We highly recommend listening to the lectures of Manly P. Hall. While a criticism of Hall's work from more academic, material science based intellectuals, and we remember Sam Harris specifically say this, is that Hall's work is "a waste of time", especially his seminal book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, which he wrote very bizarrely young, ... we have to say we disagree with that criticism. We would say people who say that don't understand the majority of what he's talking about because they have not grown into his work yet. And as a result, think his content is gobbledygook. After Hall wrote his most known book, he dedicated the majority of his later life from writing more books to instead doing recorded lectures on a regular basis, often without notes, for sometimes multiple hours, from his home base of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. Like Alan Watts or Terence McKenna's lectures, we often think of them as being a hundred if not multiple hundreds of years ahead of their time.
So Hall would give these incredibly advanced lectures, and just like our YouTube channel, it would be to like 8 people on a Tuesday evening. And yes, they are not easy to listen to. Doing so is work. Because they are dense and heading towards highest common denominator spirituality because the more you know the less people you can talk to. Contrast that with the less you know spiritually, the more people you can talk to. This is why junk food, pop culture, and by popular culture that includes ultra shallow urine filled baby pool mega church sermons, are intentionally made to be heading towards the lowest common denominator, because then they appeal to the most spiritually undeveloped people who just say things like "birth control is a sin." So while Hall was talking to tiny rooms that megachurch is stadium packed. And in this specific instance of his lecture titled "How Hermeticism Influenced Gnosticism And Neoplatonism", very standard Tuesday night stuff, of which, and on a planet of 7 billion some people, he was probably 1 of a dozen people in the world who could eloquently discuss said topic for over an hour, he dropped the single best definition of personal growth we have ever heard.
First he said, "Through the course of growth everything that is concealed, must be revealed" and then the actual definition he gave was "growth is the unfolding into the obvious of things previously not obvious" which not only speaks heavily of things that are more advanced self development processes, some of which we can't even talk about cause they're such real life Jedi stuff and thus so secretive, but underscores that unless one is always willing to explore new information that challenges underlying dogmas, which includes getting out of their comfort zone, they're not evolving.
Having gnosis that growth is an inner journey of expanding consciousness, understanding, and wisdom, Hall saw personal and spiritual growth as intertwined, where individuals must strive to transcend their lower, material desires and cultivate higher virtues like compassion and wisdom. Revolving around the development of the inner self through self-awareness and self-discipline. Hall has also influenced our own work with the shared commonality that true personal growth comes from an individual’s spiritual journey and dedication to moral and philosophical enlightenment. He often emphasized that growth involves continuous learning, particularly through philosophy and esoteric traditions. He regarded this process as a path toward becoming more attuned to the universal laws and truths that govern real life. Emphasizing the importance of understanding universal truths, cultivating virtues, and aligning oneself with higher principles. Knowing that personal growth is a lifelong, or which you could even say as a multiple life long, process of becoming more attuned to the spiritual forces that shape human existence, transcending materialism and superficial concerns. Because all that you can take with you when you wrap it up is what you've learned.