Book Review: Words To The Wise - A Practical Guide To Esoteric Sciences by Manly P. Hall

in #books8 years ago

“Wherever a man desires to know, that is the place proper for his education; whenever he desires to know, that is the time proper for his instruction.”

  • Socrates

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TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez

In Words To The Wise, A Practical Guide To The Esoteric Sciences, Manly P. Hall gives a detailed examination of knowledge descending from the ancient mystery schools.

Hall delves into the finer strands of all that is metaphysics, religion and spirituality in a way that’s easy to comprehend for a novice, and yet sophisticated in depth for people that have interested in the subject for quite a while and are searching for more substantial information.

Beginning with the true and false paths to wisdom, Hall picks apart many of the aspects that can be confusing for people given how much information is out there. Keep in mind, the original version of this book was published in 1936, with the updated version revised in 1963.

That being said, the information is still quite pertinent given the unfortunately slow [spiritual] development of most of society at our current moment.

Hall speaks of the importance of learning from the ancient teachers – the upper echelons of ‘an unbroken metaphysical tradition’. Teachers such as, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Plutarch, Pythagoras, Proclus, and many many more. He even mentions some books which are vital to sift through and learn from that should be part of any student/researcher’s library.

Throughout the length of the book, Manly P. Hall talks about the importance to be able to hone in much of the misinformation/disinformation that is prevalent in this field, and he even gives thorough advice as to how to go about doing that.

Hall analyzes the seven requisites for a person of character, and thence goes into how to go about seeing what type of mystery schools are out there.

Ultimately, Hall goes into the importance for the individual to work on [spiritual] self-mastery above all. This notion is harpooned from countless angles and highly cautioned upon given the fact that the modern world religions, so called ascended masters, and even modern mystery schools, all attempt to tell you what to think, and not how to think. This is why Hall focuses so much on being discerning in this particular abstruse field.

Many great things have been said about this book, and for good reason. It offers valuable information that can save you a lot of precious time that can be used incisively elsewhere.

If you are familiar with Manly P. Hall’s work, then you know the realize the high quality of his information. And if you don’t, you really ought to take a gander at it. It will be well worth your time.

To finalize, will leave you all with a snippet of the author’s mentality:

“Philosophy elevates man to the level of truth, creating within him the capacity to sense and to realize, to visualize and to comprehend.”
– Manly P. Hall