Robert S de Ropp
Encyclopedia
Robert Sylvester de Ropp (1913–1987) was a biochemist and a researcher and academic in that field. He became a prominent author
in the general fields of the realisation of human potential
and the search for spiritual
enlightenment
.
, England in 1913, the son of William de Ropp
and his wife Ruth Fisher. The de Ropp family had been land-owning barons in Lithuania
. William was of Teutonic-Cossack descent and although entitled to apply the designation “Baron” as part of his name, was perpetually in shaky financial circumstances. He had settled in England in 1910 and become naturalised in 1913. De Ropp's mother, Ruth, was a member of the family of the academic historian Herbert William Fisher
, and one of her sisters was the wife of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
. She died in the 1918 flu pandemic Robert de Ropp had also contracted the flu during the pandemic, and by the time he fully recovered from its ravages he was seven years old.
Robert's father sent him to board at a prep school
and during the school holidays de Ropp lived with various relations on his mother's side including an aunt in Leicestershire
and a great aunt at Salisbury
. His prep school, Cheam School
, offered the conventional curriculum of the Greek and Latin classics
, English literature, and Muscular Christianity
. Though subsequently questioning the premises of formal religion, de Ropp had his first spiritual experience during his confirmation.
In 1925 de Ropp's father, being financially strained, could not pay for Robert's expensive education and took him from school. His father also remarried and the family went to live in the old baronial estate in Lithuania. Shortly after, de Ropp's father obtained work as an agent for an aircraft company in Berlin and, taking his wife there with him, abandoned Robert in the rambling ruin of the family home where he lived with a family of Latvians attached to the old de Ropp baronial estate. He lived a rustic existence in Lithuania left to his own devices and picking up the ways of the peasants. Two years later, when he was fourteen, his father shipped him off to the semi-desert south-Australian "outback" to live with, and work for, a hardscrabble-farm family. Three years later the farm went bankrupt amid dust storms. Lonely and nearly penniless, hard-bitten Robert eventually made his way back to England. One of his maternal aunts took him in. In a while, he moved in with another of his maternal aunts, Adeline, who lived in the countryside (in Dorking), being married to the famous composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
, in South Kensington
. Here he eventually specialized in biology. He earned a PhD in plant physiology at the Royal College. During this period, as well, he developed interests in politics, philosophy, and spirituality.
In this earlier portion of his life, de Ropp was active in plant physiology and cancer research. In 1939 he was at The Research Institute of Plant Physiology at Imperial College of Science and Technology
in London. He married Eileen M Trinder, with whom he had lived for a number of years, at Paddington in the first quarter of 1939. He and Eileen had two children. During the World War II
years, de Ropp worked as a bacteriologist and plant biologist. He met Kathleen Elizabeth (Betty) Knowlman when (also during the War) he worked as a resarcher and she worked as a gardener, both at Kew Gardens; Betty later joined him in the United States after he moved there, at which time they married.
In the early 1940s, De Ropp wrote a number of research papers relating to plant physiology and tumours. By 1945 he was a Research Officer of the Agricultural Research Council at the Rothamsted Experimental Station
. After immigrating to the U.S., his professional life included a stay at the Rockefeller Institute as a visiting investigator. At various times, his research was centered on cancer
, mental illness
, or drugs
that affect behavior. During a 10-year period when de Ropp worked for the Lederle Laboratories (near Pearl River, New York), he wrote a book in the field of psychoactive substances (many of which are plant-derived) for the general reader: Drugs and the Mind.
, whom he met in 1936. "The work" (as the Ouspensky disciplines were termed) was an approach to establishing an integrated human awareness at a higher level — considered to be a true inner freedom. De Ropp went regularly to Lyne Place for "work" weekends from 1936 to 1945 and was particularly attached to Madame Ouspensky as a deeply insightful guide, until 1940. In that year the Oupenskys emigrated from Britain to the United States; after living through war conditions in Britain, de Ropp joined the Ouspenskys there on a New Jersey farm in 1945, the European hostilities being past. However, de Ropp felt the Ouspenskys' milieu had by this point become stagnant and ineffective, and he became disillusioned about the work. "[P.D.] Ouspensky was no longer a teacher," de Ropp opined in his autobiography.
After arriving in the U.S., de Ropp (through his own effort) built two houses, one in Connecticut, one in New York state; he and his second wife, Betty, lived in Rockland County, NY. De Ropp met G. I. Gurdjieff
(the Ouspenskys' famous teacher) during Gurdjieff's final visit to New York, in 1948.
De Ropp's family included the two children from his first marriage, and the children he had with his wife Betty. To support his family and finance their transition into the direct economy of living from the land and ocean, de Ropp worked until 1973 as a research scientist at the University of San Francisco. The family put down roots in their rural Sonoma-County locale, working at living simply. They grew fruits, vines, vegetables and wheat, as well as many ornamental plants. De Ropp fished in the ocean and Betty raised chickens.
De Ropp wrote most of his books during his Sonoma County years. Among his most influential books (concerning spiritual development) are: The Master Game and Warrior's Way: The Challenging Life Games. The first of these stands as his report on what he had learned from his teachers and from the writings of similar figures, as well as more main-stream psychologist
s, psychiatrist
s, and researcher
s into fields such as religion
and the spiritual life. The second is in part a sequential biography, and was written near the end of his life; a significant dimension of its content is his very personal evaluation of the characters and contributions of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Madame Ouspensky, Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Stephen Gaskin, J G Bennett, Alan Watts, and other figures serving as teachers of those engaged in spiritual quests. He does not spare the false guru
s nor the merely pompous, and attempts a fair-handed assessment of those he deems verbose but limited, whilst yet expressing genuine gratitude for those whose efforts he believes have enriched human life.
De Ropp died in his mid 70s whilst ocean-kayaking
.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
in the general fields of the realisation of human potential
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
and the search for spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
enlightenment
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
.
Early life
Robert de Ropp was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England in 1913, the son of William de Ropp
William de Ropp
Baron William Sylvester de Ropp was a British agent involved in dealings with Nazi Germany before and during World War II...
and his wife Ruth Fisher. The de Ropp family had been land-owning barons in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. William was of Teutonic-Cossack descent and although entitled to apply the designation “Baron” as part of his name, was perpetually in shaky financial circumstances. He had settled in England in 1910 and become naturalised in 1913. De Ropp's mother, Ruth, was a member of the family of the academic historian Herbert William Fisher
Herbert William Fisher
Herbert William Fisher was a British historian, best known for his book Considerations on the Origin of the American War ....
, and one of her sisters was the wife of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
. She died in the 1918 flu pandemic Robert de Ropp had also contracted the flu during the pandemic, and by the time he fully recovered from its ravages he was seven years old.
Robert's father sent him to board at a prep school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
and during the school holidays de Ropp lived with various relations on his mother's side including an aunt in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
and a great aunt at Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
. His prep school, Cheam School
Cheam School
Cheam School is a preparatory school in Headley in the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley in the English county of Hampshire. It was founded in 1645 by the Reverend George Aldrich in Cheam, Surrey and has been in operation ever since....
, offered the conventional curriculum of the Greek and Latin classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, English literature, and Muscular Christianity
Muscular Christianity
Muscular Christianity is a term for a movement originating during the Victorian era which stressed the need for energetic Christian activism in combination with an ideal of vigorous masculinity...
. Though subsequently questioning the premises of formal religion, de Ropp had his first spiritual experience during his confirmation.
In 1925 de Ropp's father, being financially strained, could not pay for Robert's expensive education and took him from school. His father also remarried and the family went to live in the old baronial estate in Lithuania. Shortly after, de Ropp's father obtained work as an agent for an aircraft company in Berlin and, taking his wife there with him, abandoned Robert in the rambling ruin of the family home where he lived with a family of Latvians attached to the old de Ropp baronial estate. He lived a rustic existence in Lithuania left to his own devices and picking up the ways of the peasants. Two years later, when he was fourteen, his father shipped him off to the semi-desert south-Australian "outback" to live with, and work for, a hardscrabble-farm family. Three years later the farm went bankrupt amid dust storms. Lonely and nearly penniless, hard-bitten Robert eventually made his way back to England. One of his maternal aunts took him in. In a while, he moved in with another of his maternal aunts, Adeline, who lived in the countryside (in Dorking), being married to the famous composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Career as biochemist
The Vaughan Williamses paid for Robert’s further education at the Royal College of ScienceRoyal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Alumni include H. G. Wells and Brian May and are distinguishable by the letters ARCS ...
, in South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
. Here he eventually specialized in biology. He earned a PhD in plant physiology at the Royal College. During this period, as well, he developed interests in politics, philosophy, and spirituality.
In this earlier portion of his life, de Ropp was active in plant physiology and cancer research. In 1939 he was at The Research Institute of Plant Physiology at Imperial College of Science and Technology
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
in London. He married Eileen M Trinder, with whom he had lived for a number of years, at Paddington in the first quarter of 1939. He and Eileen had two children. During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
years, de Ropp worked as a bacteriologist and plant biologist. He met Kathleen Elizabeth (Betty) Knowlman when (also during the War) he worked as a resarcher and she worked as a gardener, both at Kew Gardens; Betty later joined him in the United States after he moved there, at which time they married.
In the early 1940s, De Ropp wrote a number of research papers relating to plant physiology and tumours. By 1945 he was a Research Officer of the Agricultural Research Council at the Rothamsted Experimental Station
Rothamsted Experimental Station
The Rothamsted Experimental Station, one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, is located at Harpenden in Hertfordshire, England. It is now known as Rothamsted Research...
. After immigrating to the U.S., his professional life included a stay at the Rockefeller Institute as a visiting investigator. At various times, his research was centered on cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, or drugs
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
that affect behavior. During a 10-year period when de Ropp worked for the Lederle Laboratories (near Pearl River, New York), he wrote a book in the field of psychoactive substances (many of which are plant-derived) for the general reader: Drugs and the Mind.
Avocational interests
De Ropp's intense avocational interests, stemming largely from a spontaneous childhood spirituality, were nurtured by the influence of P. D. OuspenskyP. D. Ouspensky
Peter D. Ouspensky , , a Russian esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915.He was associated with the ideas and practices originating with...
, whom he met in 1936. "The work" (as the Ouspensky disciplines were termed) was an approach to establishing an integrated human awareness at a higher level — considered to be a true inner freedom. De Ropp went regularly to Lyne Place for "work" weekends from 1936 to 1945 and was particularly attached to Madame Ouspensky as a deeply insightful guide, until 1940. In that year the Oupenskys emigrated from Britain to the United States; after living through war conditions in Britain, de Ropp joined the Ouspenskys there on a New Jersey farm in 1945, the European hostilities being past. However, de Ropp felt the Ouspenskys' milieu had by this point become stagnant and ineffective, and he became disillusioned about the work. "[P.D.] Ouspensky was no longer a teacher," de Ropp opined in his autobiography.
After arriving in the U.S., de Ropp (through his own effort) built two houses, one in Connecticut, one in New York state; he and his second wife, Betty, lived in Rockland County, NY. De Ropp met G. I. Gurdjieff
G. I. Gurdjieff
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff according to Gurdjieff's principles and instructions, or the "Fourth Way."At one point he described his teaching as "esoteric Christianity."...
(the Ouspenskys' famous teacher) during Gurdjieff's final visit to New York, in 1948.
De Ropp's years in Sonoma County
After working for the Lederle Laboratories for 10 years, de Ropp's attachment to the northeast U.S. waned and he felt a pull to the West Coast. In 1961 he purchased a small house on several acres, near Glen Ellen, California, where the climate was mild and soil could be worked to high fertilility. In time he became an independent writer and teacher — much concerned about humanity's growing environmental and spiritual crises — and set up a learning community on his land (near Santa Rosa) around 1967 The idea behind it was experiential learning at the levels of body, mind, and spirit.De Ropp's family included the two children from his first marriage, and the children he had with his wife Betty. To support his family and finance their transition into the direct economy of living from the land and ocean, de Ropp worked until 1973 as a research scientist at the University of San Francisco. The family put down roots in their rural Sonoma-County locale, working at living simply. They grew fruits, vines, vegetables and wheat, as well as many ornamental plants. De Ropp fished in the ocean and Betty raised chickens.
De Ropp wrote most of his books during his Sonoma County years. Among his most influential books (concerning spiritual development) are: The Master Game and Warrior's Way: The Challenging Life Games. The first of these stands as his report on what he had learned from his teachers and from the writings of similar figures, as well as more main-stream psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
s, psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
s, and researcher
Researcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
s into fields such as religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and the spiritual life. The second is in part a sequential biography, and was written near the end of his life; a significant dimension of its content is his very personal evaluation of the characters and contributions of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Madame Ouspensky, Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Stephen Gaskin, J G Bennett, Alan Watts, and other figures serving as teachers of those engaged in spiritual quests. He does not spare the false guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
s nor the merely pompous, and attempts a fair-handed assessment of those he deems verbose but limited, whilst yet expressing genuine gratitude for those whose efforts he believes have enriched human life.
De Ropp died in his mid 70s whilst ocean-kayaking
Sea kayak
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spraydeck...
.
Sample list of academic papers
- R. S. De Ropp The Effect of Preliminary Soaking of the Grain on the Growth and Tropic Responses of the Excised Embryo of Winter Rye Studies in the Vernalisation of Cereals. Annals of Botany 3: 1939 243–252
- R. S. De Ropp Studies in the Physiology of Leaf Growth: III. The Influence of Roots on the Growth Annals of Botany 10: 1946 353–359
- R. S. de Ropp The Growth-Promoting Action of Bacteria-Free Crown-Gall Tumor Tissue Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb. 1948), pp. 45–50
- R. S. de Ropp The Interaction of Normal and Crown-Gall Tumor Tissue in in Vitro Grafts American Journal of Botany, Vol. 35, No. 7 (Jul., 1948), pp. 372–377
- R. S. de Ropp The Action of Some Chemical Growth Inhibitors on Healthy and Tumor Tissue of Plants Cancer Research 11, September 1, 1951 663–668,
- R. S. de Ropp and Doris McKenzie The Transplantation of Small Numbers of Tumor Cells Cancer Research 14, September 1, 1954, 588–590
- R. S. De Ropp and Elizabeth Markley The Correlation of Different Aspects of Auxin Action Plant Physiol. 30(3): May 1955; 210–214.
- E. Jack Davis & R. S. De Ropp Metabolic Origin of Urinary Methylamine in the Rat Nature 190 (13 May 1961) 636–637
Books
- Drugs and the Mind (1957)
- Man Against Aging (1960)
- Science and Salvation (1962)
- The Master Game (1968)
- Sex Energy: the Sexual Force in Man and Animals (1969)
- The New Prometheans (1972)
- Church of the Earth (1974)
- Eco-Tech (1975)
- Warrior's Way: The Challenging Life Games (1979)
- Self-Completion: Keys to the Meaningful Life (1988)