Gather Insight:
Avant-Garde Souls

From a historical perspective, when humanity makes leaps in consciousness, in the previous century or few decades ahead, brave individuals make that leap first. From Thoth to Tesla, and onto today, these avant-garde souls often receive ridicule or their works are dismissed as fiction, fantasy, myth or legend by society. Yet these voices refuse to be silent and people continue to be curious to find out if they were onto something very special.

These quests led to a journey into the unknown. Afterward, the avant-garde returned to share notes about what they discovered or encountered on these journeys in tablets, books, journals and through oral traditions. Many of our new-thought pioneers were chastised and the body of their lifetime of work was dismissed if their opinions were too far from the mainstream. Oftentimes, publishers who were willing to take risks and sensed some intangible merit in the material would publish advanced esoteric books.

The late 19th and early 20th century were the birthing ground for what we now call New Age. In the early days authors and publishers received little respect and a bounty of criticism for publishing such “rubbish”. The odd thing is that many of these works, decades later, are still in print, highly-prized and have influenced a massive number of people who also would eventually come to share their own knowledge about esoteric, experimental or theoretic works.

If the past is an indicator of the present, it can take many years for the mainstream humanity to catch up and fully appreciate these avant-garde souls.  That can led us to wonder, who do we dismiss today as a kook that will be appreciated as a pioneering icon tomorrow? History will provide that answer to us.

In this article Gather Insight is sharing videos about three very special people whose work has influenced many of today’s new-thought leaders. Watch and listen understanding that the quality of some of these videos is marginal while the content is quite intriguing.

Manly P Hall

From ManlyPHall.org: Manly Palmer Hall (March 18, 1901 – August 29, 1990) was a Canadian-born author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his work The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy, which is widely regarded as his magnum opus, and which he published at the age of 25 (or 27, 1928)

He has been widely recognized as a leading scholar in the fields of religion, mythology, mysticism, and the occult.

Carl Jung, when writing Psychology and Alchemy, borrowed material from Hall’s private collection.

In 1934, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles, California, dedicating it to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems. The PRS claims to be non-sectarian and entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control, and the Society’s programs stress the need for the integration of philosophy, religion, and science into one system of instruction. The PRS Library, a public facility devoted to source materials in obscure fields, has many rare and scarce items now impossible to obtain elsewhere.

In 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33º Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite), at a ceremony held at PRS on December 8th, despite never being initiated into the physical craft.

In his over 70-year career, Hall delivered approximately 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles.

Manly P Hall-- Nature Of God

Watch: Remember Your Essence - Manly P. Hall

Watch: Manly Hall - Magnetic Fields of the Human Body and Their Functions

Arthur Young

From Wikipedia: Arthur Middleton Young (November 3, 1905 – May 30, 1995) was an American inventor, helicopter pioneer, cosmologist, philosopher, astrologer and author. Young was the designer of Bell Helicopter's first helicopter, the Model 30, and inventor of the stabilizer bar used on many of Bell's early helicopter designs. He founded the "Institute for the Study of Consciousness" in Berkeley in 1972. Young advocated a process theory, which is a form of integral theory. These theories attempt to integrate the realm of human thought and experience with the realm of science so that the concept of universe is not limited to that which can be physically measured. Young's theory embraces evolution and the concept of the great chain of being. He has influenced such thinkers as Stanislav Grof.

The Four Levels of Creation - Arthur Young

Madame Blavatsky

From Wikipedia: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, (12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891) was a theosophist, writer and traveler. Between 1848 and 1875 Blavatsky went around the world three times. In 1875 Blavatsky, together with Colonel H. S. Olcott, established the Theosophical Society. One of the main purposes of this Society was “to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color”. Blavatsky discussed the major themes of Theosophy in several major works, including The Secret Doctrine, Isis Unveiled, The Key to Theosophy, and The Voice of the Silence.

Madame Blavatsky- part 1

Watch additional videos here:

Madame Blavatsky part 2

Madame Blavatsky part 3

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