Franklin Merrell-Wolff

Wolff, as you may begin to endearingly call him,
fashions one tautological sentence after another.

You can imagine each sentence diagrammed
on a chalkboard to illustrate its precision.

The ontological nature of Wolff’s teaching
parallels the eighth-century Buddhist sage, Shantideva,

who, after giving his discourse on emptiness,
the Bodhicharyavatara, the Bodhisattva levitated,

then disappeared. However, Wolff remains
Wolff, and transcends Wolff at the same time.

His vigorous noetic ponderings, more than just
philosophical pyrotechnics, approximate mathematical

formulae, a language that points toward the heavens
within oneself and the ineffable radiance there.

It is in the “Third Recognition,”and his writing of felicity,
Wolff posits the loss of self as Consciousness without

an Object, and even before relinquishing the concept,
you may hear a beneficence of spirit as a kind of singing.

— Wally Swist

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