A Zen Buddhist would say “Mu”. Un-ask / un-think / re-think and re-ask the question differently. As stated, this question really doesn’t make sense, which makes it a good subject in which to expand a little upon the difference between facts, knowing things, and wisdom. When one has expanded one’s thinking and viewed the issue from a wider range of perspectives (which is what wisdom is), it becomes clear that the question doesn’t really make sense as it stands. Let’s see if I can clarify that for readers.
Science talks about the universe in terms of things that can be observed and measured, like photons, particles, and even behaviours.
Most of us also live in a reality which involves love, stress, loyalty, selfishness, honesty, trust, respect, sleep, dreams, hopes, faith, fear, emotions, feelings, sickness, intelligence, information, mathematics, values, abilities, social skills, humour, friends, choices, justice, politics, goals, careers, families, children, mortality, intellectual models, placebo effects, risk and learning curves.
That’s already an overly long list to make a point, but one could still add a lot more to it. Are these things “inside or outside the universe”? Well - yes - inside. Maybe? But to what extent are your hopes, dreams, trust, honesty, choices, values, love and fears inside this universe? How is mathematics ‘inside this universe’? Doesn’t 2 + 2 = 4 apply to every possible universe? Doesn’t that make mathematics trans-universal, somehow ‘outside this universe’?
Certainly your dreams are pretty hard to measure scientifically. Psychology is a branch of science that wrestles with this, and finds itself far removed from physics.
The best / most useful definition of ‘Heaven’ is that it is wherever God’s Will is perfectly done.
Logically ‘Hell’ is the opposite.
At least occasionally, part of ‘Heaven’ is therefore ‘located’ as part of my heart. (There’s a Christian hymn called “Heaven is in my heart.” It’s a common Christian sentiment.) I wish it were more of my heart more of the time, but alas … I’m human and imperfect. To err and fail is human, to forgive is divine.
So is ‘my heart’ (and I don’t mean my physical biological blood pump here) ‘inside or outside the universe’?
Obviously yes. Emphatically yes (however you wish to interpret that).
At least the psychologists would probably agree that it is part of this universe. But it’s pretty hard to measure or observe. The physicists would probably say it isn’t - that it’s just an illusionary concept, like ‘mind’.
And both the physicists and psychologists would question whether there is any such thing as ‘Free Will’ and ‘Choice’ within this universe. We don’t know how to make an AI make a ‘choice’ that doesn’t simply follow programming or a random number generator. We have yet to ‘measure’ or ‘observe’ anything in our brain that proves we aren’t simply following our own innate coding (nature / nurture).
But religion and the mystics will assure you we do make ‘choices’, and we are responsible for the choices we make. The law agrees (except when the balance of the ‘mind’ is disturbed).
Is your mind ‘inside or outside the universe’ to again use the words of the question?
How do you define ‘mind’? (Note - there are various legal definitions of this term.)
Religion and the mystics will also tell you that you have a soul. Not that you ‘will have a soul’ but that you ‘do have a soul’ right now. There is a connection between your ‘heart’, your ‘mind’ and your ‘soul’. Is your heart “inside or outside the universe”? Is your mind “inside or outside the universe.” Is your soul, right now, “inside or outside the universe”?
Do these questions make sense?
Before I could answer this question for you, I would need to know what you understand to be the meaning of the clause, ‘inside or outside the universe.’ What does this clause mean in your ‘mind’? Are your heart and mind, hopes and dreams, on the inside or outside of your universe?
Is your universe the same as my universe? How do they relate to the universe the physicists observe and measure?
Hope these thoughts help.