The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship

The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship is a group of individuals who are interested in the lifework of the twentieth-century American philosopher, mathematician and sage whose penname was Franklin Merrell-Wolff. Wolff held that the goal of the religious quest is Enlightenment or “Fundamental Realization,” and he characterized his work as an attempt to establish a way to this end “from a Western base.” We prefer to think of his teaching as having a “modern base” in the sense that its vehicle is philosophy and that it draws from diverse sources, including Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism, Theosophy, the Greek mystics, and Western Philosophy. Moreover, Wolff’s teaching avoids any type of hieratic or dogmatic statement, and instead insists on the importance of thinking for oneself.

Organizationally, the Franklin Merrell-Wolff Fellowship is a publicly-supported, non-profit corporation whose mission is to educate the public about Franklin Fowler Wolff through his writings, audio recordings, teachings, and life. In doing so, we make no attempt to idolize the man or to present his message as authoritative—both of which Wolff sternly warned against. We do recognize, however, that it is possible to learn from the life of the man as well as from his message, and so our mission is to present both as objectively as possible.

Our primary activity is the publication and distribution of the Wolff Archive, which is owned by the Fellowship, and this website serves to make this material publicly available. As a public charity, the Fellowship’s activities are dependent on the tax-deductible donations of individuals who appreciate the life and work Franklin F. Wolff.