Cosmic Consciousness
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Cosmic Consciousness
Cosmic Consciousness is the term used by R. M. Bucke and Edward Carpenter to describe the Consciousness attained during an intense Connection Event with positive and "cosmic" content (a.k.a. a Zenith Experience)[1] Some also use Cosmic Consciousness to refer to a state of Perfection, Purity, and Completion that allows for the established of strong, consistent Connection.
Syncretic Terms
Notes
Bucke sees the attainment of Cosmic Consciousness as the last step forward in human evolution. From Simple Consciousness through Self Consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness does humanity finally come. Edward Carpenter picks up this thinking.
Edward Carpenter also sees Cosmic Consciousness as the third and final step in a long process of emergence, separation, and final "reconciliation" or "reintegration" when object...is seen..to be one with the self. The knower, the knowledge, and the thing known are once more one“[2]
Bucke sees Cosmic Consciousness as a "nascent...faculty" that appears first in an "exalted human personality....in some, probably in all, cases the person has an exceptional physique—exceptional beauty of build and carriage, exceptionally handsome features, exceptional health, exceptional sweetness of temper, exceptional magnetism.[3]
Carpenter notes that "the great prophets and seers" who expounded their experiences of unity, knowledge, etc., prove the existence of "another stage of consciousness.
Contrast this with Maslow who see the ability to have Peak Experiencess as something everybody can do.
Cosmic Consciousness is a third form which is as far above Self Consciousness as is that above Simple Consciousness....The prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is...a consciousness of the cosmos, that is, of the life and order of the universe....Along with the consciousness of the cosmos there occurs an intellectual enlightenment or illumination which alone would place the individual on a new plane of existence—would make him almost a member of a new species. To this is added a state of moral exaltation, an indescribable feeling of elevation, elation and joyousness, and a quickening of the moral sense, which is fully as striking and more important both to the individual and to the race than is the enhanced intellectual power. With these come, what may be called, a sense of immortality, a consciousness of eternal life, not a conviction that he shall have this, but the consciousness that he has it already.[4]
On the LP we would not see "Cosmic Consciousness" (more properly, Connection) as the outcome of an evolutionary process but as the natural outcome of a Healthy Development process free of the pathogenic and disconnecting Toxic Socialization.
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Footnotes
- ↑ Bucke, Richard Maurice. Cosmic Consciousness. Book Tree. Kindle Edition. See Talk:Glimpse for an account of Bucke's Connection Event
- ↑ Carpenter, Edward. The Art of Creation: Essays on the Self and Its Powers. Ravenio Books. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Bucke, Richard Maurice. Cosmic Consciousness (Kindle Location 1127). Book Tree. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Bucke, Richard Maurice. Cosmic Consciousness (Kindle Locations 231-248). Book Tree. Kindle Edition.