Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind is a 1901 book by the psychiatrist Richard Maurice Bucke, in which the author explores the concept of cosmic consciousness, which he defines as "a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man".
Forms of consciousness
In Cosmic Consciousness, Bucke stated that he discerned three forms, or degrees, of consciousness:
Simple consciousness, possessed by both animals and mankind
Self-consciousness, possessed by mankind, encompassing thought, reason, and imagination
Cosmic consciousness, which is "a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man"
According to Bucke, Moores said that Bucke's cosmic consciousness is an interconnected way of seeing things "which is more of an intuitive knowing than it is a factual understanding". Moores pointed out that, for scholars of the purist camp, the experience of cosmic consciousness is incomplete without the element of love, "which is the foundation of mystical consciousness": Juan A. Herrero Brasas said that Bucke's cosmic consciousness refers to the evolution of the intellect, and not to "the ineffable revelation of hidden truths". According to Brasas, it was William James who equated Bucke's cosmic consciousness with mystical experience or mystical consciousness. Gary Lachman notes that today Bucke's experience would most likely be "explained" by the so-called "God spot", or more generally as a case of temporal lobe epilepsy, but he is skeptical of these and other "organic" explanations. Bucke identified only male examples of cosmic consciousness. He believed that women were not likely to have it. He regarded Walt Whitman as "the climax of religious evolution and the harbinger of humanity's future".
Similar concepts
William James
According to Michael Robertson, Cosmic Consciousness and William James's book The Varieties of Religious Experience have much in common: James popularized the concept of religious experience, which he explored in The Varieties of Religious Experience. He saw mysticism as a distinctive experience which supplies knowledge of the transcendental. He considered the "personal religion" to be "more fundamental than either theology or ecclesiasticism", and states: Regarding cosmic consciousness, William James, in his essay The Confidences of a "Psychical Researcher", wrote:
Collective consciousness
James understood "cosmic consciousness" to be a collective consciousness, a "larger reservoir of consciousness", which manifests itself in the minds of men and remains intact after the dissolution of the individual. It may "retain traces of the life history of its individual emanation".
A classification similar to that proposed by Bucke was used by the influential theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, viz.:
Animal, brutish self-awareness
Sensual consciousness
Higher self-consciousness
In Schleiermacher's theology, higher consciousness "is the part of the human being that is capable of transcending animal instincts". It is the "point of contact with God" and the essence of being human. When higher consciousness is present, people are not alienated from God by their instincts. The relation between higher and lower consciousness is akin to St. Paul's "struggle of the spirit to overcome the flesh". Higher consciousness establishes a distinction between the natural and the spiritual sides of human beings. The concept of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher and by Albert Ritschl to defend religion against scientific and secular criticism and to defend the belief that moral and religious experiences justify religious beliefs.
