Tertium Organum

unity of
the forms of transition into the new state of 
consciousness in men belonging to different centuries and peoples, and the 
unity of their sensations of the world and themselves, testifying more than 
anything else to the genuineness and reality of their experiences. 
The founders of world religions, prophets, philosophers, poets -in Bucke's 
book these are 'men of cosmic consciousness'. He does not pretend to give a 
complete list, and one could certainly add many more names to it.* 
But, after all, what is important is not the imperfections of Bucke's book, 
nor the amendments which could be made to it. The important thing is the 
general conclusion which Dr Bucke draws about the possibility and the 
nearness of the 
NEW CONSCIOUSNESS
. 
This tells us that 
NEW HUMANITY 
is near at hand. We build, without taking
into account the fact that a 
NEW MASTER 
must come who may not approve at 
all of what we have built. Our 'social sciences', sociology, etc., have only 
man 
in view. Yet, as I have already pointed out many times, 'man' is a composite 
concept, including in itself different categories of men whose paths are 
completely different. And the future belongs not to 
man
but to 
superman,
who is already born and lives among us. 
A higher race is rapidly arising from the bulk of humanity, and it is arising
through its own peculiar, understanding of the world and of life. 
It will truly be a 
HIGHER RACE 
- and there will be no possibility of any
falsification, any substitution, any usurpation. Nor will it be possible for 
anything to be 
bought,
nor 
appropriated
by deceit or force. And not only is 
this race coming, but it is already here. 
Men approaching the transition to this new race are already beginning to 
recognize one another; watchwords, signs and countersigns are already being 
established. . . . And maybe the social and political problems, so acutely
thrust forward by our times, will be solved on quite a different plane and in a 
totally different manner than 
* Dr Bucke makes a very grave mistake in speaking about self-consciousness. In 
his opinion 'simple consciousness' is a characteristic of an animal, and 'self­
consciousness' a characteristic of man. But as a matter of fact a prolonged self­
consciousness during sensing, feeling or thinking is a very rare phenomenon in man. 
As a rule what is called self-consciousness is simply a thought, and it takes place 
post 
factum.
True self-consciousness exists in men only as a potentiality, and if it manifests 
at all, does so only at moments. These momentary flashes of self-consciousness should 
be distinguished from prolonged self-consciousness. Prolonged self-consciousness is 
already a new consciousness. It brings with it the possibility of moments of cosmic 
consciousness, which, in its turn, may with further development, become prolonged. 

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we think - namely, by the appearance on the stage of a new race, 
CONSCIOUS 
OF ITSELF
, which will then judge the old race. 
In my comments I pointed out certain defects of Dr Bucke's book, arising
chiefly from a kind of irresolution, a fear to admit the paramount importance 
of 
higher consciousness. 
This fear lies at the basis of Dr Bucke's desire to 
view the future of humanity from the positivist standpoint, basing it on 
political and social revolutions. But this view has lost all value. In the bloody 
epoch we are now going through, the bankruptcy of materialism, i.e. of 
logical systems, in the organizing of life is becoming self-evident even to 
those people who only yesterday were extolling 'culture' and 'civilization'. It 
becomes increasingly clear that changes in the external life, i.e. changes in 
the life of the many, if they must come at all, will come 
as a result
of inner 
changes in the few. 
Further, taking Dr Bucke's book as a whole, we may say that, having 
assumed the 
natural growth of
consciousness, he does not notice the fact that 
the unfolding of these faculties is not a natural process, but that it requires 
conscious work. Dr Bucke does not mention at all any conscious efforts in 
this direction, does not speak of the idea of the 
culture of
cosmic 
consciousness. Yet there exists a whole series of psychological teachings 
(occultism, yoga and so on) and a voluminous literature, having in view 
precisely this systematic culture of higher consciousness. Dr Bucke does not 
seem to notice this, although he himself touches upon it several times, and 
continues to take his stand on the idea of natural growth. At one point in his 
book he speaks very contemptuously about the use of narcotics for the 
creation of ecstatic states, not taking into consideration the fact that narcotics 
cannot 
give 
a man anything he has not already got (which explains the totally
different effect of narcotics on different people). All they can do, in certain 
cases, is to 
reveal 
that which is already in a man's soul. This circumstance 
completely alters the view of narcotics, as Professor James has shown in his 
book 
The Varieties of Religious Experience. 
On the whole, carried away by the evolutionary point of view and fixing
his eyes on the 
future,
Dr Bucke, like many others, does not pay sufficient 
attention to the 
present. 
Yet the new consciousness which a man may find or 
awaken 
in himself
is naturally more important for him than the consciousness 
which may or may not appear 
in other men
thousands of years hence. 
Examining from different standpoints the complex forms of the 

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manifestation of spirit, and analysing the views and opinions of different 
thinkers, we are constantly confronted with what seems to be gradual phases 
or consecutive stages of development. And we find that these stages or phases 
are four in number. Examining further the living world known to us, from the 
lowest living organism to man, we see the simultaneous existence of all the 
four forms of consciousness, to which all the other aspects of inner life 
correspond: space-sense, time-sense, form of activity, and so on. Further, 
examining the 
higher type of man
we see in him the presence of all the four 
forms of consciousness which exist in living nature, with corresponding
forms. 
Forms of consciousness 
'Higher type of man' Living world 
Latent consciousness, 
similar to our instincts 
Cells, groups of cells, 
Cells, groups of cells, 
and subconscious 
plants and lower 
tissues and organs of 
feelings. 
animals; organs and 
the body.