Who Knows?: A Study of Religious Consciousness

Cosmic Consciousness

Cosmic Consciousness III Cosmic Consciousness In 1931, H. A. Overstreet, professor and head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at the College of the City of New York, wrote the following in his book The Enduring Quest: In the year 1901, a remarkable book was published by a Canadian physician and psychiatrist of wide reading and penetrative originality. . . . And yet, it is significant to note that in the thirty years since Bucke published this remarkable work, practically nothing has been done in the investigation of the idea which he suggested. Nevertheless this idea is so obviously important that it would seem to merit instant attention . It is the idea that, inasmuch as evolution of life forms (including the psychological) continues, we have every reason to believe that a further form of our conscious life is already observable among us— in high degree among rare individuals, in lesser degree among most of us. The full emergencies into that further form, Bucke suggests, would naturally not be instantaneous—the whole of humanity leaping, so to speak, into a new order of being. As in all stages of evolution, we should expect a slight difference in one more happily circumstanced individual, then in a few others, then in more, until finally the new form would become widespread and secure. What he proposed is that we look about to see whether there are any outstanding examples among us of a form of conscious life which might properly be regarded as of a higher order than that with which we are familiar. This, he suggested, would not be a form totally discontinuous with our normal consciousness, but one which would already be adumbrated in the more significant process of our mental and emotional life. (p. 234) Speaking of the great people whom Bucke cited as cases of Cosmic Consciousness, Overstreet says: Wherein lay the secret of their superiority? That is the problem to which Bucke addresses himself. His answer, whether true or false— and we must remember that his book was a pioneering venture—is sufficiently arresting to call for our serious consideration. Studying the life histories of these men, he finds in all of them—sometimes in great degree, sometimes in less—a clearly marked phenomenon of consciousness . These men do not reason their way to conclusions, although reason—the search for truth—apparently played a part in preparation for their final insight. In every case they experienced what, for want of a better term, we might call illumination. (p. 238) I am utterly amazed that Cosmic Consciousness is so little known today! It is still in print and available in paperback, yet hardly anyone to whom I have mentioned it has ever heard of it! I have already indicated that I don’t believe that any religious or metaphysical system yet propounded is wholly true, but of all the ideas I have yet heard, that of Bucke (and shared by Edward Carpenter, of whom I will have much to say) strikes me as the best approximation to date. Besides, the ideas involved are intensely beautiful and inspiring. Significantly, the book is subtitled “AStudy of the Evolution of the Human Mind.” The author, Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, who lived from 1837 to 1902, was a Canadian physician and psychiatrist who had a distinguished medical career. In 1876 he was appointed superintendent of the Provincial Asylum for the insane at Hamilton, Ontario, and in 1877 of the London (Ont.) Hospital. He became one of the foremost alienists in this hemisphere and introduced many drastic reforms in treatment which, though considered dangerously radical at the time, are considered commonplace today. In 1882 he was appointed Professor of Mental and Nervous Diseases at Western University (London, Ont.), and in 1888 he was elected president of the Psychological Section of the British Medical Association, and in 1880, president of theAmerican Medico-PsychologicalAssociation. When Bucke’s Cosmic Consciousness was first published in 1901, William James wrote to the author: “I believe that you have brought this kind of consciousness ‘home’ to the attention of students of human nature in a way so definite and unescapable that it will be impossible henceforward to overlook it or ignore it. . . . But my total reactions on your book, my dear Sir, is that it is an addition to psychology of first rate importance, and that you are a benefactor of us all” (Bucke 1956, vi). In my edition of the...