Franklin Merrell-Wolff (born Franklin Fowler Wolff; 11 July 1887 – 4 October 1985) was an American mystic and

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. After formal education in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, Wolff devoted himself to the goal of transcending the normal limits of human consciousness. After exploring various mystical teachings and paths, he dedicated himself to the path of

jnana yoga Jnana yoga (), also known as the jnana ''marga'' (), is one of the three classical paths ('' margas'') for moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, which emphasizes the "path of knowledge", also known as the "path of self-realization". The other two ...

and the writings of Shankara, the expounder of the

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...

school of

Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...

Life

Franklin Fowler Wolff was born in Pasadena, California in 1887.Versluis, Arthur (2014). American Gurus: From American Transcendentalism to New Age Religion, , p. 84 He was raised as a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, but abandoned Christianity during his youth. Wolff studied mathematics and philosophy at Stanford and Harvard. At Stanford, he was elected to the

Phi Beta Kappa Society The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ar ...

in 1911. He briefly taught mathematics at Stanford in 1914, but left academia the following year. In 1920, Wolff married Sarah Merrell Briggs. The couple joined their original surnames; hence Wolff became Franklin Merrell-Wolff. Merrell-Wolff and his wife founded an esoteric group called the ''Assembly of Man'' in 1928, which congregated in an

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountains near

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

. Sarah Merrell-Wolff, also known as Sherifa, died in 1959. Franklin Merrell-Wolff remarried and lived the rest of his life in the mountains until his death in 1985. He authored various books and a great number of recorded lectures explaining his philosophy.

Philosophy

Wolff's philosophy was described by religious scholar

Arthur Versluis Arthur Versluis (born 1959) is a professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University. Academic career Versluis did his Ph.D research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His thesis ...

as a "consistent and extensive body of work with a unique vocabulary and set of concepts".Versluis (2014), p. 85 In his works, Wolff described his mystic experiences and their implications, examining his experience in the light of his extensive knowledge of mathematics and philosophy. Although he started an Ashram, his form of spirituality was not necessarily compatible with a religious structure. In his book ''Pathways Through to Space'', Wolff describes having a profound spiritual realization in 1936, which provided the basis for his transcendental philosophy. He called this experience the "Fundamental Realization". In its aftermath, Wolff found himself being in a state of euphoric consciousness he called the "Current of Ambrosia", which he described as being "above time, space and causality".Versluis (2014), p. 86 It also led Wolff to a state of "High Indifference", or consciousness without an object. At the center of these experiences was the realization of "Primordial consciousness", which, according to Wolff, is beyond and prior to the subject or the object and is unaffected by their presence or absence.Versluis (2014), p. 86-87 One of his fundamental contributions to epistemology was the notion of "Introception", or "Knowledge through Identity". This represents a transcendent form of knowledge which is neither conceptual nor empirical. It is perhaps the simplest and clearest definition ever proposed, of what many mystics have called "Gnosis". Wolff's other published books detailing his experience and philosophy include ''The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object'' and ''Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology'' (originally published under the title ''Introceptualism'').

Selected works

*Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1973). ''Pathways Through To Space'' (New York : Julian Press). . *Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1973). ''The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object'' (New York : Julian Press). . *Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1994). ''Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Experience and Philosophy: a personal record of transformation and a discussion of transcendental consciousness: containing his Philosophy of Consciousness Without An Object and his Pathways Through To Space'' (Albany : SUNY Press). *Merrell-Wolff, Franklin (1995). ''Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology,'' edited by Ron Leonard (Albany : SUNY Press). .

References

External links

Franklin Merrell-Wolff :: Philosopher. Mathematician. Mystic. Spiritual Teacher.

The Transcendental Philosophy of Franklin Merrell-Wolff

The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrell-Wolff, Franklin 1887 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American philosophers American Christian mystics American spiritual teachers American spiritual writers Harvard University alumni Idealists Stanford University alumni

Life

Philosophy

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading

External links