Manly P Hall as an important figure in esoteric history

An Eclectic Path
Although Manly P. Hall is hardly a household word, nor the Philosophical Research Society he helped to found, he was clearly instrumental in showcasing the value of comparative religions. Now that the entire world is interconnected via new media, aware of the vast array of beliefs and religions that characterize human societies, it is more important than ever to recognize the value of people like Manly P. Hall.
Hall cultivated deep respect for a multitude of world religions, albeit within the normative prejudices of his cultural and historical milieu. Hall and his colleagues in the early twentieth century laid the foundation for the New Age spiritual movement that flourished several decades later. At the time, Hall’s beliefs incorporated almost every religious tradition under the sun, including those that would not have even qualified as religion but more as occult such as using Tarot cards for their symbolic value (Horowitz 1). Hall also studied Eastern philosophies like Buddhism and weaved those into a resurgent interest in the mystical traditions of ancient Egypt. Hall even traveled to Egypt, India, Japan, and China to study religion and religious practices long before the popularity of New Age practices embodied in books like Eat, Pray, Love.
As the Philosophical Research Society points out, Hall “lived in an era when most Americans did not look toward other cultures and traditions, without looking down,” (1). Hall was caught up in the zeitgeist of his time but contributed much to the growing body of knowledge and curiosity that stemmed in part from a growing discontent and disillusionment with organized religion. Hall delved deeper than most scholars of European descent at the time did, showing how disparate faiths throughout world history and from around the world shared in common essential goals, paths, symbols, and semantics.
His first and still most famous publication, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, is about the integration of global mystical and spiritual traditions under a modern rubric. The book encompasses almost too many traditions to name, taking a creative and syncretic approach that emphasized personal empowerment, self-healing, and meditation over rote recitation of scripture or deference to a hierarchical system. Hall was also a scholar interested in finding ways of fusing science and religion as much as possible, another trend of his time (The Manly P. Hall Archive 1). For example, Hall can be read in light of the emergence of psychology, sociology, and anthropology as new disciplines.
Other Hall publications showcased the author’s penchant for esotericism and secret societies like the Freemasons: evident in books like The Lost Keys of Freemasonry. Freemasonry was, as Hall suggests, based on an eclectic view of world religions. According to Hall’s introduction to The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, freemasonry is “not a religion,” even though it is “essentially religious,” (xv). Hall’s knowledge of freemasonry came directly from his work with Masonic temples in Hollywood during his late teens and early twenties (Sahagun 24). Reading Hall’s work shows how the current desire to transcend divisiveness in the interests of cross-cultural harmony and respect can be traced at least in some part to the teachings of the Philosophical Research Society and Hall in particular.
Biography
Prolific in his writings, Manly Palmer Hall remained passionate about the esoteric common threads in world religion throughout his career. Hall started the Philosophical Research Society in 1934, after studying comparative religions and philosophy and having been ordained as a minister as well (Philosophical Research Society 1). In fact, Hall even worked temporarily on Wall Street at a clerk until he witnessed a colleague commit suicide (Horowitz 1). The event made a tremendous impact on Manly P. Hall’s life, inspiring him to follow his true passion to explore the mystical traditions in world religions and to communicate his findings in writing and through the creation of a small but influential organization: the Philosophical Research Society.
Hall was no stranger to tragedy. After his parents divorced, he was sent from his birthplace in Canada to South Dakota to live with his grandmother Florence Palmer. Palmer would take Manly with her on trips to Chicago and New York, which is how Manly ended up working as a clerk on Wall Street. Not long after he witnessed his colleague’s suicide, his grandmother died when he was just sixteen years old (Horowitz 1). Bereft and in need of change and the closeness of family, Manly managed to contact his mother.
At the time, Manly’s mother Louise Hall had been living in Santa Monica with her new husband. Manly may have inherited his bohemian approach to life and to the study of esoteric philosophy from his mother. Long before the counterculture movement of the 1960s, California was a haven for those drawn to alternative ways of life: it was a “territory laden with gold and oil and rich with potential to be the birthplace of a spiritual revolution,” (Sahagun 16). In California, Hall was immediately exposed to all types of alternative religions and philosophies including occult organizations like the Rosicrucians (Horowitz 1). He had mentors who helped Manly cultivate his skills as an orator and helped Hall realize his identity as a spiritual teacher. Hall became steeped in Rosicrucian and similar philosophical traditions and soon branched out on his own and developed the foundations for his own lectures and teachings.
Historical Context
Hall developed his teachings and philosophies in an era in which spiritualism and mysticism enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in North America and in Europe. At the tail end of the Victorian era, replete with budding globalization, urbanization, and modernization, Hall encountered a vast amount of information that would have otherwise remained closed off from the average person. Scholastic inquiry into various world religions corresponded to the budding interest in anthropology and other social sciences, assisting Hall in his research. Hall does refer to primary source documents, albeit with a unique twist. Notwithstanding the methodological problems that plague some of Hall’s work, he did contribute to a new paradigm of scholastic inquiry into world religions in the early twentieth century.
Relevance to the Study of World Religions
Scholars have generally avoided Hall, as well as similar figures of the era like Madame Blavatsky or Annie Besant. Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and other underground societies did not register on the religious studies radar because they are difficult to classify. They are not cults or new religious movements because they lack the features thereof, such as strong central leadership or the use of coercive tactics. Manly P. Hall provides a link between the studies of religion, sociology, and history because of the way his writings reflect mindsets and trends. The closest comparison to Hall’s philosophies may be the American transcendentalist movement, which also eschewed organized religion in favor of a personal faith. Hall was less Romantic in his approach than the transcendentalists and more interested in the use of religious traditions and symbols to cultivate personal power. Personal power could be linked to psychological self-mastery or it could just as well refer to the ability of a person to develop their mental powers systematically rather than succumb to the blind, sheepish materialism that characterizes life after the industrial age. Hall began other organizations in addition to the Philosophical Research Society such as the Church of the People, which seems like a new religious movement in some ways but never gained the type of traction that Scientology did (Sahagun 23). Even though Hall spoke in public regularly, he did not seem to be interested in becoming a charismatic leader driven by the quest for money or prestige.
Chords of Familiarity
The writings of Manly P. Hall and the legacy of the Philosophical Research Society resonate with similar contemporary movements, especially Theosophy. Other chords of familiarity include a link between the mysticism of Hall and the occult leanings of Aleister Crowley. Hall did not agree with Crowley, or vice-versa, but both respected the other for their participation in alternative religious movements that focused on the empowerment of the individual (Sahagun 139). Hall also emerged at a time where bohemian lifestyles became increasingly attractive and common among the avant-garde in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Spiritualism, interest in the supernatural, and practices like séances coincided also with charlatans and stage magicians. A student of comparative religions and the history of religion will recognize many similarities between the era in which Hall lived and that of today, with the proliferation of pseudoscience and nebulous, personalized spirituality. Hall shows how religion is distinct from spirituality. Whereas religion is connected with political power and culture, spirituality is more about the individual even when it takes place within a small community or organization like the Philosophical Research Society.
Any student of comparative religions interested in early twentieth century movements, in spiritualism, or in the occult will eventually come across the name of Manly P. Hall. Hall contributed greatly to the emergence of New Age style spirituality and to the eclecticism of modern worldviews.




Works Cited

Hall, Manly P. The Lost Keys of Freemasonry. Fourth Revised Edition. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2012.
Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Perennial Press, 2015.
Horowitz, Mitch. “Secret Teachings Reborn: The Mysterious Life of Manly P. Hall.” New Dawn, Vol. 96, https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/secret-teachings-reborn-the-mysterious-life-of-manly-p-hall
The Manly P. Hall Archive. “Manly P. Hall.” http://www.manlyphall.org/
Philosophical Research Society. “Manly P. Hall,” 2015. https://www.uprs.edu/manly-p-hall.html
Sahagun, Louis. Master of the Mysteries. Port Townshend, WA: Process Media, 2008.