BUCKE - Cosmic Consciousness: a Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind

COSMIC
CONSCIOUSNESS

Cosmic Consciousness

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Hardback ISBN 978-1-907661-60-0
Paperback ISBN 978-1-907355-10-3
eBook ISBN 978-1-907355-79-0

PHILOSOPHY

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Marcus AureliusMeditations
ISBN 978-1-907355-20-2

Elsa BarkerLetters from a Living Dead Man
ISBN 978-1-907355-83-7

Elsa BarkerWar Letters from the Living Dead Man
ISBN 978-1-907355-85-1

Elsa BarkerLast Letters from the Living Dead Man
ISBN 978-1-907355-87-5

Richard Maurice BuckeCosmic Consciousness
ISBN 978-1-907355-10-3

G. K. ChestertonThe Everlasting Man
ISBN 978-1-907355-03-5

G. K. ChestertonHeretics
ISBN 978-1-907355-02-8

G. K. ChestertonOrthodoxy
ISBN 978-1-907355-01-1

Arthur Conan DoyleThe Edge of the Unknown
ISBN 978-1-907355-14-1

Arthur Conan DoyleThe New Revelation
ISBN 978-1-907355-12-7

Arthur Conan DoyleThe Vital Message
ISBN 978-1-907355-13-4

Arthur Conan Doyle with Simon ParkeConversations with Arthur Conan Doyle
ISBN 978-1-907355-80-6

Leon Denis with Arthur Conan DoyleThe Mystery of Joan of Arc
ISBN 978-1-907355-17-2

The Earl of DunravenExperiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home
ISBN 978-1-907355-93-6

Meister Eckhart with Simon ParkeConversations with Meister Eckhart
ISBN 978-1-907355-18-9

Kahlil GibranThe Forerunner
ISBN 978-1-907355-06-6

Kahlil GibranThe Madman
ISBN 978-1-907355-05-9

Kahlil GibranThe Prophet
ISBN 978-1-907355-04-2

Kahlil GibranSand and Foam
ISBN 978-1-907355-07-3

Kahlil GibranJesus the Son of Man
ISBN 978-1-907355-08-0

Kahlil GibranSpiritual World
ISBN 978-1-907355-09-7

Hermann HesseSiddhartha
ISBN 978-1-907355-31-8

D. D. HomeIncidents in my Life Part 1
ISBN 978-1-907355-15-8

Mme. Dunglas Home; edited, with an Introduction, by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleD. D. Home: His Life and Mission
ISBN 978-1-907355-16-5

Edward C. RandallFrontiers of the Afterlife
ISBN 978-1-907355-30-1

Lucius Annaeus SenecaOn Benefits
ISBN 978-1-907355-19-6

Rebecca Ruter SpringerIntra Muros: My Dream of Heaven
ISBN 978-1-907355-11-0

W. T. SteadAfter Death or Letters from Julia: A Personal Narrative
ISBN 978-1-907355-89-9

Leo Tolstoy, edited by Simon ParkeForbidden Words
ISBN 978-1-907355-00-4

Leo TolstoyA Confession
ISBN 978-1-907355-24-0

Leo TolstoyThe Gospel in Brief
ISBN 978-1-907355-22-6

Leo TolstoyThe Kingdom of God is Within You
ISBN 978-1-907355-27-1

Leo TolstoyMy Religion: What I Believe
ISBN 978-1-907355-23-3

Leo TolstoyOn Life
ISBN 978-1-907355-91-2

Leo TolstoyTwenty-three Tales
ISBN 978-1-907355-29-5

Leo TolstoyWhat is Religion and other writings
ISBN 978-1-907355-28-8

Leo TolstoyWork While Ye Have the Light
ISBN 978-1-907355-26-4

Leo Tolstoy with Simon ParkeConversations with Tolstoy
ISBN 978-1-907355-25-7

Vincent Van Gogh with Simon ParkeConversations with Van Gogh
ISBN 978-1-907355-95-0

Howard Williams with an Introduction by Leo TolstoyThe Ethics of Diet: An Anthology of Vegetarian Thought
ISBN 978-1-907355-21-9

Allan KardecThe Spirits Book
ISBN 978-1-907355-98-1

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Simon ParkeConversations with Mozart
ISBN 978-1-907661-38-9

Jesus of Nazareth with Simon ParkeConversations with Jesus of Nazareth
ISBN 978-1-907661-41-9

Rudolf SteinerChristianity as a Mystical Fact: And the Mysteries of Antiquity
ISBN 978-1-907661-52-5

Thomas Kempis with Simon ParkeThe Imitation of Christ
ISBN 978-1-907661-58-7

Emanuel SwedenborgHeaven and Hell
ISBN 978-1-907661-55-6

P.D. OuspenskyTertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought
ISBN 978-1-907661-47-1

Dwight GoddardA Buddhist Bible
ISBN 978-1-907661-44-0

Leo TolstoyThe Death of Ivan Ilyich
ISBN 978-1-907661-10-5

Leo TolstoyResurrection
ISBN 978-1-907661-09-9

All titles available as eBooks, and selected titles available in Hardback and Audiobook formats from www.whitecrowbooks.com

W HAT 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 Consciousness, then, is a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man. This last is called Self Consciousness and is that faculty upon which rests all of our life (both subjective and objective) which is not common to us and the higher animals, except that small part of it which is derived from the few individuals who have had the higher consciousness above named. To make the matter clear it must be understood that there are three forms or grades of consciousness. (1) Simple Consciousness, which is possessed by say the upper half of the animal kingdom. By means of this faculty a dog or a horse is just as conscious of the things about him as a man is; he is also conscious of his own limbs and body and he knows that these are a part of himself. (2) Over and above this Simple Consciousness, which is possessed by man as by animals, man has another which is called Self Consciousness. By virtue of this faculty man is not only conscious of trees, rocks, waters, his own limbs and body, but he becomes conscious of himself as a distinct entity apart from all the rest of the universe. It is as good as certain that no animal can realize himself in that way. Further, by means of self consciousness, man (who knows as the animal knows) becomes capable of treating his own mental states as objects of consciousness. The animal is, as it were, immersed in his consciousness as a fish in the sea; he cannot, even in imagination, get outside of I for one moment so as to realize it. But man by virtue of self consciousness can step aside, as it were, from himself and think: Yes, that thought that I had about that matter is true; I know it is true and I know that I know it is true. The writer has been asked: How do you know that animals cannot think in the same manner? The answer is simple and conclusive it is: There is no evidence that any animal can so think, but if they could we should soon know it. Between two creatures living together, as dogs or horses and men, and each self conscious, it would be the simplest matter in the world to open up communication. Even as it is, diverse as is our psychology, we do, by watching his acts, enter into the dogs mind pretty freely we see what is going on there we know that the dog sees and hears, smells and tastes we know that he has intelligence adapts means to ends that he reasons. If he was self conscious we must have learned it long ago. We have not learned it and it is as good as certain that no dog, horse, elephant or ape ever was self conscious. Another thing: on mans self consciousness is built everything in and about us distinctively human. Language is the objective of which self consciousness is the subjective. Self consciousness and language (two in one, for they are two halves of the same thing) are the sine qua non of human social life, of manners, of institutions, of industries of all kinds, of all arts useful and fine. If any animal possessed self consciousness it seems certain that it would upon that master faculty build (as man has done) a superstructure of language; of reasoned out customs, industries, art. But no animal has done this, therefore we infer that no animal has self consciousness.