Richard Maurice Bucke Quotes

It is alone that part of the external universe which we call material which acts on man through his senses that part of which we ordinarily feel our knowledge to be the surest; but in reality, strangely enough, as will soon appear, this is one of the aspects of the external world, of which we can know nothing.

Richard Maurice Bucke

Our descendants will sooner or later reach, as a race, the condition of cosmic consciousness, just as, long ago, our ancestors passed from simple consciousness into self consciousness.

Richard Maurice Bucke

Only a personal experience of it, or a prolonged study of men who have passed into the new life, will enable us to realize what this actually is; but it has seemed to the present writer that to pass in review, even briefly and imperfectly, instances in which the condition in question has existed would be worth while.

Richard Maurice Bucke

Man reacts upon and toward the external universe in three ways, namely, by his active nature ; by his intellectual nature ; by his moral nature that is, he acts upon it, thinks about it, and feels toward it.

Richard Maurice Bucke

All things, man included, are parts of one great whole. The object of this chapter is to point out the most obvious and most natural divisions of this whole, which we call the universe. These divisions can never be absolute; the whole is too truly one whole for that, but they are sufficiently real for our present purpose.

Richard Maurice Bucke

I dedicate this book to the man who inspired it to the man who of all men past and present that I have known has the most exalted moral nature.

Richard Maurice Bucke