Richard Maurice Bucke

Richard Maurice Bucke ( born March 18, 1837 in Methwold, England; † February 19, 1902 in London ( Ontario), Canada), and Maurice Bucke, was an important Canadian progressive psychiatrist of the 19th century. At a young age he was regarded as an adventurer; He studied medicine, practiced as a psychiatrist in Ontario and was friends with a number of scholars in Canada, the USA and England. He wrote and published professional articles and three studies in book form: Man's Moral Nature, Walt Whitman and Cosmic Consciousness, for which he is best known, a classic of modern studies of mystical experiences.

• 4.2 About Bucke

Biography

Bucke was born in 1837 in the English Methwold, the son of Rev. Horatio Walpole Bucke and his wife Clarissa Andrews. The family emigrated to Canada the following year and settled in London, Ontario. As a descendant of a large family, he experienced a typical youth as a peasant child. At 16 he left home and traveled south to the United States to experience new things and adventures. From Columbus ( Ohio), he traveled to California and travel and maintenance earned by all sorts of odd jobs. As a member of a travel company, he had to fight for his life, as they passed through their territory during a raid of the Shoshone.

In the winter of 1857/58 he almost froze to death in the mountains of California; he was the only survivor of a society that wanted to use silver mining. He had to save himself walking out of the mountains, where he suffered severe frostbite ( he lost a foot and several toes) and was slow to recover from these hardships. In 1858, he returned via the Isthmus of Panama to Canada back.

Then he enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University in Montreal and delivered from his dissertation in 1862. Although he briefly worked as a ship's doctor in order to finance his passage, he wanted to further specialize in psychiatry. His internship, he graduated in English London from 1862 to 1863 at University College Hospital. From there he visited France. For some years he was an enthusiastic supporter of the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte. In addition, he also read like poems.

In 1864 he returned to Canada in 1865 and married Jessie Gurd. The couple had eight children.

In January, 1876 Bucke became head of the insane asylum in Hamilton; In 1877 he became director of the district mental hospital in London, Ontario, and retained the post until almost end of his life. Bucke was in his time a Progressive, believed in philanthropic cooperation and normalization of the daily routine in the institution. He encouraged to sports, organized activity and what we would call occupational therapy today.

Bucke always had friends among writers and literature lovers, especially of poetry. In 1869, he was reading the Leaves of Grass, a book of poems by the American poet Walt Whitman, and was deeply impressed. Eight years later he met Whitman in Camden; the two developed a lasting friendship. Bucke later confirmed that Whitman had raised him to a higher plane of existence and established him there. Just six years later, he published a biography of the poet.

He also wrote a number of articles and published them, developed a theory of the evolution of human intellectual and emotional capacities, and finally wrote a book about this theory with the title Man's Moral Nature, published in 1879. Three years later he was elected to the section of English Literature of the Royal Society of Canada.

Experience of cosmic consciousness

During his stay in London in 1872 Bucke had the peak experience of his life, a fleeting mystical experience, which he saw as a few moments of " cosmic consciousness ". He described the characteristics and effects of this " asset " as follows: sudden appearance; subjective feeling of light ( inner light ); moral elevation; intellectual enlightenment; Sense of immortality; Loss of fear of death; Loss of the sense of sin. The term " cosmic consciousness " derives however ago by another peculiarity: the lively feel of the entire universe as the life of the present instead of a lifeless, motionless matter. This direct perception to explain that he made ​​the greatest efforts, reminiscent of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of nature.

Although he was influenced both in French and in German and of course English very well read and very by the writings of Whitman, known Bucke, that he in his attempts to better understand enlightenment experience, Caleb Pink ( "CP" ) was very committed to whom he met shortly thereafter. C. P. was a self-taught and workers, the many who knew him personally, as someone signposted, who had a Christ-like aura and led an admirable and honorable life.

His most famous book

For his major work, Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind, he conducted research for many years and wrote very long time. It was in 1901, published the year before his death, and has since been repeatedly reissued. In it, he describes both his own experiences and that of his contemporaries (especially Whitman, but also from strangers as "CP" ) and the experiences and views of historical figures, particularly Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Plotinus, Mohammed, Dante, Francis Bacon, and William Blake.

Bucke developed a theory in the development of consciousness in three stages: the simple consciousness of animals; the self-confidence of the vast majority of humanity (including reason, imagination, etc. ); and cosmic consciousness - a developing ability and the next stage of human development. He believed he had discovered as one of the results of this development is a long-term historical trend, according to the religious beliefs and theologies were constantly less terrible.

Surprisingly Bucke considered this development to be as evolutionarily and spiritually ( the work of Charles Darwin probably dominated most scholars conflicts of the late 19th century ). In Cosmic Consciousness (starting with Part II, Chapter 2, Section IV), he explains how the animals developed sense of hearing ( location sound ), in order to survive. Sound localization evolves through frequency measurements, which we perceive as sound. Further developments in this area culminate in the ability to experience music and enjoy. Similarly, the animals developed a sense for the detection of light, which has then developed for black and white vision. Some animals (including humans) developed further and were able frequencies perceive what we experience as color, and eventually these new skills so that only very few people spread very far out in the entire human society, not in a position, music to hear or perceive colors.

In section three of the third part Bucke developed his prediction that the next stage of human spiritual development, which he called " Cosmic Consciousness " called, will develop very slowly in order to finally enforce the whole of humanity.

His world view was optimistic through and through. In Part I ( " First Words " ), he wrote that the universe is so built and ordered that everything readily for the good works each other of anything and everything that the founding principle of the world is love and the happiness of everyone to life absolutely secure is.

Death

On February 19, 1902 Bucke slipped on a patch of ice in front of his house and hit his head on. He died a few hours later without regaining consciousness.

A large circle of friends who loved him for his unbending integrity, his warmth, his intellectual strength, but mainly because of his noble qualities as a human being, mourned him with all my heart.

Legacy

Bucke was part of a progressive movement that dealt with the treatment of mentally ill people. His conception of cosmic consciousness developed (although not always well understood ) has its own history and influenced many in their thinking and writings.

Along with classics like William James' Varieties of Religious Experience ( which in turn cites Bucke ) and some recent publications was his study of the basis of transpersonal psychology.

His writings are preserved in the Weldon Library of the Medical Faculty of the University of Western Ontario, whose founder he was.

Colm Feore portrayed him in his 1990 film Beautiful Dreamers incurred together with his friend Walt Whitman ( Rip Torn ).

Publications

• Man's Moral Nature, 1879
• Walt Whitman (original edition, 1883)
• Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind, 1901, Innes & Sons, Penguin Books 1991 edition: ISBN 0-14-019337-5, 1905 edition online ( 37 MB PDF file, 38.3 MB)
• Richard Maurice Bucke, Medical Mystic: Letters of Dr. Bucke to Walt Whitman and His Friends, Artem Lozynsky (editor ), 1977, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0-8143-1576-3
• Richard Maurice Bucke, Edit. and updated by Uros Mangilla: The Cosmic Awareness: his ways and principles. Arcturus Publishing, Schäffern 2005, ISBN 3-901489-47-9

About Bucke

• Samuel Edward Dole Shortt: Victorian Lunacy: Richard M. Bucke and the Practice of Late Nineteenth - Century Psychiatry. Cambridge University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-521-30999-9