Reasoned Flights beyond Reason The Life and Teachings of Franklin Merrell-Wolff

New religious movements in modern western culture often
emphasize experience at the expense of reason; for that reason, some
scholars have described their teachings as “flights from reason.” This
description has been rightly criticized. Nevertheless, it is not entirely
wrong. Many founders of new religious movements do claim immediate
insight into a (divine) reality that transcends the intellect. And yet, they
and their followers often spendmuch of their lives building an intellectual
frame around this anti-intellectual claim. Why did such paradoxical
“reasoned flights beyond reason” emerge? Based on the life and teachings
of Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887–1985) and his Assembly of Man, the
intellectualization of anti-intellectual claims by founders and followers of
new religious movements in twentieth-century North America can be
partly explained by three sociohistorical developments: (1) increasing
access to an academic education, (2) increasing demand for a reflexive
spirituality, and (3) increasing competition between eastern and western
esoteric movements that answered this call for a reflexive spirituality.