Most Angelenos know the intersection of Los Feliz and Griffith Park Boulevards as a dreaded traffic pileup preceding the entrance to I5. I know it as a different kind of intersection: a crossroads where ancient wisdom, philosophical inquiry, and magic converge. Founded in 1934, The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit campus “Dedicated to the truth seekers of all time.” On a Friday afternoon in early March, Greg Salyer, Ph.D., President/CEO of the Society, let me in on some secrets.
On Manly P. Hall
Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) was a Canadian-born scholar, philosopher, and mystic. Also a prolific author, he produced the stunning compendium, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, at age twenty-seven. The Philosophical Research Society houses Hall’s personal library of esoteric texts, as well as his over 150 published works.
“Manly Hall was born in 1901 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and had an interesting life from the very beginning. His father was not around––he was raised by his grandmother until his late teens, when he moved to California to be near his mother, who was a Rosicrucian [member of an esoteric order that studies and practices the metaphysical laws governing the universe], which is not a thing that many people are. He’s got a little pamphlet called “Growing up with Grandmother” that’s amazing. I really like that part of his story, that he was influenced by a woman early on, and I think you can tell that.
Not many people know this, but he became an ordained minister in the Church of the People. So he’s nineteen or twenty [years old], and he’s got a church in downtown Los Angeles. He would speak on everything––it wasn’t a Christian church. He gave a lecture on Hill Street that garnered a lot of attention, and then he just took off. Well, he would have been trending, as we would say.
He had this powerful presence, no credentials, right––he’s basically a teenager. Manly was very different in that he was drawing upon the world’s learning, the history of the world’s thought about the meaning of life.”
On the Society
In 1934, an oil-rich mother and daughter sponsored the construction of Manly’s very own temple of knowledge, the Philosophical Research Society (PRS). Erected on a mustard field, the historic building has a Mayan-inspired edifice and includes an auditorium, library, art gallery, lecture hall, and bookstore.
“It was going to be this magnificent Mayan Temple, but that cost a lot of money so they scaled it back. But, basically, [PRS] became [Hall’s] home base. He would give talks every Sunday morning at eleven, which was interesting because that’s church time. He maintained the position, as we do, that these resources should be freely available to everyone, so they still are.
Stephan Hoeller of the Gnostic Society joined Hall in the 1970s and for that decade it was Manly Hall and Stephan Hoeller. The auditorium was built in 1959, and they lectured to standing-room-only crowds. It was the heyday of PRS. Manly died in 1990 under very difficult circumstances; then, PRS fell into a strange time.”
On Academia
Formerly a university specializing in niche humanities studies, the Philosophical Research Society withdrew its accreditation in 2018. Today, many of the same classes are still offered––online and on the Los Feliz campus––in what is a return to the Society’s original ethos: a university of the mind.
“The second president, my predecessor, was Dr. Obadiah Harris, and he pretty much wanted this to be an educational center. This was in 2000–2001. Dr Harris emphasized the online school, which was brilliant and well ahead of its time. Last year we closed the university because of the changing accreditation environment. [Accreditors] would come here, and say, ‘What jobs do your graduates in Consciousness Studies get?’ And I’d say, ‘No job, or, every job.’ It became painfully clear to us that they were not interested in learning for learning’s sake. We had to be placing graduates in professions, which we don’t do. So, we withdrew our accreditation.
The political nature of the United States, and other countries, is that you do not want to invest in critical thinkers. Critical thinkers are dangerous. I know that’s self-serving, but I think I can demonstrate it: the history of education––since after WWII especially––has been to produce workers, not thinkers. Thinkers cause trouble, they question assumptions about your business, and they question your practices and how they align with your values. They’re troublemakers. They occupy that space. And corporations don’t want anybody in that space. They want obedient, fearful workers.
So now we’re back to Manly’s original vision. There’s no barrier to entry for teachers or students: you pay a nominal course fee and you’re in, you don’t have to fill out an app, we don’t need to see your transcripts––if you want to learn, you can just come and learn.”
Support
The PRS campus is currently closed due to COVID-19 concerns, but the online school is alive and well! Join Greg every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on YouTube for the President’s Class, an evolving series of lectures and discussions. Additional classes and video lectures can be found on the PRS website. You can also donate directly to the preservation of PRS by visiting the “Support” page and choosing your gift.
“Come to our events, donate if you can. If you can’t, that’s Manly Hall’s vision: that PRS is here for everybody. Take classes––that’s actually our best way forward.”
— Written by Anya Johnson
— Photography by Tyler Hubby
“To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.”
— Manly P. Hall