L.C. Beckett: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Latest revision as of 07:58, 26 September 2024

Lucille Catherine Beckett (pen name, L.C. Beckett; 1884–1979) was an English philosopher and scientist who explored connections between quantum physics and Eastern mysticism and philosophy, just as Fritjof Capra later would in his best-seller The Tao of Physics (1975). Unbounded Worlds (1959) and Neti Neti (1955) were her best-known works, but she also published Everyman and the Infinite (1922), The World Breath (1935), Movement and Emptiness (1968) and Insight and Solitude (1973).

Biography

From Kirkstall,^[1] Beckett was the daughter of Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe (1856–1917), "a man of swiftly changing enthusiasms [. . .] a dilettante, philanderer, gambler and opportunist. He changed his career, his interests and his mistresses quite regularly."^[2] Her mother was American, Lucy Tracy Lee (1865–1891).

In 1903, she married Count Czernin von und zu Chudenitz (1875–1962), the Austro-Hungarian Minister to Bulgaria. They had four sons. When they divorced in 1914, she retained custody only of the youngest, Manfred (1913–1962).

During the First World War, she worked firstly for the British Ambassador in Rome and then for the American Red Cross.

After divorcing Count Czernin, she lived at the house in Ravello, Italy – Villa Cimbrone – that she inherited from her father. In 1921, Communists in Viterbo fired at her car, mistaking its occupants for fascists. Her fifteen-year-old son Jaromir was killed and son Paul and chauffeur Enrico were badly injured. Despite this, she asked that mercy be shown to the perpetrators.^[3]

Beckett mixed with some of the foremost artists and scientists of her time. At the Villa Cimbrone, she was visited by, among others E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence and Greta Garbo. An additional attraction at the Villa Cimbrone was the cliffside 6-floor house, La Rondinaia (the swallow's nest), that she built in its grounds in 1930. She was a friend and patron of the artist Ceri Richards, with whom she discussed artistic inspiration. He is known to have presented her with one of four hand illustrated copies of The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas. She in turn presented one of Richards' paintings to Carl Jung.^[4] Of natural scientists she particularly admired Fred Hoyle and Sir Arthur Eddington (to whom she dedicated The World Breath (1935)). Her thoughts developed and were refined in the light of new scientific discoveries. In the fields of psychology and religious studies she frequently references Carl Jung, Krishnamurti and Christmas Humphries – all of whom she knew personally. In 1926 she married Captain Oliver Harry Frost (thereby becoming the Honourable Lucille Frost). They divorced in 1941. At various times, she also lived on Dartmoor and in Chelsea. In 1972 she sold La Rondinaia to Gore Vidal and moved to Lisbon where she died in 1979. Gore Vidal claimed that her spirit permeated La Rondinaia.^[5]

Works

Everyman and the Infinite, London: L.N Fowler & Co. 1923.

"When so many writers of today feed vulture-like on the offal of the soul, it is well to turn to a book like this which through the finite imaginatively evokes the infinite" – Daily Telegraph

The World Breath, London: Rider & Co. 1935.

"The author explains (and what erudition has gone towards that explanation!) how the universe, mankind, sciences, religions, the atom and nebulae, all operate in waves and respond to the Law of Periodicity" – Manchester Evening News

Gremlins (1948, unfinished)

In 1948, Beckett was planning to write a book about the psychology of airmen but this project seems not to have been completed. She was particularly interested in their stories about gremlins. These stories abounded in the RAF in the Second World War; her son Manfred had been an RAF fighter pilot and SOE agent (his story is told in Double Mission by Norman Franks^[6]).

Neti Neti (Not This Not That), Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1955

This book, in which the author attempts to develop a new conception of religion, is believed to have influenced the composer John Cage.^[7] The title, Neti Neti, is a reference to the Upanishads.

Unbounded Worlds, Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1959

In this book, dedicated to her grandson, Nicholas, the topic is infinity and causation.

Movement and Emptiness, London: Stuart (Vincent) & J.M. Watkins Ltd. 1968

"How modern scientific discovery in the field of astro-physics leads back to the one fundamental fact of 'unborn, unoriginated, unformed', which the Buddha recognised" (flyleaf).

Insight of Solitude London: Robinson & Watkins Ltd. 1973

"I am firmly convinced that the Buddha taught what is being rediscovered in our time by the most eminent scientists." (foreword)

References

^ "Lucy Catherine BECKETT". Geneanet. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
^ Michael Holroyd A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.9.
^ Norman L.R. Frank Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC. London: William Kimber, 1976, pp.19-20.
^ Mel Gooding Ceri Richards. Moffat: Cameron & Hollis, 2002, p.114.
^ Michael Holroyd A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.114.
^ Norman L.R. Frank Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC. London: William Kimber, 1976.
^ Peter Jaeger John Cage and Buddhist Ecopoetics. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, p.15

[1] "Lucy Catherine BECKETT". Geneanet. Retrieved 26 September 2024.

[2] Michael Holroyd A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.9.

[3] Norman L.R. Frank Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC. London: William Kimber, 1976, pp.19-20.

[4] Mel Gooding Ceri Richards. Moffat: Cameron & Hollis, 2002, p.114.

[5] Michael Holroyd A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.114.

[6] Norman L.R. Frank Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC. London: William Kimber, 1976.

[7] Peter Jaeger John Cage and Buddhist Ecopoetics. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, p.15

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|English philosopher}}
-== In the mid-twentieth century, philosopher and scientist Lucille Catherine Beckett anticipated some of the ideas that [[Fritjof Capra]] put forward in his best-selling book [[The Tao of Physics|''The Tao of Physics'']] (1975). Very little has been written about her life and her work remains largely unknown. According to Michael Holroyd, “Lucille was a believer in miracles. Travelling down Oxford Street in London one day in deep despair on the top of a bus, she was visited by a revelation, which she set out to elucidate in two books, ''Unbound Worlds'' (1959) and ''Neti Neti'' (''Not This Not That) (''1955). In these books she sought her own ‘theory of everything.’ Mixing philosophy with astrophysics, adding a portion of ancient and modern religious dogma, some measure of infinity, a sprinkling of quotations from Jung, the Buddha and the astronomer Fred Hoyle, she concocted a terrific brew to keep despair at bay.”<ref>Michael Holroyd ''A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers''. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.115</ref> ''Unbounded Worlds'' and ''Neti Neti were'' her best-known works, but she also wrote ''Everyman and the Infinite'' (1922), ''The World Breath'' (1935), ''Movement and Emptiness'' (1968) and ''Insight and Solitude'' (1973). ==
+{{Multiple issues|
+{{Tone|date=May 2024}}
+{{Original research|date=May 2024}}
+}}
+'''Lucille Catherine Beckett''' ([[pen name]], '''L.C. Beckett'''; 1884–1979) was an English philosopher and scientist who explored connections between [[quantum physics]] and [[Eastern mysticism]] and philosophy, just as [[Fritjof Capra]] later would in his best-seller ''[[The Tao of Physics]]'' (1975). ''Unbounded Worlds'' (1959) and ''Neti Neti (1955) were'' her best-known works, but she also published ''Everyman and the Infinite'' (1922), ''The World Breath'' (1935), ''Movement and Emptiness'' (1968) and ''Insight and Solitude'' (1973).
-=== '''Biography''' ===
+== Biography ==
-L.C. Beckett was the daughter of [[Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe]] (1856-1917), described by Michael Holroyd as “a man of swiftly changing enthusiasms [. . .] a dilettante, philanderer, gambler and opportunist. He changed his career, his interests and his mistresses quite regularly.”<ref>Michael Holroyd ''A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers''. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.9.</ref>
+From [[Kirkstall]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=en&p=lucy+catherine&n=beckett|title=Lucy Catherine BECKETT|website=Geneanet|accessdate=26 September 2024}}</ref> Beckett was the daughter of [[Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe]] (1856–1917), "a man of swiftly changing enthusiasms [. . .] a dilettante, philanderer, gambler and opportunist. He changed his career, his interests and his mistresses quite regularly."<ref>Michael Holroyd ''A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers''. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.9.</ref> Her mother was American, Lucy Tracy Lee (1865–1891).
-Her mother was American, Lucy Tracy Lee (1865-1891). In 1903, she married [[Count Otto von Czernin#:~:text=Otto Rudolf Theobald Ottokar Maria,time of World War I.|Count Czernin von und zu Chudenitz]] (1875-1962), the Austro-Hungarian Minister to Bulgaria. They had four sons. When they divorced in 1914, she retained custody only of the youngest, Manfred (1913-1962). During the First World War she worked firstly for the British Ambassador in Rome and then for the American Red Cross. After divorce from Count Czernin, when she was not travelling, she lived at the house in Ravello, Italy – [[Villa Cimbrone]] – that she had inherited from her father. In 1921, Communists in the town of Viterbo fired at her car, mistaking its occupants for fascists. Her fifteen-year-old son Jaromir was killed and her chauffeur Enrico and another son Paul were badly injured, despite which she asked that mercy be shown to the perpetrators.<ref>Norman L.R. Frank ''Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC''. London: William Kimber, 1976, pp.19-20.</ref>
+In 1903, she married [[Count Otto von Czernin#:~:text=Otto Rudolf Theobald Ottokar Maria,time of World War I.|Count Czernin von und zu Chudenitz]] (1875–1962), the Austro-Hungarian Minister to Bulgaria. They had four sons. When they divorced in 1914, she retained custody only of the youngest, Manfred (1913–1962).
+During the First World War, she worked firstly for the British Ambassador in Rome and then for the American Red Cross.
-She mixed with some of the foremost artists and scientists of her time. At the Villa Cimbrone she was visited by, among others [[E. M. Forster|E.M. Forster]], [[D. H. Lawrence|D.H. Lawrence]] and [[Greta Garbo]]. An additional attraction at the Villa Cimbrone was the cliffside 6-floor house, [[La Rondinaia]] (the swallow’s nest), that she built in its grounds in 1930. She was a friend and patron of the artist [[Ceri Richards]], with whom she discussed artistic inspiration. He is known to have presented her with one of four hand illustrated copies of ''The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas''. She in turn presented one of Richards’ paintings to [[Carl Jung]].<ref>Mel Gooding ''Ceri Richards''. Moffat: Cameron & Hollis, 2002, p.114.</ref>
+After divorcing Count Czernin, she lived at the house in Ravello, Italy – [[Villa Cimbrone]] – that she inherited from her father. In 1921, Communists in [[Viterbo]] fired at her car, mistaking its occupants for fascists. Her fifteen-year-old son Jaromir was killed and son Paul and chauffeur Enrico were badly injured. Despite this, she asked that mercy be shown to the perpetrators.<ref>Norman L.R. Frank ''Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC''. London: William Kimber, 1976, pp.19-20.</ref>
-Of natural scientists she particularly admired [[Fred Hoyle]] and [[Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Eddington]] (to whom she dedicated ''The World Breath'' (1935)). Her thoughts developed and were refined in the light of new scientific discoveries. In the fields of psychology and religious studies she frequently references Carl Jung, [[Jiddu Krishnamurti|Krishnamurti]] and [[Christmas Humphreys|Christmas Humphries]] – all of whom she knew personally.
-In 1926 she married Captain Oliver Harry Frost (thereby becoming the Hon. Lucille Frost). They divorced in 1941. At various times, she also lived on Dartmoor and in Chelsea. In 1972 she sold La Rondinaia to [[Gore Vidal|Gore Vida]]<nowiki/>l and moved to Lisbon where she died in 1979. Gore Vidal claimed that her spirit permeated La Rondinaia.<ref>Michael Holroyd ''A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers''. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.114.</ref>
+Beckett mixed with some of the foremost artists and scientists of her time. At the Villa Cimbrone, she was visited by, among others [[E. M. Forster|E.M. Forster]], [[D. H. Lawrence|D.H. Lawrence]] and [[Greta Garbo]]. An additional attraction at the Villa Cimbrone was the cliffside 6-floor house, [[La Rondinaia]] (the swallow's nest), that she built in its grounds in 1930. She was a friend and patron of the artist [[Ceri Richards]], with whom she discussed artistic inspiration. He is known to have presented her with one of four hand illustrated copies of ''The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas''. She in turn presented one of Richards' paintings to [[Carl Jung]].<ref>Mel Gooding ''Ceri Richards''. Moffat: Cameron & Hollis, 2002, p.114.</ref> Of natural scientists she particularly admired Fred Hoyle and [[Arthur Eddington|Sir Arthur Eddington]] (to whom she dedicated ''The World Breath'' (1935)). Her thoughts developed and were refined in the light of new scientific discoveries. In the fields of psychology and religious studies she frequently references Carl Jung, [[Jiddu Krishnamurti|Krishnamurti]] and [[Christmas Humphreys|Christmas Humphries]] – all of whom she knew personally. In 1926 she married Captain Oliver Harry Frost (thereby becoming the Honourable Lucille Frost). They divorced in 1941. At various times, she also lived on [[Dartmoor]] and in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]]. In 1972 she sold La Rondinaia to [[Gore Vidal|Gore Vida]]l and moved to Lisbon where she died in 1979. Gore Vidal claimed that her spirit permeated La Rondinaia.<ref>Michael Holroyd ''A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers''. London: Chatto & Windus, 2010, p.114.</ref>
-=== '''Works'''   ===
+== Works   ==
-* ''Everyman and the Infinite,'' London: L.N Fowler & Co. 1923.
+=== ''Everyman and the Infinite,'' London: L.N Fowler & Co. 1923. ===
+"When so many writers of today feed vulture-like on the offal of the soul, it is well to turn to a book like this which through the finite imaginatively evokes the infinite" – ''Daily Telegraph''
+=== ''The World Breath,'' London: Rider & Co. 1935. ===
-Of mystical experience: “a hymn of praise sent out by my whole being into infinity around me.”
+''"The author explains (and what erudition has gone towards that explanation!) how the universe, mankind, sciences, religions, the atom and nebulae, all operate in waves and respond to the Law of Periodicity"'' ''–  Manchester Evening News''
+=== ''Gremlins (1948, unfinished)'' ===
-Of the need for a global “spiritual geography”: “it is only by seeing the whole world that we will work for the world.”
+''In 1948, Beckett was planning to write a book about the psychology of airmen but this project seems not to have been completed. She was particularly interested in their stories about gremlins. These stories abounded in the RAF in the Second World War; her son Manfred had been an RAF fighter pilot and SOE agent (his story is told in Double Mission by Norman Franks''<ref>Norman L.R. Frank ''Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC''. London: William Kimber, 1976.</ref>).
+=== ''Neti Neti (Not This Not That), Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1955'' ===
-''“When so many writers of today feed vulture-like on the offal of the soul, it is well to turn to a book like this which through the finite imaginatively evokes the infinite”'' ''– Daily Telegraph''
+This book, in which the author attempts to develop a new conception of religion, is believed to have influenced the composer [[John Cage]].<ref>Peter Jaeger ''John Cage and Buddhist Ecopoetics''. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, p.15</ref> The title, [[Neti neti|Neti Neti]], is a reference to the [[Upanishads]].
+=== ''Unbounded Worlds,'' Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1959 ===
-* ''The World Breath,'' London: Rider & Co. 1935.
+In this book, dedicated to her grandson, Nicholas, the topic is infinity and causation.
+=== ''Movement and Emptiness,'' London: Stuart (Vincent) & J.M. Watkins Ltd. 1968 ===
-The shared aim of science and religion is: “the discovery of the primal and fundamental cause” (p.15). They follow different paths but both seek to know the nature of reality and both listen to the same voice of inspiration.
+* "How modern scientific discovery in the field of astro-physics leads back to the one fundamental fact of 'unborn, unoriginated, unformed', which the Buddha recognised" (flyleaf).
+=== ''Insight of Solitude'' London: Robinson & Watkins Ltd. 1973 ===
-''“The author explains (and what erudition has gone towards that explanation!) how the universe, mankind, sciences, religions, the atom and nebulae, all operate in waves and respond to the Law of Periodicity”'' ''–  Manchester Evening News''
+* "I am firmly convinced that the Buddha taught what is being rediscovered in our time by the most eminent scientists." (foreword)
+== References ==
-* ''Gremlins (1948, aborted)''
+{{Reflist}}
+{{Authority control}}
-''In 1948 Beckett was planning to write a book about the psychology of airmen but this project seems not to have been completed. She was particularly interested in their stories about gremlins. These stories abounded in the RAF in the Second World War; her son Manfred had been an RAF fighter pilot and SOE agent (his story is told in Double Mission by Norman Franks''<ref>Norman L.R. Frank ''Double Mission: RAF Fighter Ace and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin, DSO, MC, DFC''. London: William Kimber, 1976.</ref>''). In the following anonymous report (dated 1 March 1948), under the heading ‘Mrs Frost believes in Gremlins – so she’s advertised for some,’ she humours a bemused reporter from The Mirror.''
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, L.C.}}
-'' The Hon. Mrs Lucie Frost has never seen a gremlin – but she’s convinced they exist. In her luxury top floor flat in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea (London) surrounded by modern paintings and grotesquely carved wooden statuettes this grey-haired lady sadly shook her head and gazed dolefully through her horn-rimmed spectacles as I entered.''
+[[Category:1884 births]]
+[[Category:1979 deaths]]
-''“A newspaperman,” she muttered. “I thought you might be a gremlin. I am disappointed.”''
+[[Category:20th-century English women scientists]]
+[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
-''“I advertised for them you know – in The Times too,” she went on, “but not one has turned up yet.”''
+[[Category:English people of American descent]]
+[[Category:English women philosophers]]
-''The glaring eye of the painting over the mantelpiece winked balefully.''
+[[Category:People from Kirkstall]]
+[[Category:Scientists from Leeds]]
-''“I’m writing a book about the psychology of airmen,” Mrs Frost explained. They are a different race of men altogether.''
+[[Category:Writers from Leeds]]
-''“The gremlins are there,” she breathed.''
-''A bubbling sound came from the kitchen.''
-''“There my greens have boiled over . . .” said Mrs Frost. “Those gremlins . . . !”''
-* Neti Neti (Not This Not That), Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1955
-This book, in which the author attempts to develop a new conception of religion, is believed to have influenced the composer [[John Cage]].<ref>Peter Jaeger ''John Cage and Buddhist Ecopoetics''. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, p.15</ref>
-“My whole aim is to find out as much as I can about that ‘self-process’ of true creation going on in Nothing Between all ‘things’.” (p.29)
-“In Nothing between all things lies the greatest of mysteries which we have persistently screened from our minds with the image of God, because no man cares to contemplate a void.” (pp.34-35)
-“[I]t is out of Nothing between two electric charges, between cognition and concept, between the ingredients which make up events, and finally between two thoughts, that new creation arises.” (p.100)
- Of Death: “some day when the senses drop their message at the door of the brain, there will be no image on the other side – and we shall be as we always were.” (p.104)
-''Unbounded Worlds,'' Marazion, Cornwall, UK: The Ark Press 1959
-In this book, dedicated to her grandson, Nicholas, the author attempts a fresh inquiry into infinity and causation.
-“[T]he aim of everything I have been saying has been to enable my reader to catch a glimpse of what infinity really means – if that be possible.” (p.22)
-“If we are physically one with the Universe why should we not be one with the principles which govern it?” (p.58)
-“[M]any of the discoveries of science were foreshadowed hundreds, even thousands of years ago by the so-called mystics.” (p.67)
-''Movement and Emptiness,'' London: Stuart (Vincent) & J.M. Watkins Ltd. 1968
-“How modern scientific discovery in the field of astro-physics leads back to the one fundamental fact of “unborn, unoriginated, unformed”, which the Buddha recognised” (flyleaf)
-''Insight of Solitude'' London: Robinson & Watkins Ltd. 1973.
-“I am firmly convinced that the Buddha taught what is being rediscovered in our time by the most eminent scientists.” (foreword)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF 2
National	Australia
People	Trove