SUMMARY

Manly P. Hall, philosopher and lecturer, discusses ancient wisdom for self-improvement, urging individuals to quiet mind, emotions, and body to connect with a higher inner self for guidance and fulfillment.

STATEMENTS

• Plato asserted that a country thrives under the rule of its best individuals, and a human being excels when governed by its superior inner aspect beyond mind, emotions, or body.
• The search for inner reality must be a personal endeavor, as no external communication can fully address an individual's unique challenges.
• Ancient doctrines aimed to elevate individuals above their highest mental faculties into direct experience of reality, emphasizing personal contact with the higher nature.
• The scriptural directive "be still and know that I am God" instructs one to cease mental and emotional involvements, allowing the superior over-self to guide through its still voice.
• True stillness requires freedom from unnecessary, wrong, or harmful actions, recognizing the link between conduct and consciousness to avoid delaying inner growth.
• Individuals burdened by accumulated mistakes must iron out intemperate attitudes to enable natural progress, as destructive thinking perpetuates yesterday's problems into tomorrow.
• The body functions cooperatively if its natural laws are respected, but ignoring them leads to self-wreckage, just as mental and emotional misuse causes breakdowns.
• Mystics advise quieting to let built-up errors fade without nourishment, applying the same discipline across physical, emotional, and mental levels for harmonious fulfillment.
• Conflicts between mind and emotions breed destruction and decay, akin to physical sickness, while selfishness and jealousy represent profound inner illnesses demanding correction.
• Genuine religious rebirth involves clearing past detriments with a fresh, honest mind, beyond mere allegiance, to achieve a new start free from repeated errors.

IDEAS

• The innermost self, superior to mind and emotions, serves as the ultimate leader for personal governance, enabling the use of lower faculties for sacred purposes.
• Personal quests for inner reality cannot be outsourced; each must confront their specific barriers to unlock intuition beyond sensory limits.
• Stillness in mysticism transcends physical inactivity, demanding detachment from mental chatter, emotional turmoil, and bodily distractions to hear the subtle inner voice.
• Ethical integrity is essential in spiritual pursuits; improper approaches to inner mysteries equate to theft, blocking access to true enlightenment.
• Destructive habits like overthinking mistakes or escaping via vices only prolong inner stagnation, as outgrowing flaws requires facing them directly.
• The body's natural laws demand respect, mirroring the discipline needed for emotional calm and mental altruism to prevent self-inflicted ruin.
• Accumulated intemperances across lifetimes hinder growth, but gradual release allows space for constructive thoughts and natural consciousness expansion.
• Religion often stops at external rituals, missing the deeper call to self-correct inner sicknesses like jealousy, which erode values as surely as physical ailments.
• Quietude aligns physical health with mental and emotional harmony, reducing risks like endocrine issues from unchecked passions or senility from self-interested scheming.
• True rebirth demands abandoning past negativities entirely, fostering a clean slate where agitation ceases to threaten the inner life's sacred potential.

INSIGHTS

• Inner leadership emerges only through personal stillness, transforming fragmented self-rule into unified purpose beyond intellectual or emotional dominance.
• Ethical conduct bridges material actions and higher consciousness, revealing that unresolved flaws perpetually sabotage spiritual access.
• Escapism via vices or delegation fails to resolve core issues, as genuine growth requires direct confrontation and outgrowing of inherited burdens.
• Harmonizing body, emotions, and mind under natural laws prevents decay, equating inner conflicts to physical infections that demand holistic healing.
• Mystical quietude starves negative patterns of energy, allowing innate wisdom to surface and redefine existence from tolerance to fulfillment.
• Religious transformation transcends allegiance, insisting on active self-purification to birth a renewed self free from cyclical errors.

QUOTES

• "Plato said that a country is best ruled when the best persons rule the uh human being is best governed when the best part of himself leads."
• "Be still and know that I am God now I think perhaps this is one of the most important statements in connection with man's religious life."
• "The still voice the small voice comes to the individual who stops talking long enough to hear it and that is very rare even in religion."
• "To be born again means to not make the same mistakes again it means to clear the Slate a new birth means to start out with a fresh clean honest mind without carrying anything from the past."
• "All selfishness is sickness no matter what you want to call it all jealousy is sickness these things are just exactly as serious as sicknesses as are the ordinary physical ailments."

HABITS

• Practice stillness by detaching from mental and emotional involvements to invite inner guidance.
• Iron out intemperate attitudes daily to eliminate barriers to natural consciousness growth.
• Respect bodily laws through disciplined living, avoiding excesses that wreck physical health.
• Quiet emotions to gentle, real values, protecting against internal organ disruptions.
• Use the mind altruistically for common good, releasing self-interest to prevent mental breakdowns.

FACTS

• Ancient scriptures emphasize "be still and know that I am God" as a foundational principle for inner realization across wisdom traditions.
• Manly P. Hall delivered nearly seven thousand extemporaneous lectures, many lasting two hours, without notes throughout his life.
• Misuse of emotions can disrupt the endocrine system, leading to physical troubles akin to poor diet's effects.
• Excessive mental self-interest contributes to widespread cases of senility and breakdowns in modern society.
• Philosophical Research Society, founded by Hall in 1934, continues to inspire global seekers with his collected wisdom.

REFERENCES

• Plato's teachings on governance by the best parts of self.
• Ancient scriptures, including the directive "be still and know that I am God."
• Mystical doctrines for rising above the mind to experience reality.

HOW TO APPLY

• Begin by ceasing unnecessary, wrong, or harmful actions to foster true stillness and ethical alignment.
• Face accumulated mistakes directly, refusing escapes like drinking to outgrow destructive patterns.
• Respect the body's natural functions and laws, integrating them with mental and emotional discipline for overall harmony.
• Quiet conflicting mind and emotions on their levels, then harmonize their relationships to prevent inner decay.
• Clear past detriments entirely for a fresh start, committing to not repeat errors in pursuit of higher rebirth.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Embrace stillness to quiet inner turmoil, unlocking superior self-guidance for profound personal transformation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Cultivate daily detachment from negative thoughts to allow intuitive wisdom to emerge naturally.
• Prioritize ethical conduct in all pursuits, viewing spiritual access as gated by integrity alone.
• Align physical habits with emotional calm and altruistic thinking to avert self-induced crises.
• Reject external rituals in favor of self-correcting inner sicknesses like selfishness through quiet reflection.
• Pursue rebirth by discarding past burdens, fostering a clean mind for genuine growth.

MEMO

In a world obsessed with external achievements, philosopher Manly P. Hall reminds us of an ancient imperative: true self-improvement begins within. Drawing from Plato and timeless scriptures, Hall argues that just as a nation flourishes under wise rulers, the individual thrives when led not by fleeting mind or passions, but by a profound inner essence. This "over-self," he posits, demands personal discovery, inaccessible through proxies or superficial efforts. Hall, a prolific lecturer who spoke extemporaneously for decades without notes, delivered this wisdom in lectures that captivated audiences worldwide, emphasizing that the path to fulfillment requires ethical vigilance—storming heaven's gates improperly renders one a "thief and robber."

At the heart of Hall's message lies the biblical call to "be still and know that I am God," not as passive idleness but as active liberation from mental noise, emotional storms, and bodily distractions. In our frenetic age, where people outsource problems to experts or numb them with vices, Hall warns that such escapes perpetuate stagnation. The body, he notes, is a cooperative ally if its laws are honored, yet we wreck it through neglect, much like scheming minds breed senility or unchecked jealousy festers as inner sickness. True quietude starves these demons of energy, allowing the "still small voice" to guide decisions superior to our habitual chaos.

Hall critiques modern religion for often halting at rituals—baptisms washing sins without personal tears—failing to quiet conflicting faculties. Emotions inflamed by false feelings strain the endocrine system; minds twisted by self-interest decay into despair. Yet harmony is achievable: discipline the physical for longevity, temper emotions to gentle truths, and redirect the intellect toward communal good. Ancient mystics, Hall says, knew this: cease building monsters from intemperance, and they fade. For those burdened by lifetimes of errors, the solution is radical release—ironing out attitudes to make space for constructive insight.

Ultimately, rebirth demands more than allegiance; it's a clean slate, free from yesterday's shambles. Hall envisions a future where individuals, quieted and aligned, project into higher experience, using lower selves as instruments for sacred purpose. In an era of outsourced wisdom, his call resonates: face your locked inner realm personally, or remain trapped in tolerable misery. Through the Philosophical Research Society he founded, Hall's legacy endures, urging seekers to apply this timeless discipline for human flourishing.