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in 1901, psychiatrist Richard Maurice Bucke
published, Cosmic Consciousness: A Study
in the Evolution of the Human Mind

republished continually over the past 100+
years, Cosmic Consciousness has become
perhaps THE classic modern study of
mystical experience

from wikipedia,

"In it, Bucke described his own experience,
that of contemporaries (most notably Walt
Whitman) and the experiences and outlook
of historical figures including Buddha, Jesus,
Paul, Plotinus, Muhammad, Dante, Francis
Bacon, and William Blake.

Bucke developed a theory involving three
stages in the development of consciousness:
the simple consciousness of animals; the
self-consciousness of the mass of humanity
(encompassing reason, imagination, etc.);
and cosmic consciousness — an emerging
faculty and the next stage of human
development." - link


below is an excerpt:

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.

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 . . .

The view he (Bucke is referring to himself)
takes is that our descendants will sooner
or later reach, as a race, the condition of
cosmic consciousness, just as, long ago,
our ancestors passed from simple to
self consciousness. . . .

He believes that this step in evolution is
even now being made, since it is clear to
him both that men with the faculty in
question are becoming more and more
common and also that as a race we are
approaching nearer and nearer to that
stage of the self conscious mind from
which the transition to the cosmic conscious
is effected. He realizes that, granted the
necessary heredity, any individual not
already beyond the age may enter cosmic
consciousness.

He knows that intelligent contact with
cosmic conscious minds assists self
conscious individuals in the ascent to
the higher plane.

He therefore hopes, by bringing about,
or at least facilitating this contact, to aid
men and women in making the almost
infinitely important step in question.