Appendix

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor

p. 271

NOTE A, page 12.–In some Lodges the Tyler takes the sword from the altar.

NOTE B, page 18.–Some Masters repeat the words, “O Lord my God,” three times.

NOTE C, page 19–Masters differ about the proper manner of placing the three lights around the altar. In most Lodges they are placed as represented in the engraving, page 19; but many Masters have them placed thus:

[paragraph continues] The square represents the altar; the figures 1, 2, and 3, the lights; the letter A, the kneeling candidate, and the letter B, the Master.

NOTE D, page 21.–Some Masters say: “I now declare this Lodge opened in the Third Degree of Masonry for the dispatch of business.”

NOTE E, page 39.–In spelling this word, “Boaz,” always begin with the letter “A,” and follow the alphabet down as the letters occur in the word.

NOTE F, page 42.–In some Lodges the reply is: “Try me, and disapprove of me if you can;” in others, “I am willing to be tried.”

NOTE G, page 43.–Some say, “In an anteroom adjacent to a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons.”

NOTE H, page 44.–Some say, “Three times around the Lodge.”

NOTE I, page 51.–Some say, “On the highest hills and lowest valleys.”

NOTE J, p. 89.–In some Lodges, the Deacon omits the single rap (•), and opens the door when the three raps (• • •) are given.

NOTE K, page 205.–In most Lodges the candidate does not halt at the Junior Warden’s station, but passes on to the Senior Warden.

NOTE L, page 125.–Master says: “I shall now proceed to give and explain to you the several signs and tokens belonging to the Degree.” Here the Master places his hands as the candidate’s

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were when he took the oath of a Master (see Fig. 5, page 17), and explains. Makes sign of a Master Mason, and explains. (See Fig. 6, page 18.) Makes the grand hailing sign, and explains. (See Fig. 7, page 18.) Gives grip of a Master Mason, and explains. (See Fig. 16, page 97.) Gives strong grip, and explains. (See Fig. 17, page 120.)

NOTE M, page 235.–The Principal Sojourner should say: “We are of your own brethren and kin–children of the captivity–descendants of those noble Giblemites, we were received and acknowledged Most Excellent Masters at the completion and dedication of the first temple–were present at the destruction of that temple by Nebuchadnezzar, by whom we were carried captives to Babylon, where we remained servants to him and his successors until the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, by whose order we have been liberated, and have now come up to help, aid, and assist in rebuilding the house of the Lord, without the hope of fee or reward.” (See lecture.)

NOTE N, page 236.–Instead of saying: “You surely could not have come thus far unless you were three Most Excellent Masters,” etc., the Master of the First Veil should say: “Good men and true you must have been, to have come thus far to promote so noble and good an undertaking, but further you cannot go without my word, sign, and word of explanation” (See lecture.)

NOTE O, page 235.–In some Chapters they only stamp seven times.

NOTE P, page 140.–In some parts of the country the second section of the lecture is continued as follows:

Q. What followed?

A. They travelled as before; and as those, who had pursued a due westerly course from the temple, were returning, one (1) of them, being more weary than the rest, sat down on the brow of a hill to rest and refresh himself, and on rising up caught hold of a sprig of acacia, which easily giving way excited his curiosity; and while they were meditating over this singular circumstance they heard three frightful exclamations from the cleft of an adjacent rock. The first was the voice of Jubelo, exclaiming, “Oh! that my throat had been cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots and buried in the sands of the sea at low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, ere I had been accessory to the death of so great and good a man as our Grand Master Hiram Abiff.” The second was the voice of Jubela, exclaiming: “Oh! that my left breast had been torn open, my heart. plucked from thence and given to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air as a prey, ere I

Title Page

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Secret Teachings of All Ages

THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

by Manly P. Hall

[1928, copyright not renewed]

Start Reading

For once, a book which really lives up to its title. Hall self-published this massive tome in 1928, consisting of about 200 legal-sized pages in 8 point type; it is literally his magnum opus. Each of the nearly 50 chapters is so dense with information that it is the equivalent of an entire short book. If you read this book in its entirety you will be in a good position to dive into subjects such as the Qabbala, Alchemy, Tarot, Ceremonial Magic, Neo-Platonic Philosophy, Mystery Religions, and the theory of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Although there are some questionable and controversial parts of the book, such as the outdated material on Islam, the portion on the Bacon-Shakespeare hypothesis, and Hall’s conspiracy theory of history as driven by an elite cabal of roving immortals, they are far out-weighed by the comprehensive information here on other subjects.

For many years this book was only available in a large format edition which was hard to obtain and very expensive. However, an affordable paperback version has finally been released.

PRODUCTION NOTES: I worked on this huge project episodically from 2001 to June 2004. This because of the poor OCR quality, which was due to the miniscule type and large blocks of italics; this necessitated retyping many parts of the text manually. To give an idea of how massive this project was, the proof file for this is 2 megabytes, about 8 times the size of a normal 200 page book. The raw graphics files are 63 megabytes, which I’ve processed down to about 11 megabytes. The thumbnails alone are 1 megabyte, which is about my graphics budget for a regular book.

While the book itself is not covered by copyright in the US due to lack of formal renewal, many of the large color illustrations that front each chapter in the paper edition did have registrations and renewals entered for them. So these are omitted from this etext. However, all of the black and white illustrations are included here. Note that many of the graphics had to be quite large because of the amount of detail, so I have thumbnailed every image in the book. In the book all of the illustration captions are in italics; I have reversed this in the etext for legibility.

–John Bruno Hare, June 11, 2004. Preface

Table of  Contents

Introduction

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies, Part Two

The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies, Part Three

Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity

The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus

The Initiation of the Pyramid

Isis, the Virgin of the World

The Sun, A Universal Deity

The Zodiac and Its Signs

The Bembine Table of Isis

Wonders of Antiquity

The Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras

Pythagorean Mathematics

The Human Body in Symbolism

The Hiramic Legend

The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color

Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds (Part One)

Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds (Part Two)

Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Trees

Stones, Metals and Gems

Ceremonial Magic and Sorcery

The Elements and Their Inhabitants

Hermetic Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Therapeutics

The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel

Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogony

The Tree of the Sephiroth

Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man

An Analysis of Tarot Cards

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

The Fraternity of the Rose Cross

Rosicrucian Doctrines and Tenets

Fifteen Rosicrucian and Qabbalistic Diagrams

Alchemy and Its Exponents

The Theory and Practice of Alchemy: Part One

The Theory and Practice of Alchemy: Part Two

The Hermetic And Alchemical Figures of Claudius De Dominico Celentano Vallis Novi

The Chemical Marriage

Bacon, Shakespeare, and the Rosicrucians

The Cryptogram as a factor in Symbolic Philosophy

Freemasonic Symbolism

Mystic Christianity

The Cross and the Crucifixion

The Mystery of the Apocalypse

The Faith of Islam

American Indian Symbolism

The Mysteries and Their Emissaries

Conclusion

Dedication

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Secret Teachings of All Ages

THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

AN ENCYCLOPEDIC OUTLINE OF

MASONIC, HERMETIC,

QABBALISTIC AND ROSICRUCIAN

SYMBOLICAL PHILOSOPHY

Being an Interpretation of the
Secret Teachings concealed within the Rituals, Allegories,
and Mysteries of all Ages
By

Manly P. Hall

SAN FRANCISCO
PRINTED FOR MANLY P. HALL
BY H.S. CROCKER COMPANY, INCORPORATED
MCMXXVIII

[1928, no renewal]

Scanned at sacred-texts.com, November, 2001. J. B. Hare, Redactor. This text is in the public domain because it was not renewed at the US Copyright Office in a timely fashion. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact.
Note: all page numbers in the original were given as Roman numerals; these have been converted to Arabic numerals in this e-text.

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This Book is dedicated to the Rational Soul of the World

 

Next: Preface

Index

 

 

Preface

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Secret Teachings of All Ages

p. 5

NUMEROUS volumes have been written as commentaries upon the secret systems of philosophy existing in the ancient world, but the ageless truths of life, like many of the earth’s greatest thinkers, have usually been clothed in shabby garments. The present work is an attempt to supply a tome worthy of those seers and sages whose thoughts are the substance of its pages. To bring about this coalescence of Beauty and Truth has proved most costly, but I believe that the result will produce an effect upon the mind of the reader which will more than justify the expenditure.

Work upon the text of this volume was begun the first day of January, 1926, and has continued almost uninterruptedly for over two years. The greater part of the research work, however, was carried on prior to the writing of the manuscript. The collection of reference material was begun in 1921, and three years later the plans for the book took definite form. For the sake of clarity, all footnotes were eliminated, the various quotations and references to other authors being embodied in the text in their logical order. The bibliography is appended primarily to assist those interested in selecting for future study the most authoritative and important items dealing with philosophy and symbolism. To make readily accessible the abstruse information contained in the book, an elaborate topical cross index is included.

I make no claim for either the infallibility or the originality of any statement herein contained. I have studied the fragmentary writings of the ancients sufficiently to realize that dogmatic utterances concerning their tenets are worse than foolhardy. Traditionalism is the curse of modern philosophy, particularly that of the European schools. While many of the statements contained in this treatise may appear at first wildly fantastic, I have sincerely endeavored to refrain from haphazard metaphysical speculation, presenting the material as far as possible in the spirit rather than the letter of the original authors. By assuming responsibility only for the mistakes which may’ appear herein, I hope to escape the accusation of plagiarism which has been directed against nearly every writer on the subject of mystical philosophy.

Having no particular ism of my own to promulgate, I have not attempted to twist the original writings to substantiate preconceived notions, nor have I distorted doctrines in any effort to reconcile the irreconcilable differences present in the various systems of religio-philosophic thought.

The entire theory of the book is diametrically opposed to the modern method of thinking, for it is concerned with subjects openly ridiculed by the sophists of the twentieth century. Its true purpose is to introduce the mind of the reader to a hypothesis of living wholly beyond the pale of materialistic theology, philosophy, or science. The mass of abstruse material between its covers is not susceptible to perfect organization, but so far as possible related topics have been grouped together.

Rich as the English language is in media of expression, it is curiously lacking in terms suitable to the conveyance of abstract philosophical premises. A certain intuitive grasp of the subtler meanings concealed within groups of inadequate words is necessary therefore to an understanding of the ancient Mystery Teachings.

Although the majority of the items in the bibliography are in my own library, I wish to acknowledge gratefully the assistance rendered by the Public Libraries of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the libraries of the Scottish Rite in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the libraries of the University of California in Berkeley and Los Angeles, the Mechanics’ Library in San Francisco, and the Krotona Theosophical Library at Ojai, California. Special recognition for their help is also due to the following persons: Mrs. Max Heindel, Mrs. Alice Palmer Henderson, Mr. Ernest Dawson and staff, Mr. John Howell, Mr. Paul Elder, Mr. Phillip Watson Hackett, and Mr. John R. Ruckstell. Single books were lent by other persons and organizations, to whom thanks are also given.

The matter of translation was the greatest single task in the research work incident to the preparation of this volume. The necessary

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German translations, which required nearly three years, were generously undertaken by Mr. Alfred Beri, who declined all remuneration for his labor. The Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish translations were made by Prof. Homer P. Earle. The Hebrew text was edited by Rabbi Jacob M. Alkow. Miscellaneous short translations and checking also were done by various individuals.

Table of Contents

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Secret Teachings of All Ages

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DEDICATION 3
PREFACE 5
COLOR PLATES 9
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 11
INTRODUCTION 12
THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES WHICH HAVE INFLUENCED MODERN MASONIC SYMBOLISM Ancient systems of education–Celsus concerning the Christians–Knowledge necessary to right living–The Druidic Mysteries of Britain and Gaul–The Rites of Mithras–The Mithraic and Christian Mysteries contrasted. 21
THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES, PART II The Gnostic Mysteries–Simon Magus and Basilides–Abraxas, the Gnostic concept of Deity–The Mysteries of Serapis–Labyrinth symbolism–The Odinic, or Gothic, Mysteries. 25
THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES, PART III The Eleusinian Mysteries–The Lesser Rites–The Greater Rites–The Orphic Mysteries–The Bacchic Mysteries–The Dionysiac Mysteries. 29
ATLANTIS AND THE GODS OF ANTIQUITY Plato’s Atlantis in the light of modern science-The Myth of the Dying God-The Rite of Tammuz and Ishtar–The Mysteries of Atys and Adonis-The Rites of Sabazius–The Cabiric Mysteries of Samothrace. 33
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THOTH HERMES TRISMEGISTUS Suppositions concerning identity of Hermes–The mutilated Hermetic fragments–The Book of Thoth–Poimandres, the Vision of Hermes–The Mystery of Universal Mind–The Seven Governors of the World. 37
THE INITIATION OF THE PYRAMID The opening of the Great Pyramid by Caliph at Mamoun–The passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid–The riddle of the Sphinx–The Pyramid Mysteries–The secret of the Pyramid coffer-The dwelling place of the Hidden God. 41
ISIS, THE VIRGIN OF THE WORLD The birthdays of the gods–The murder of Osiris–The Hermetic Isis–The symbols peculiar to Isis–The Troubadours–The mummification of the dead. 45
THE SUN, A UNIVERSAL DEITY The Solar Trinity-Christianity and the Sun–The birthday of the Sun–The three Suns–The celestial inhabitants of the Sun–The midnight Sun. 49
THE ZODIAC AND ITS SIGNS Primitive astronomical instruments–The equinoxes and solstices–The astrological ages of the world–The circular zodiac of Tentyra–An interpretation of the zodiacal signs–The horoscope of the world. 53
THE BEMBINE TABLE OF ISIS Plato’s initiation in the Great Pyramid–The history of the Bembine Table–Platonic theory of ideas–The interplay of the three philosophical zodiacs–The Chaldean philosophy of triads–The Orphic Egg. 57
WONDERS OF ANTIQUITY The ever-burning lamps–The oracle of Delphi–The Dodonean oracle–The oracle of Trophonius–The initiated architects–The Seven Wonders of the world. 61
THE LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY OF PYTHAGORAS Pythagoras and the School of Crotona–Pythagoric fundamentals–The symmetrical solids–The symbolic aphorisms of Pythagoras–Pythagorean astronomy–Kepler’s theory of the universe. 65
PYTHAGOREAN MATHEMATICS The theory of numbers–The numerical values of letters–Method of securing the numerical Power of words–An introduction to the Pythagorean theory of numbers–The sieve of Eratosthenes–The meanings of the ten numbers. 69
THE HUMAN BODY IN SYMBOLISM The philosophical manikin–The three universal centers–The temples of initiation–The hand in symbolism–The greater and lesser man–The Anthropos, or Oversoul. 73
THE HIRAMIC LEGEND The building of Solomon’s Temple–The murder of CHiram Abiff–The martyrdom of Jacques de Molay–The spirit fire and the pineal gland–The wanderings of the astronomical CHiram–Cleopatra’s Needle and Masons’ marks. 77
THE PYTHAGOREAN THEORY OF MUSIC AND COLOR Pythagoras and the diatonic scale–Therapeutic music–The music of the spheres–The use of color in symbolism–The colors of the spectrum and the musical scale–Zodiacal and planetary colors. 81
FISHES, INSECTS, ANIMALS, REPTILES, AND BIRDS Jonah and the whale–The fish the symbol of Christ–The Egyptian scarab–Jupiter’s fly–The serpent of wisdom–The sacred crocodile. 85
FISHES, INSECTS, ANIMALS, REPTILES, AND BIRDS, PART II The dove, the yonic emblem–The self-renewing phœnix–The Great Seal of the United States of America–Bast, the cat goddess of the Ptolemies–Apis, the sacred bull–The monoceros, or unicorn. 89
FLOWERS, PLANTS, FRUITS, AND TREES The flower, a phallic symbol–The lotus blossom–The Scandinavian World Tree, Yggdrasil–The sprig of acacia–The juice of the grape–The magical powers of the mandrake. 93
STONES, METALS, AND GEMS Prehistoric monuments–The tablets of the Law–The Holy Grail–The ages of the world–Talismanic jewels–Zodiacal and planetary stones and gems. 97
CEREMONIAL MAGIC AND SORCERY The black magic of Egypt–Doctor Johannes Faustus–The Mephistopheles of the Grimores–The invocation of spirits–Pacts with demons–The symbolism of the pentagram. 101
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THE ELEMENTS AND THEIR INHABITANTS. The Paracelsian theory of submundanes–The orders of elemental beings–The Gnomes, Undines, Salamanders, and Sylphs–Demonology–The incubus and succubus–Vampirism. 105
HERMETIC PHARMACOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, AND THERAPEUTICS The healing methods of Paracelsus–Palingenesis–Hermetic theories concerning the cause of disease–Medicinal properties of herbs–The use of drugs in the Mysteries–The sect of the Assassins. 109
THE QABBALAH, THE SECRET DOCTRINE OF ISRAEL The written and unwritten laws–The origin of the Qabbalistic writings–Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai–The great Qabbalistic books–The divisions of the Qabbalistic system–The Sepher Yetzirah. 113
FUNDAMENTALS OF QABBALISTIC COSMOGONY AIN SOPH and the Cosmic Egg–The Qabbalistic system of worlds–The Qabbalistic interpretation of Ezekiel’s vision–The great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream–The Grand Man of the universe–The fifty gates of life. 117
THE TREE OF THE SEPHIROTH The thirty-two paths of wisdom–The Greater and the Lesser Face–Kircher’s Sephirothic Tree–The mystery of Daath–The three pillars supporting the Sephirothic Tree–The four letters of the Sacred Name. 121
QABBALISTIC KEYS TO THE CREATION OF MAN Gematria, Notarikon, and Temurah–The Elohim–The four Adams–Arabian traditions concerning Adam–Adam as the archetype of mankind–The early Christian Church on the subject of marriage. 125
AN ANALYSIS OF THE TAROT CARDS The origin of playing cards–The rota mundi of the Rosicrucians–The problem of Tarot symbolism–The unnumbered card–The symbolism of the twenty-one major trumps–The suit cards. 129
THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS Moses, the Egyptian initiate–The building of the Tabernacle–The furnishings of the Tabernacle–The Ark of the Covenant–The Robes of Glory–The Urim and Thummim. 133
THE FRATERNITY OF THE ROSE CROSS The life of Father C.R.C.–Johann Valentin Andreæ–The alchemical teachings of the Rosicrucians–Significance of the Rose Cross–The Rosicrucian Temple–The adepts of the Rose Cross. 137
ROSICRUCIAN DOCTRINES AND TENETS The Confessio Fraternitatis—The Anatomy of Melancholy–John Heydon on Rosicrucianism–The three mountains of the wise–The philosophical egg–The objects of the Rosicrucian Order. 141
FIFTEEN ROSICRUCIAN AND QABBALISTIC DIAGRAMS Schamayim, the Ocean of Spirit–The Seven Days of Creation–The symbolic tomb of Christian Rosencreutz–The regions of the elements–The New Jerusalem–The grand secret of Nature. 145
ALCHEMY AND ITS EXPONENTS The multiplication of metals–The medal of Emperor Leopold I–Paracelsus of Hohenheim–Raymond Lully–Nicholas Flarnmel–Count Bernard of Treviso. 149
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ALCHEMY The origin of alchemical philosophy–Alexander the Great and the talking trees–Nature and art–Alchemical symbolism–The Song of Solomon–The Philosopher’s Gold. 153
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ALCHEMY, PART II The alchemical prayer–The Emerald Tablet of Hermes–A letter from the Brothers of R.C.–The magical Mountain of the Moon–An alchemical formula–The dew of the sages. 157
THE CHEMICAL MARRIAGE Christian Rosencreutz is invited to the Chemical Wedding–The Virgo Lucifera–The philosophical Inquisition–The Tower of Olympus–The homunculi–The Knights of the Golden Stone. 161
BACON, SHAKESPEARE, AND THE ROSICRUCIANS The Rosicrucian mask–Life of William Shakspere–Sir Francis Bacon–The acrostic signatures–The significant number thirty-three–The philosophic death. 165
THE CRYPTOGRAM AS A FACTOR IN SYMBOLIC PHILOSOPHY Secret alphabets–The biliteral cipher–Pictorial ciphers–Acroamatic ciphers–Numerical and musical ciphers–Code ciphers. 169
FREEMASONIC SYMBOLISM The pillars raised by the sons of Seth–Enoch and the Royal Arches–The Dionysiac Architects–The Roman Collegia–Solomon, the personification of Universal Wisdom–Freemasonry’s priceless heritage. 173
MYSTIC CHRISTIANITY St. Iranæus on the life of Christ–The original name of Jesus–The Christened man–The Essenes–The Arthurian cycle–Merlin the Mage. 177
THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION The Aurea Legenda–The lost libraries of Alexandria–The cross in pagan symbolism–The crucifixion, a cosmic allegory–The crucifixion of Quetzalcoatl–The nails of the Passion. 181
THE MYSTERY OF THE APOCALYPSE The sacred city of Ephesus–The authorship of the Apocalypse–The Alpha and Omega–The Lamb of God-The Four Horsemen-The number of the beast. 185
THE FAITH OF ISLAM The life of Mohammed–The revelation of the Koran–The valedictory pilgrimage–The tomb of the Prophet–The Caaba at Mecca–The secret doctrine of Islam. 189
AMERICAN INDIAN SYMBOLISM The ceremony of the peace pipe–The historical Hiawatha–The Popol Vuh–American Indian sorcery–The Mysteries of Xibalba–The Midewiwin. 193
THE MYSTERIES AND THEIR EMISSARIES The Golden Chain of Homer–Hypatia, the Alexandrian Neo-Platonist–The “divine” Cagliostro–The Comte de St.-Germain–The designing of the American flag–The Declaration of Independence. 197
CONCLUSION 201
BIBLIOGRAPHY 205
INDEX 207

Introduction

by | Aug 21, 2011 | Secret Teachings of All Ages

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PHILOSOPHY is the science of estimating values. The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy. By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought. The mission of philosophy a priori is to establish the relation of manifested things to their invisible ultimate cause or nature.

“Philosophy,” writes Sir William Hamilton, “has been defined [as]: The science of things divine and human, and of the causes in which they are contained [Cicero]; The science of effects by their causes [Hobbes]; The science of sufficient reasons [Leibnitz]; The science of things possible, inasmuch as they are possible [Wolf]; The science of things evidently deduced from first principles [Descartes]; The science of truths, sensible and abstract [de Condillac]; The application of reason to its legitimate objects [Tennemann]; The science of the relations of all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason [Kant];The science of the original form of the ego or mental self [Krug]; The science of sciences [Fichte]; The science of the absolute [von Schelling]; The science of the absolute indifference of the ideal and real [von Schelling]–or, The identity of identity and non-identity [Hegel].” (See Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic.)

The six headings under which the disciplines of philosophy are commonly classified are: metaphysics, which deals with such abstract subjects as cosmology, theology, and the nature of being; logic, which deals with the laws governing rational thinking, or, as it has been called, “the doctrine of fallacies”; ethics, which is the science of morality, individual responsibility, and character–concerned chiefly with an effort to determine the nature of good; psychology, which is devoted to investigation and classification of those forms of phenomena referable to a mental origin; epistemology, which is the science concerned primarily with the nature of knowledge itself and the question of whether it may exist in an absolute form; and æsthetics, which is the science of the nature of and the reactions awakened by the beautiful, the harmonious, the elegant, and the noble.

Plato regarded philosophy as the greatest good ever imparted by Divinity to man. In the twentieth century, however, it has become a ponderous and complicated structure of arbitrary and irreconcilable notions–yet each substantiated by almost incontestible logic. The lofty theorems of the old Academy which Iamblichus likened to the nectar and ambrosia of the gods have been so adulterated by opinion–which Heraclitus declared to be a falling sickness of the mind–that the heavenly mead would now be quite unrecognizable to this great Neo-Platonist. Convincing evidence of the increasing superficiality of modern scientific and philosophic thought is its persistent drift towards materialism. When the great astronomer Laplace was asked by Napoleon why he had not mentioned God in his Traité de la Mécanique Céleste, the mathematician naively replied: “Sire, I had no need for that hypothesis!”

In his treatise on Atheism, Sir Francis Bacon tersely summarizes the situation thus: “A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” The Metaphysics of Aristotle opens with these words: “All men naturally desire to know.” To satisfy this common urge the unfolding human intellect has explored the extremities of imaginable space without and the extremities of imaginable self within, seeking to estimate the relationship between the one and the all; the effect and the cause; Nature and the groundwork of Nature; the mind and the source of the mind; the spirit and the substance of the spirit; the illusion and the reality.

An ancient philosopher once said: “He who has not even a knowledge of common things is a brute among men. He who has an accurate knowledge of human concerns alone is a man among brutes. But he who knows all that can be known by intellectual energy, is a God among men.” Man’s status in the natural world is determined, therefore, by the quality of his thinking. He whose mind is enslaved to his bestial instincts is philosophically not superior to the brute-, he whose rational faculties ponder human affairs is a man; and he whose intellect is elevated to the consideration of divine realities is already a demigod, for his being partakes of the luminosity with which his reason has brought him into proximity. In his encomium of “the science of sciences” Cicero is led to exclaim: “O philosophy, life’s guide! O searcher–out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life.”