About the author
Franklin Merrell-Wolff (born Franklin Fowler Wolff; 11 July 1887 – 4 October 1985) was an American mystic and esoteric philosopher. After formal education in philosophy and mathematics at Stanford and Harvard, Wolff devoted himself to the goal of transcending the normal limits of human consciousness. After exploring various mystical teachings and paths, he dedicated himself to the path of jnana yoga and the writings of Shankara, the expounder of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. == Life == Franklin Fowler Wolff was born in Pasadena, California in 1887. He was raised as a Methodist, but abandoned Christianity during his youth. Wolff studied mathematics and philosophy at Stanford and Harvard. At Stanford, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa society in 1911. He briefly taught mathematics at Stanford in 1914, but left academia the following year. In 1920, Wolff married Sarah Merrell Briggs. The couple joined their original surnames; hence Wolff became Franklin Merrell-Wolff. Merrell-Wolff and his wife founded an esoteric group called the Assembly of Man in 1928, which congregated in Tuttle Creek Ashram in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Mount Whitney.
