This classic study in the evolution of the human mind is a pioneering work as valuable today as when it was first published in 1901. At that time, it was enthusiastically acclaimed by both William James and P. D. Ouspensky. It has long been accepted as a landmark in the field of mysticism. In reviewing the mental and spiritual activity of the human race, Dr. Bucke discovers that at intervals certain individuals have appeared who are gifted with the power of transcendent realization—or Illumination. Their experiences constitute a definite advance in man’s relation with the Infinite. Moreover, the author shows from available records that this transfiguring endowment of Illumination is on the increase, and he gives full details of practically all the cases on record up to the time when the book was written.
In one of the classic books on the mystical experience, Buck outlines the development of various faculties in the history of man and the growth of an individual. He believes we are witnessing a continuous psychical revolution and that people like Buddha and Jesus, to name a couple, are the forerunners of the beings who will eventually inhabit the earth.
Wildly arrogant, stunningly bombastic, and undeniably fascinating. This 1901 work-the masterpiece of an eclectic genius whose life encompassed medical science, mystical transcendence, and prospecting for gold-posits a higher form of sentience that only a few humans have ever achieved, among them Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Dante, William Blake, and the author himself, of course. As Bucke shares his metaphysical experience of the "cosmic consciousness" and offers evidence for the few instances in history of its occurrence ("it may as well be frankly stated at once that the view of the present editor is that Francis Bacon wrote the 'Shakespeare' plays and poems"), the reader may well be moved to throw this bizarre and highly intriguing book furiously across the room... if the reader can put it down at all, that is. Canadian mystic and doctor RICHARD MAURICE BUCKE (1837-1902) was a pioneer in the medical treatment of mental illness; his famous friendship with Walt Whitman was the subject of the 1992 movie Beautiful Dreamers. He also wrote Man's Moral Nature (1879) and an 1883 authorized biography of Whitman.
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