Robert Sylvester de Ropp (1913–1987) was an English biochemist and a researcher and academic in that field. After retiring from biochemistry, he brought other long-time personal interests to the fore, becoming a writer in the fields of human potentials and the search for spiritual realisation.

Early life

de Ropp was born in Bath, England, on February 1, 1913, the son of William de Ropp (originally Wilhelm von der Ropp) by his marriage to Ruth Fisher. The Ropp family had been land-owning barons in Lithuania. William was of Teutonic and Cossack descent, being entitled to use the title “Baron”, and 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 daughter of Albert Bulteel Fisher, whose brother was the academic historian Herbert William Fisher. Ruth de Ropp 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. He and Eileen had two children. During the Second World War, de Ropp worked as a bacteriologist and plant biologist. He met Kathleen Elizabeth (Betty) Knowlman during these years, when he was involved with research at Kew Gardens (England's botanical research and education institution), at which Betty worked as a gardener. Betty later joined him in the United States after he moved there, at which time they married. After emigrating to the U.S., de Ropp's 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 ten-year period working for the Lederle Laboratories near Pearl River, New York, de Ropp wrote a book for the general reader in the field of psychoactive substances (many of which are plant-derived): Drugs and the Mind. 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 mainstream psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers 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, John G. Bennett (another direct disciple of Gurdjieff), Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Stephen Gaskin, Alan Watts, Carlos Castaneda, and other figures serving as teachers of those engaged in spiritual quests. He is critical of those he views as false gurus or 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 1987, in his mid seventies, in an accident while ocean-kayaking.

Publications

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<!--not a mistake--> in Vitro Grafts American Journal of Botany, Vol. 35, No. 7 (Jul., 1948), pp.&nbsp;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: Beyond the Drug Experience (1968)
  • Sex Energy: The Sexual Force in Man and Animals (1969)
  • The New Prometheans (1972)
  • Church of the Earth: The Ecology of a Creative Community (1974)
  • Eco-Tech: The Whole-Earther's Guide to the Alternate Society (1975)
  • Warrior's Way: The Challenging Life Games (1979)
  • Self-Completion: Keys to the Meaningful Life (1988)
  • Warrior's Way: A Twentieth Century Odyssey (1995)

References