The Paradoxical Ego

Eugene Halliday was an accomplished artist, writer and speaker who came to be recognised as a teacher of philosophy and a proponent of not only the idea but also the fact that each and every individual is essentially responsible for that life in which they are centred and owe it to themself to develop that life. His teaching was to show that self-conscious reflexion and integrated focusing of one's energies will allow the individual to become aware of an internal life force which is its own real and natural authority. Born in 1911, Halliday's parents were Music Hall artistes: his father a violinist, his mother a singer. They gave him an unusual education which, doubtlessly, would have aided his ability to understand, relate and interpret concepts of philosophy, psychology, scriptures of major religions and the science of his day. He studied at the Manchester School of Art from 1928 and in the 1930s worked for Allied Newspapers as an illustrator and cartoonist. During WW2 he was a conscientious objector and worked as a commercial artist. His work was shown in the Manchester Academy of Fine Art and other galleries, and he began giving talks on philosophy. Soon he became the catalyst for a community of creative people, which included refugees from Nazi Germany. This led to the founding of two organisations, the International Hermeneutic Society (I.H.S.) and the Institute for the Study of Hierological Values (Ishval-now known as Eugene Halliday Association). In the mid-1960s Halliday moved to Cheshire. He continued to write, lecture and devise classes for self-developmental work, with the aim of refining sensitivity and heightening consciousness, until his death in 1987. He was a man wholly dedicated to the development of the potential of his fellow beings - which was his definition of Love.