are that I was immersed in the
infinite ocean of God."[242]

[242] Op. cit., pp. 256, 257, abridged.

Even the least mystical of you must by this time be convinced of the
existence of mystical moments as states of consciousness of an entirely
specific quality, and of the deep impression which they make on those
who have them. A Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. R. M. Bucke, gives to the
more distinctly characterized of these phenomena the name of cosmic
consciousness. "Cosmic consciousness in its more striking instances is
not," Dr. Bucke says, "simply an expansion or extension of the
self-conscious mind with which we are all familiar, but the
superaddition of a function as distinct from any possessed by the
average man as SELF-consciousness is distinct from any function
possessed by one of the higher animals."

"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 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 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."[243]

[243] Cosmic Consciousness: a study in the evolution of the human
Mind, Philadelphia, 1901, p. 2.

It was Dr. Bucke's own experience of a typical onset of cosmic
consciousness in his own person which led him to investigate it in
others. He has printed his conclusions In a highly interesting volume,
from which I take the following account of what occurred to him:--

"I had spent the evening in a great city, with two friends, reading and
discussing poetry and philosophy. We parted at midnight. I had a long
drive in a hansom to my lodging. My mind, deeply under the influence
of the ideas, images, and emotions called up by the reading and talk,
was calm and peaceful. I was in a state of quiet, almost passive
enjoyment, not actually thinking, but letting ideas, images, and
emotions flow of themselves, as it were, through my mind. All at once,
without war