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Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind

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This study is from the early days of the psychiatric profession when its practitioners could still write seriously of spiritual and mystical matters without being ostracised or ridiculed as "unscientific." Briefly, the author personally experienced a sudden episode of enlightenment and rapture that, while it was only of brief duration, changed his outlook on life forever. He spent the rest of his life, he was in his mid-thirties at the time, trying to figure out what had happened to him, and if there were any others.

What he found was that such sudden occurances of enlightenment, these epiphanies, had been occuring to mystics, philosophers, writers, and artists all through recorded history. Not only that, but they were occuring with increased frequency as time went on. Bucke concluded that this marked an evolutionary trend. Carried out to its logical conclusion, he postulated that one day "cosmic consciousness" as he termed it, would be as common in the human race as self consciousness currently is. He based this on the manner in which the ancestors of man slowly climbed from the simple consciousness of animals to an almost universal state of self consciousness.

Having experienced a simular event in my mid-thirties (remember, it happens to varying degrees), I found this book to be immensely personally relevant- as it has proven to be to many of us for over one hundred years now.

This book was one of the first to consider religious illumination from a psychological perspective. It differs from William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience in that many of Bucke's opinions (e.g. his views on socialism) have been refuted by history. In order to judge it objectively, one ought thus to always keep in mind the era in which it was written. The basic point is that the human race is slowly and sporadically - albeit with increasing speed - advancing in consciousness to a higher state that will eventually lift the species above the fear, ignorance and brutality that have plagued mankind throughout history. Bucke's argument - which may be strongly disputed today - is based on analogy. He points out the three phases of consciousness found among living creatures: perception amongst lower animals, receptual consciousness amongst higher animals and the conceptual thinking of human beings which is accompanied by a strong sense of self.

In a very interesting chapter he demonstrates the development of consciousness over the last couple of millennia with reference to mankind's improving ability to distinguish colors. Initially only black and red were differentiated, but what was perceived as "red" has been refined into red, orange, yellow and white and even further. Likewise with "black" which split up into black and blue-green, from which the separate colors blue and green were again discerned:
"The blazing blue of the oriental sky is not mentioned in Homer or the Bible, nor the Rig Veda or Zend Avesta. But in this present century we know not only the seven primitive colors, but literally thousands of different shades and gradations of them."

Bucke argues that new or enhanced senses originate with sporadic manifestations among a minority of human beings and that a new consciousness eventually spreads through the whole population. The new or fourth level of consciousness will enable mankind to perceive the unity of the cosmos and the divine presence inherent in it, liberate humanity from fear and enable the race to perceive that love is the rule and the basis of the universe: this is cosmic consciousness. Bucke predicts that it will ultimately be the norm.

No reader will agree with all the author's points, but some of his great contemporaries like the scientist and philosopher Ouspensky agreed to such an extent that he devoted an entire chapter in his work Tertium Organum to this book. The response of psychologist William James in a letter to Bucke was: "My total reaction on your book, my dear Sir, is that it is an addition to psychology of first rate importance, and that you are a benefactor to us all."

Bucke considers the greatest teachers, artists and religious thinkers by looking at their teaching and what is known about their lives, pointing out the remarkable correspondences. Some of those discussed in detail include Gautama, Jesus, Paul, Plotinus, Mohammed, Dante, St. John of the Cross, Francis Bacon, Jacob Behmen, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Lao Tse, Socrates, Benedict Spinoza, Swedenborg, Emerson, Thoreau and Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

His arguments are persuasive as regards both the comparison of texts and the similarities in the numinous experiences of the individuals. As such, the book also serves as an illuminating study of the nature of the mystical experience that is exactly the same in all the religious traditions.

Bucke concludes that these individuals were the pioneers who had already entered cosmic consciousness and wished to convey its essence to the rest of humanity. They were, however, restricted to use the language of normal consciousness and that is why their revelations appear to be incomplete and even deceptive:

"It would be beyond the power of the self conscious mind to conceive the cosmic conscious world. This being so, the reports made by these spiritual travelers have been not only not understood but misunderstood in an infinite variety of senses, and the essentially similar account given by for example, Paul, Mohammed, Dante, Jesus, Gautama and others, has been looked upon as a variety of accounts, not of the same, but of diverse things. A critical study of all these (seeming) diverse accounts will show that they are more or less unsuccessful attempts to describe the same thing. But because it was out of the power of the original reporter, the seer, to give anything like a full and clear account of what he saw, largely because of the inadequacy of the language belonging to the self conscious mind; because his reporters again (as in the cases of Jesus and Gautama, who did not write), possessing only self consciousness, blurred still further the picture; because translators, possessing only self consciousness and understanding only imperfectly what the teacher wished to convey, still further distorted the record. For all these reasons the important fact of the unity of the teachings of these men has been very generally overlooked; hence the confusion and the so-called mystery; a misunderstanding unavoidable, no doubt, under the circumstances, but which will one day, assuredly, be cleared up."

Cosmic Consciousness deserves its "classic" status and may be appreciated even more when read together with William James' aforementioned work. Other works on religion & spirituality that I have found inspiring or thought-provoking include Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning & The Creative Process in the Individual by Thomas Troward, Religion in the Making by Alfred North Whitehead, Alter Your Life by Emmet Fox, Cracking the Bible Code by Jeffrey Satinover, The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Adin Steinsaltz and One Cosmos Under God by Robert Godwin.

Although now a century old, Dr. Bucke's volume is timeless because its topic is: the human quest for the experience of The Divine.

Written, not by a theologian but by an experiencer of the Ultimate Mystical Experience, this book describes Bucke's own few seconds of illumination, then goes on to show commonalities among the experiences of the ancient (Lao Tse, Buddha, Christ, Paul, Muhammad, etc.), medieval-renaissance (Dante, Shakespeare, etc.), and modern (Ramakrishna, Whitman, etc). The intellectual credentials of this neurologist cause Bucke's work to stand head-and-shoulders above popular "New Age" mystic reports.

Be sure not to miss Bucke's description of his own experience (humbly buried in introductory notes), and don't get bored by reading his analytical sections on the nature of consciousness. Dive into the excerpts of how writers have struggled through the ages to express their inexpressible experiences of Divine Love, Brahmic Ecstasy, Rapture... variously named in different times and cultures.

Although women are under-represented (naturally, since for millenia they've largely been barred from authorship), some of the most movingly personal experiences are those near the end of the volume by three 19th Century women.

The power of this gem stems from its first-hand reports of enlightenment - with its unpredictable, highly personal expressions. You'll find God experienced here not as an anthropomorphic Jehovah, but as a living Presence; not sterilized by intellectual analysis, but revered in Its humanity-divinity. Most helpfully, Bucke shows the parallels between different saints/illuminati/authors in their experiences and in their ways of describing it.

I tell my students that if they were to be sentenced to live out the rest of their lives on a desert island with only five books: Make this one of the five!

This book remains pioneering and a true one and only. It is as valuable today as it was when it was first published over 100 years ago and will remain valuable for many, many, many years to come, despite the fact that some of the author's views and information is clearly dated. (What sacred work isn't?) The message is timeless and I actually find the dated quality to be part of it's charm; bringing us back to inspiring days at the forefront of modern science, technology, and modern thought, and the days when Darwin's works were still seen as quite new.

What is most unique about this book is the author's illuminating and still modern approach; psychological, analytical and scientific, -we feel we can understand him in plain English and without blind faith or obedience- yet fused with the most inspiring mysticism the world has ever known or seen. The result is simply, that he gets his magnificent point and theory across with inspiring, vivid clarity and the implications are quite astounding to the reader if not wholly awesome. Indeed, the picture that this book creates is much greater than the sum it's parts.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the title "Cosmic Consciousness"(the term the book itself coined) has been swooped up through the years by weirdo's, kooks and new age charlatans. This is NOT that. Nor is it some cold, "rational" and "scientific" look at spirituality that will leave you doubting, depressed and without meaning.

This book and what it can still teach is truly a work of divinity - or at least inspired truly by it to an educated, esteemed doctor, but altogether ordinary man. (You don't feel you are being talked down to, more like listening to your very smart friend.) The only sad thing is that the author's own experience of cosmic consciousness is mentioned only briefly in the opening notes. What else might he have been able to tell us if he had not died so soon after it was published? I believe surely he would have continued his work. Also sad, is that many of his "lesser, imperfect and doubtful" cases are named only with initials (J.B.B. etc.) -to protect their identities as they were still living. What else might we also have learned knowing more about these people? Or what contributions have they already made that we do not realize?

Once again I will say it, one feels Bucke's work should and/or could be updated, revised, or continued to the current day . . . but maybe that's not the point, because what it will give you despite all that is truly divine.

P.S. Yes, I myself have had experiences of `cosmic consciousness.'

Richard Maurice Bucke was a superintendant for a Canadian mental hospital, a medical doctor, and, most famously, Walt Whitman's friend, doctor, first biographer, and literary executor. It's in his connection with Whitman, and William James, that I first came to this fascinating study that reveals a great deal not only about a particular kind of religious phenomena, but of Bucke's attempt to make sense of and provide context for his own mystical experience.

The science of "Cosmic Consciousness" is pure late-1890's, and has some uncomfortable Victorian assumptions (about the relative "development" of the races, for instance): but what is really fascinating is Bucke's drive to find parallels in texts and biographies. From his own experience (to be found in James' _Varieties_, a pattern emerges that he finds spread throughout history.

Bucke's almost literal worship of Whitman (upon Whitman's death, Bucke wrote to a fellow friend of Whitman that "the Christ has died again") will likely strike readers as somewhere between touching and ridiculous, as might Bucke's evolutionary / materialist explanatory structure. But for the student of mysticism, Bucke's novel approach, (freeing the study of religious experience from religion, as it were, and presenting parallels to speak for themselves) will show itself to have been very influential indeed: from William James' seminal religious psychology to Freud to a thousand "new age" texts, Bucke this book (never long out of print since its original publication) has influenced the direction of the studies that came after.

Bucke's memoir of his friend Walt Whitman alone is worth getting the book for. But please be careful--even though there's no indication given of any abridgement, the Applewood edition represents only about a quarter of the book as it was originally published--it only includes the introductory and concluding chapters, and leaves out all the examples of enlightened people throughout the ages. The Dutton edition is the whole 400 pages, whereas the Applewood is about 120 smaller pages of larger type.

About 12-14 years back I was at the beach with a friend of mine and it was a grey, drizzly day to say the least. But because I love the beach, I was going to make the best of it no matter what. So I dug a body length trench in the sand, draped my towel over the trench I had just dug, laid down and closed my eyes and just began repeating quietly to myself, "Let there be Light...let there be Light..." I really wasn't going for anything in particular I was just repeating this line from scripture because I was in a good place, but I wanted to feel an even deeper connection to life.

And as I settled into a deep meditative state, I let go of the mantra I had been repeating to myself and just let myself feel Life within me and all around me. Ahhhhhh...I can still feel those wonderful, alive feelings. It was like my body was buzzing from head to toe.

I came out of my meditative state and sat up. During those 30 minutes of meditating, the grey, overcast day seemed to give way to beautiful, golden light. I had never seen it so bright. Everything seemed to be lit up from the inside. I turned to my friend and I said, "Wow...it sure did get incredibly bright out here all of a sudden..."

He looked at me like I had just flipped my lid and said, "What are you talking about?"

"The sun...it's so bright. Everything looks as though it is awash in golden light..."

Again with the look, "John...it is very overcast out. In fact, I was going to ask you if you just wanted to go home..."

And then slowly the golden light began to slowly fade from my sight and everything began to dingy gray. So where did that light come from? Was I just imagining it? It all seemed so real...

I had, what Maurice Bucke calls, a "cosmic consciousness experience". You see, the Light I saw was not coming from the outside, but from the inside and I believe that we have all had one at one time or another and if we haven't, we will...but please, do not dismiss the experience. Like I said, I had one over fourteen years ago and it changed my life forever. I am so glad that I just didn't toss it aside. I'm glad that I was given just a little glimpse to how things really are.

I believe that the whole universe is alive with Light...that in Truth, the only thing that is real, is the Light. Everything and everyone proceeds from this Light. But we forget. Oh, man do we forget. This Light remains deep in our subconscious minds. At a deep, deep level we know that we came from it, but we fall into a sleep...a trance...and we begin to think that everything is dull and leaden, mundane and ordinary...

This book will excite you in a very deep way...but again, you have to be open to it. I used to try so hard to get my friends' and family to share my passion for these things, but they weren't ready...and now I know that it's okay...now I know that they will have their own experiences of the Light. Maybe in this life...maybe in the next...I don't know when, but I don't need to know when...

This book fueled my passion to become more and more acquainted with Higher Laws. Not so I could escape this world but so I could be in the world but still know in the back of my mind and in the front of my heart that I am not of it.

If you are into metaphysics and spirituality, you must add this classic to your collection. It's amazing...but then again, so are you...

Peace & Blessings

I have been, from about the age of ten, a voracious reader of man's highest aspirations for self-development. Considered precocious by teachers and peers alike, I was always searching for Truth outside the standard doctrines of religious and philosophical orthodoxy: if for no other reason that it appeared to me intuitive that the real answers to life's ultimate and most pressing questions could only be known by direct experience and not through external data...

Dr. Bucke's magnum opus, COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS, first came to my attention when I was 17 (1973). Immediately, I became aware that this was no ordinary work. First published in 1901, the beginning of the current century, it still stands today as one of the monumental achievements in the history of written thought. Not only were Bucke's theories original, the most poignant being that there is a scientific basis for an advanced state of consciousness in man -- a state wherein the new cosmically consciousness individual is as far above the average self-conscious homo sapien (you and I) as we are above lower animal life, but he magically tied together over two thousand years of religious, philosophical, and psychological thought in a massive intellectual suture of such compelling force that to this day there is no equal.

Even the great psychologist, Williams James, was so impressed by Cosmic Consciousness, that he devoted an entire chapter in his own great work, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, written some four years later, to examining Bucke's incredible findings.

Today I am 41 years old. Since my initial discovery, I have managed to re-read Bucke's opus three times and have devoured several thousand more volumes concerning the subjects into which Bucke brought deep revelation, meaning, and an immeasureable, interdisciplinary vision and unity. I can say, without question, that no other written work I have encountered is comparable in historical importance in any of the hitherto referenced subjects.

Bucke's work, though perhaps not recognized as such by the intelligensia, is every bit as monumental in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy, and psychology as Adam Smith's WEALTH OF NATIONS was to economics; the MAGNA CARTA was to political science; and the ORIGIN OF SPECIES was to biology -- no, more so -- because while these literary monuments are dated in their contribution, Bucke's work continues to inspire new readers with its affirmation of higher consciousness as no mere philosophical conjecture. You cannot finish reading Cosmic Consciousness without a clear vision that higher consciousness is not only inevitable for you, the individual, but is the eventual destiny of humans as a species.

My last re-reading of COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS occurred last month. After all this time I remain in awe of its power, its sincerity, its clarity, its sincerity, but most important, its relevancy to my own development as a human being.

Among all non-fictional works I have ever read, COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS stands alone. Very alone.

Greg Caton

caton@ifu.net

July 27, 1997

I have been convinced by my own experience of the reality of the state of consciousness of which Bucke speaks and believe his book to be one of the most valuable I have ever found in guiding others to this state. It speaks to the deepest needs and aspirations I know of and has enriched my life immensely. Along with this I have studied "A Course in Miracles," Vedanta, Zen, Tao, and the Bible and find them all to speak of exactly the same things Buck says at the level beyond dogma. A wonderful experience of a book.

Dr. Bucke (1837-1902) penned this illuminating book as a study in the evolution of the human mind. It is still popular with New Thought students and immensely enjoyable for reference. His idol was Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. He explains the development of kinds of consciousness: color-sense, sense of fragrance and musical sense. He describes the experience of Illumination and Cosmic Consciousness with fascinating stories of the passage from self to cosmic consciousness of several people including Plotinus, Jesus, Buddha, Paul, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others. This was first published in 1901 and is still popular today.