Richard Maurice Bucke (18 March 1837 – 19 February 1902), often called Maurice Bucke, was a prominent
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
psychiatrist in the late 19th century.
An adventurer during his youth, Bucke later studied
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
. Eventually, as a psychiatrist, he headed the provincial Asylum for the Insane in London,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. Bucke was a friend of several noted men of letters in Canada, the United States, and England.
Besides publishing professional articles, Bucke wrote three non-fiction books: ''Man's Moral Nature'', ''Walt Whitman'', and ''
Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind'', which is his best-known work.
Early life
Richard Maurice Bucke was born in 1837 in
Methwold,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the son of Rev. Horatio Walpole Bucke (a parish curate) and his wife Clarissa Andrews. The parents and their children emigrated to Canada when he was a year old, settling near
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
.
Horatio W. Bucke had given up the profession of religious minister, and trusted his family's income to their Ontario farm. A sibling in a large family, Richard Maurice Bucke was a typical farm boy of that era. He was an athletic boy who enjoyed a good ball game. When he left home at the age of 16, he traveled to
Columbus, Ohio and then to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. Along the way, Bucke worked at various odd jobs. He was part of a travelling party who had to fight for their lives when they were attacked by
Shoshone Indians, on whose territory they were trespassing.
[Rechnitzer, Peter A. (1994)]
In the winter of 1857–58, he was nearly frozen to death in the mountains of California, where he was
the sole survivor of a silver-mining party. He had to walk out over the mountains and suffered extreme
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...
. As a result, a foot and several of his toes were amputated. He then returned to Canada via the
Isthmus of Panama, probably in 1858.
[James H Coyne, ''Richard Maurice Bucke: A Sketch''. Toronto: Henry S. Saunders, 1923, ''Revised edition Reprinted from the Transactions of The Royal Society of Canada, 1906'' pp. 26-30. (NB: Henry Mills Hurd says he returned to Canada in 1860.)][(google books link)]
p. 555
Medicine and Psychiatry
Bucke enrolled in
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...
's medical school in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, where he delivered a distinguished thesis in 1862. Although he practiced general medicine briefly as a ship's surgeon (in order to pay for his sea travel), he later specialized in psychiatry. He did his internship in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1862–63) at
University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...
. During that time he visited France.
He was for several years an enthusiast for
Auguste Comte's
positivist philosophy.
Huston Smith
Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was an influential scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ' ...
said of Comte's philosophy: "Auguste Comte had laid down the line: religion belonged to the childhood of the human race.... All genuine knowledge is contained within the boundaries of science." Comte's belief that religion, if by that is meant spirituality, had been outmoded by science contrasts with Bucke's later belief concerning the nature of reality.
Bucke returned to Canada in 1864 and married Jessie Gurd in 1865; they had eight children.
In January 1876, Bucke became the superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
. In 1877, he was appointed head of the provincial Asylum for the Insane in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, a post he held for nearly the remainder of his life. In his work with asylum inmates, he was a
reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
er who encouraged organized sports and what is now called
occupational therapy.
Some of his surgical treatments proved deeply controversial. After adopting the Victorian-era theory that mental illness in women was often due to defective reproductive organs, Bucke began performing surgical removals of these organs from female patients. He continued this practice until his death, despite receiving increasing amounts of criticism from the medical health care community.
Cosmic consciousness experience
In 1872, after an evening of stimulating conversation with his friend Walt Whitman in the countryside, Richard M Bucke was traveling back to London in a buggy. He relates:
----
I was in a state of quiet, almost passive enjoyment. All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped around as it were by a flame-coloured cloud. For an instant I thought of fire, some sudden conflagration in the great city; the next, I knew that the light was within me.
Directly afterward came upon me a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness accompanied by an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Into my brain streamed one momentary lightning—flash of the Divine Splendor which has ever since lightened my life; upon my heart fell one drop of Divine Bliss, leaving thenceforward for always an aftertaste of heaven.
Among other things, I did not come to believe: I saw and knew that the Cosmos is not dead matter but a living Presence, that the soul of man is immortal, that the universe is so built and ordered 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 everyone in the long run is absolutely certain.
I learned more within the few seconds that illumination lasted than in all my previous years of study and I learned much that no study could ever have taught.
''Paraphrased in the first person from the book "Cosmic Consciousness" by Richard M Bucke.''
----
He later described the characteristics and effects of the faculty of experiencing this type of consciousness as:
* its sudden appearance
* a subjective experience of light ("inner light")
* moral elevation
* intellectual illumination
* a sense of immortality
* loss of a fear of death
* loss of a sense of sin
Bucke's personal experience of the inner state had yet another attribute, mentioned separately by the author: the vivid sense of the universe as a living presence, rather than as basically lifeless, inert matter.
Bucke did not immediately record the details and interpretation of his experience. This was not done until years later, and only after he had researched much of the world's literature on
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
and
enlightenment and had corresponded with many others about this subject.
''Cosmic Consciousness''
Bucke's
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
was his book ''
Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind''. The book is a compilation of various theories rather than strictly a simple record of his original mystical experience.
Bucke borrowed the term "cosmic consciousness" from
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...
, who had traveled and studied religion in the
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
. Bucke's friend,
Carpenter, had derived the term "cosmic consciousness" from the Eastern term "universal consciousness." In his description of his personal experience, Bucke combined his recollection with thoughts of another of his friends,
Caleb Pink ("C.P.")—and others—and recorded his experience in a poetic style.
''Cosmic Consciousness'' was a book which he researched and wrote over a period of many years. It was published in 1901 and has been reprinted several times since then. In it, Bucke describes his own experience, the experiences of contemporaries (most notably
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
), and the experiences of historical figures, including
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
,
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
,
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
,
Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
,
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
,
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
,
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
, and
Ramakrishna.
Bucke developed a theory that posited three stages in the development of consciousness:
* the simple consciousness of animals
* the self-consciousness of the mass of humanity (encompassing reason, imagination, and
foresight)
* cosmic consciousness — an emerging faculty which is the next stage of human development
Within self-consciousness, there exist gradations among individuals in their degrees of intellectual development and talent. (Bucke considered that no doubt there would be gradations within the level of cosmic consciousness, as well.)
Among the effects of humanity's natural evolutionary progression, Bucke believed he detected a long historical trend in which religious conceptions and theologies had become less and less frightening.
In ''Cosmic Consciousness'', beginning with Part II, Bucke explains how animals developed the senses of hearing and seeing. Further development culminated in the ability to experience and enjoy music. Bucke states that, initially, only a small number of humans were able to see colors and experience music. But eventually these new abilities spread throughout the human race until only a very small number of people were unable to experience colors and music.
In Part III, Bucke hypothesizes that the next stage of human development, which he calls "cosmic consciousness," is slowly beginning to appear and will eventually spread throughout all of humanity.
Bucke’s vision of the world was profoundly optimistic. He wrote in Part I (“First Words”) “that the universe is so built and ordered 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 every one is in the long run absolutely certain.”
Involvement with poetry and literature
Bucke was deeply involved in the poetry scene in America and had friends among the
literati, especially those who were poets. In 1869, he read ''
Leaves of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...
'' by
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
, an American poet, and was deeply impressed by it.
In
Cosmic Consciousness, he notes that his cosmic consciousness experience occurred following a night reading Whitman and Romantic poets. Later, he met Whitman in 1877 in
Camden, New Jersey, and the two developed a lasting friendship.
Bucke later testified that he was "lifted to and set upon a higher plane of existence" because of his friendship with Whitman. He published a biography of Whitman in 1883 and was one of Whitman's
literary executor
The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed w ...
s.
In 1882, Bucke was elected to the English Literature Section of the
Royal Society of Canada.
Death
On February 19, 1902, Bucke slipped on a patch of ice in front of his home and struck his head. He died a few hours later without regaining consciousness.
Legacy
Bucke's concept of cosmic consciousness took on a life of its own (though not always well understood) and influenced the thought and writings of many other people. His work is directly referenced by the mystics
Franklin Merrell-Wolff and
Ouspensky
Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii (known in English as Peter D. Ouspensky; rus, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский, Pyotr Demyánovich Uspénskiy; 5 March 1878 – 2 October 1947) was a Russian esotericism, esotericist known for his ...
, and it was essential to
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
's concept of the
perennial philosophy
The perennial philosophy ( la, philosophia perennis), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical trut ...
and
Evelyn Underhill
Evelyn Underhill (6 December 1875 – 15 June 1941) was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism. Her best-known is ''Mysticism'', published ...
's concept of
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
. In India,
Aurobindo uses the term
cosmic consciousness extensively in his work and
Ramana Maharshi was asked about Bucke's concept.
Erich Fromm says, in ''Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism'', 'What Bucke describes as cosmic consciousness is, in my opinion, precisely the experience which is called ''
satori
is a Japanese Buddhist term for awakening, "comprehension; understanding". It is derived from the Japanese verb satoru.
In the Zen Buddhist tradition, ''satori'' refers to a deep experience of '' kenshō'', "seeing into one's true nature ...
'' in
Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), an ...
' and that "Bucke's book is perhaps the book most germane to the topic of this article."
Along with
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
's classic work ''
The Varieties of Religious Experience
''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University o ...
'' (which cites Bucke), Bucke's ''
Cosmic Consciousness'' has become part of the foundation of
transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The '' transpersonal'' is defined ...
.
Bucke was part of a movement that sought to improve the care and treatment of
mentally ill persons.
He was one of the founders of the Medical School of the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
. His papers are held at Western University's Archives and Research Collections Centre. The finding aid can be found here https://www.lib.uwo.ca/files/archives/archives_finding_aids/Dr._R.M._Bucke_Finding_Aid1.pdf
He was portrayed by
Colm Feore
Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...
in the 1990 Canadian film ''
Beautiful Dreamers
''Beautiful Dreamers'' is a 1990 Canadian film directed by John Kent Harrison. It stars Colm Feore and Rip Torn. It was nominated for four Genie Awards in 1991.
Synopsis
Rip Torn is the American poet Walt Whitman. The setting is a 19th-centur ...
''.
Publications
*
* ''Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind'
1905 Innes edition facsimile, 37
MB PDF file.
* ''Diary of R. Maurice Bucke, M.D., C.M'', 1863.
* ''Man's Moral Nature: An Essay'', 187
Internet Archive* ''Richard Maurice Bucke, Medical Mystic: Letters of Dr. Bucke to Walt Whitman and His Friends'', Artem Lozynsky (editor), 1977, Wayne State University Press, .
* ''The New Consciousness: Selected Papers of Richard Maurice Bucke'' 1997, compiled by Cyril Greenland & John Robert Colombo. Toronto: Colombo & Company.
* ''Walt Whitman'' (original 1883 edition). OCLC''
859421735* ''Walt Whitman's Canada'' 1992, compiled by Cyril Greenland & John Robert Colombo. Toronto: Hounslow Press.
See also
*
''Cosmic Consciousness''
*
New Thought
*
Nondualism
*
Recept
*
Spirituality
*
Walter Russell
*
Henry Landor
References
Bibliography
*.
*James H Coyne, ''Richard Maurice Bucke: A Sketch'', 1906, J. Hope & Sons
*George Hope Stevenson, ''The Life and Work of Richard Maurice Bucke,: An Appraisal'', 1937 (American Journal of Psychiatry, 93, pp. 1127 – 1150)
*Cyril Greenland, ''Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D. 1837-1902. The evolution of a mystic'', 1966
*Samuel Edward Dole Shortt, ''Victorian Lunacy : Richard M. Bucke and the Practice of Late Nineteenth-Century Psychiatry'', 1986, Cambridge University Press,
*Peter Rechnitzer, ''The Life of Dr. R.M. Bucke'', 1994, Quarry Press 1997 edition:
*
P. D. Ouspensky, ''The Cosmic Consciousness of Dr. Richard M. Bucke'', Kessinger Publishing, 2005 edition: (48 pp)
*Susan Maynard, ''The Illumination of Dr. Bucke: A Journey Beyond the Intellect'', 2014, AuthorHouse, Kindle eBooks: ASIN: B00MJ5YKFA (website: http://theilluminationofdrbucke.com)
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Collections at University of Western OntarioZero Summer''Cosmic Consciousness'' at Google Books*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucke, Richard Maurice
1837 births
1902 deaths
Canadian psychiatrists
Pre-Confederation Ontario people
Mystics
University of Western Ontario
McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni