Manly P. Hall: The Maestro of Esoteric Philosophy (V)
Part 5 | Philosophy, Religion, and Science: a Synthesis
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Table of Contents:
26. Philosophy, Religion, and Science: a Trinity
27. Philosophy, Religion, and Science: the Beginning
28. A Transition in Ages: from Atlantis to the Arya
29. The Separation of Philosophy, Religion, and Science
Part 2 of this article will be out in a week or so…
Audio/Video Summary of this Article:
26. Philosophy, Religion, and Science: a Trinity
In my eyes, the factor that separates Manly P. Hall from all other contemporary philosophers, teachers, and scholars in the field of esoteric philosophy is that he teaches you not only “what to think” in terms of what esoteric philosophy’s core doctrine of teachings are all about, but also “how to think” - meaning, how to discipline the mind to think in accordance with the archetypal patterns underlying universal creation.
In the thousands of articles, books, pamphlets, and lectures he left behind, Hall revealed not only an incredible amount of detailed knowledge about what past civilizations and cultures thought about religion and philosophy, but he also goes further and actually teaches you the methods these ancient philosophers used in order to discipline their minds to “think in alignment with God”.
This means to think in accordance with the framework of laws and patterns that the Divine Mind uses in its design of the Universe. Before the physical universe was fashioned, this Mind conceived of a perfect formula of archetypal laws and principles. These work together to govern the unfoldment of universal reality; by learning to think in accordance with them, the philosopher learns to “think with God” and to perceive the presence of God, Law, and Intelligent Design everywhere within the universe.
One of the techniques of the ancient philosophers that Hall reveals in his writings is that of “triangulation”. Here, the method is to breaking any topic one is considering down into three primary component principles, which relate to each other in a triangular pattern.
Within this triangulation pattern, one principle plays the role of thesis, another the role of antithesis, and a third the role of synthesis.
Each principle within the triad must fit into one of these three positions, with no overlap and no vacancies. This means that two of these principles must always dialectically oppose each other as thesis-antithesis, with a third, synthesizing factor intermediating between them.
After the initial designation of this base Trinity, additional philosophical analysis can be extended, and more factors considered. But these are always understood to exist atop the foundation of the Trinity.
In this way, the method of triangulation is one of philosophy’s most important keys, serving as the foundation for its entire approach to reason and logic.
To give an example of how the triangulation method works in practice, consider philosophy’s approach to disambiguating the primordial Trinity found in almost all ancient religions: Spirit, Soul, and Body.
Within this foundational Trinity, the two principles of Spirit and Body counterpose each other as thesis-antithesis: Body is material and finite; while Spirit in immaterial and infinite. In between the two resides the Soul, which serves as a synthesizing element between them.
The Soul’s task is to intermediate between the two and bring them ultimately to a state of mutual optimization, with the Soul evolving the Body so that it will be shaped into the perfect expression of its heavenly counterpart, Spirit.
In modern terminology, we can express this same idea through the concepts of Consciousness, Mind, and Form. Here, Consciousness and Form counterpose each other, with the Mind serving as an intermediary agent between them.
Mind takes in Consciousness, which is innately unbound and infinite, and works to condition it, specialize it, and focus it into the pattern of thought. This thought then crystallizes within Matter to become a living thought form, which, unlike consciousness, is bound and finite. Thus, consciousness and form are thesis-antithesis to each other, while the mind is the intermediary element that links them together.
Going deeper, we note that, in this Trinity, Spirit (or Consciousness), is the active principle in creation, and Body (or Form) the negative, receptive principle. The Soul, Psyche, or Mind, meanwhile, functions as as an intermediary agent between the two: taking in consciousness, specializing its energy, and directing it into form, which consciousness animates and vivifies.
When it comes to the origins of human civilization and the institutions that underly its evolution, a similar Trinity can be discerned, with philosophy, religion, and science forming an inseparable triad. Here, religion and science oppose each other as thesis and antithesis, with philosophy binding them together as a common synthesizing agent.
In the philosopher’s view of this Trinity, all three institutions share one key property in common: each concerns a different aspect of humanity’s relationship to God.
More specifically, religion concerns man’s internal experience of God and the personal relationship that each individual has to Divinity. Science, meanwhile, is the study of God’s outer anatomy and physiology, as revealed in the structures and processes of Nature, which we investigate using our physical sense perceptions.
Religion and Science are thus Yin and Yang to each other; they are opposites, but they pair together and are actually inseparable from one another. Philosophy, meanwhile, binds them together.
Philosophy is grounded in the effort of aligning the human soul with the mandates of Divine Law, which manifest at every moment as the laws of Nature. In accomplishing its purpose, philosophy utilizes science to perfect its mastery of the Law, and applies this knowledge toward the optimization of religion, which culminates in the experience of Nirvana or Enlightenment.
At its core, philosophy is rooted in the quest to learn and obey God’s Laws, with the understanding that the soul perfects itself only when it obeys perfectly the laws of its own evolution, which were set down by the Divine Mind in the beginning of creation as an archetype.
The growing and evolving soul exists always in relation to this archetype, which specifies how its growth and evolution is to take place.
Philosophy is about teaching the individual to align with this archetype: to develop the lower body and mind so that it expresses the ideal design that God intends for it. As one moves closer to an alignment with this archetype, one naturally catalyzes and quickens their own evolutionary development.
This has to take place as a self-willed process. The idea here is that mankind is intended to proactively participate in its own evolutionary growth, and philosophy is the divinely ordained vehicle purposefully designed to guide man toward the fulfillment of this task.
The fulfillment of man's evolutionary growth is measured in religion as an increase in one’s conscious communion with God. In science, it is measured as an increased mastery over the structure and processes governing the body and mind. And in philosophy, it is measured in terms of initiation: the Mystery School’s various degrees of initiation imitating on an institutional level the different stages of Nature’s evolutionary program for man.
Here we come to an important point: for religion and science to ever achieve their highest potential, each must find common ground in philosophy.
Religion without philosophy falls into dogma, and science without philosophy falls into materialism.
Philosophy gives science a soul, and grounds religion in the facts of Nature. It brings religion into science and science into religion, in other words.
This simple way of binding religion, science, and philosophy together is one of Manly Hall’s most significant insights, one that we would do well to appreciate today. In particular, his triangulation method provides us with a blueprint for how to reform, revitalize, and reunite these institutions in the modern age.
Hall teaches us that these three institutions actually form a united Trinity together; he also informs us on the role each is intended to play within this triad, helping us clear up our current confusion about what role each should play within society.
We live in a period when philosophy has all but disappeared from public awareness and use; when religion has abandoned its inner, psychological roots, becoming mired instead in empty ritual and theological absolutism; and when science has fallen into a barren state of materialism, offering itself as a tool of empire rather than human enlightenment.
It is only by understanding that these three institutions are supposed to work together as a triad that we become empowered to change this situation. For example, by viewing them as interlinked, we come to understand that, to fix any one of them, all three must be reformed, for the reason that none exists independently of its counterparts, and each needs the others to realize its own potential.
So for our paradigm of scientific materialism to be corrected, we must also have a reformation in our approach to religion. And for this shift in religion to take place, the third factor - philosophy - must also be incorporated and brought into the equation.
Today, we ignore philosophy entirely; but in the future, as we seek to reform science and religion and bring them into a new phase of expression, we must bring it back. Separated from philosophy, science and religion will naturally polarize away from each other. Philosophy is the synthesizing element necessary to bind them back together. It is the quickening agent; the Mercury that catalyzes the alchemical transmutation of Sulfur and Salt.
In this article, we’re going to explore in detail Manly P. Hall’s teachings about how these three institutions - philosophy, religion, and science - work together for form an inseparable Trinity.
We’ll begin our exploration by looking at the history of this triad of institutions, tracking their collective origin back to the time of lost Atlantis.
Once united in ancient times, these three institutions gradually separated from each other, becoming individualized as autonomous entities in the process.
An example of this comes with the Christian Church declaring itself separate from pagan philosophy and persecuting its remnant orders, paranoid that their “heretical” teachings would threaten its hegemony over the hearts and minds of Europe.
As a counter-reaction against this, in modern times we’ve seen the institution of science rise as an autonomous force and declare itself independent from religion. In the process, it has also lost track of its roots in philosophy, and has fallen into a barren materialistic state.
Overall, the pattern we see is one where, as human civilization has progressed through time, there has been a gradual decline in the interconnection between these three institutions. What began as an unified Trinity gradually shifted into disunion and disorder, with religion, philosophy, and science separating and coming into competitive relationships with one another.
This process of institutional partitioning is akin to a psychic split taking place within the collective psyche. This process of psychic splitting has proceeded up to modern times, and we are now in the culmination stage of it.
We have been through the age of religion, and are currently in the age of science, and now it’s time to move into a new age, where the two are unified, with philosophy moving in as the synthesizing element necessary to bring this union about.
Our present task is clear, then: we must work to reintegrate the now-separated institutions of religion, science, and philosophy, so that they once again unite together as an interconnected Trinity, with each institution fitted into its proper place and performing its necessary function.
As we move closer and closer toward the formal establishment of a world civilization, we’ll need to draw upon this Trinity of institutions. No longer can we afford to have a shallow paradigm of materialistic science, a dogmatic approach to religion, and an impotent and confused understanding of philosophy.
These institutions, revitalized and re-linked together, will form the foundation for a new era of world civilization that is to come.
The purpose of this article is to carve out a vision for how this Trinity of institutions can be refitted together, using Manly P. Hall’s teachings on the topic as our guide.
As we move not only toward world government, but also the revelation of an entirely new paradigm of science and technology based around the use of Etheric energy, the necessity to link philosophy, science, and religion back together as a united front has never been more urgent.
Due to the extreme power and transformative influence of Etheric energy, this bountiful resource can never be safely revealed to the outer body of mankind while its institution of science remains captivated with a secular and materialistic mindset. The competitive nature of our geopolitics and economics further emphasize the need to keep this breakthrough secret.
The future of human civilization requires us to reintegrate our institutions of religion, science, and philosophy, so that we can come together as a global people, dedicated to the service of God. If we can do this, then the gift of the gods - Etheric energy - will be bestowed upon us.
In his teachings, Manly P. Hall gives us a simple way to approach this challenge. If we follow the basic pattern he reveals, one rooted in the archetypal method of triangulation, then we will fulfill the evolutionary growth program God intends for us, and create a new golden age - a New Atlantis - for ourselves as an inevitable result.
27. Philosophy, Religion, and Science: the Beginning
The origin of religion dates back to the beginning of mankind itself. As the esoteric wisdom teachings inform us, human history originally begins in a spiritual state. From this initial spiritual condition, the human soul then descends voluntarily into an experience of materiality. Over time, the soul, enmeshed in matter, evolves back upward to Spirit, refining its material form toward an increasingly perfect and ideal state of existence in the process.
Eventually, at the fullness of its evolution, the soul sheds its material garments and reascends back upward toward a union with Spirit, which is now wiser, having gained the benefit of experience for having successfully undergone and completed a grand evolutionary cycle within the domain of Matter.
In one of his early works, titled “What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of its Disciples,” Manly Hall summarizes humanity’s origin story, writing that “Man has not always been a material being. Eternities ago he was a spiritual creature, of radiant and glorious powers. Gradually, he assumed the coats of skins which we call bodies, and his radiance was darkened by the sheaths of clay.”
This simple way of framing things gives us an important insight into the essential nature of religion: religion is the human soul’s communion with its own spiritual source - its own higher Self. This higher Self remains always connected to God and is in fact God incarnate, there being no separation between the individual Self and the Universal Self (God) at this lofty spiritual elevation.
Here’s where philosophy comes in: the program of descent and re-ascent that the human soul goes through during its engagement with Matter is governed by a lawful pattern of order and process, one that is mathematical and geometric at root.
Philosophy is grounded in the observance of this fact. It is therefore the key to man’s ascension back toward his natural spiritual state. Philosophy’s purpose is to discipline the soul in the working of the Law, and thereby facilitate the Soul’s re-ascension out of Matter and back toward Spirit.
According to the esoteric doctrine, the wisdom teachings of philosophy have been handed down in an unbroken line since the beginning of the human soul’s descent into material experience. It was maintained and preserved by the aspect of the Soul that never descended into Matter, this being the higher Spiritual Self. Periodically, the Higher Self disseminates the esoteric doctrine to the evolving lower selves of creation (mankind), so that their journey back home toward Spirit may be advanced.
In this way, Hall tells us that “man was never left to wander alone in ignorance. When the ties connecting him to the unseen worlds were broken, certain methods were established whereby the will of the gods could be made known.”
These methods are the esoteric disciplines once practiced by the Adepts and initiates of the Mystery Schools. In the beginning, they were revealed by the spiritual over-government of the world to the most advanced and worthy of the incarnating human souls, who took on the responsibility of protecting and disseminating it.
Hall writes that “to this end, a certain number of men and women were instructed how to bridge the chasm which then separated the gods from men. The method of establishing this communication was the greatest of all the secrets of ancient occultism. This secret has been preserved for the race, for at a later time all human beings will be able to communicate directly with the gods once more.”
According to the spiritual cosmology of esoteric philosophy, the creation process begins with Divine Unity expressing itself as a Holy Trinity. Within the structure of this Trinity, the consciousness of Unity goes to “sleep”. Within this “slumber”, which I think of as a meditation, the consciousness of Deity reawakens as a septenary of spiritual powers. This septenary are the gods - the Elohim of the Bible and the Dhyani Buddhas of esoteric Buddhism - who together become the builders of all further stages of the creation process.
This process is metaphorically like white light striking a prism and partitioning into the spectrum of seven colors.
The septenary pattern of the gods is imparted into every level of creation: the soul is partitioned into seven levels; the world goes through seven evolutionary stages; there are seven primary kingdoms of Nature; seven continents; seven world religions; and seven root races.
During the early stages of the human soul’s descent into materiality, when its mental and physical capacities were comparatively less mature than they are today, it was guided directly by the gods and the order of divine beings (Bodhisattvas; Adepts) who serve them. These spiritual beings remain at-one with Spirit and never fall into the illusion of materiality. From the lofty spiritual condition they reside in, they work to guide mankind in various ways.
In the early days of man’s evolutionary journey, the gods guided mankind directly. But gradually, for the purposes of its own evolution, the gods withdrew, and mankind was left increasingly to take custodianship over its own evolutionary development.
Hall elaborates, informing us how “in the remote past, the gods walked with men. And while the instructors from the invisible planes of Nature were still laboring with the infant humanity of this planet, they chose from among the sons of men the wisest and the truest. These they labored with, preparing them to carry on the work of the gods after the spiritual hierarchies themselves had withdrawn (back) into the invisible worlds.”
In this way, the first Mystery Schools were born, with its initial leadership class comprised of those whom the gods instructed and elevated firsthand.
Hall tells us that it was “with these specially ordained and illumined sons (that) they left the keys of their great wisdom. … They ordained these anointed and appointed ones to be priests or mediators between themselves (the gods) and the outer body of humanity.”
“Overshadowed by the divine prerogative, these illumined ones founded what we now know as the Ancient Mysteries.” These were schools where the wisdom of the gods was offered to qualified candidates, who were incrementally initiated into it.
“At first these schools were publicly recognized. Great temples were built to house the priests and serve as chambers of initiation. … Generation after generation was illumined by the wisdom secreted in these sacred repositories.”
“To the spiritual universities were admitted (only) the most worthy and capable of the sons of men. … A few chosen disciples in each generation have been given the sacred privilege of knowing the gods. This wisdom, and the power and knowledge (it bestows), they in turn impart to a few chosen and dedicated disciples. Thus the work is carried on.”