Richard Maurice Bucke

What is Cosmic Consciousness ? The present volume is an attempt to answer this question ; but notwithstanding it seems well to make a short prefatory statement in as plain language as possible so as to open the door, as it were, for the more elaborate exposition to be attempted in the body of the work. Cosmic Conciousness, then, is a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man...

A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind

Cosmic Consciousness

Cyril Greenland

Selected Papers of Richard Maurice Bucke

The New Consciousness

This work is the magnum opus of Bucke's career, a project that he researched and wrote over many years. In it, Bucke described his own experience, that of contemporaries (most notably Whitman, but also unknown figures like "C.P."), and the experiences and outlook of historical figures including Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Plotinus, Muhammad, Dante, Francis Bacon, and William Blake. Bucke developed a theory involving three stages in the development of consciousness: the simple consciousness of animals; the self-consciousness of the mass of humanity (encompassing reason, imagination, etc.); and cosmic consciousness - an emerging faculty and the next stage of human development. Among the effects of this progression, he believed he detected a lengthy historical trend in which religious conceptions and theologies had become less and less fearful. A classic work.

In Cosmic Consciousness, R. M. Bucke identifies three forms of consciousness: * Simple consciousness, possessed by both animals and mankind. * Self-consciousness, possessed by humankind, encompassing thought, reason, and imagination. * Cosmic consciousness, which is "a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man."

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

In one of the classic books on the mystical experience, Buck outlines the development of various faculties in the history of man and the growth of an individual. He believes we are witnessing a continuous psychical revolution and that people like Buddha and Jesus, to name a couple, are the forerunners of the beings who will eventually inhabit the earth.

Wildly arrogant, stunningly bombastic, and undeniably fascinating. This 1901 work-the masterpiece of an eclectic genius whose life encompassed medical science, mystical transcendence, and prospecting for gold-posits a higher form of sentience that only a few humans have ever achieved, among them Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Dante, William Blake, and the author himself, of course. As Bucke shares his metaphysical experience of the "cosmic consciousness" and offers evidence for the few instances in history of its occurrence ("it may as well be frankly stated at once that the view of the present editor is that Francis Bacon wrote the 'Shakespeare' plays and poems"), the reader may well be moved to throw this bizarre and highly intriguing book furiously across the room... if the reader can put it down at all, that is. Canadian mystic and doctor RICHARD MAURICE BUCKE (1837-1902) was a pioneer in the medical treatment of mental illness; his famous friendship with Walt Whitman was the subject of the 1992 movie Beautiful Dreamers. He also wrote Man's Moral Nature (1879) and an 1883 authorized biography of Whitman.

Richard Maurice Bucke

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