guru

Cosmic Consciousness

Richard Maurice Bucke

1905 Innes & Sons scan. Citations use PDF page numbers.

Read original PDF

Pages and passages

1. Page 212. s at first in doubt what it meant, then became satisfied and said : I believe in its
2. Page 213. Walt Whitman 189 As in a swoon, one instant, Another sun, ineffable full-dazzles me.
3. Page 213. of real vision, it alone takes possession, takes value. Like the shadowy dwarf in the
4. Page 214. 190 Cosmic Consciousness unutterable” [195 : 233]. The next passage seems prophetical
5. Page 214. of the equal grandeur and eternity of the individual soul, the one balancing (equal t
6. Page 215. Walt Whitman 191 of his previous human faculties. The same words could with nearly eq
7. Page 215. e a necessity (though it is neither necessary nor well that they should often have th
8. Page 216. 192 Cosmic Consciousness d’etre un de ceux que choisit successivement I’humanite par
9. Page 216. all the allusions in it are to his own life, work, fortunes—to himself. In it he refe
10. Page 217. Walt Whitman 193 For that O God, be it my latest word, here on my knees. Old, poor, a
11. Page 217. ages. And this (be it well remembered) is not the utterance of wild enthusiasm, but o
12. Page 218. 194 Cosmic Consciousness O heaven ! what flash and started endless train of all ! com
13. Page 218. of men considered in this volume. That Whitman has this mark needs saying only to tho
14. Page 219. Walt Whitman 195 Sense been constantly present for years, months, or even weeks—proba
15. Page 219. his room, and we all gathered around the table. I remarked him as he entered the room
16. Page 220. 196 Cosmic Consciousness III. SUMMARY. a. The subjective light appeared strongly to W
17. Page 221. Edward Carpenter i 97 however, he found it would take a precious long time. In fine,
18. Page 221. accom- plished and original musician. It is needless to say that he is a pronounced a
19. Page 222. 198 Cosmic Consciousness finds more of these in the poor, common, working people than
20. Page 222. ho had asked for certain facts about the new sense, he says : In the Vagasaneyi-Samhi
21. Page 223. Edward Carpenter 199 Notwithstanding, then, the prevalence of the foot regime (induct
22. Page 223. beholding all creation—the animals, the angels, the plants, the figures of our friend
23. Page 223. lmost equally important. The chapter begins : The question is : What is this experien
24. Page 224. 200 Cosmic Consciousness considerable diffidence, just for the very reason (for one)
25. Page 224. son has shown what seems a miraculous power at any time or in any case, it is asked b
26. Page 224. and various, laborious, discontinuous and uncertain. There is no sudden leap out of t
27. Page 225. Edward Carpenter 201 what we should call the higher types of existing humanity are th
28. Page 225. he enriched mind, ready perceptions and memories, individual hopes and fears, ambitio
29. Page 225. ch is Sarva sakshi. Witness of all things.” Great have been the disputes among the le
30. Page 226. 202 Cosmic Consciousness able fact (that is, a state of consciousness in some sense),
31. Page 226. do not propose to dis- cuss. The point to which I wish to draw attention is that West
32. Page 226. the later developments of hypnotism in the West have shown—what is well known to the
33. Page 227. Edward Carpenter 203 There is another idea, which modern science has been familiarizi
34. Page 227. dazzling- and tremendous as the sun.” “The true quality of the soul,” said the Guru o
35. Page 227. of a life that is indifferent and at rest under all conditions. Nevertheless to the l
36. Page 228. 204 Cosmic Consciousness only into a higher order of perception—and admitting the int
37. Page 228. was about twenty-five, and living at Cambridge) I wanted to write some sort of a book
38. Page 228. n—though what exactly its expression would be I could not then have told. I became fo
39. Page 229. Edward Carpenter 205 ever—an absolute freedom from mortality, accompanied by an indes
40. Page 229. ceeded in rendering even a half the splendor which inspired it, it would be good, and
41. Page 229. not what I wanted and did not express for me the feeling which I sought to express. T
42. Page 230. 2o6 Cosmic Consciousness seemed to contain for me the key, the inspiration ; the sigh
43. Page 230. ases the author is naturally liable to a charge of egotism, and I person- ally do not
44. Page 230. eception. I have not the least doubt that anything which is really genuine will be co
45. Page 231. Edward Carpenter 207 own identity and that of another person. What does all this mean
46. Page 231. ously for ten years. I never met with any other book (with the exception perhaps of B
47. Page 231. the men at work upon it, the tumbled blocks and masses, materials for endless buildin
48. Page 232. 2o8 Cosmic Consciousness All the above passages from the writings of Edward Carpenter
49. Page 232. ise, come gently with me—be not too eager—lest joy itself should undo you.) In the fi
50. Page 233. Edward Carpenter 209 But I alone remain—I do not change, As space spreads everywhere,
51. Page 235. PART V. ADDITIONAL-SOME OF THEM LESSER, IMPERFECT AND DOUBTFUL INSTANCES Chapter i. T
52. Page 235. er showing its dazzling face—effecting a genuine illumination but without rising—yiel
53. Page 236. 2 I 2 Cosmic Consciousness To-day innumerable men and women must be living in this tw
54. Page 236. ts given (as far as these go) it is important that this fact should be clearly realiz
55. Page 237. Moses 213 given in Exodus are in any sense reliable (they cannot, of course, be expec
56. Page 237. rhaps occasionally—more likely never. The light is almost certainly always subjective
57. Page 238. 214 Cosmic Consciousness the epoch of the “ burning bush ” a great intellectual and m
58. Page 238. Stirtiarned Jerubbaal. Thirteenth century B. C. “And the angel of the Lord came and s
59. Page 239. Gideon 215 thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian : have not I sent thee
60. Page 239. are ignorant inclined him to the exclu- sive worship of Jahveh, This conversion was a
61. Page 240. Chapter 4. Isaiah. Had “the greatest of the Hebrew prophets” the Cosmic Sense? It doe
62. Page 240. ans “light” or “flame.” If, however, it is connected philologically with the Sanskrit
63. Page 241. Li' R 217 safely stored, appears as if he were poor; and that the superior man, thoug
64. Page 241. of intelligence—in fact, he seems (without saying so) to have made the word synonymou
65. Page 242. 2i8 Cosmic Consciousness the Tao) is like an infant. Poisonous insects will not sting
66. Page 242. Cosmic Sense: “What is commonest, cheapest, meanest, easiest, is Me.” And again: “The
67. Page 243. Li R 219 carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I “The foxes have holes, and the
68. Page 243. seek afar off? You surely come back at last” [193 : 175]. “The felon steps forth from
69. Page 244. 220 Cosmic Consciousness He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao)
70. Page 244. to consider what is small is great, and a few as many; and to recompense injury with
71. Page 245. Socrates 221 Sincere words are not fine ; fine words are not sincere ; those who are
72. Page 245. Consciousness. His optimism, also one of the marks of the Cosmic Sense, must not be f
73. Page 246. 222 Cosmic Consciousness thought ; and at noon attention was drawn to him, and the ru
74. Page 246. nor any other man should be classed among the members of the new race because he had
75. Page 247. 223 Roger Bacon taneous illumination or the subjective light, have come down to us as
76. Page 247. e of them and in which St. Thomas is glad to use the bad translations of William de M
77. Page 248. 224 Cosmic Consciousness venerates as his master, admires as the living example of tr
78. Page 248. ence,’ which replaces in his case the ambitious and sonorous titles of the other doct
79. Page 249. Pascal 225 glers—this is the work to which he has devoted his life. He has examined a
80. Page 249. own reflections ; and at fifteen he composed a treatise on conic sec- tions which Des
81. Page 250. 226 Cosmic Consciousness He gave abundant evidence throughout his whole life that he
82. Page 250. ly. He copied the document and wrote some pages of commentary upon it, to which Margu
83. Page 251. Pascal 227 Father the world has not known thee but I have known thee. Joy, joy, joy,
84. Page 251. et Deum vestrum Jeh. 20. 17. Ton Dieu sera mon Dieu. Ruth. Oubly du monde et de tout
85. Page 252. 228 Cosmic Consciousness The words of the amulet, the care arid secrecy with which it
86. Page 253. Spinoza 229 Latinist and an enthusiastic disciple of Descartes, though he ceased to b
87. Page 253. ur union with it. Only the knowledge of God will enable us to subdue the hurtful pass
88. Page 254. 230 Cosmic Consciousness a certain character, “What that character is we shall show i
89. Page 254. acquired. The following is equally characteristic : “ To know God in other words, to
90. Page 255. Spinoza 231 there is associated with it a state or quality of perfection called the i
91. Page 255. onscious man] , in so far as he is considered as such, is scarcely ever moved in his
92. Page 256. 232 Cosmic Consciousness dark, black curly hair, long black eyebrows, so that one mig
93. Page 256. ay upon a milk soup done with butter, which amounted to threepence, and upon a pot of
94. Page 257. Colonel James Gardiner 233 professed ? He answered : ‘ Your religion is a good one ;
95. Page 257. ying works of Spinoza” [ib.]. For a hundred years after his death he was little read,
96. Page 258. 234 Cosmic Consciousness 1719, when he was thirty-one and a half years of age, occurr
97. Page 258. uck with so amazing a phenomenon as this, there remained hardly any life in him,| so
98. Page 259. Swedenborg 235 Chapter 11. Swedenborg. 1688-1772. Independently of illumination, Swed
99. Page 259. n spite of all, something passes from these men to us of more importance than all tha
100. Page 260. 236 Cosmic Consciousness ing at bottom is that of all the great seers—that God in him