The Other I Am

There is only good. The profound simplicity of that thought requires that a mind become one with the consciousness of the universe: the living Presence. According to Richard M. Bucke’s study, Cosmic Consciousness (Causeway Books) mankind has been evolving towards that goal for the past 300,000 years.

Our ancestral race arose with a simple consciousness: awareness of one’s self but with no knowledge of, or concern for, good and evil. What set man apart was his ability to accumulate sense impressions and form these into concepts about his world. Intuitions then evolved increasing the brain’s capacity for thought, language and self consciousness. Man thus came to think of himself as a distinct entity, separate from the rest of the universe. Separate also in that he developed a moral nature with its fears and joys. With morality, came the beginning of wisdom. Pondering his experiences, man developed beliefs and ideals with which he directed his life. However, prophets advanced the concept of heavenly beings who had control over mundane daily existence. And man’s mind turned outward. The universe’s impulses of life - situations and events - came to be seen as directed and propitious. Slowly, individual by individual, an awareness grew: that there is a sensibility to the life and order of the universe and that somehow man has a part in it. This, then, is Cosmic Consciousness. It is not a super-natural state, but a natural and foreordained growth of the awareness of man and his kinship with the universe.

As with all evolutionary changes, cosmic consciousness has emerged slowly and, initially, to a few individuals at a time. Some of these - Gautama, Jesus, Mohammed, Dante, Walt Whitman - brought to mankind what they themselves had discovered and what they felt mankind should know concerning its spiritual identity and destiny. Their missions were to lead this present race to a deeper understanding of the totality of human experience.

How does one know when one is in cosmic consciousness? When we experience absolute assurance that the universe is a living Presence that is infinitely good and that individual existence is continuous beyond death. When one has an increased capacity for learning and intuition, the sense of sin disappears, and there is an elevated moral sense and Joy. In other words, one is in Cosmic Consciousness when an indescribable feeling of joyousness brings the realization that one’s immortal soul, and the entire universe, with all its beauty, good and apparent evil, is of God. (Digest by Myron Gantt.)