Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) British minister
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 397.
Beyond the Veil
Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) British minister
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 397.
“When the Christ says I:
it is the I of all the Masters:
the Way, the Truth,
the Life”
Frederick Franck (1909–2006) Dutch painter
Source: Echoes from the Bottomless Well (1985), p. 94
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) prominent Canadian psychiatrist in the late 19th century
First Words
Cosmic Consciousness (1901)
Context: Cosmic Consciousness … is a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man. This last is called Self Consciousness and is that faculty upon which rests all of our life (both subjective and objective) which is not common to us and the higher animals, except that small part of it which is derived from the few individuals who have had the higher consciousness above named. To make the matter clear it must be understood that there are three forms or grades of consciousness. (1) Simple Consciousness, which is possessed by say the upper half of the animal kingdom. By means of this faculty a dog or a horse is just as conscious of the things about him as a man is; he is also conscious of his own limbs and body and he knows that these are a part of himself. (2) Over and above this Simple Consciousness, which is possessed by man as by animals, man has another which is called Self Consciousness. By virtue of this faculty man is not only conscious of trees, rocks, waters, his own limbs and body, but he becomes conscious of himself as a distinct entity apart from all the rest of the universe. It is as good as certain that no animal can realize himself in that way. … The animal is, as it were, immersed in his consciousness as a fish in the sea, he cannot, even in imagination, get outside of it for one moment so as to realize it. … Cosmic Consciousness is a third form which is as far above Self Consciousness as is that above Simple Consciousness. With this form, of course, both simple and self consciousness persist (as simple consciousness persists when self consciousness is acquired), but added to them is the new faculty … The prime characteristic of cosmic consciousness is, as its name implies, 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.
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship
The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda
Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) British writer and theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 2.
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister
Christus ist das Genie der Liebe, als solches der diametralste Gegenpol zum Judentum, das die Inkarnation des Hasses darstellt. … Christus ist der erste Judengegner von Format. … Der Jude ist die menschgewordene Lüge. In Christus hat er zum erstenmal vor der Geschichte die ewige Wahrheit ans Kreuz geschlagen.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)
Peter Kreeft (1937) American philosopher
Source: Prayer for Beginners (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), p. 55
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist
Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 230.