.’
― Albert Einstein

● Thomas Campbell’s My Big TOE theory diverges from conventional scientific views by incorporating subjective experiences, such as transcendental meditation and out-of-body experiences, as crucial investigative tools in understanding reality.

● Campbell posits that consciousness is the fundamental energy underlying all reality, and evolution is the process by which this consciousness optimizes its quality through free will and intentional choices. According to Campbell, spacetime is a virtual construct within a larger reality, governed by a set of rules and constraints. Our physical existence is akin to a virtual reality game aimed at personal growth and the evolution of consciousness.

● Campbell emphasizes that the quality of one’s consciousness is improved through selfless intentions and actions towards others. Love, compassion, and empathy are essential for manifesting a higher quality of consciousness and contributing to the overall evolution of the larger consciousness system.

In this series we explore the scientific theories of three iconoclastic scientists who go against the established views and posit consciousness as the ultimate field of reality. The third and last scientist I will discuss is Thomas Campbell, one part physicist, one part consciousness researcher and one part oddball professor.

Picture: Free-Consciousness

Although his theory of reality is very similar to the theories of Hoffman and Lanza, his approach is quite different. Where the other two stay very close to what can be concluded purely from scientific facts and experiments, Campbell assuredly includes subjective experiences as an indispensable investigative tool.

Often, the big picture eludes those that proclaim that only an objective view of the universe is rational and scientific. Finding a Theory of Everything is as much about ‘tasting the pudding’ as it is about objective scientific knowledge. And to discover Big Truth, one must become a scientist and an intuitionist at the same time. The first part of Campbell’s Magnum Opus ‘My Big TOE’ (TOE stands for Theory Of Everything) is therefore focussed on Campbell’s own explorations of the mind through transcendental meditation and out-of-body experiences. Practices most of his fellow scientists would not include in their scientific thinking.

Little Picture, Big Picture
Campbell states that the belief that nothing can be considered real or significant until it has been objectively proven is an illogical position based on the assumption that physical matter reality (PMR) constitutes all reality and that you (and your consciousness) are a derivative of physical matter.

Campbell writes: ‘This mystical belief requires existence to be proven or validated by little picture causality. This belief is not only illogical and irrational, but limiting as well. Objective PMR-based proof is valuable in some circumstances (exploring the space-time ruleset), and totally irrelevant in others (exploring consciousness and the larger reality).’(P. 444/445)

Stated even more clearly: ‘Requiring the Big Picture reality to be described exclusively in terms of a local little picture is an incredibly dumb idea.’ (P. 459) That the ideas expressed in my Big TOE contradicts the current scientific culture is, according to Campbell, one of the conditions a solid Big TOE needs. The other condition is that it shouldn’t contradict, or conflict with, known scientific facts. It doesn’t.

When he started his career as a physicist in the nineteen eighties, Campbell met the well known out-of-body traveler Robert Monroe. He agreed to do experiments with Monroe to learn more about this bizarre phenomenon that completely contradicted the scientific paradigm of that time (and still does today).

Testing a subjective experience is of course not so easy, but there are ways to do it. For example, Monroe let Campbell and a fellow researcher travel out-of-body together and he recorded everything they said during the experiment. They were in separate, soundproof rooms, and were asked to give real-time descriptions of what they experienced. Later they played the two long recordings simultaneously and found amazing correlations between what they said and experienced.

They repeated the experiment many times with other test subjects. Another experiment involved going to people’s houses, checking out what they were doing and later confirming with them if this was correct. They were also able to memorize random numbers written on blackboards outside the rooms where their bodies lay sleeping while their consciousness was traveling out of body. And so Campbell’s conclusion was that this phenomenon is real.

Picture: Fragmenten.blog

Subjective experiences are a vital part of Theories of Everything, the scientist proposes. Objective science is simply not sufficient to see the whole picture. A Theory of Everything is a personal thing and must always include the subject. If you can’t experience a larger reality, how can you accept it as true?

A bacteria in our gut has no idea what the sun is, yet it is crucial for its survival. Would the bacteria practice only objective science he would still have no clue. The sun, from the perspective of the microorganism, is mystical. What is our sun in comparison? Campbell calls it Absolute Unbounded Oneness (AOU).

This is what Lanza refers to as Field of Mind and which I refer to on this website as Domain 1 or The Octopus. A Theory Of Everything needs at least one mystical component to be able to account for mind as well as matter and the normal as well as the paranormal. AOU is that thing, described by Campbell as ‘a complex consciousness system, a big cellular quantized thought-energy-thing that constitutes the One Source of All That Is.'(P. 301)

Consciousness And Evolution, Mother And Father
My Big TOE is built on two assumptions. First, consciousness is primary. It is the fundamental energy that is the medium on which reality is projected for all its sentient participants. Second, the fundamental process behind everything that happens within this conscious reality is evolution. Evolution is the process of optimizing the quality of consciousness. And we can do this by using our free will intent to make the most advantageous choices available to us.

Picture: Unknown

Like Hoffman and Lanza, Cambell too proposes that the world is not objectively ‘out there’. He describes spacetime not as a physical construct, but as ‘a set of constraints upon a subset of the larger reality.’(P. 255) Spacetime, from the point of view of My Big TOE, represents a particular set of rules and constraints applied to interactive energy transfers between objects. It is the virtual (not fundamental) construct within which our fleshy bodies appear to live and interact. The rules and constraints of spacetime and the other laws of nature determine what possible experiences we can and cannot have. At the same time, we possess a degree of free will that allows us to meaningfully influence events within this virtual space. While many potential worlds exist, only those containing observers capable of significant evolution can transform possibility into experienced reality.

Free Willy, Virtual Reality Game
Where the concept of free will is limitelly discussed in Biocentrism (only in the third book is a chapter on the subject), Campbell has built his entire theory around evolution: the process of becoming. And free will is a quintessential part of that. The existence of free will is not entirely an assumption. It is a logical conclusion following from quantum mechanics which has shown us that the world, until observed, consists of a probability distribution. The future is not certain, and only becomes definitive at the moment of observation.

Picture: Free-Consciousness

This peculiar aspect of nature was revealed through quantum mechanics. Its discovery unsettled many scientists, including Einstein, as it appeared to suggest that reality itself is fundamentally statistical. This notion challenged the intuitive belief that sentient beings and their reality are inherently more concrete, stable, and dependable than a mere statistical framework would imply.

My Big TOE predicts exactly this. What we know as atoms are in fact the individual pixels of the virtual physical reality we inhabit. That these pixels turn out to be statistical representations of the potential for existence within physical matter reality awaiting a measurement-taking, information-collecting, individuated consciousness to collapse the wave-functions to an objective physically measurable result is precisely predicted by My Big TOE.(P. 426)

With our intention or free will we can therefore have a certain influence on how the world will manifest. That is because it is uncertain which of the potential future states of the universe we will manifest. Just a measure of probability that it is one state or the other. You can imagine this as a movie that is playing, but it is not certain what exactly the next frame will look like. There are a lot of possibilities and the viewers contribute in deciding which frame it will be. In Campbell’s words: ‘Opportunities for change arise, choices are made, reality is actualized, and progress or regression in terms of personal growth is achieved.’(P. 171)

Life, in this view, is a learning experience – an interactive, multiplayer reality game in which we project our individual consciousness onto the field of action, with the ultimate goal of growth and personal evolution.

Picture: Pxhere

What we do is not of primary importance; why we do it is what counts. The intent or motivation is the choice. Thus, our free will choices are primarily choices of motivation and intent – why we do what we do. In the evolution of consciousness, motivation and intent are the key drivers.(P. 315)

The very existence of evolution suggests the presence of free will, as meaningful progress requires the ability to learn and make choices. This implies that the world functions as a virtual learning environment, designed to foster personal growth. We are fully immersed in this experience, where our decisions carry real consequences that cannot be undone. It is a serious game – structured this way so that we can truly learn, evolve, and improve.

Video: Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Physical matter reality is thus designed as a learning lab – a place where units of individuated consciousness (sometimes referred to as beings, entities or souls) can grow up (improve their quality) by exercising their free will intent within a virtual system of direct interactive experience and feedback.(P. 308)

By evolving ourselves, we are contributing to evolving the larger consciousness system we are a part of. To animals this also applies, but to a much lesser extent since they are driven mostly by their instincts. They have consciousness and free will but theirs is more limited and less individuated than ours.(P. 329) Our virtual body determines the limits of what we can experience in spacetime.

Evolution Of Consciousness, From Greater To Lesser Ego
So news flash for all the humans. Since we are equipped with a reasonable amount of brains, we should be doing pretty good for ourselves, right? How hard can it be? The key is to be aware of your intent during the day. Move the focus away from ‘I Me Mine’ and modify your intentions to be more giving, caring and loving. Invest most of your energy in the things you can do for others. Improve the quality of your relationships and interactions with others and thereby you also elevate your own consciousness and personal growth.

Picture: Flickr (Bust it Away Photography)

So how do you improve the quality of your consciousness? The author personally recommends transcendental meditation. Try it at least three months, Campbell advises us, to see if there is a notable difference in your awareness.

I personally tried it, but it wasn’t for me. I followed the official initiation and course through the Dutch TM association. I learned a mantra and for three months I did a morning and evening session of twenty minutes of transcendental meditation. After that, I quit the practice. I did so for two reasons. Firstly, I didn’t like the experience of meditation so much, which was disappointing since I had read how much filmmaker David Lynch and Thomas Campbell enjoyed it.

Secondly, I didn’t experience a positive change in my state of being and definitely not a big enough change to make up for a daily forty minutes of investment. Thus, for me personally it wasn’t an attractive enough business case. But I am definitely not saying that you shouldn’t do it. The main point of the masterpiece My Big TOE is that the evolution of your consciousness is a personal journey. I can’t tell you what will work for you and what won’t. Transcendental meditation just wasn’t for me, but maybe it will do wonders for you: I heard from quite a few people that they love it. What works for me is an increased awareness during the day of our mission here on earth. Call it mindfulness or whatever you will. I am very mindful in knowing that if I improve the quality of my consciousness, I am directly contributing to a better world.

Books can also help to get you ideas, but wisdom resides more in the heart and soul than in the intellect. Gaining experiences, tasting the pudding, becoming aware of your intentions… This is the way. Campbell says the rewards can be great: ‘Those who are serious about the challenge of exploring reality and raising their awareness rarely come home empty-handed. They inevitably find a greater reality beyond objective physical matter reality, and that is almost always worth far more to them than the considerable effort it takes to access it.’

Why are we here? To learn. In a mental universe, personal growth is paramount. And no one else can do it for you – you are the one at the steering wheel.

Picture: DeviantArt (The Choices of Master Samwise by TolmanCotton)

Conclusion
The universe is a funhouse. There is objective truth, science, but to understand the Big Picture, subjective knowledge matters just as much. We swim in consciousness like fish swim in the ocean. And like fish take their medium for existence for granted, we do as well with ours. Every creature you encounter is a part of yourself. And every creature is a mirror in which you can observe the quality of your own consciousness. How we can exert influence is mainly in our intentions towards other beings. The more we focus on others and less on our own ego appearance, the higher the quality of our consciousness, which in turn is manifested in the outside world.

Love, compassion, empathy: those are the keywords in manifesting an optimal reality. A tip from Campbell is to focus less on what you want, need and desire and more on what you can do for others. How do you optimally invest your energy following your intention towards others? That is always the central question.

In the bigger picture, we remain bacteria. The larger consciousness is much greater than we can imagine. There are 500 billion stars in our solar system alone. And that’s just one of 100 billion known galaxies. And then we are only talking about the observable universe. Who knows what else the super consciousness has produced outside of this universe? But no reason to feel insignificant. After all, we can make a difference by contributing to the evolution of consciousness on this planet. Don’t be fooled by the notion that evolution is just a Darwinian process on Earth that drives species to survive. That’s just one example of evolution. The Fundamental Process is the engine behind every change in the entire universe.

‘So what are you waiting for? Pick out a body and get in the game… The space-time physical experience virtual reality game… the ‘Game of Life’ and rack up those quality points faster than you ever thought possible. Step right up, people. Come on in and sign up for the adventure of a lifetime – or many lifetimes – it takes only a minute.’(P. 500)