I’ve just discovered that the “famous” MANAS journal published weekly by Henry Geiger between January 7, 1948 and December 28, 1888 is available online! My friend Gérald Lefebvre introduced the young and curious reader I was in 1987 to MANAS. MANAS issues came as a breath of fresh air whipping my brain every week for a little more than a year, until Geiger’s death put an end to its publication. Luckily, I had access to many years of past issues through my friend Gérald’s collection.

MANAS was a great journal, known to only a few. Its subscriber base was only 2000-3000 strong, but quite influential, with people like Caryl Chessman, Marc Chagall, Henry Miller, E. F. Schumacher, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Wendell Berry, John Holt and Theodore Roszak, who all also contributed a paper here and there.

The purpose of MANAS as stated in each issue was:

MANAS is a journal of independent inquiry, concerned with the study of the principles which move world society on its present course, and with searching for contrasting principles- that may be capable of supporting intelligent idealism under the conditions of the twentieth century. MANAS is concerned, therefore, with philosophy and with practical psychology, in as direct and simple a manner as the editors and contributors can write. The word “manas” comes from a common root suggesting “man” or “the thinker.” Editorial articles are unsigned, since MANAS wishes to present ideas and viewpoints, not personalities.

The people responsible for publishing MANAS on the Web are from the E. F. Schumacher Society and they have done a great job. The archives are searchable and a very thorough index is also available.

This archive is really worth spending some time on. Visit it and bask in Geiger’s ideas and pantheon with people like Plato, Gautama Buddha, Lao Tse, Gandhi, Tom Paine, Emerson, Pico della Mirandola, Simone Weil, Jose Ortega y Gassett, Abraham Maslow, Hannah Arendt, Thoreau, and a host of others.

An unforgettable journey, and one of what Wendy Grossman calls “pockets of insane brilliance”.