Franklin Merrell-Wolffhttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CsnyTdLL0c-jCLUPSaeJpA?feat=directlinkFranklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985) was an American mystical

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

 philosopher. After formal education in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 at Stanford

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 and Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Wolff devoted himself to the goal of transcending the normal limits of human consciousness. After exploring various mystical teachings and paths, he dedicated himself to the path of jnana yoga

Jnana yoga

Jyâna yoga or "path of knowledge" is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies...

 and the writings of Shankara, founder of the Advaita Vedanta

Advaita Vedanta

Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...

 school of Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...

. In 1936, Wolff experienced a profound spiritual Liberation

Moksha

Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...

 and Awakening

Bodhi

Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...

which provided the basis for his transcendental philosophy. Wolff's published books detailing his experience and philosophy include Pathways Through to Space, The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object (both of which were re-published in a single volume entitled Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Experience and Philosophy), and Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology (originally published under the title Introceptualism).

Further reading

• Leonard, Ron (1999). The Transcendental Philosophy of Franklin Merrell-Wolff (Albany : SUNY Press). ISBN 0-7914-4216-0.

External links

• The Transcendental Philosophy of Franklin Merrell-Wolff
• The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship
• Franklin Merrell-Wolff