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Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism282
This Cosmic Knowing is the full flower which will “bloom in the silence that
follows the storm,” as the writer, or transcriber, of “Light on the Path” has so
beautifully expressed it. It is that which comes as the result of “Illumination.”
The occult writers of all times have spoken of this thing, and it has also
been partially described by people in all times—of all forms of religious
belief. Many have supposed it to have come as the result of the worship of
some particular conception of Deity, or as the incident of some particular
form of creed. But it is really a thing above creeds or particular conceptions
of the Absolute—it is a part of the Divine heritage of the race. Many of
the Oriental writers have described this thing in their own words—many of
the old Quakers experienced it, and have given it their own names—many
Catholic saints describe it in their writings, and even some of the great
Protestant leaders and preachers have given bewildered accounts of the
great thing that came upon them. Each, as a rule, however, attributed it to
some particular thing in their faith. Great poets have felt its influence, and
testimony along the same general lines comes to us from many different
sources. Some have had it gradually dawn upon them, wax strong, and then
fade away, leaving them changed beings, living afterwards in hope of again
experiencing the great thing. Others have had it burst upon them suddenly,
with an impression that they were submerged in a brilliant light (from
whence comes the term “illumination”), which also passed away, leaving them
changed beings. The experience seems to come to no two souls in exactly
the same way, and yet there is a common point of resemblance between
the testimony of all. A Western writer (now passed out of the body) one Dr.
Richard Maurice Bucke, of London, Ontario, Canada, having experienced
this illumination, and having found that his friend Walt Whitman and other
friends had had similar experiences, has gathered the testimony of a number
of people whom he believed to have undergone the same unfoldment. He
published the result of his research in a very valuable book entitled “Cosmic
Consciousness: a Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind” (Innes & Sons,
Philadelphia, Penna., U. S. A.), which book was issued in the shape of a limited