R.M. Bucke

 All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped in a flame-colored cloud I knew that the fire was within myself.  Directly afterward there came upon me a sense of exaltation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination impossible to describe…

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 everyone is immortal; that the cosmic order is such that… all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world, of all the worlds, is what we call love, and that happiness of each and all is in the long run absolutely certain.