The gift of the spirit : a selection from the essays of Prentice Mulford.

  • Prentice Mulford
Date:
[1903]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The gift of the spirit : a selection from the essays of Prentice Mulford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    catchword of “cosmic consciousness.” This includes and surpasses that which has been heretofore under- stood by a sense of the solidarity of Man and Nature, or it is that sense informed by an unusual vitality; it may perhaps be described as the consciousness in common of Man and Nature, the participation of the individual in the world’s life realised. It is the con- sciousness which was possessed beyond all known measures by Walt Whitman, and it accounts for his universal sympathies; it is the ground of comparison between Mulford and Whitman, in most things else unlike, and it seems certain that those who understand the colossus of Manhattan, who, in his order, was without peer or parallel, will understand also, even if they fail to appreciate, the obscure seer of Long Island. But in the end and because of the gift, it is credible that they will also appreciate him, in spite of the strange motley of his transcendental appanage. Except in special instances, the defects of Prentice Mulford, and these are grave and numerous, are not likely to be recognised by those who, themselves transcendentalists, are charmed by his gifts. Nor, if recognised, would these defects be likely to irritate or even disturb them. A catholicity which brings him into contact with many spiritual interests, outside those which are accredited commonly, and with many forms of thought, outside all accepted conventions, while essentially a part or consequence of his gift, makes him appeal to many who may be but imper- fectly aware of that gift, for these spiritual interests and these forms of thought, as regards all departments of speculation, are now diffused widely. There is much to admire and not a little to deplore in such