This file contains some letters between Franklin Wolff and his first wife, Sherifa. They were written at a time when both were living at the Temple of People in Halcyon, Calif. (1909-1922), and specifically, at a time when Sherifa was convalescing at a sanatorium. Those written by Sherifa are in longhand, and at least one is barely legible. A typed letter from Franklin is also found here, in which he recites a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. (22 pages)

At the time he wrote this letter, Wolff was lecturing on behalf of the Benares League under the pseudonym “Yogagñani.” (For more on this period of Wolff’s life—as well an explanation of the reference to “keys” in the last question below—see the Benares League tab under “Organizations and Group Work” in the Wolff Archive.)

The letter contains Wolff’s responses to the following eight questions, which had been posed by Laura Felver, one of Wolff’s students in Chicago:

1. If all is the Absolute and the Absolute is all, and we proceed from the Absolute and our goal is union with the Absolute, why was it necessary for us to go forth as human atoms to struggle for existence and suffer?
2. How could the Absolute separate itself and why would it send part of itself forth to struggle for existence and suffer?
3. What are the seven principles of man, what are they made up of and what is their function and why?   
4. What is Soul? What is Ego? What is Spirit?
5. Do you know of any book or dictionary which gives Sanskrit terms and what they mean with the proper pronunciation of the terms?
6. If we are all One WHY the difference in us? Why are some good and some bad? Why if we are all one in essence and the thing we are working for is to realize union with all, why the necessity of physical bodies since they are the thing which separates us from this unity or rather from the realization of this unity? If we are already one in essence why all this fight, struggle, pain and unhappiness which we go through in physical bodies?
7. Who was the greatest, Buddha or Christ?
8. Faith in relation to the keys.

(7 pages)

Mr. Felver writes thanking Wolff for the two books sent and notes that Re-embodiment is the best work that he has read on the subject of reincarnation. He states, however, that he has a hard time grasping the meaning of terms such as ‘The Absolute’ as well as overcoming the inertia that he often encounters in his metaphysical studies.

In response, Wolff assures Mr. Felver that his letters reveal that he is further on than he imagines, advises Mr. Felver that his approach to his studies may be a result of his psychological type, and suggests some reasons for Mr. Felver’s “spasmodic” approach to his studies. Wolff goes on to recommend that Mr. Felver take up teaching as a means to overcome this condition and follows with a discussion of some important aspects of this endeavor—including the proposal that Mr. Felver consider using his (Wolff’s) book Yoga in the classroom.

Next, Wolff takes up the meaning of the terms ‘The Absolute’ and ‘Realization’, and he closes with some words about the prospecting in the California mountains and deserts and a story about one type of individual indigenous to this environment. (5 pages)

Wolff begins this letter by noting that Mr. Gatchell’s circumstances give him a real advantage amongst those interested in “the philosophy and life of the Path.” Wolff then references some experiences that Mr. Gatchell had in Des Moines (we do not know what this episode was, as we do not have Mr. Gatchell’s letters to Wolff) and explains that the importance of the work in which Mr. Gatchell is involved (that is, the spiritualization of consciousness) is bound to attract an enemy of such work. In the second half of this letter, Wolff provides some guidance along the Path, noting that ethical preparation is more important than physical work, and that “is also of almost equal importance that the students get well grounded in the philosophy”—which “leads consciousness out of the concrete material to the universal or spiritual.” (2 pages)

In this letter Wolff welcomes Mr. Clayberg into their spiritual community (known at the time as the “Rama Sangha”). Wolff then references an article written by Mr. Clayberg and notes that he is in agreement with the assessment that humankind is in the midst of a very serious crisis. He disagrees, however, with Mr. Clayberg’s negative response to the question of whether humanity will learn the lesson that the needs of the times are designed to teach; in particular, Wolff believes that this is to adopt an attitude of defeatism and he notes that “the whole point of our effort is the creative direction of our forces so as to prevent this from being true.” (1 page)

In this letter, Wolff addresses a complaint by Mr. Gatchell that he has been treated unfairly. Wolff tries to impress upon Mr. Gatchell that the rule in such a case is that “when one student feels himself unjustly treated or wounded in any way by another, and especially in the case of, those who have official responsibility, go directly to the person involved and speak frankly but keeping silent before all third parties.” Wolff also addresses his reasons for dealing with this student as he did. (2 pages)

Given the date and content of this letter, it is clear that Wolff is responding to an article that Einstein published in the November 9, 1930 issue of the New York Times Magazine (which can be accessed here). Wolff writes of “a crying need” that can “no longer be satisfied in its depths by the outworn creeds and forms of current religiosity” and that this need requires “a new vehicle of expression that will be convincing to the form of intellectual consciousness which dominates the world today.” In particular, Wolff believes that the spiritual principles “enunciated by the liberated Sages of the past are eternal and are adequate for every inner need of man” but that these values require a new vehicle of expression that will be convincing to the modern intellect. Einstein, he continues, has shown us that this language may be provided by the “key-science of all physical science,” which is mathematics.

Wolff relates that “I have had some realization of the profound mysticism which underlies the whole of mathematics and becomes especially marked in the field of the transfinite” and that through his training in mathematics he was able to “see the thought of men like Gautama Buddha and Shankara as a rational whole grounded in mystical profundity.”  He goes on to say that he has “no doubt that within mathematics lies the same undying Wisdom which forms the common substance of all the great Sages,” and he asks Einstein whether it is possible “that somehow out of mathematics, or mathematics in combination with physical science, we will find the adequate language to express mystical profundity in a form which will command both the attention and respect of our present externally intellectualized public?” Wolff believes that we can, and that Einstein has become a focal point for such expression. (3 pages)

Wolff encourages a student and stresses that it is important to creatively express ideas in one’s own words in order to make given knowledge one’s own. (1 page)

In this letter, which is signed “Yogagñani,” Wolff advises Mr. Clayberg on the role of group and the behavior of individuals within such work; he also warns Mr. Clayberg of some the dangers of occult work, and explains how individual effort and group work may shelter one from such perils. (2 pages)

In this letter, Wolff admonishes the head of the Chicago chapter of the Rama Sangha group against making statements or taking actions that have not been approved by him or his wife:

You must realize that Sheila [Wolff’s first wife, later known as “Sherifa”] and I incur karmic responsibility for anything that is said or done in the name of the Rama Sangha in view of the fact that we stand back of it and brought it into outer form. If any student in the name of the Sangha does or says that which is not wise or true than we incur the consequent responsibility as well as the given student. It, therefore, is absolutely necessary that any statement that goes to the public, especially in printed form, shall pass our approval.

Wolff details “three important points of criticism” and in a postscript explains the difference between “inner work” and “esoteric work.”

This letter is of interest for a number of reasons: First, we see that Wolff and his wife now consider themselves to be heads of an organization that is independent of the work of Yogi Hari Rama and the Benares League, so that their break with this group is now complete. Second, the reference to the “Masters” and the insistence of secrecy regarding esoteric work surely hearkens back to the time they spent as members of the Temple of the People (later in his life, Wolff would revise his opinion on the importance of this latter constraint). Finally, it is apparent that Wolff is writing under the influence of his wife, who was much more oriented to group work and to a specific formalism that should attend such work. (2 pages)

This file contains three letters from Franklin Wolff to his wife Sherifa from Michigan Bluff, a small gold-mining town in northern California. There should be many more letters here from and about this period of time in Wolff’s life. Wolff was trying to make ends meet during the Great Depression by prospecting for gold, which he did for a period of three years while living in a small, rented cabin. A number of his and Sherifa’s students also spent time there, including Murray Gregg, Lillian and Clyde Reid, Kathryn Turner, and Jim and Helen Briggs. At the time of the letters here, Sherifa was in San Fernando, convalescing from a serious illness. (4 pages)

Wesak (also spelled Vesak) is the most important of the Theravada Buddhist festivals, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha. The event is observed on the full-moon day of the lunar month Vesakha, which falls in April or May. Observed as a public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries, Wesak is marked by special devotional services and various deeds considered to be meritorious, such as the presentation of food or alms to monks or the release of captive birds.

This letter from George Wiggs is an invitation to the May 1936 Wesak Festival in Chicago. (4 pages)

This is an important letter, as it was written a week after what Wolff called his first “Fundamental Realization” (and to which Wolff refers in the postscript). He begins, however, by addressing Mr. Gibson’s inquiries concerning conscience, which Wolff recognizes as sourced in one’s inner being and as the highest authority in all moral decisions. There is, of course, the question of properly interpreting the course of action dictated by one’s conscience, and Wolff acknowledges that this is of great importance; but, he states that it is more “important that the individual should follow the dictates or seeming dictates of his conscience than that he should correctly interpret its meaning in action.” Moreover, Wolff holds that any organization that would require its members to follow an external authority when there is a conflict between that authority and one’s conscience is the mark of “the Shadow.” Wolff goes on to remark that proponents of dialectical materialism, who recognize the priority of matter over mind, must—for the sake of logical consistency—deny the authority of a conscience working through an individual’s soul.

In more general terms, Wolff notes any doctrine that is materialistic stands opposite to his own standpoint, which is a philosophy based on “Atmavidya,” and that there is no chance—as Mr. Gibson suggests—of reconciling this philosophy with dialectical materialism. He then explains that “it is possible to reduce the Atmavidya to certainty” because it is based on a third type of knowledge that differs from knowledge based on the senses or knowledge based on reason. Wolff dubs this “Knowledge by Identity,” which is not knowledge of an object, but of “the purely subjective element which is the basis of objective knowledge.” Furthermore, he states that:

it is the profoundest level of meditation, actually “Samadhi.” From the standpoint of relative knowledge it is indistinguishable from absolute 'emptiness, yet when realized It is known as absolute fullness. It is possible for a man to achieve this Recognition and then while he is enfolded within it he literally stands superior to the whole Universe and all hierarchies. I mean he finds himself superior to space, time and causality and thus free from all karma. He is in the stream of consciousness of all Sages of all times. At this point that which heretofore has been belief in or conviction of the truth of the Atmavidya becomes certainty. For one who has attained this there is no longer metaphysical doubt or a vital problem concerning the Soul.

In addition to the juxtaposition of the philosophies of dialectical materialism and Atmavidya, the penultimate section of the letter contains a discussion of the principle that no individual should be exploited, which is followed by a postscript that contains a treatment of Hegel and Marx, as well as some suggested reading meant to acquaint Mr. Gibson to Wolff's recent Awakening to another dimension. (6 pages)

This file contains the correspondence between Franklin F. Wolff and J. William Lloyd, to whom Wolff sent a manuscript copy of the book that was to become Pathways Through to Space. The following sketch of Lloyd’s life and achievements is based an autobiographical essay that Lloyd penned in 1940, as well as a number of other sources that illuminate the life of this fascinating individual.[1]

John William Lloyd was born on June 4, 1857 in Westfield, New Jersey. His mother was a woman of a broad, gentle nature, quite spiritual, poetic, and a great reader; his father was an intense abolitionist. As a child, Lloyd did not receive much schooling, and he preferred the company of books and the trees in a local forest over that of other children. He tried his hand at farming and carpentry, and then at the age of eighteen attended the Hygiene Therapeutic College of drugless medication. After the college failed, Lloyd became a pioneer on the Kansas frontier, first as a worker on a cattle ranch, cow-punching and prairie-breaking, and then on his own homestead, having married a woman in 1879 whom he had met in college. He served as the local doctor, but had “almost no patients in that hardy and destitute population.”[2] Falling on hard times, Lloyd accepted an assistant physician job in Iowa, followed by similar positions in Tennessee and at a spiritualist commune in Florida. After the death of his wife, he returned to New Jersey so that his sister could look after his two children. He found work as a nurse in New York City, specializing in the care of the insane.

When in Kansas he had written for the local newspaper and some medical journals, and in Florida he had written for radical journals and reform papers (for a time he was a regular contributor to Benjamin Tucker’s Liberty); and, he had faithfully produced poetry since his days in college. In New York, Lloyd began a more serious literary career and would go on to produce a large corpus of articles, books and poems; he also briefly published a monthly journal, The Free Comrade, the motto of which was “The clear eye, the free brain, the red heart, the warm hand—Manhood in Comradeship.”

His first published book, Wind-Harp Songs (1895), was a compilation of his poetry; Dawn Thought on the Reconciliation: A Volume of Pantheistic Impressions and Glimpses of Larger Religion was published in 1900 and its sequel, Life’s Beautiful Battle: or, The Human Soul Before Pain, in 1910. Lloyd had visited the Pima Indians of Arizona in 1903, and he weaved a number of their legends into Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights: Being the Myths and Legends of the Pimas of Arizona (1911); he had recounted some of his experiences living with the tribe in The Songs of the Desert (1905). Other works of many include two utopian novels, The Natural Man: A Romance of the Golden Age (1902) and The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise: How They Got Together and Lived Happy Ever After. A Sequel to “The Natural Man,” Being an Account of the Tribes of Him (1904).

Lloyd promoted a type of social philosophy that he dubbed “Social-Anarchism,” and in which he envisioned a “larger socialism” that controls the industrial processes but also gives the individual “the right to secede” from social organization and to lead one’s own life apart from it. He considered this way of life to embody humanism, by which he meant “love of the human”:

It is really the underlying and often unconscious motive of one half the world’s activities. It is of the heart. It is an instinct made conscious and elevated into a cult and a practical religion. It is not ethics, but the spirit of ethics. It is the old clannish loyalty and communism of the tribe enlarged until it includes the whole human race, without distinction of race, sex, merit. It is gregariousness. It is the true patriotism of man. It is the tie of the human family. It is the deepest and best well-spring of good in our nature—the passion, sympathy, enthusiasm of the human for the human.[3]

Lloyd’s philosophy of sex and marriage may strike some as radical, given his claim that monogamous relationships can no longer satisfy our expanding humanity. In line with thinkers such as Moses Harman and Edward Carpenter, Lloyd held that the tendency of sexual evolution is to include and reconcile all forms of sexual life, so as to set the individual free to rely on one’s own intelligence and conscience in sexual faith and practice. In general, Lloyd would reconcile marriage and free love by allowing a “central love” and “side lovers,” which he dubbed “the Larger Love.”[4]

Lloyd died on October 23, 1940 at the age of eighty-three years. The December 21, 1940 issue of the Los Angeles Times reported on the filing of Lloyd’s will with the headline, “Poet’s Will Sets Out Opposition to Tears.” The story states that Lloyd’s will recorded that he was of the belief “that death should be regarded as a happy journey to a new land and should not provide the occasion for bleak despair and unrestrained lamenting. Such mourning he considered barbaric, antisocial and immoral.”[5]

Richard Maurice Bucke recognized Lloyd as an individual who had attained “cosmic consciousness” as defined in his book of the same name—a book with which Wolff was quite conversant. Bucke had asked Lloyd to write a brief account of his life and spiritual evolution, and this account makes up the bulk of the chapter on Lloyd in this book.[6] As Bucke notes,

what proves J. William Lloyd to be a case of Cosmic Consciousness is not so much the above account of himself (although that could hardly have been written without some such an experience as illumination) as the volume [Dawn-Thought] which he produced after the occurrence in question. This volume, which contains overwhelming evidence of the fact, is easily accessible and will doubtless be read by every person who feels an interest in the subject.[7]

It is likely that Wolff learned of Lloyd when reading Bucke’s book and that this prompted Wolff to procure a copy of the 1904 edition of Dawn-Thought for his library. Wolff also gifted Lillian Reid a copy of Life’s Beautiful Battle for Christmas in 1936, inscribing these words in the volume:

To Lillian,

Though the battle of life may oft seem slow, The task that comes very simple and plain, Yet never forget, but remember this well, He who is faithful in the little, striving the best, Doth build noble Mansion, there later to dwell.

Yogi

Since these were the only writings by Lloyd found in Wolff’s library, it is doubtful that Wolff was familiar with the totality of Lloyd’s philosophy.

Here is an excerpt of Lloyd’s account of his own illumination as found in Bucke’s volume:

As to my illumination: I was going to New York City one morning in January, 1897, on a train, to do some hospital work. I was reading Carpenter. It was a beautiful winter morning. I think I was near the Bay Bridge, or on it, when the Thought came. There was no particular sensation, except that something beautiful and great seemed to have happened [to] me, which I could only describe in terms of light. Yet it was purely mental. But everything looked different to me. I went about the city that day calm, but glad and uplifted. The thing I remember most was a wonder how soon the sensation, or impression, would leave me. I was latently sceptical, and thought it a temporary inspiration, like that of a poem. But days, weeks, months, passed, and I found the shoot which had broken ground that winter morning was ever growing, strengthening and changing all the scenery of my life. I continually questioned and tested, and at last, after a year’s trial, began to write.[8]

Lloyd’s writing culminated in his self-proclaimed most important work, Dawn Thought on the Reconciliation: A Volume of Pantheistic Impressions and Glimpses of Larger Religion, which he first published in 1900. The central theme of this work is that there is but One, whether we call it the Universe, God or anything else. We imagine that we are separate beings, but this is only a “working fiction” of the universe, because in the ultimate sense we are inseparable. This idea can best be understood by comparing the universe to a shattered sphere. Every piece is imperfect, being less than the sphere, and of another shape. Only when all fits together again in the order of their breaking is harmony restored, and this not for each, as a separate one, but for all together as One.[9]

In the explication of his metaphysics, Lloyd does not pretend to have solved the riddle of life; rather, he simply offers his view as a working hypothesis:

Lloyd finds in his hypothesis a reason for living (“life is growth, and growth is toward the light”); that he offers a reconciliation of the bewildering dualities that beset every attempt to construct a rational life-philosophy, by pointing out that all forces, evil and good alike, tend toward one end and ideal; that he anticipates a future religion that shall be truly synthetic because including the best features of every religion hitherto existing; and that he looks, above all, to an increasing freedom of spirit and of life. “Inevitably,” he says, “this philosophy leads to freedom in its widest. It liberates from all laws, rules, codes, dogmas, formulas. These are indeed seen to be useful, but only as guides, working-plans, advices, tools. They are not finalities or masters.”[10]

Wolff’s and Lloyd’s letters make it quite clear that these men held each other in high regard; those in the Wolff Archive include:

(26 pages)

[1] (1) J. William Lloyd, “A Brief Sketch of the Life of J. William Lloyd,” n.p., 1940; (2) Leonard D. Abbott, “J. William Lloyd and his Message,” Mother Earth 1908, 360-8; and (3) “J. William Lloyd, Philosopher of the Paradox,” The International 1912, 121-2. The first of these articles may be retrieved from the first link below; the second link below is to a folder containing the second and third articles.

1. http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.1875
2. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ByQby38wboyCYW1hRjN3WS1zc3c

See also Lloyd’s autobiographical account in Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D., Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind (Philadelphia: Innes & Sons, 1901), 342-3.

[2] Lloyd, “A Brief Sketch of the Life of J. William Lloyd.”

[3] Quoted from Abbott, “J. William Lloyd and his Message,” 367.

[4] Lloyd also advocated sexual intercourse without seminal emission, noting that “In the highest form and best expression of the art neither man nor woman has or desires to have the orgasm . . .” J. William Lloyd, The Karezza Method or Magnetation: The Art of Connubial Love (Roscoe, Calif.: n.p., 1931), 7.

[5] Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1940, 29.

[6] Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness, Chp. 32.

[7] Ibid. 344. The volume to which Bucke refers is J. William Lloyd, Dawn Thought on the Reconciliation: A Volume of Pantheistic Impressions and Glimpses of Larger Religion (Wellesley, Mass.: Maugus Press, 1900).

[8] Ibid, 343.

[9] This summary is from Abbott, “J. William Lloyd and his Message,” 362.

[10] Ibid, 362-3.

These two letters record some matters regarding Wolff’s publication of “Concept, Percept and Reality” in The Philosophical Review. A letter from the editor (Mr. Cunningham) reveals that Wolff had revised his initial submission, which the journal’s reviewers found a “great improvement over the other.” Mr. Cunningham also notes that there may be a delay in its publication, as articles are published in the order received. Wolff states that this is satisfactory. The essay was published in the July 1939 issue. (2 pages)

The original copies of these two letters have not been delivered, so it is not possible to determine how heavily these transcripts have been edited. The file here consists of two letters from Wolff to his wife; they were respectively written in May and June 1938. Wolff reports on the progress of setting up Summer Camp at the future site of the Ashrama. (3 pages)

This exchange of letters concerns Mr. Geshell’s work on the Ashrama. In the first letter, which is addressed to Sherifa (Wolff’s first wife), Mr. Geshell begins with a discussion of the Milwaukee group’s contribution to the construction of the Ashrama; in the remainder of the letter he restates his commitment to help in the construction of this structure. Wolff responds, detailing some of the work that has been completed in preparation for beginning construction of the Ashrama, and he then asks Mr. Geshell’s help in the construction of this building. (6 pages)

In this note, Wolff thanks the Milwaukee group of the Assembly of Man for a gift on the occasion of his birthday (see Peter Geshell’s December 25, 1939 letter for details about the gift). Written during the second World War, Wolff reminds them that “when stupendous, historic forces are operating so widely in the world and naked force seems to dominate the scene, then it is most important that there should be those among men who devote themselves to forming a lamp within which the Light of Compassion may shine for the blessing of men.” (1 page)

In this letter, Wolff expresses his thanks for a garment that Mr. William Kohout sent him for his birthday (July 11). A note penned by Mr. Kohout that was presumably included with the gift (and written on the back of a blank invoice at 1:00 a.m. on September 30) follows Wolff's letter. A transcription of the Chicago student's note follows. (4 pages)

This file contains an exchange of letters between Peter Geshell and Franklin Merrell-Wolff. Mr. Gehsell writes concerning some Assembly of Man coursework he has undertaken, and he notes that he finds reading The Secret Doctrine difficult. He then asks a series of questions, to which Wolff responds in the letter that follows. Briefly stated, Mr. Geshell’s questions are:

1. Has Wolff’s book, “Point-I to Space-I,” been published? (This book would be published as Pathways Through to Space).  
2. What relation do moons revolving around other planets bear to their respective planets?
3. Was the earth a “sun” at one time to our moon?
4. What kind of machine did J. W. Keeley of Philadelphia invent?
5. Is there a concise list of tenets of the Assembly of Man, including a “code of conduct” for its members?

In response to this last question, Wolff offers that the “practical morality of the Brotherhood is substantially that of Buddhism, which is the one side of Buddha’s teachings which have come down with a high degree of purity.” Wolff then presents what he calls a “partial outline” of this code:

In the bulk of the remainder his letter, Wolff attends to some difficulties in adhering to this code. (6 pages)

1. 1. Non-lying.
   2. Non-killing.
   3. Regarding the good of another as highly as one’s own good.
   4. Cultivation of all conduct, speech and thought which tends to weaken the focus of desire upon the object and to strengthen its focus toward the Subject or Truth in the abstract.
   5. Cultivation of an attitude of mercy toward all creatures.
   6. Conscientiousness in relation to all problems and relationships, material or spiritual.
   7. An energetic, as opposed to a passive, attitude.
   8. Willingness to assume responsibility of decision.
   9. Loyalty to the Brotherhood, the representatives and to the doctrine which is accepted.
   10. Scrupulous honesty.
   11. Dealing justly, to others and to one’s own different functions.
   12. To give to the “I should do” first place, as compared with the “I would like to do.” (In time the “I should do” tends to become identical with the “I would like to do,” but when there is conflict the individual’s judgement of right-action must take priority over the individual’s private wishes. But here, the “I should do” is determined by the individual’s own conscience rather than by a formula laid down by someone else.)

In the bulk of the remainder his letter, Wolff attends to some difficulties in adhering to this code. (6 pages)

Peter Geshell was a close friend of James Briggs (Wolff’s stepson), whom he had met when the two were students at the Colorado School of Mines. Pete and his wife would become longtime students of Franklin Wolff, and in retirement built a home on Wolff's Lone Pine ranch.

Some important exchanges of letters between Franklin Wolff and Mr. Geshell are posted separately from the file here, which contains the remainder of their correspondence, as well as several letters from Pete’s wife, Ann Elizabeth. There are two letters from the 1940s, which range from a book order to Pete’s thoughts on Pathways Through to Space. The date of the letters then skip to the 1960s and 1970s, and these documents include details on business trips, thank you notes, water issues on the Lone Pine property, and in a letter dated November 11, 1973, some of Mr. Geshell’s thoughts on the statement that the “manifested world is an illusion.”

At the end of this file are some excerpts from Mr. Geshell’s autobiography. These fifteen pages recount some history of his employment in the mining industry, his first meeting of Ann Elizabeth and their marriage, his friendship with Jim Briggs, and the Geshell’s first trip to the Ashrama in August 1941, at which time the couple decided that they would like to retire in Lone Pine. (35 pages)

This is a series of seven handwritten letters from Wolff to his wife Sherifa, dated from May 24, 1942 to July 10, 1942. In these letters, Wolff chronicles the summer’s work on the Ashrama (or as it was called then, the “Ajna Ashrama”).  (27 pages)

The three letters in this file describe Wolff’s 1943 trip to purchase a 430-acre ranch just outside Lone Pine, Calif. At the time, it was known as the “Hoar Ranch” (after its owners), and shortly after its purchase, Sherifa renamed it the “Assembly of Man Ranch,” after the organization that Wolff and she had founded in 1928. The purchase of this property provided the group with easy access to the Ashrama and was primarily used as a base for the group’s summer activities. After Wolff wed Gertrude Adams, the newly married couple moved to the ranch (in 1960) and built a home, where Wolff would spend the remainder of his life. (10 pages)

This file contains some letters from Franklin Wolff to Sherifa (his first wife) from their newly purchased ranch outside of Lone Pine, Calif. They had named the property “The Assembly of Man Ranch” after the theosophical organization that they had founded in 1928. For the most part, these letters detail Wolff’s work during the 1940s at the ranch, which included planting crops and raising animals. (15 pages)

This file contains several letters from James Warnack of the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Warnack writes in regard to Pathways Through to Space, and he discusses the possibility of a review of this work by his newspaper. He also states that he was acquainted with “M. W. over a quarter of a century ago,” but he does not state how he came to know Wolff (who did not use the pen name ‘Merrell-Wolff’ at that time); perhaps it was in the army or at Halcyon. Included here is Mr. Warnack’s two-page essay, “Pathways Through to Space: An Appreciation.” (6 pages)

This file contains correspondence concerning the work of Dr. Frederick Kettner, who founded the Biosophical Institute in New York City.

Dr. Kettner and members of this organization were quite impressed with Wolff’s book, Pathways Through to Space, and particularly the poetry therein, which they felt was similar to that of Dr. Kettner. Accordingly, the institute forwarded a copy of Kettner’s book, Back to the Nameless One, which Wolff read and deposited in his library.

Wolff writes that he was quite impressed by the book, as well as the objectives of the institute. With regard to the latter, Wolff notes:

As I see it, in movements of this kind, the primary significance of the group activities is to serve as an expedient means favoring the arousal of the Awakened Consciousness as extensively as may be among men.

Wolff addresses a secondary function of such groups (the amelioration of suffering), briefly touches on the present world condition, and states his preference for a government that “would be in the larger sense aristocratic though . . . it should be combined with democratic determinants in lesser details.” He concludes by noting that he was acquainted with an author of one of the group’s pamphlets, Prof. Paul Radosavljevich of New York University, whom he knew from his days in the philosophy club at Stanford University.

Included with this correspondence are some reactions to Wolff's letter, as well as some “sketchy notes” taken during a meeting at which Dr. Kettner read and discussed different passages from Pathways Through To Space. There is also a request for an article by Wolff for a future issue of the Biosophical Review; this letter includes the handwritten note "Sent Nov 14 - 44." (13 pages)

In this exchange of letters, Wolff writes to Mr. Geshell regarding the problem of abstracting the “subjective” moment from the manifold of consciousness. Wolff gives a lucid analysis and explains why a successful intellectual recognition is not yet a mystical breakthrough—and what else needed for this leap.

Wolff then expresses concern for the present state of the world, mentions that he is finishing a companion work to Pathways through to Space, and concludes with a question for Mr. Gehsell to consider: What is the connection between “Substantiality is inversely proportional to ponderability” and “x² - y² = 2”?

Mr. Geshell writes back from Italy (where he is stationed during the war), and grapples with the question above. (9 pages)

Note: Only Wolff’s letter has been transcribed.

In this letter, Wolff explains to his stepson why he may be having difficulty understanding part of Pathways Through to Space. Wolff also lists a few groups that he believes will find this book objectionable. (2 pages)

Note: The original copy of this letter has not been delivered, so it is not possible to determine the extent to which the transcript here may have been edited.

This file contains three letters from 1945 that are part of the correspondence between Franklin Wolff and George Briggs. Mr. Briggs was Sherifa’s second husband (Wolff, her third) and the father of James Briggs, Sherifa’s son. Although there undoubtedly should be more letters in this file, only one original letter has been delivered; the other two letters here are transcriptions and it is not known how faithful they are to the originals.

The first letter in this file refers to a question that Mr. Briggs had posed to Wolff, presumably about the concept of specific gravity. The next two (transcribed) letters refer to Wolff’s recently published book, Pathways Through to Space: the first contains Mr. Briggs’s reflections on this tome; the second is Wolff’s response and contains some valuable insight into his ambitions for this work.

This correspondence reveals that Wolff and Mr. Briggs maintained a cordial relationship and that Mr. Briggs was a well-read and intelligent man. (4 pages)

This file contains an exchange of letters between Wolff and a serious student in the Armed Forces who is stationed overseas. In his first letter, Mr. Jones expresses his gratitude for the volume, Pathways Through to Space, and asks whether Wolff will continue teaching in the future. In this letter, Mr. Jones also notes that Wolff’s work has supplied an element that he found missing in what he deems to be a similar work— that of Ouspensky. Wolff replies:

I had not thought of a similarity to Ouspensky, though on reflection I think I see what you mean. The mathematical interest is in common and he aimed at a logic of intuition in his Tertium Organum. Actually I have devoted a great deal of thought to the structure of the Third Function, though little of this appears in the Pathways. I have a much larger manuscript in which I have seriously worked upon this problem.

In another letter, Mr. Jones asks about the need to retreat from society in order to enter the Path, to which Wolff makes a thoughtful reply. (9 pages)

This file contains an exchange of letters between Wolff and a student who notes that she has received valuable guidance from Pathways Through to Space. Wolff mentions that he is impressed with her familiarity with Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination, and he ends his last letter with the following statement:

He who reads Pathways Through to Space commands my attention if he receives it as something having meaning in his life. This is true whether this personality of mine dwells in this world or not, and whether this personal consciousness knows of it or not. One may not write books of that kind and abandon them.

(8 pages)

In this letter, Mr. Genck states he “cannot express in words” the value of Pathways Through to Space, but that “it struck so many familiar cords of my innermost thought-life that I wish to read other writings of Mr. Wolff.” (1 page)

Mr. N. Meade Layne (1882 –1961) was, in his own words, “not a scientist or mathematician,” but “an academician who . . . strayed into borderland sciences and psychic research.” He is known for his “Etheric Interpretation of the Flying Saucers,” which he produced in collaboration with the medium Mark Probert and others. He also wrote extensively on a variety of other esoteric subjects, including dowsing and the finer forces, during his tenure as editor of The Round Robin, which he started as “A Bulletin of Contact and Information for Students of Psychic Research and Parapsychology.” In 1951, Mr. Layne founded the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation for “the purpose of studying parapsychology and extended consciousness.”

This exchange of letters between Wolff and Mr. Layne begins with a letter in which Mr. Layne introduces himself with a verse that he has composed; it is titled “Aldebaran in Faery.” Mr. Layne also notes that he has some questions regarding Chapter XLIX of Pathways Through to Space, but that as a “stranger” he would not presume to burden the author with such matters. Wolff responds that he is much impressed with Mr. Layne’s poem, and that he recognizes “through it that you have acquaintance with that which men do not often find and, finding, do not always understand.” Wolff also notes that he “does not stand aloof from answering questions from ‘strangers’ about Pathways,” and that in fact, he is eager to learn of the problems that arise in the reader’s mind.

Mr. Layne writes with an inquiry about after-death states, to which Wolff responds with a letter and a 3-page essay titled “Essential Dying” under the heading of “Pathways Problems.”

Other letters involve an exchange of two issues of The Round Robin and an issue of The Flying Roll, a quarterly publication not available to the general public (Mr. Layne had gifted Wolff a subscription to each journal). Mr. Layne also forwards a letter from William C. Crump for Wolff’s examination (unfortunately, this letter is not included here). In the last letter in this exchange, Wolff commends Mr. Layne for his work, and particularly for his “balance between critical discrimination and open-mindedness [that] is hard to hold in work of the sort in which you are engaged”; Wolff then expounds on the problem of Mr. Crump. (25 pages)

This file contains the correspondence between Eto B. Broughton and Franklin Wolff. Ms. Broughton writes expressing her thanks to Wolff for his book, Pathways Through to Space, stating that it has helped her to clarify some of her own experiences. Wolff responds with some advice for Ms. Broughton. Note: The letters in this file are transcriptions, as the originals have not been delivered; it is not known whether these transcriptions are faithful to the originals. (2 pages)

Mary Boynton, the Librarian of the Beverley Hills Public Library, acknowledges Wolff's gift of Pathways Through to Space to the library. (1 page)

This file contains letters from Oklahoma City written by three individuals who knew one another:

1. Mrs. W. W. Witt of Oklahoma City writes Sherifa requesting copies of The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object and of the Assembly of Man pamphlet, For Those Who Have Gone Part Way and are Still Seeking. She also notes how impressed she and her friends are with Pathways Through to Space. (1 page)
2. Ralph M. de Bit “stands in sheer amazement of the lucidity” of the work. (1 page)
3. Emily Athearn writes that she feels a “kinship” with Wolff and asks about his other writings; she also includes an inventory of some of the books in her library. (3 pages)

This letter is addressed to Mr. William C. Kohout of Chicago, giving permission to reprint on the jacket of Pathways Through To Space, the review of that book that appeared in The American Theosophist of September 1944. (2 pages)

After reading the “amazing” Pathways Through to Space, a Smith College student inquires whether Wolff’s book, Yoga: Its Problems, Its Purpose, Its Technique, is still in print. The enclosure noted in the letter has not been found. (1 page)

This file contains letters from two individuals who state that Pathways Through to Space has helped them gauge their own progress along the Path; it also contains a letter that refers to Wolff’s discussion of psycho-physical heat in this volume.

1. Genevieve Wheeler writes that she feels that Liberation is “very near” and of a possible spiritual induction from Wolff’s writings. She informs Wolff of some details of her life, and encloses a gift in the form of a card with a blue butterfly embossed upon it. (3 pages)
2. Mr. Jeffrey Cuddy writes that he has had similar experiences to those Wolff describes in Pathways Through to Space, and he states that Wolff relates at least one shared condition of which he could find no other description in the literature. (4 pages)
3. Mr. Frank Noyes writes of an experience that he believes corroborates the phenomenon of the psycho-physical heat that Wolff describes in the Addenda to the volume. (4 pages)

This letter from Aldous Huxley was a report to Elizabeth Baum on his reading of Pathways Through to Space, a copy of which Ms. Baum had sent to him. Unfortunately, only the first page of this letter is in the Wolff Archive.

Huxley begins his report on the book by noting that “I was much interested by its subtle analysis of personal experience and by the philosophical reflections, most of which I agree with—though I wish I could share the author’s conviction that power politics are on the decline and that the technician is a force opposed to power politics.” He says a few words on this latter point, and then turns to Wolff’s discussion of the heat generated by contemplatives and mentions some Western examples of this phenomenon. (1 page)

This letter to an unknown correspondent was published in the Bulletin of the Assembly of Man 6 (April 1961).

This file contains the initial exchange of letters between Wolff and Reid Gardner, as well as another letter written by Wolff to Mr. Gardner a few years after their correspondence began. The two exchanged letters for at least twenty-six years, as Wolff mentions a letter he received from Mr. Gardner that was dated December 23, 1973.[1] So, there should be more letters in this file, and in fact, Wolff mentions others that precede the last letter in this file.

Mr. Gardner first wrote to Wolff as a twenty-three year old; he notes that he has been recently discharged from the Army and is “disgustingly normal and sane (except for this spiritual preoccupation) but eager to frame my life around whatever advice” Wolff might give him. In his response, Wolff is clearly impressed by the depth of Mr. Gardner’s insight. He carefully addresses a number of points in Mr. Gardner’s letter, and then he invites Mr. Gardner to make a prearranged appointment to see him in San Fernando.

In the third letter in this file (dated sometime after 1947), Wolff notes that “at last I propose to consider on paper some features in your excellent discussions. In particular I shall devote attention to your discussion of self-analysis as this presents the very crucial difference between traditional Buddhism and the Vedanta of Shankara.” As mentioned above, Wolff mentions “other letters” that precede this one, so Wolff may be responding to points Mr. Gardner has written about, or perhaps even discussed in person (note that Wolff now uses the more familiar salutation, “Dear Reid,” in this letter).

Mr. Gardner would become an accomplished artist who belonged to a small group of nonconformist painters whose work has been described as “magic realism.” Gardner explains:

My work has been called romantic. I don’t disclaim that. I do paintings of things that seem magical and moving to me. What can’t be ignored, however, is that there is such a thing as the magical. Craftsmanship presupposes it. I spend a long time on each painting. After years of learning craftsmanship, a painter gets the feel of his materials and learns what quiet miracles can be done with them.

As one can see in the painting below, Mr. Gardner sought to achieve the “magically real” with a technical ability honed by yogic contemplation on what the artist can see. Like Wyeth and other contemporary tempera painters, he painted on panels of Masonite that were prepared especially for his use; he also used his own revolutionary “fused-media” technique, which combined many successive glazes of tempera and oil. A perfectionist to the final, minute detail, Mr. Gardner would sometimes work months on a single painting, even a year. He never finished a painting in less than ninety days, often laboring on painstaking detail work with brushes so small and fine they had only a few sable hairs.

Mr. Gardner died August 25, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to Wolff, Mr. Gardner also exchanged letters with Aldous Huxley, and these letters can be found in the Aldous Huxley Papers, a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles. (11 pages)

[1] See Franklin Merrell-Wolff, “Three Fundamentals of the Introceptive Philosophy,” part 8 (4 January 1974).

Mr. O'Donnell writes to tell Wolff of his appreciation for Pathways Through to Space, and to inquire as whether about the availability of Wolff's book, Yoga: Its Technique and Practice, which is mentioned in Chapter XXV of Pathways. (1 page)

This is an exchange of letters between Wolff and Harry Murphy from 1948 and 1949. Mr. Murphy would become a close acquaintance of both Wolff and his wife, Sherifa.

In the first letter in this file, Mr. Murphy introduces himself to Wolff, noting that “it was my friend Professor Chas J. Ryan at the Theosophical headquarters, Covina, who first introduced to me your book, Pathways Through to Space.” He states that he has been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1936 and that he and his wife lived at the Covina headquarters as staff members, where among other things, he taught a course in Western philosophy. He goes on to explain that he has become disillusioned with Theosophy, and divides his objections into four categories: (1) Historical, (2) Oriental philosophy and other points of scholarship, (3) Scientific and (4) Religious.

Wolff takes over four months to respond to Mr. Murphy’s letter, which he finds “most interesting.” Wolff explains that there were two reasons for this delay: “First, at the time of receiving the letter, the writer was extremely busy with the work of establishing a retreat some distance north of here and, second, the problems raised by the letter were of such a nature and importance that they could not be handled reasonably without extended discussion.” Wolff notes that since others around him have also expressed similar doubts about Theosophy, he has written a “thesis” on the matter, which he is enclosing with the letter (this fifty-seven page document is titled, “Is Theosophy Authentic?,” and may be accessed here). In the remainder of the letter, Wolff goes on to addresses some of Mr. Murphy’s personal doubts that were not addressed in the essay. He also invites Mr. Murphy for a visit, providing both his telephone number and address.

The next letter in this exchange makes it clear that Mr. Murphy has begun to visit the Wolffs, and in fact, he begins by apologizing for his behavior at his last visit, when he left the women out of the conversation (and for which he was chastised by his wife). The letter also makes it clear that he has met Prof. Melvin and his wife, and he notes that Prof. Melvin “not only has a brilliant mind, but human understanding, and a real orientation to spiritual things.” Among other things mentioned in this letter is the fact that his thesis project (at Claremont Graduate University), which is titled “Two Religious Developments of Late Nineteenth Century India Considered in Their Relation to Traditional Indian Thought: Theosophy and Ramakrishna Vedanta,” is delayed because the school will not allow him to use Swami Prabhavananda as an advisor.

In the last letter in this file, Wolff responds to a number of points in Mr. Murphy’s previous communication, including a paragraph on the issue of whether Enlightenment is “simply a matter of return to the Root, as seems to be the view of Aesthetic Mysticism, or is it this plus advance to the Fruit, as seems to fit the demands of the more Rational Mysticism.” (9 pages)

This is an exchange of letters between Franklin Wolff and Mael A. Melvin, who—like Wolff—left academia to seek Recognition. In the first letter in this file, Prof. Melvin introduces himself to Wolff: he has left his position as an associate professor of physics at Columbia University, and he, his wife, and their young son are currently caretakers at a theosophical camp on an island in Puget Sound. Prof. Melvin would like to visit Wolff over a three-month period the following January through March 1949.

Wolff’s response contains some commiserating words about leaving academia, the use of mathematical symbolism to express what is meant by Enlightenment, and the nature of scientific theories. Strangely, there is no mention of Prof. Melvin’s request to visit Wolff, which leads one to believe that this letter—which is based on a transcription—is incomplete as presented here. (Prof. Melvin and his wife would visit the following year, and in fact, stayed in the apartment above Wolff’s house.)

Prof. Melvin writes back thanking Wolff for his letter, and reaffirms that he hopes to see him early the next year. In the remainder of the letter, Dr. Melvin details how he is “happy in life, miserable out of God.” In a postscript he promises to get to some of the points that Wolff made in his last letter, and he shrugs off the article of his that Wolff has mentioned.

The next letter in this file is from Prof. Melvin, written shortly after the last. He notes that the two questions he expressed in the last letter, as well as the remainder of the letter, expressed “emotional states from which I seek emergence.” He then asks whether, from the point of view of the Awakened state, is there any value in distinguishing degrees of truth in the relative world? He also puts it another way: Why should an Awakened One choose to return to the illusory world and attempt to persuade others of the value of Recognition?

This letter is also based on a transcription, so it is not known how faithful it is to the original.

The last letter in this file is dated thirty-one years later than those above, and given that Dr. Melvin and Wolff remained lifelong friends, there can be little doubt that their correspondence included more letters than just those in this file. This last letter is a copy of a letter that Dr. Melvin sent to Swami Rama of the Himalayan Institute, which had promised to republish Wolff's books, Pathways Through to Space and The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object. Dr. Melvin expresses concern that this undertaking has not been fulfilled (and in fact, the Himalayan Institute did not publish these works—see Wolff’s correspondence with Swami Rama for more information). Dr. Melvin also includes with this letter an article that he has written titled “Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Starmaker or Yogic?”; he suggests that Wolff may be interested in reading it. (30 pages)

In this exchange of letters, Mr. Geshell writes that he has been thinking about a comment that Wolff made in a Lions Club speech, which he paraphrases as follows: “That almost any means are justified and should be taken to reduce the power of the political ‘entity’ in the United States. ‘Money power’ no longer holds a restraining position with reference to ascendency of political power.”

In his response, Wolff makes two points:

Relative to the quotation taken from the talk before the Lion's Club, the following points are to be noted (1) The words are “‘almost’ any means” and thus do not exclude the possibility that there could be a worse power principle as compared to a predominant political power, though I doubt it. (2) I was referring to an instrument of power in the use of the word “means” rather than to method of establishing the power. I do not advocate the view that the “end justifies the means,” but rather the view promulgated by Emerson in the form “the end is resident in the means.” I realize from your quotation that there was an ambiguity.

Wolff then notes that “I have a sixty page discussion of politics within I think might make my view and its reasons clearer than anything I might say in less space.” Unfortunately, this document, which is also mentioned in Wolff’s essay, “The Vertical Thought Movement,” remains outstanding. Wolff goes on to make a few comments on politics in this letter, which he says “are no more than brief suggestions to suggest lines of thought an[d] observation.” (6 pages)

This file contains the correspondence between Wolff and Mr. Charles Zemont, which consists of letters that range over a span of twenty-seven years. The first letter is from Mr. Zemont, who writes to commend Wolff on his book, Pathways Through to Space. He notes that the “book was a great companion after I had a Transition a few years ago,” and then states that the main purpose for his letter is to ask whether the “Experience” Wolff reports in the book repeats itself.

Wolff responds:

You ask whether “it repeats Itself.” In a sense It can and often has done so, yet in another sense It never repeats Itself. It is “the same yet never the same.” However, there are those who have had but one glimpse and that was enough to change the whole course of their inner and even outer lives. The repeating is not necessary, however desirable. The point is to unite oneself in identity with the Realization and not be concerned about the Experiencing and further glimpses will come at the right time according to their own spontaneous nature.

Wolff then invites Mr. Zemont to visit, and if he so desires, to come to Lone Pine during their summer stay there. Mr. Zemont writes back thanking Wolff for the letter and asking where it is that they reside in Lone Pine.

The next letter in this file is also from Mr. Zemont, and it is written twenty-two years after his last letter; it is obvious that he and Wolff are now well acquainted. He writes of balancing the experience of the “current” and his work “in a mental hospital” as an art therapist, and also notes that he finds himself drawn to study astrology. Mr. Zemont writes again, a little over a year later, to report that “a current [has] prevailed—one of the most sublime consciousness.” He credits Wolff with helping bring this to fruition, stating that “your words seven and one half years ago ‘Slow down the wheels, you have a lot of time’, and in the casual way you said it helped to be a beacon.”

Wolff, who is now living in Lone Pine with his second wife, Gertrude, writes back congratulating Mr. Zemont on “a major Spiritual Experience, grounded in a stability much greater than when I first met you.” Wolff also suggests that what Mr. Zemont expresses as “synchronicity” in his letter is what he means by “being on the Beam,” which is a description that Wolff derived from airplane landings (in the 1920s, he owned his own plane). Wolff explains:

Mostly we humans are living off the Beam, and there is much friction, difficulty and even danger. But when on the “Beam” everything comes right. There is harmony, peace and joy along with a new order of understanding.

The last letter in this file is from Mr. Zemont, and it is written four years after the previous letter. In this note, Mr. Zemont discusses the current trend of using LSD to effect what appear to be mystical states of consciousness, asking the question, “What does it do to the philosophy of the disciplined Sadhana, where these people claim ‘instantaneous results’ while adepts go for years, awaiting in piety, on a path and awaiting the grace that enlightens?” (11 pages)

This letter is not dated, and thus the attribution of 1949 is no more than a guess; it is possible that it was written a decade earlier. In this letter, Wolff addresses a number of questions that his stepson has posed; specifically: (1) How can a disembodied entity meet its ego?, (2) What is it that is left when an entity goes through Kāma Loka?, and (3) What is an entity?

Wolff starts with the last question, and in particular, with the dictionary definition of this term in order to “make such modifications as are necessary to meet the special needs of the concepts with which we deal.” As for the first question, Wolff notes that he is not clear as to Mr. Briggs’ reference here, but that he will “discuss the subject at some length” hoping that he will hit the vital point at some place; along the way, Wolff also addresses the second question. (4 pages)

This letter is followed by a supplement, which would appear to have been attached to this letter. It is based on a transcription, so it is not known how faithful it is to the original. Wolff writes that since his answers to the questions above were from “the standpoint of esoteric psychology” and “presupposed some knowledge of this subject, [that] it seemed well to supply a supplementary treatment.” In this supplement, Wolff introduces the Theosophical notion of the Septenary Principle, which refers to the primacy of number seven in the manifest cosmos. More specifically, Wolff addresses this principle as it relates to the constitution of humankind. (7 pages)

This letter from Gertrude Adams was composed on two different dates while Ms. Adams was traveling from Chicago to visit friends and family in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. It is addressed “Dear Teachers,” and Ms. Adams notes that she is enclosing a small contribution for the convention fund and she wishes Wolff a happy anniversary on his first “Fundamental Realization” some twenty years earlier. On the second date (August 7, 1956), she writes from Grand Island, N.Y., which lies in the Niagara River along the Canadian-United States border. She relates some of her interaction with old friends and recounts that their metaphysical discussions lasted until late in the night.  Ms. Adams also notes that she will be part of a round table discussion with a number of like-minded individuals, among whom would be the lecturer and writer, Henrietta E. Schmandt (whose works included the book, The Revelation of St. John the Divine).

A little over three years after this letter, Gertrude Adams would become Wolff's second wife. (4 pages)

Helen Mackett Briggs was married to Wolff’s stepson, James Briggs (Sherifa was his mother). The Wolff family’s most faithful correspondent, Helen began sending letters to Franklin and Sherifa in the 1940s, while she and Jim lived in Alaska (unfortunately, these are not included here). The seventy-eight letters in the file here begin just after Wolff and his second wife (Gertrude) have settled in Lone Pine, Calif., and span a period from 1961 to 1981. Most simply relate events in her friend’s and family’s lives, but some include details about Wolff’s life as well as his students, publications, and audio recordings. (137 pages)

Mrs. Reynolds writes to inform Wolff that her husband Frank has passed away. She shares that the evening before he died, her husband was reading Wolff’s book and that he had penned some reflections upon this reading. She then asks Wolff to write her and explain the meaning of these reflections, which she enclosed with the letter. (Unfortunately, these writings were not found with the letter, nor has a response to Mrs. Reynolds been found.) (1 page)

Mr. Clark writes Wolff to thank him for sending copies of the Bulletin of the Assembly Man and notes that he found the publication interesting—and most especially so, the articles by Wolff. He relates that Theosophy was one of his early studies, and that he had met Annie Besant many times, asserting, “She was wonderful as a lecturer and teacher.” In closing, he states that “I was so happy to meet with you again Franklin and hope to see you again in the near future. You have a nice set-up and a wonderful location so life ought to be very interesting to you.” (1 page)

This file contains an exchange of letters between Wolff and Robert Briggs (Wolff’s step-grandson). In his letter, Mr. Briggs asks the following questions concerning transcendental numbers:

1. Where did the term ‘transcendental’ originate and by whom?
2. Are transcendental numbers irrational numbers or are they excluded from that group?
3. If transcendental numbers are irrational numbers, then how can there be more transcendental numbers than rational numbers?
4. What significance do transcendental numbers have, if any?
5. Is [the] mathematics of today basically a rediscovery of past knowledge, or is it a creation of expression by the present race?

Wolff responds:

Somehow my first impression upon reading your letter was that you had in mind “Transfinite Numbers” and I soon realized an adequate answer would be almost a book, if the ramifications in Mysticism and Philosophy along with Mathematics was taken into account. However, the error was not so far-fetched when one remembers that Cantor’s proof of the existence of a non-denumerable Transfinite involved the Transcendental Numbers.

Wolff explains that Cantor showed the set of algebraic numbers is denumerable (that is, can be put into one-to-one correspondence with the positive integers) but that the cardinality of the set of transcendental numbers is greater than that of the set of algebraic numbers, and so is non-denumerable (that is, it is an infinite set that cannot be into one-to-one correspondence with the positive integers).

Wolff goes on to note that given that the cardinality of the set of transcendental numbers is greater than the cardinality than the set of all algebraic numbers that “it comes with something of a shock to realize that only two Transcendentals are well known”; these are pi and e. Wolff then makes some tangential remarks about his personal theory of the nature of mathematics (which he designates as the “Gnostic Theory”) before he returns to a discussion of the two transcendental numbers mentioned above. He concludes the letter with some brief answers to Mr. Briggs’ questions above. (7 pages)

Ms. Duncan writes to tell Wolff that his book, Re-embodiment, is perfect for the Western mind, and that its emphasis on balance has had a profound on her; in fact, she has written a book based on the words in the Gita, “Equivalence is Union.” (2 pages)

This is likely a note from Hattie Mackett, who was the mother of Helen Briggs (who was married to James Briggs, Wolff’s stepson). Hattie writes to thank Wolff and his wife for a gift and to let them know that she will be taking Helen to Chicago with her this year. (2 pages)

Maybelle Anshutz was a longtime student of the Assembly of Man. In this letter, she writes "Yogi" to tell him of the circumstances that will prevent her from traveling to the ranch during her vacation. (2 pages)

This file contains twenty-three letters to Franklin Wolff and his wife Gertrude from Doroethy (Young) Leonard, who is the daughter of Wolff’s stepson, James Briggs. Most of these letters relate ongoing details of her life and/or that of her family. (28 pages)

In this letter to his step-granddaughter, Wolff speaks on good and evil in the dualistic world. (1 page)

Paul and Lee Perella were longtime students of Franklin Wolff, and whom—as detailed here—Wolff had backed in one of their business ventures. This correspondence primarily pertains to the Perella's attempts to sustain various enterprises, none of which were successful. (16 pages)

This file contains four letters from Peggy and Peter De Cono, who were longtime members of the Assembly of Man. Peter was a key figure in the construction of the Ashrama during the 1940s, and in 1961, the couple built a home on the Assembly of Man Ranch outside of Lone Pine, Calif., about the time Wolff and his second wife, Gertrude, permanently relocated there. The letters here give a brief glimpse of life around Lone Pine; also included here is an obituary for Peter from the Lone Pine Progress Citizen (April 4, 1969). (6 pages)

Erma Pounds was an interesting influence in Franklin Wolff’s life. In the early 1960s, Erma organized a small spiritual group in Arizona whose practice commingled elements of Buddhism, Theosophy, American Indian traditions, as well as other esoteric philosophies In 1974, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, along with Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, visited Erma and her students. Since Erma’s death in 2011, the group has reorganized with the support of Bardor Tulku Rinpoche as a center for the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhist meditation; it is now known as the Kunzang Choling of Phoenix, the first affiliate center of Kunzang Palchen Ling.

According to Wolff’s step-granddaughter, who first introduced Erma to Wolff, Erma claimed to be the reincarnation of Madame Blavatsky; and, in several letters found here, Erma represents herself as a channel for the Theosophical Brothers Master T (Lama Tharchin) and Master Marpa. Given that Wolff considered himself a Theosophist and that his first wife (Sherifa) claimed to have channeling abilities, Wolff felt a natural attraction to Erma. Moreover, in a number of tape-recorded discussions with Erma, Wolff seems to accept her statements about unseen forces in nature as well her channeling ability and gift of prophecy. There is also evidence, however, that Wolff took many of her claims with a grain of salt—and yet, this still did not deter his attraction to her.

The biggest effect of Wolff’s association with Erma was a reinvigoration of his desire to communicate the philosophy that he had built upon his Realizations of 1936. In particular, he began to compose lectures that were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, all of which can be found on this website.

The correspondence here contains several holiday cards, a poem with an esoteric message, and three letters that deal with a proposed visit to the Pounds residence at which time there would be a communication with the Theosophical brothers “Master T and Master Marpa.” There is evidence of many more letters from Erma Pounds in the Wolff Archive. 

This file contains what is surely just a portion of the correspondence between Franklin Wolff and Eugene Sedwick, who was one of Wolff’s most enduring students. Gene and his wife Alma were from Chicago, but the couple also built a home on a parcel of Wolff’s ranch in Lone Pine, Calif.

A former musician, here is an introduction by Wolff for a presentation that Mr. Sedwick made on the “Power of Music”:

The Assembly of Man is happy to present to you a man who is a musician, one who has deepened his understanding of music through the study of metaphysics and philosophy. He comes well equipped, therefore, for the presentation of the subject from an aspect which is not generally known. We feel certain that he will present a new concept on the power of music, or at least original correlations with reference to music as power and influence in the lives of men.

Music is generally accepted as a universal language. It supplants the spoken word in reaching the innermost depths of our nature. One would infer that in man there is something of an intangible but universal nature of which we are not generally conscious. We believe that music may act as this medium by which our consciousness may be awakened to this higher nature, or self, and thereby man may gain a greater understanding of the cosmic scheme of life and extend his field of consciousness. Musicians as well as lovers of music have always felt the power that inheres in music and know that its subtle forces act both upon the sensuous and spiritual nature of man through his feeling nature. Depending on the quality of the music, this is of great importance.

It gives us great pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Eugene Francis Sedwick.

Wolff thought so highly of Mr. Sedwick that he appointed him to continue the work of the Assembly of Man in the event of his death.[1] Gene also introduced Wolff to his second wife, Gertrude.[2] The correspondence found here starts with a note from Gene regarding the death of Alma, and then several personal letters from him to Wolff and his wife Gertrude. (10 pages)

[1] Franklin Merrell-Wolff, “Where Do We Go from this Point?” (Lone Pine, Calif.: December 12, 1978), audio recording.

[2] Franklin Merrell-Wolff, “Autobiographical Material: The Feminine Side of My Experience (Part 2)” (Lone Pine, Calif.: May 21, 1982), audio recording.

Thirty-three years after his 1936 Realizations, Wolff reassesses the significance of these events; in this letter, with respect to the Tri-Kaya and the three fundamental zones or states known as “Sangsara,” “Nirvana” and “Paranirvana” (or “Paranishpanna”). See the audio recording, “The Meaning of Redemption,” for a discussion of this letter. (5 pages)

In this letter, Wolff’s step-granddaughter reports that Bruce Raden has come up with the idea of producing a mimeographed version of Wolff’s book, The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object. This manuscript can be accessed under the Wolff Archive/Books tab here.

Wolff responds with deep appreciation that “you dedicated people have undertaken the task of making the manuscript on The Philosophy of Consciousness-without-an-Object available at least to some readers. I have felt that that book would not live unless someone from outside our own immediate circle sought its publication. What you are doing is a kind of publication and so it may become available to someone who can give it a critical evaluation . . .” (2 pages)

This file contains the Wolff’s correspondence with Bruce Raden, a student of Wolff from Phoenix, Ariz. Their exchange of letters begins in March 1970, with Mr. Raden writing to thank Wolff for his (recorded) reading of the first three cantos of Aurobindo’s epic poem, Savitri; he also inquires whether Wolff will have the time to record the remainder of the poem. Mr. Raden then reports on the production of a mimeographed version of The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object, asking Wolff if there are any changes we would like to make to his manuscript, and confirming some details about the distribution of the final product. Wolff responds and thanks Mr. Raden for getting the ball rolling on these efforts; Wolff then notes that he has recorded an “Epilogue” for the book, and that he will bring it to Phoenix for Mr. Raden’s review, along with a number of diagrams that he believes are necessary for understanding the second chapter in Part IV of the book. Wolff goes on to explain that he would have preferred to have Part III placed before Part II, but he understands that the pagination is already complete; accordingly, he suggests that a note be included in the book that the author suggests Part III be read before Part II. In this regard, Wolff makes the following remarks:

There [was] a struggle between the systematizing tendency of the speculative mind and the spontaneity of the transcriptive mind in the first part of the second chapter on Idealism, which became ironed out later. This is not satisfactory writing, but I finally left it with an explanatory footnote, which should be on the first page of the chapter, and not like the others at the end. This might even be of some interest from the psychological point of view as revealing something of the psychical process in this kind of writing. Ordinary writing is essentially simple. You just organize your material with the intellect and put it down. You know what that you are going to be able to do it and all it takes is work. But in the present kind of writing the “gods” take over part of the time and the intellect at other times and, sometimes, they get together. But you can’t order the “gods.”

The next two letters are from Mr. Raden to Wolff, the first providing some “feedback” on the book above; the second contains a number of questions for Wolff. Wolff responds to these questions in the audio recording titled “Introceptual Consciousness and the Collective Unconscious,” dated 23 June 1970.

The next letter is from Gertrude Wolff asking Mr. Raden if we would be willing to work with Alix Taylor on launching a new a periodical dedicated to the “Wisdom Religion.” Included with this letter is a memo in which Mrs. Wolff “bequeaths” the publication of The Seeker, which was a quarterly production that replaced the Bulletin of the Assembly of Man, to those “interested, willing, and capable” of this endeavor. In another letter, Mr. Raden reports that he has dreamed that Wolff was planning to leave the physical plane, and he requests that Wolff hold off on this, as Wolff will be needed to respond to criticisms of his books now that they are to be circulated more widely. This is a reference to the fact that Pathways Through to Space and The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object had been recently picked up by Julian Press, which was strongly encouraged by John Lilly to publish these works.

After a brief note from Mrs. Wolff, there is an unsigned note in this file from an individual who was living with the Wolff family. In this letter to Mr. Raden, this individual observes that Wolff operates on “three levels”: there is “the child-like Franklin,” who enjoys watching television, laughing at old episodes of Gunsmoke; there is the “Mephisto-Franklin,” with a cold, disciplined intellect that disdains “all things petty and worldly”; and then there is the “Maha-Shankara-Franklin,” which radiates the “Central-Being.” After another brief note from Gertrude thanking Mr. Raden and his wife Pam for reading some books on tape, there is a letter that accompanied the delivery of fifteen transcriptions of Wolff’s audio recordings made by Mr. Raden. It should be noted that almost all of the audio recordings transcribed on this website have produced by Mr. Raden, and that for this, the sangha is profoundly grateful.

At the end of this file is an exchange of letters between Mr. Raden and Robert Johnson, a Jungian analyst who was a great help to Wolff after the death of his wife, Gertrude. Mr. Raden informs Dr. Johnson of Wolff’s July 1978 heart attack and relates some details of his visit to Wolff shortly thereafter—in particular, what Wolff told him about the choices laid out in Dr. Johnson’s interpretation of Wolff’s “major dreams” (see the correspondence between Wolf and Dr. Johnson below). Dr. Johnson’s response follows. Also here are some of Mr. Raden’s musings on Wagner’s operas Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal, which he had included with his letter to Dr. Johnson. Dr. Johnson states that these notes “touched me deeply.”

Roger and Patricia Olds were siblings who visited the Wolffs at their Lone Pine ranch. Roger lived in Chicago, and Patricia, who had a Masters in Reading Education, was an elementary teacher in Waltham, Mass. before she became a marketing specialist for Hewlett Packard. Eventually she took the position of librarian at the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers in New York City. Patricia was a friend of John Lilly, and as he recounts in his introduction to the Julian Press edition of Pathways Through to Space, it was she who originally introduced Mr. Lilly to this work. As one learns from a letter here, it was Patricia’s mother who had originally recommended Pathways to her!

Their correspondence begins with a postcard sent by Roger from a Benedictine monastery in Spain—he relates that both he and Patricia are seeking some seclusion (he at the monastery, she at a nearby island). Next is a postcard from Tehran, where Roger states he is now travelling alone. The remainder of the letters in the file are from, or to, Patricia, and one includes an article that Patricia thought the Wolffs would find interesting (“Human Nature Prepares for a Momentous Leap” by Clare W. Graves). (33 pages)

Tarthang Tulku is one of the last remaining Tibetan lamas (teachers) to have received a complete education in Tibet prior to the 1959 Chinese invasion of that country. He was born in 1934 at Archung in the Golok region of Amdo, and educated at Tarthang, a branch monastery of Palyul. At the age of seventeen, he traveled to Shechen Monastery to study with Shechen Kongtrul Rinpoche. In 1953, he began two years of training at the Dzongsar Monastery with his principal guru, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. Tarthang Rinpoche writes that he received numerous transmissions and empowerments from Chökyi Lodrö and that:

since he himself was such a great bodhisattva, these transmissions and blessings were very powerful. If my books and other works have had a beneficial influence, helping others move closer to the truth of the Buddha’s teachings, I firmly believe it is due to the power of the bodhicitta lineage that he graciously bestowed upon me.[1]

In 1955, Chökyi Lodrö sent Tarthang Rinpoche to study with the great Mahayoga teacher Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje near Lithang. In 1958, Rinpoche departed from Tibet, traveling through Bhutan into Sikkim following in the footsteps of Chökyi Lodrö. He devoted the next several years to pilgrimage and retreat at holy places in India. In 1963, he was appointed by Dudjom Rinpoche as the representative of the Nyingma tradition and given the position of research fellow at Sanskrit University in Benares. In that same year, he set up one of the first Tibetan printing presses in exile and began his life’s work of preserving sacred art and texts. After six years at Sanskrit University and some twenty publications, Rinpoche decided that this was not enough, and he departed for America to bring Dharma to the West.

Tarthang Rinpoche arrived in the United States in late 1968 and settled in Berkeley California with his wife, the poet Nazli Nour. He founded the Tibetan Nyingmapa Meditation Center, the Tibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation, Dharma Publishing (USA) and the Nyingma Institute within the first four years of his arrival.

Wolff’s correspondence with Rinpoche begins about three years after the Buddhist scholar’s emigration, and their correspondence makes it clear that they were introduced by Fred and Erma Pounds. Wolff offers the Rinpoche land for the building of a Tibetan monastery and retreat quarters for aspirants of Buddhism and the two teachers arrange to meet in January 1972 at Wolff's home in Lone Pine, Calif. After an exchange letters, and Tarthang Rinpoche tells Wolff that he has found some property in Sonoma County, Calif. on which to build the Odiyan Buddhist Retreat Center. The two continue to exchange gifts and letters, as well as invitations to visit one another; in several letters Wolff suggests lines of scholarly inquiry that he would like to explore with Rinpoche. Rinpoche invites Wolff to teach a class at the Nyingma Institute’s graduate school, but Wolff’s age would not allow him to do so. Their correspondence ends in December 1978 with a holiday sent by Tarthang Tulku to Wolff. (28 pages)

[1] Tarthang Tulku, Copper Mountain Mandala (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1985).

Joan Price received her doctorate from Arizona State University and is professor emeritus of philosophy at Mesa Community College. A long-time student of Franklin Wolff, her published works include Ancient and Hellenistic Thought, Medieval and Modern Philosophy, Philosophy Through the Ages, The Shaman's Dreamstone, Climbing the Spiritual Ladder, Truth is a Bright Star: A Hopi Adventure, and Sacred Scriptures of the World Religions: An Introduction.

The first letter in this file motivated Wolff to compose the two-part audio recording titled “On the Nature of Space, Dynamism, and Free Will” (July 6, 1972), each part a response to the two questions posed by Prof. Price in the letter. (Although it might be noted that Wolff reports that these two questions really amount to twelve questions!) The first page of this letter is missing, but as Wolff read the letter onto the tape, a transcription of the page can be included here. Prof. Price's first question concerns ontological conceptions found in the Theosophical literature and in the work of Sri Aurobindo. Her second question concerns the problem of free will. 

In the second letter here, Prof. Price describes and reflects on the deepening of a vision that she had been experiencing.

Robert Lincoln Coffin Rein’l received his doctorate in philosophy from Harvard in 1940; the title of his dissertation was “Intuition and Analysis in Bergson’s Theory of Knowledge.” The file here contains three letters from Mr. Rein’l to Franklin Wolff that span the years from 1972 to 1979. In the first letter here, Mr. Rein’l, who was a philosophy professor at Arizona State University, expresses some thoughts on Wolff's two-part recording, “On the Nature of Space, Dynamism, and Free Will”; attached to this letter are several syllabi for courses that Rein’l taught at ASU. The second is a cover letter for an article that he sent to Wolff on “The Teaching of Shankara.” This letter is followed by a reply from Gertrude Wolff, thanking him for the letter and suggesting that a mutual acquaintance bring him to visit in Lone Pine. In the last letter here, Prof. Rein’l comments on the Buddhist Diamond Sutra. (20 pages)

This file contains correspondence between Wolff and the well-known actor, Burgess Meredith. The first letter is from Mr. Meredith’s secretary, who relates that Mr. Meredith is a close friend of John Lilly and that he is anxious to get copies of Wolff’s recently published books. Mr. Meredith sends a letter with a check for the books; the file also contains a postcard reporting that an “admirer” of Wolff has “meditated in London, Ireland, Bavaria (Munich) and now Switzerland.” Included here are an article on Mr. Meredith from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner (July 11, 1976) and several letters concerning the death of the actor Ricardo Montalban’s brother. (9 pages)

John White is one of the founding directors of the Institute for Noetic Science, a California-based research organization started by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to study human potential for personal and planetary transformation. He wrote Wolff in 1973 on the recommendation of John Lilly and Arthur Ceppos (of Julian Press) introducing himself and the organization, stating that “we’re in process of setting up a sort of New Age center for transformation of self/world which we hope to tie in with other light centers around the planet into a network of spiritual communities that might be sufficient to awaken consciousness throughout society and keep the world from suicide.” Included with his letter was some informational material on the Institute that can be found here; in addition, Mr. White enclosed the introduction to his book, The Highest State of Consciousness.[1] Gertrude Wolff responds to Mr. White’s letter with encouragement for the Institute’s work and with some information about the publication of Wolff’s work. (6 pages)

[1]As published in Fields Within Fields Within Fields: A Quarterly Forum For Ongoing Creative Thinking About Solutions To Mankind's Problems, Vol. 5, No. 1 (New York: World Institute Council, 1972).

This file contains a number of letters from John and Toni Lilly. Also in this file is the Prologue to Mr. Lilly’s book, Simulations of God: The Science of Belief, which he had sent for Wolff’s review. Wolff’s comments on this work may be found in his audio recording, “Belief Systems and the Search for Truth” (May 31, 1975). Unfortunately, none of the letters from Wolff to Mr. Lilly are included here. (10 pages)

This file contains a letter from a student who, urgent for enlightenment, asks why drugs are not an appropriate gateway. She also reflects on the dilemma of producing art while in an unenlightened state. Gertrude’s response is both thoughtful and pragmatic. (5 pages)

Ken Wilber is an American writer on transpersonal psychology who has developed his own “integral theory,” a systematic philosophy that attempts to explain how well-established methodologies, and the experiences based on these methodologies, fit together in a coherent fashion. Wilber explains the need for such a theory as follows:

In our current post-modern world, we possess an abundance of methodologies and practices belonging to a multitude of fields and knowledge traditions. What is utterly lacking however, is a coherent organization, and coordination of all these various practices, as well as their respective data-sets. What is needed is an approach that moves beyond this indiscriminate eclectic-pluralism, to an “Integral Methodological Pluralism” — driving toward a genuine “theory of everything” that helps to enrich and deepen every field through an understanding of exactly how and where each one fits in relation to all the others. [1]

In 1974, Wilber wrote Wolff expressing his enthusiasm for The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object, and states that “I have just finished a work on the same subject, so I feel that our experience-thoughts . . . overlap.” He notes that the work is titled The Spectrum of Consciousness, and that “it deals with what is rather clumsily called the “manifestation” of objects “out of” consciousness-without-an-object (which I call Absolute Subjectivity).” Having trouble finding a publisher, Wilber asks whether Wolff could give him some comments on the manuscript, since he believes that Wolff “better than anybody else could feel what I am humbly trying to write in words.”

Gertrude Wolff responds that she and Wolff are “delighted that he is writing on the subject of Consciousness,” but that Wolff’s cataracts make it impossible for him to read, and that their work schedule is heavy. They would, she notes, be able to consider a few extracts from Wilber’s manuscript. (3 pages)

[1]Retrieved May 29, 2019 from https://integrallife.com/who-is-ken-wilber/

Robert A. Johnson (1921-2018) was a well-known Jungian psychotherapist, author, and lecturer. An early student of Jiddu Krishnamurti, Mr. Johnson first became interested in Jungian psychology through his own therapy: “I went to Fritz Künkel, a Jungian analyst in Los Angeles . . . It was such a profound experience for me I simply stayed on as a student.”[1] Specifically, Johnson set out in 1948 for the newly-formed Jung Institute in Zurich, where he studied and worked with the pioneers of analytical psychology, including Carl Jung, Emma Jung, and Jolande Jacobi. After completing his analytical training with Fritz Künkel in Los Angeles and Toni Sussman in London, Johnson set up a practice in Los Angeles in the early 1950s with Helen Luke; in the early 1960s, Johnson—who often thought of himself as a monk—spent several years as a member of St. Gregory's Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, a Benedictine monastery of the Episcopal Church. The organizational aspects of monastic life did not agree with him, however, and in 1966 he moved to San Diego to resume his career as a psychotherapist and lecturer; there he worked closely with John A. Sanford, an Episcopal priest, Jungian analyst, and author.

In 1974, a collection of Mr. Johnson’s lectures was published as He: Understanding Masculine Psychology. The book became a bestseller, and it was the first of his many books that gave a Jungian interpretation, in accessible language, of earlier myths and stories and their parallels with psychology and personal development. His books have sold over 2.5 million copies, other titles of which include: She: Understanding Feminine Psychology, We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love, Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth, Ecstasy: Understanding the Psychology of Joy, Transformation: Understanding the Three Levels of Masculine Consciousness, Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection, and Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche.

Johnson also studied at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India and in 2002 he received an honorary doctorate in humanities and a lifetime achievement award from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

The correspondence found here begins in October 1974, shortly after Mr. Johnson had first visited Wolff and his wife, Gertrude, accompanying them on a trip to Phoenix. Letters include Johnson’s reports on his trips to India, news of mutual friends and acquaintances, and arrangements to see one another. In one letter, Gertrude notes that Wolff is using Johnson’s books as material for his recorded lectures.[2]

Other than a 1979 notification of a new telephone number, the correspondence here ends about one month prior to Gertrude’s (May 1978) death. Robert Johnson was a great help to Franklin Wolff after the death of Gertrude, including a recorded interpretation of some “major” dreams that Wolff had fifty years earlier and that Mr. Johnson deemed were relevant to Wolff’s situation; Wolff often referred to this interpretation in his many recorded notes that chronicle his grief after his wife’s death.[3] (30 pages)

[1]Anne Harter Jones: “Friends of Jung in San Diego”(San Diego: February 24, 1983).

[2]These recordings include:

1. Franklin Merrell-Wolff: “On Jung’s ‘Seven Sermons to the Dead’” (Lone Pine, Calif.: December 2, 1976), audio recording.
2. Franklin Merrell-Wolff: “Jungian Psychology and Personal Correlations: Parts 1-7” (Lone Pine, Calif.: September 5, 1977 to November 1977), audio recording.

[3]See Franklin Merrell-Wolff: “Report of Major Dreams” (Lone Pine, Calif.: June 6, 1978), audio recording.

As she relates in her autobiography, The Trees and Fields Went the Other Way (1974), Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton led a colorful and adventurous life. She was born in Switzerland to Canadian parents; after her father was killed during the First World War, the family moved to England, where Evelyn enrolled at Heathfield School in Ascot. She later studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. A brief romance with a married University of London court clerk produced her only child, and with a baby to support, Evelyn turned to serious writing. In 1940, the publication of Quietly My Captain Waits, a novel set in Acadia during the early days of New France, brought her commercial success. A series of books set in New France would follow. Evelyn also wrote book reviews for The Saturday Review, became a regular contributor to The New Yorker and, at the end of the Second World War, was selected to tour Europe, Burma, India, and China as a correspondent reporting on the theaters of war. She became an American citizen in 1945, after which she secured a teaching appointment at Columbia University (1949–1951), a Visiting Lectureship at Sweet Briar College (1951–1960), and a position as Writer in Residence with the Huntingdon Hartford Foundation (1960 and 1962). During this time she also worked in radio and television broadcasting.

Evelyn had a lifelong feeling that she had a Native American ancestry, and in the 1950s she began to she began to study Native American religions. The result was a series of short stories published in The New Yorker, four novels, a volume of poetry, and a ballet-oratorio—all based on First Nation spiritual practices. She owned a home in Lone Pine, Calif., and died in Independence in 1983.

The Wolff Library contains a copy of Quietly My Captain Waits as well as the The King Is a Witch, both tomes presumably gifted by Ms. Eaton. In the letter here (simply dated “June 29”), Ms. Eaton asks Wolff for a loan to buy a piece of property from one of his students. She also notes that “we are not quite out of the woods with the BLM [Bureau of Land Management] yet.” (2 pages)

At the suggestion of Dr. Vijayendra Pratap, the program coordinator of the Yoga Research Society invites Wolff to present a paper at their first annual conference to be held in October 1975. Due to impending cataract surgery, Wolff must decline. Wolff sends a tape-recorded message to the next year’s conference, which one of the Society’s students transcribed so that it could be read at the conference. Unfortunately, no record can be found of which recording was sent. (6 pages)

Dr. W. Brugh Joy (1939-2009) practiced internal medicine in Los Angeles until a 1974 bout of pancreatitis led him to investigate alternative methods of therapy, such as energy healing, Jungian work, and dream work. He soon abandoned his medical career and began leading self-development workshops that explored body energies, the chakra system, meditation, and higher levels of consciousness. A self-described teacher of “beinghood,” Dr. Joy authored several books, including Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light and Joy's Way: A Map for the Transformational Journey[1].

The publisher’s description of the latter title is as follows:

Joy’s Way contains fascinating and beautiful insights into the awakening process, into teachers (inner and outer), psi phenomena, the holographic aspects of consciousness, observer and witness states, dream analysis, the Tarot and I Ching, visualization, the chakras, meditation and healing, transformational psychology, and the transformation of humanity. In addition, this book clearly describes exercises and techniques that show readers how to feel the radiating body-energy fields and how to transfer this energy to another person.

Dr. Joy’s workshops attracted a number of well-known individuals, and in 1976, a mutual acquaintance suggested to Franklin Wolff that he seek Dr. Joy’s help in addressing a physical affliction. In the first letter found here, Dr. Joy writes to Wolff that he has

been very prominent in my consciousness for the past several months and [I] am only too delighted to set up a time when we can meet. . . . It is my understanding that there are aspects of healing to be considered in this meeting with you. The usual interaction with me lasts anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours consisting of personal dialogue and body energy resonnation/transfer [sic] work. I would consider it a priviledge [sic] to share this gift with you.

Dr. Joy attended the Wolff’s annual convention in August 1977, and participated in the discussion session of that event. After the conference, Dr. Joy wrote that

The clarity with which Dr. Wolff is presenting the sequences surrounding death of the physical form moves me deeply—as it will many other people. The insights and the deeper knowledge surrounding the event of death are not well comprehended in the West. Somebody is going to vastly simplify both the Tibetan Books of the Dead and the Egyptian Books of the Dead—incisively and discerningly. That somebody is, in my sensing—Dr. Wolff.

In May 1978, Wolff’s wife Gertrude unexpectedly passed away, and Wolff was devastated; Gertrude was twenty-four years his junior, and despite the fact that their marriage had been “arranged,” Wolff had come to profoundly love her. Dr. Joy was a great help to Wolff during this time, and for over a year after Gertrude’s death, he regularly visited Wolff. Their conversations were recorded, and can be accessed on this website here.

Dr. Joy’s visits were not only an emotional comfort to Wolff, they also served as an intellectual catalyst. Indeed, there were many points of Dr. Joy’s analysis and outlook that Wolff would come to challenge, but always by viewing them from a broader perspective. Wolff summarized some of his thoughts in a recording titled “Philosophic Implications of Dialogue with Brugh Joy” and in a seven-part series of recordings called “Reflections upon the Dialogue with Brugh Joy,” all of which are also found here.

In December 1978, Wolff presented a (taped) lecture at one of Dr. Joy’s conferences, and several letters here relate to that event. There is also a letter from the publisher of Joy’s Way asking Wolff for a comment on the text; several letters concern visits by Dr. Joy and other matters, including a comment from Dr. Joy regarding the publication of Wolff’s own book, The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object. There is also an exchange of letters about Dr. Joy’s arrival at Wolff’s 1980 conference by helicopter. The correspondence here ends in 1983 with a letter in which Dr. Joy expresses his appreciation, respect and gratitude for the time he has spent with Wolff. (22 pages)

[1] Burgh Joy, Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light (New York: Ballantine Books, 1990); and, Joy’s Way, A Map for the Transformational Journey: An Introduction to the Potentials for Healing with Body Energies (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, 1979).

William Stow is a longtime student of Franklin Wolff; this file contains a number of his letters to Wolff and as well as a note from Gertrude to Mr. Stow. (32 pages)

Richard Moss received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1968 and his M.D. from New York Medical College in 1972. In 1977, he left the practice of medicine after experiencing “a spontaneous state of illumination” that left him with the ability to sense human body-energy fields. After a year of introspection, he drew the conclusion that human suffering and conflict comes from two basic forms of ignorance: (1) The unquestioned identification with thinking, especially our judgments and beliefs; and (2) The inability to engage threatening feeling in an aware, vulnerable, and creative way.

Since then he has shared these insights with individuals and groups, inviting people to live fully and creatively by engaging in a “radical aliveness” that releases the vitality and intelligence found in their deepest being.

Dr. Moss was a friend of Brugh Joy, who was a close confidant of Wolff after the death of Gertrude, Wolff’s second wife. The correspondence here ranges from 1977 to 1980, and is primarily focused on visits of one or both of these physicians with Wolff. (7 pages)

This file contains the correspondence between Franklin Wolff and Swami Rama (1925–1996), the founder of the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy. Swami Rama, who held Wolff in the highest regard, initially contacted Wolff (by telegram and telephone) to ask him to review the book, Living with the Himalayan Masters. Wolff agreed to do so (listening to the book on tape) and provided an endorsement, which was subsequently used in the book’s promotion as: “I recommend this valuation by a fully competent modern sage, a representative of Indian wisdom.”

This correspondence includes several letters penned by Gertrude Wolff, and  invitations for Wolff and Swami Rama to visit one another (such a meeting did not take place). In addition, Swami Rama offers to publish Wolff’s book, The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object, which was subsequently sent to the Himalayan Institute for editing and typesetting. Much work was done on the volume, but it was not published by the Institute. This file also contains a telegram from Swami Rama expressing his condolences on the death of Gertrude. (10 pages)

This file contains some correspondence between Franklin Wolff and John Flinn, who served two stints as Wolff’s companion beginning in 1978. (6 pages)

This card is from Sylvia and her husband Larry (Sylvia was Peter and Ann Elizabeth Geshell's daughter). It is not dated, but likely from some time in the 1980s.

In this note. Jim Mugridge inquires whether a visit would be possible. (2 pages)

This is a series of letters with a reader of Pathways Through to Space, who was moved to meet Franklin Wolff. (5 pages)

In this note, the editor of Science of Mind Magazine, John Niendorff, writes to ask permission to publish excerpts of Pathways Through to Space in the monthly journal. Mr. Niendorff also relates his own experience with this book. (1 page)

This is a personal note to Franklin Wolff from a Chicago student who maintained a small house trailer on Wolff’s property. (2 pages)

Ron Leonard wrote his doctoral thesis on Franklin Merrell-Wolff’s philosophy, which was subsequently published by SUNY Press as The Transcendental Philosophy of Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1990). The letters in this file concern his dissertation, a report on family (Mr. Leonard married Wolff’s step-granddaughter, Doroethy), some questions for Wolff concerning his philosophy, and includes the promotional copy for the SUNY Press publication. (7 pages)

Although not part of Wolff's correspondence, the note and poem here were written in celebration of the life and work of Franklin Merrell-Wolff shortly after his death on October 4, 1985. (3 pages)