Manly P Hall

Quotes & References

Wealth, therefore, impoverishes man, deprives him of time, absorbs his interests, depletes his strength, and leaves him incapable of becoming wise.

— Manly P Hall; How to Understand Your Bible

The man who hid his doctrine in the earth, that is, attempted to hold truth and prevent others from receiving it, was rebuked by his master and lost the very wisdom he had attempted to keep for himself.

— Manly P Hall; How to Understand Your Bible

Truth manifesting the material universe is hopelessly obscured by the inadequate vehicles of its manifestation. Perfection manifesting through the imperfect appears by very necessity to be imperfect itself.

— Manly P Hall; How to Understand Your Bible

Love is religion, and hate is atheism...ethics is philosophy.

— Manly P Hall; Back to Basics in Religion, Philosophy and Science

It has been said that wisdom lies not in seeing things but in seeing through things.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

As the spirit enters the human body when the embryo reaches a certain degree of unfoldment, so will the spirit of Truth enter the religious body when that structure has adequately prepared itself for such a coming.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

The world knows many religions, but Nature has but once Truth.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

All human beings are divided into four general classes...The lowest of these divisions is the physical nature, and those who dwell therein are of the earth, earthy; they live only for the gratification of their physical natures. Their idea of heaven is a place where there is food, feasting, and little or no work...Their minds are only partly active. Their bodies resemble prisons more than dwelling places...they live to labor, plodding along to a mediocre destiny...Give them opulence and they cannot retain it. Give them luxuries, and they do not appreciate them. They are the dark earthy ones who must ever bow before intelligence. They do not love God, for they cannot know Him.

The second division is made up of the artisans and those who labor both with mind and hand...They buy, sell, and exchange...Having a mind, they control the mindless...Not having the mental organism with which to reason, they fill the places of worship where thinking is done for them. They are the ones who allow their clergy to decide all spiritual problems for them, feeling themselves incapable of assuming the onus of heavy thinking...their credulity is utilized as a commercial asset by certain types of minds who consider it legitimate to capitalize on the ignorance of others.

The third class is made up of the scientists...they attack the boundary lines of the known...Those who wage this war in the cause of science are mostly concrete thinkers who follow as far as their instruments will lead them and then must wait for instruments still more powerful. Most of these minds are atheistic or at least agnostic...The miracles of theology are incapable of chemical analysis and are consequently taken cum grano salis by the scientific world.

The fourth and highest group embraces philosophers, musicians, and artists, all living in an abstract mental world surrounded by dreams and visions wholly unrecognizable by the other types. They have reached beyond the world of academic education to the world of creative idealism, which is at present the highest function of the human mind. This world is the dwelling place of genius, of invention, and of the things which lower mentalities can only accept but never analyze. Religiously, these minds are deistic. Most of them are monotheists - believers in one God. Many of them are mystics or occultists...

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

We would have much less trouble if our psychologists refrained from speaking for the first five years, for most of them are preaching with no more foundation for their eloquence than two weeks' study with someone no better informed than themselves.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

The true occultist wants nothing but wisdom. When Solomon raised his hands to his God, Jehovah spoke from the heavens asking him what he would have, and he answered, "God give me the gift of wisdom." Jehovah asked him if there were not other things he desired, but Solomon answered, "No, only wisdom." And God told Solomon that because he had asked only for wisdom that all the other things should be added unto him and that from this day to the end of the world there would never be another king so rich, so great, or so blest.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

Once men died for Truth, but now Truth dies at the hands of men.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

An intellectual fact is not necessarily a truth

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

By this it is understood that the animal excesses of man build, on the lower planes of the astral world, strange creatures, some resembling debased human beings, and others shaped like animals, lizards, snakes, and other reptiles. The power of the black magician lies in his ability to direct these soulless creatures, which, while not in reality individualized things, still have tremendous power over their own essences, both in the body of nature and of individuals.

— Manly P Hall; Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics

We must disabuse our minds of the idea that the black magician cannot injure us because we are in the right, or that he is weak because he is evil. This is a foolish concept, taught to prevent man from strengthening himself, and is propaganda of the black path itself. It is just as foolish as to say that if a prize fighter were boxing a baby, the baby would win the fight because he had no ulterior motive, or because his soul is undefiled. Thousands of people have not enough ambition to develop the necessary strength. In fact, they do not even know that their soul is worth saving. They are living honestly, they are good Christian people, but so purely negative that they are positively advertising the fact that they are easy marks for anyone desiring to avail himself of the opportunity. They are not black themselves, but they are the type that helps to make possible the perpetuation of black magic.

— Manly P Hall; Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics

As power is given to man commensurate to his wisdom and understanding, it is not safe at the present time to reveal to the world at large the methods whereby entrance to the invisible world is possible. If this knowledge were given to selfish people unprepared for their responsibility, they would be able to destroy the universe, either through perversion or ignorance. In order to protect this sacred wisdom obstacles have been placed in the way of its attainment which only the sincere and courageous would be strong enough to overcome. Years of service, self-purification and self-mastery must be passed through before any candidate will be admitted to the path of wisdom.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

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 into the invisible worlds. With these specially ordained and illumined sons they left the keys of their great wisdom, which was the knowledge of good and evil. They ordained these anointed and appointed ones to be priests or mediators between themselves (the gods) and that humanity which had not yet developed the eyes which permitted them to gaze into the face of Truth and live.

Overshadowed by the divine prerogative, these illumined ones, founded what we now know as the Ancient Mysteries.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples

WHEN confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd. The Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that meat is the food of strong men. Thoughtlessness is almost synonymous with childishness, while thoughtfulness is symbolic of maturity.

There are, however, but few mature minds in the world; and thus it was that the philosophic-religious doctrines of the pagans were divided to meet the needs of these two fundamental groups of human intellect--one philosophic, the other incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of life. To the discerning few were revealed the esoteric, or spiritual, teachings, while the unqualified many received only the literal, or exoteric, interpretations. In order to make simple the great truths of Nature and the abstract principles of natural law, the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and goddesses of the ancient mythologies. While the ignorant multitudes brought their offerings to the altars of Priapus and Pan (deities representing the procreative energies), the wise recognized in these marble statues only symbolic concretions of great abstract truths.

— Manly P Hall

Quinton's Opinion on Manly P Hall

Manly P Hall is One of our Greatest Teachers

Manly P Hall has got to be one of the most well-read, deep, thorough, but yet still honest authors out there. His works are some of the best you will find.

By: Quinton Posted: August 29, 2009

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Manly P Hall

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Manly P Hall has got to be one of the most well-read, deep, thorough, but yet still honest authors out there. His works are some of the best you will find.

I have studied Manly P Hall's work for a while now and I have to say that he is without a doubt one of my favorite authors and lecturers. Not only is he a very spiritual and moral person, but he is very knowledgeable and wise as well. He is most well known for publishing "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" when he was just 27. This book is sourced by a number of authors in the occult area of research as the book takes an encyclopedic approach to outlining many of the world's mysteries.

Manly P Hall also has very many writings on other great topics such as philosophy and esoteric topics. His writing comes off with a very complete and thorough feel because, in my opinion, he has a very broad understanding in many different areas of research and is able to tie them all together intelligibly.

Perhaps a few quotes by him will further this message:

Few realize that man is responsible for the things he has not done. That is part of the law. It is just as wrong not to do the right things as it is to do the wrong things.

The white magician seeks to gain control over himself. The black magician seeks to obtain control over others.

For lack of interreligious understanding there has been very little religious understanding.

The majority of mankind neither desires to improve itself nor to support an organization which demands a high degree of integrity.

Hall was also a 33rd degree Freemason. I would suspect much of this knowledge further deepens his understanding of the many topics in which he writes on.

Something Manly P Hall should be applauded on

Manly P Hall is the first person I have found to do something of a rather curious nature. I am almost positive that Hall takes the Jesus / Resurrection parts of the Bible as allegorical and astrological as evident by almost all of his writings, however, during his lectures he puts this very touchy subject in the context of his listeners. I find this extremely important and big of him. He doesn't try to force what he knows down their throats, he is much too elegant to do such a thing. He uses their own terminology and their own understanding and goes along with it with them. He talks about Jesus, Christmas, Passover and all these other Christian things people are comfortable with rather than ramming down the sun, astrology and all these other deeper interpretations he holds. He doesn't go out of his way to make these people uncomfortable as SOOOOOO many people do these days due to ego. I take this as something that shows Manly P Hall's true character and something that so few people will ever achieve.

This is the equivalent of a Christian giving a Muslim a lesson in the Muslim's context for the sake of the Muslim receiving the greatest benefit out of it, despite a loss in accuracy. It is not always about proving others wrong as much as it is about helping them grow.

If you have not checked out his work I would greatly encourage you to do so as he hits on some of the most important topics and really gets you thinking. He also has some great videos you can watch online about basic living and philosophy. Some really great stuff I must say.