All at once, without warning of any kind, I found...

"All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped in a flame-colored cloud. For an instant I thought of fire… the next, I knew that the fire was within myself. Directly afterward there came upon me a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination impossible to describe. Among other things, I did not merely come to believe, but I saw that the universe is not composed of dead matter but is, on the contrary, a living Presence; I became conscious in myself of eternal life…I saw that all men are immortal: that the cosmic order is such that without any peradventure all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world is what we call love, and that the happiness of each and all is in the long run absolutely certain."

- experience of Dr. R. M. Bucke the author of Cosmic Consciousness, quoted in William James, The Varieties of Religious Experiance (via jumbi)