Note Details
- Stage: seed 🌱
- Type: book
- Author: Richard Maurice Bucke
- Topics: consciousness, evolution, spirituality
A pioneering study proposing that humanity is evolving toward a higher form of awareness beyond self-consciousness.
Cosmic Consciousness - A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind
First published in 1901, Cosmic Consciousness by Canadian psychiatrist Richard Maurice Bucke presents a theory that the human mind is slowly developing a new kind of consciousness — one that transcends ordinary self-awareness. Bucke termed this higher faculty “cosmic consciousness,” describing it as an awareness of the life and order of the universe, accompanied by intellectual enlightenment, moral elevation, and a sense of immortality.
Bucke drew on case studies of historical figures he believed had attained this state, including the Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Plotinus, Muhammad, Dante, William Blake, Walt Whitman, and others. He argued that just as simple consciousness gave way to self-consciousness over the course of evolution, self-consciousness is now giving way to cosmic consciousness in select individuals, and will eventually become the common possession of the human race.
The book remains a foundational text in the study of mystical experience and the evolution of human consciousness, influencing later thinkers such as Abraham Maslow, Ken Wilber, and the transpersonal psychology movement.