In religion and esotericism, the term "physical universe" or "material universe" is used to distinguish the physical matter of the universe from a proposed spiritual or supernatural essence.
In the Book of Veles, and perhaps in traditional Slavic mythology, the physical universe is referred to as Yav. Gnosticism holds that the physical universe was created by a Demiurge. In Dharmic religions Maya is believed to be the illusion of a physical universe.
Physicalism, a type of monism, holds that only physical things exist. This is also known as metaphysical naturalism.
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Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or universe:
“Oh, don’t be so fussy. Your body, after all, what is it? Just a physical covering, that’s all. Worth, chemically, 32 cents.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everything ... and that the cosmos is, finally, intelligible. The Oriental, on the other hand, has accepted his existence within a universe that would appear to be meaningless, to the rational Western mind, and has lived with this meaninglessness. Hence the artistic form that seems natural to the Oriental is one that is just as formless or formal, as irrational, as life itself.”
—William Barrett (b. 1913)