LECTURES ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY AND APPLICATION OF RATIONAL PROCEDURE; (Illustrated with Diagrams by Howard W. Wookey)

Hall, Manly P.

Published by Self-Published (The Hall Publishing Company), Los Angeles, CA, 1929

About this Item

Large quarto. (10 7/8 in. by 7 1/2 in.). Brown, quarterbound cloth-covered boards with embossed graphic in blind to bottom of front board. Graphic depicts the pine cone at the top of twin oak leaves atop a staff. Historically, pine cones have symbolized occult knowledge, and serve as "a symbol of human enlightenment, resurrection, eternal life and regeneration" Recently rebacked with new spine label, lettered in gilt. (Photo, or actual riginal lettered spine (if we can still find it) available for view and comparison. Three raised bands, with gilt date (1929) to bottom compartment. Previous owner's name to front free endpaper. Frontis photo by William Mortensen of author Manly P. Hall. Chapters include: 1) The Nature of The Absolute; 2) God, The Divine Foundation; 3) Illumined Mind, the Universal Savior; 4) The Inferior Creation and its Regent; 5) The Annihilation of the Sense of Diversity; 6) The Disciplines of Salvation; 7) The Doctrine of Redemption through Grace; 8) The Mission of Aesthetics; 9) The Cycle of Necessity; 10) Pagan Theogony and Cosmogony; 11) Mathematics, The Master Science; 12) Demigods and Supermen; 13) Emerson's Concept of The Oversoul; 14) Exoteric and Esoteric Knowledge; 15) Symbolism, the Universal Language; 16) Ancient Mystery Rituals; 17) A Philosophic Consideration of Man; 18) The Ladder of The Gods; 19) Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins; 20) The Goal of Philosophy. "Although complete in itself, this book is primarily designed to complement and amplify the larger volume on SYMBOLICAL PHILOSOPHY, published last year [1928]. During the spring and fall of 1928, I delivered two series of lectures on Symbolism and the Ancient Mysteries -- one in San Francisco and the other in Los Angeles -- to groups largely composed of subscribers to AN ENCYCLOPEDIC OUTLINE OF MASONIC, HERMETIC, QUABBALISTIC AND ROSICRUCIAN SYMBOLICAL PHILOSOPHY. The notes of these lectures were carefully taken in shorthand and form the basis of the present work. A considerable portion of my larger book is devoted to the rituals and figures of the Greek Mysteries, and this treatise is an effort to clarify the subject of classical pagan metaphysics. "Our civilization has not yet learned to value appreciation for the beautiful as the very foundation of an enduring culture. Unless we respond to the harmonious, the elegant, the symmetrical, and the rhythmic, we are recreant to past good, a menace to present integrity, and an obstacle to future effort. This truth is well made in the MERCHANT OF VENICE: "The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils." It is not enough that our codes be true; they must also be beautiful. If learning does not teach us to love, we learn without understanding." (Author's Preface). Seller Inventory # 88548

Bibliographic Details

Title: LECTURES ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY: AN ...

Publisher: Self-Published (The Hall Publishing Company), Los Angeles, CA

Publication Date: 1929

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Howard W. Wookey

Condition: Very Good Plus

Edition: Stated First Edition.