Man: The Grand Symbol of the Mysteries
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“Our purpose has been to bring together not all but only a small part of what may be termed the lore of the human body. For the most part, the origins of the various doctrines are set forth in the text. Some have come from Eastern scriptures, some from the Hermetic fragments. We have called upon a wide diversity of old authorities and, strangely enough, there is an evident consistency among them conspicuously lacking with the moderns. The sages, furthermore, approached their task with veneration; an underlying realization of the dignity of life adds charm to every conclusion. They viewed the human body not as the man but as the house of the man. Antiquity was convinced of immortality and among the wise the science of the soul occupied first place. Much work remains to be done in the field of occult anatomy. There are many old writings yet to be consulted, libraries unavailable to the public to be explored, manuscripts to be deciphered. The Codices of Central America must be made to give up their secrets. The temples libraries of Asia are filled with priceless documents, for in India are preserved records invaluable to science. Our effort, then, is primarily to stimulate interest and to focus the attention of the learned upon this engrossing theme. We are subject to errors which time alone can correct, but the principle of the correspondence existing between man and the world is established upon incontestable grounds.”—Manly P. Hall
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About the author
Manly Palmer Hall (1901-1990) was a Canadian-born author, lecturer, astrologer and mystic. He was best known for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy. He was also the founder of the Philosophical Research Society, Inc., a non-profit organization, dedicated to the dissemination of useful knowledge in the fields of philosophy, comparative religion, and psychology. Born on March 18, 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to William S. Hall, a dentist, and Louise Palmer Hall, a chiropractor and member of the Rosicrucian Fellowship, Hall moved to Los Angeles, California in 1919 and was almost immediately drawn to the arcane world of mysticism, esoteric philosophies, and their underlying principles. In his long career, spanning more than seventy years of dynamic public activity, Mr. Hall delivered over 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles. In addition to his Secret Teachings of All Ages, his other major works include The Initiates of the Flame (1922), The Lost Keys of Freemasonry (1923), The Secret Destiny of America (1944), America’s Assignment with Destiny (1951) and Meditation Symbols in Eastern & Western Mysticism-Mysteries of the Mandala (1988). Hall died on August 29, 1990, aged 89.
