The man of the Ego Consciousness may not understand the Riddle of the Universe or be able to give an answer to the great Questions of Life—­but he has ceased to worry about them—­they now disturb him not.  He may use his intellect upon them as before, but never with the feeling that in their intellectual solution rests his happiness or peace of mind.  He knows that he stands on solid rock, and though the storms of the world of matter and force may beat upon him, he will not be hurt.  This and other things he knows.  He cannot prove these things to others, for they are not demonstrable by argument—­he himself did not get them in that way.  And so he says but little about it—­but lives his life as if he knew them not, so far as outward appearances go.  But inwardly he is a changed man—­his life is different from that of his brothers, for while their souls are wrapped in slumber or are tossing in troubled dreams, his Soul has awakened and is gazing upon the world with bright and fearless eyes.  There are, of course, different stages or degrees of this Consciousness, just as there are in the lower planes of consciousness.  Some have it to a slight degree, while others have it fully.  Perhaps this lesson will tell some of its readers just what is the thing that has “happened” to them and which they hesitate to speak of to their closest friend or life companion.  To others it may open the way to a fuller realization.  We sincerely trust so, for one does not begin to Live until he knows the “I” as Reality.

There is a stage still higher than this last mentioned but it has come to but very few of the race.  Reports of it come from all times, races, countries.  It has been called “Cosmic Consciousness,” and is described as an awareness of the Oneness of Life—­that is, a consciousness that the Universe is filled with One Life—­an actual perception and “awareness” that the Universe is full of Life, Motion and Mind, and that there is no such thing as Blind Force, or Dead Matter, but that All is alive, vibrating and intelligent.  That is, of course, that the Real Universe, which is the Essence or background of the Universe of Matter, Energy and Mind, is as they describe.  In fact, the description of those who have had glimpses of this state would indicate that they see the Universe as All Mind—­that All is Mind at the last.  This form of consciousness has been experienced by men here and there—­only a few—­in moments of “Illumination,” the period lasting but a very short space of time, then fading away, leaving but a memory.  In the moment of the “Illumination” there came to those experiencing it a sense of “intouch-ness” with Universal Knowledge and Life, impossible to describe, accompanied by a Joy beyond understanding.