Cosmic Consciousness: A Study on the Evolution of the Human Mind - Couverture souple

Bucke, Richard Maurice

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1557094993 ISBN 13 : 9781557094995

Editeur : Applewood Books, 2000

Synopsis

This classic book on mystical experience was originally published in 1901. Bucke's personal experience with divine illumination led to his theory that we are witnessing a continued psychical revolution of the individual. He believed that individuals like Buddha, Jesus, Spinoza, Whitman, and others were the forerunners of the beings who will eventually inhabit the earth.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

2010 Reprint of 1905 edition.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.

Présentation de l'éditeur

In 1872, while in London, England, Bucke had the pivotal experience of his life, a fleeting mystical experience that he regarded as a few moments of "cosmic consciousness." Bucke described the characteristics and effects of this "faculty" as follows: sudden appearance; subjective experience of light (inner light); moral elevation; intellectual illumination; sense of immortality; loss of fear of death; loss of a sense of sin. However, the term "cosmic consciousness" more closely derives from yet another feature: the vivid sense of the universe as a living presence, rather than as basically lifeless, inert matter. This direct perception, which Bucke took great pains to try to explain, vivifies Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of Nature.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Applewood Books
• Date d'édition: 2000
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1557094993
• ISBN 13: 9781557094995
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 124
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible