Franklin Merrell-Wolff

The American philosopher mystic of Vedanta 

Franklin Merrell-Wolff was an American mystic, philosopher, and mathematician who combined an extraordinary intellect with profound mystical insight and authenticity. Born in 1887, in Pasadena, California. As the son of a Methodist minister, he was raised with a deep and abiding sense of the religious and ethical dimensions of human existence. By adolescence, his growing autonomous development of intelligent and reflective inquiry began to probe the doctrines of orthodox Christianity; the lack of adequate answers soon led to its rejection. He remarks, “I had been though the Orthodox Church and found it utterly barren, so far as cognitive values were concerned, and puny in what it offered for feeling.”

Wolff goes on to relate that when he took his concerns to the clergyman of his church (which was not the church where his father officiated), he was told “leave it to the Lord, my son,” and that “[a]t that moment the church lost me. . . . I had no trouble with the well-meaning of the people and so forth, but here was mutilation of truth, and I could no longer go that way.”

Although religious fulfillment remained his primary value, he began to develop his mind through academic studies. Merrell-Wolff's odyssey began in the realms of academia, where his studies in philosophy, mathematics and psychology at esteemed institutions like Stanford University and Harvard University laid the foundation for his later inquiries.

​

Mathematics stimulated his intellect—he refused to rest until he had solved every problem. His study of the mathematics of the transfinite revealed a profound beauty and harmony, whose quality of delight he says was superseded only by Realization. Eventually, his need for clarity of understanding required a shift of emphasis to philosophy.

His study of analytic psychology provided a different kind of value. He came to appreciate the importance of introspection and developing the skill for the subsequent clear articulation of experience. Mystics rarely leave a personal record of their experiences, so the comprehensive account that Franklin has provided is invaluable.

​

However, he was not content with the intellectual confines of traditional philosophy. Drawn by an inner calling, he embarked on a personal quest to unravel the mysteries that lie beyond the veil of ordinary perception.

From his Harvard seminars on Metaphysics and Kant, his conviction grew that a transcendent way of consciousness beyond the comprehension of Western epistemology and psychology probably existed. 1914 was a pivotal year for Franklin. He had been offered a temporary position at Stanford as a replacement for his mathematics supervisor during his sabbatical. A promising academic career in philosophy or mathematics was all but assured; yet, he found himself compelled to abandon it in order to attain a third cognitive function or faculty of cognition transcending perception and conception. He states, “I found myself in sight of the limits to which our present egoistic consciousness has reached, and also had found adumbrations of another kind of Consciousness where alone, it seemed, solution of the antinomies of the subject object consciousness could be found.” He was confident that in this new mode of consciousness lay the key to metaphysical knowledge, which Kant had shown to be impossible if cognition is limited to the two familiar forms—namely, perception and conception.

Forgoing outer recognition, success and security, Franklin displayed single-minded dedication to the project. Repeatedly he abandoned efforts in a particular direction once he had exhausted its essential value. The twenty-four long years that ensued before his breakthrough were characterized by a vast broadening of experience and activity in the world while he gradually strengthened his commitment.

In 1920 he married Sarah Merrell Briggs (known as “Sherifa”), a union that was to prove exceedingly fruitful. To symbolize their complementary, but equal status in their work, they joined their original surnames as “Merrell-Wolff.” The Assembly of Man, which Franklin and Sherifa founded in 1928, had an esoteric philosophical orientation, generally Theosophical in nature, having a basis in the Vedanta and Buddhism.

During the Great Depression, Wolff began prospecting for gold in order to support his family. It had been twenty years since he first embarked on his spiritual quest, a search that not only included deep engagements with the Theosophical, Sufi, and Indian traditions, but also periods of self-doubt regarding his abandonment of a promising academic career. His mining efforts proved only modestly successful, but he did manage to feed his family and keep his property from foreclosure. Throughout all, Wolff had found himself led by a particular shining light—Shankara, the Indian philosopher who had consolidated and advanced the non-dualistic school of Advaita Vedanta. The long periods of solitary work prospecting in the mountains gave Wolff occasion to read and meditate on this material more seriously than at any prior time, and in the summer of 1936, he was focused on a Western interpretation of Shakara’s commentaries on the Brahma Sutras. After returning home from working a prospect in the northern Sierras near the small town of Michigan Bluff, Wolff continued to brood on this material; his spiritual quest was about to come to a triumphant end.

It was on August 7, 1936 that, in Wolff’s words, “the ineffable transition came.” This would prove to be the first of two “Recognitions” or “Fundamental Realizations” that would provide the foundation for Wolff’s philosophy.

He describes his initial spiritual realization as follows:

One day after the evening meal… I passed into a very delightful state of contemplation. … My breath changed, but not in the sense of stopping or becoming extremely slow or rapid. It was, perhaps, just a little slower than normal. The notable change was in a subtle quality associated with the air breathed. Over and above the physical gases of the air there seemed to be an impalpable substance of indescribable sweetness that, in turn, was associated with a general sense of well being, embracing even the physical man. It was like happiness or joy, but these words are inadequate. It was of a very gentle quality yet far transcended the value of the form of any of the more familiar forms of happiness. It was quite independent of the beauty or comfort of the environment. At that time the latter was, to say the least, austere and not in any sense attractive. … the air was far from invigorating due to the period being exceptionally warm. However, introspective analysis revealed the fact that the elixir-like quality was most marked during exhalation, thus indicating that it was not derived from normal air. Further, the exhaled breath was not simply air expelled into the outer atmosphere, but seemed to penetrate down through the whole organism like a gentle caress, leaving throughout a quiet sense of delight. It seemed to me like nectar. Since that time I have learned it is the true Ambrosia.

(Wolff, Franklin Merrell, Pathways Through To Space. New York: Warner Books, 1976, pps. 16-17)

Franklin describes in detail some of the formative experiences that led to his present realization.

Franklin had in the previous few days an insight that he believed "played a vital part in clearing the way for the illumination that occurred later". The insight had to do with his concept of the relationship of empty space to matter. He had gradually come to perceive that so-called empty space was in fact full and substantial, while material objects were in fact a kind of "partial vacuum". The effect was that his senses began to be capable of perceiving empty space as the substantial foreground while physical objects receded into the background. This, in turn, led to the perception that material objects were part of a "dependent or derivative reality".

In the previous eighteen months, Franklin had also begun to have conversations with a person he recognized as a sage. These communications led him to follow certain suggestions from the sage when he felt unclear on certain points of discussion. As the teaching continued, he reports that both he and his wife began to see "Light where their had been obscurity".

Two previous insights also contributed to the current experience. Franklin mentions that nearly fourteen years prior, he had a realization that "he was atman" (atman loosely translates to soul). In the second, which occurred less than a year prior, Franklin realized while reading a book of a living Indian Sage that Nirvana was not "a field, or space, or world which one entered" but that he was "identical with Nirvana and would always be so".

Franklin described this event as a "recognition" rather than an experience in the conventional sense. It was an awakening to a kind of knowledge best described as "knowledge through Identity".

In retrospect, Merrell-Wolff's legacy is a testament to the power of human curiosity and the enduring quest for truth. He reminds us that the realms of consciousness are uncharted territories that hold the potential to transform not only our understanding of reality but also our very being. In conclusion, Franklin Merrell-Wolff's life and work offer a unique perspective on the convergence of philosophy and mysticism. .

Further Exploration:

Deeper Dive Websites: 1. http://www.franklinmerrell-wolff.com/ 

                                        2. https://www.merrell-wolff.org/

​

Short video Interview and documentary: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHmfanjYTjg

​

List of video lectures: https://www.youtube.com/@lonepineways1151/videos