Franklin Merrell-Wolff begins this series with a mathematical metaphor that expresses the limitations of dualistic consciousness in understanding the meaning of Realization. He then submits that there are conceptual powers that can be used as a way to the attainment of Realization. He issues a warning about the use of drugs and cautions against the use of tantric practices; he then emphasizes that essential prerequisites for spiritual growth include the cultivation of an attitude of sacrifice to the numen, an adherence to moral discipline, and the courage to dare. After suggesting that the mathematical notions of “manifold” and “continuum” reveal the difference between the granular nature of the dualistic consciousness and the fluidic nature of transcendental consciousness, he closes with an analysis of that which lies in the “excluded middle.”

Franklin Merrell-Wolff answers a few questions regarding yoga, Aurobindo, logic, and matter before continuing the series with a discussion of the limitations of the scientific method. He then reviews the granular nature of dualistic consciousness as represented by the manifold and the fluidic nature of transcendental consciousness as represented by the continuum; he explicates the latter notion with a discussion of the infinitesimal and the notion of motion. Next he makes a distinction between ordinary intellectual organization and the spontaneous thought that comes from “beyond the cell.” He goes on to discuss several mathematical definitions and disciplines and the nature of mathematics according to the schools of logicism and formalism.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues his discussion of the theories of the nature of mathematics. He proceeds with a description of intuitional theory, and elaborates on Spengler’s grasp of the essential meaning of mathematics; he then offers his own interpretation of mathematics as having descended from transcendental consciousness with minimum distortion and, thus, that it is the Ariadne thread by which we may ascend again most directly. Shifting subjects, he reviews the story of Western philosophy, highlighting the epistemological analysis of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. He acknowledges that Kant has shown that if there is a reality beyond the appearance of things, it cannot be known by sense perception and conceptual cognition alone. He concludes with the claim that there is another function of consciousness that makes metaphysical knowledge possible, and notes that this is the epistemological ground upon which his philosophy rests.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues this series by offering a description of the experience and meaning of the “numen.” He provides an extended analysis of the number pi by making reference to the Great Pyramid of Giza and suggests that this type of number symbolizes that zone of cognition wherein communication may be made by a kind of concept that he calls “determinate-indeterminate.” He reminds us that it is not the form of the concept (or words or sentences) that matter, but the essence contained or carried within them that open the door to the Transcendent.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues this series with a reference to Northrop’s thesis on the difference between the aesthetic and theoretic continuum; he then suggests that the indeterminate theoretic continuum is a way of yoga indigenous to the West. He gives a brief review of the philosophy of Shankara that is followed by a description of his own Realizations. He then provides some examples of how the mathematics of the transfinite can give us a conceptual model to help make these Realizations more thinkable. He elaborates on the nature of the googol, googolplex, the limitations of postulational science based on inductive logic, and goes on to suggest that the logic used in mathematical proof can reveal the infinite nature of mind.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues the series by commenting on the strong presence of Field Consciousness during the previous talk and the invocation of the psychic being. He goes on to outline his premonitory realization known as “reality is inversely proportional to appearance,” offers it as an explanation of the process of trituration used in potentizing homeopathic remedies, and argues that it provides the means of reconciling the universal illusionism of Shankara and the universal realism of Sri Aurobindo. He then offers a view of evolution not as a process of addition, but as a process of subtraction for the purpose of awakening consciousness of Consciousness. He demonstrates how the sine curve, representing all periodicity, applies to psychical birth and death, and presents his conceptual mandala as a symbol of Liberation from periodicity and as an example of Western yoga in the process of becoming.