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Opinions about The secret teachings of all Ages by Manly P. Hall.

Mark89

Registered User
Good morning, receive a fraternal greeting.

I want to start reading the book: The secret teachings of all Ages by Manly P. Hall.

But I have a question: Can I start reading that book? Or should I read other books or documents?

Postscript: I take this same message, to ask for recommendations on other books and texts.
 

hfmm97

Premium Member
These questions you should ask the experienced Master Masons at your lodge (if you are already initiated) IF YOU are not yet an initiated apprentice, unless your lodge asked you to study beforehand, DO NOT: the less you know about the rituals the better-and do not use the terms brother or fraternal until you are initiated


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hfmm97

Premium Member
Manly P Hall’s book was written in 1928 - he did not join the Masons until 1954 - waited over 20 years before joining -thus most of his writings were his own personal opinions. Reading this would not be the best use of your time unless required by your lodge


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Mark89

Registered User
Masonry is apparently very different in your country than in the USA. Our candidates study the degree ritual by memory and do not have other readings assigned to them


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I have not iniciated me yet, I'm on my way to it. I have read some recommended readings in the Lodge where I will initiate me, but I look for other readings on my own and I turn to your advice. Thanks in advance.
 

Mark89

Registered User
These questions you should ask the experienced Master Masons at your lodge (if you are already initiated) IF YOU are not yet an initiated apprentice, unless your lodge asked you to study beforehand, DO NOT: the less you know about the rituals the better-and do not use the terms brother or fraternal until you are initiated


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Hello, I am in the process of doing my initiation. The Lodge that will initiate me, has given me some readings and texts. The phrase "Fraternal Greetings" I have always used it, as a way to "break the ice" when starting a conversation. Thank you for the recommendations.
 

Mark89

Registered User
Manly P Hall’s book was written in 1928 - he did not join the Masons until 1954 - waited over 20 years before joining -thus most of his writings were his own personal opinions. Reading this would not be the best use of your time unless required by your lodge


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Thank you very much in answering my question. I will take your recommendation into account. Greetings.
 

CLewey44

Registered User
Simple answer, as indicated, I wouldn't. A, you'll be quite lost on it B. Anything you do pick up may be inaccurate in the Blue Lodge setting. I would definitely take the first three degrees first before tackling Manly P. Hall, Case or Regardie, or similar guys like that.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
Manly P Hall’s book was written in 1928 - he did not join the Masons until 1954 - waited over 20 years before joining -thus most of his writings were his own personal opinions. Reading this would not be the best use of your time unless required by your lodge.
Furthermore, anything that any member or non-member writes is personal opinions, unless they are quoting or referring to those personal opinions of others :D
 

Tony_Twotones

Registered User
Well as a Profane I have read a vast majority or this book and found it very interesting. As far as the relations to Masonry well I am not yet a member so I chose to skip that part of the text so I couldn’t speak to it. I say read it and take from it everything but the part on Freemasonry and reserve that for later when you become a mason... that’s what I did anyway


“It is only a step from boredom to disillusionment, which leads naturally to self-pity, which in turn ends in chaos.”- Manly P. Hall
 

LK600

Premium Member
Personally... I read everything I could get my hands on that did NOT have anything to do with ritual. In most Lodges, there's such vast swaths of time between events (for at least non MM's) that I would have lost my mind or interest due to a lack of involvement/input.

Again... Stay away from anything that even remotely sounds ritual and, understand that most of what you will read is opinion, so take it all in, but do so with a grain of salt so to say. Best of luck.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
There are parts of it that discuss the ritual, but most of it does not. As for the parts that discuss the ritual, some of it is either wrong or at least isn't present in the ritual of any jurisdictions I'm familiar with, but there are parts which are accurate.

Manly Hall, without question, was an expert on esoteric topics, but that doesn't mean he was infallible. He was a little nutty and many aspects of that book are either (in my opinion) too far reaching, contradictory, or just plain wrong. It's a great introduction on a great number of topics which the Masonic student might want to learn about, but make sure that if you choose to read it, that you do so with skepticism. The numerology that he puts a great deal of emphasis on is commonly contradictory, so the connections he makes using this system are pointless. Many sources that he cites are bogus, so again, this poses a problem when connecting certain dots and has creates massive amount of confusion over the years with many people "knowing" things based on his assertions which are simply not true.
I'm glad I read it, but I do not consider it all that valuable of a piece of work. You'd probably be better off spending that (considerable) amount of time elsewhere.
 

Mark89

Registered User
Simple answer, as indicated, I wouldn't. A, you'll be quite lost on it B. Anything you do pick up may be inaccurate in the Blue Lodge setting. I would definitely take the first three degrees first before tackling Manly P. Hall, Case or Regardie, or similar guys like that.

Thanks for your recommend. Greetings.
 

Mark89

Registered User
There are parts of it that discuss the ritual, but most of it does not. As for the parts that discuss the ritual, some of it is either wrong or at least isn't present in the ritual of any jurisdictions I'm familiar with, but there are parts which are accurate.

Manly Hall, without question, was an expert on esoteric topics, but that doesn't mean he was infallible. He was a little nutty and many aspects of that book are either (in my opinion) too far reaching, contradictory, or just plain wrong. It's a great introduction on a great number of topics which the Masonic student might want to learn about, but make sure that if you choose to read it, that you do so with skepticism. The numerology that he puts a great deal of emphasis on is commonly contradictory, so the connections he makes using this system are pointless. Many sources that he cites are bogus, so again, this poses a problem when connecting certain dots and has creates massive amount of confusion over the years with many people "knowing" things based on his assertions which are simply not true.
I'm glad I read it, but I do not consider it all that valuable of a piece of work. You'd probably be better off spending that (considerable) amount of time elsewhere.


Ok, thanks for the recommended, I'm gonna take account it.
 

Mark89

Registered User
Personally... I read everything I could get my hands on that did NOT have anything to do with ritual. In most Lodges, there's such vast swaths of time between events (for at least non MM's) that I would have lost my mind or interest due to a lack of involvement/input.

Again... Stay away from anything that even remotely sounds ritual and, understand that most of what you will read is opinion, so take it all in, but do so with a grain of salt so to say. Best of luck.

Thanks you very much for these recommend.
 

hfmm97

Premium Member
Furthermore, anything that any member or non-member writes is personal opinions, unless they are quoting or referring to those personal opinions of others :D
Bro Nagy-I meant to say that Manly Hall wrote this book before he became a Freemason-thus it would seem that his opinions were UNINFORMED PERSONAL type - or does that really matter?
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
Bro Nagy-I meant to say that Manly Hall wrote this book before he became a Freemason-thus it would seem that his opinions were UNINFORMED PERSONAL type...
From what I have read of his book, he makes far too many sugar coated, fantastic, unrealistic and disconnected grandiose claims for me to take it seriously. It's an entertaining book otherwise.
...- or does that really matter?
Not if you can filter out the BS and not take what remains too seriously.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
I find that it's a double edged sword. On the one hand, Manly Hall, even before he was initiated, knew far more about Freemasonry than the majority of the brothers I sit in lodge with. On the other hand, while he may have some great understanding, he often takes the symbolism too far and to some strange (and wrong) places. So while it's valuable, filter through the BS and Coach mentioned, is critical.

A fictional example of this kind of thing that I mentioned to another brother awhile back went something like this:

Hall: The square and compass are very important.
Me: I agree.
Hall: They teach lesson of morality.
Me: Very true.
Hall: The deeper meanings teach about self restraint and and unemotional judgement of morality.
Me: I completely agree!
Hall: And if you add up all of the points of the square and compass combined you get the sacred number of the flying spaghetti monster!
Me: Wait...what? What just happened...
Hall: And in the inspired visions of John Doe of the tenants of the flying spaghetti monster, we are taught to worship the Peruvian fuzzy catepillar!
Me: I'm going to leave now...

Unfortunately with Hall, the division isn't always so easy to see. You see the beginning as completely cogent, the end as lunacy, but knowing where to draw the line in the middle takes enough of one's own research that reading his book doesn't save you any time or energy. But, at least it gives you some new points of view that you then (unfortunately) have to investigate for yourself.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
I find that it's a double edged sword. On the one hand, Manly Hall, even before he was initiated, knew far more about Freemasonry than the majority of the brothers I sit in lodge with. On the other hand, while he may have some great understanding, he often takes the symbolism too far and to some strange (and wrong) places. So while it's valuable, filter through the BS and Coach mentioned, is critical.

A fictional example of this kind of thing that I mentioned to another brother awhile back went something like this:

Hall: The square and compass are very important.
Me: I agree.
Hall: They teach lesson of morality.
Me: Very true.
Hall: The deeper meanings teach about self restraint and and unemotional judgement of morality.
Me: I completely agree!
Hall: And if you add up all of the points of the square and compass combined you get the sacred number of the flying spaghetti monster!
Me: Wait...what? What just happened...
Hall: And in the inspired visions of John Doe of the tenants of the flying spaghetti monster, we are taught to worship the Peruvian fuzzy catepillar!
Me: I'm going to leave now...

Unfortunately with Hall, the division isn't always so easy to see. You see the beginning as completely cogent, the end as lunacy, but knowing where to draw the line in the middle takes enough of one's own research that reading his book doesn't save you any time or energy. But, at least it gives you some new points of view that you then (unfortunately) have to investigate for yourself.
LOL! Exactly!!!!!!!!!!
 
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