Illuminati History - Interesting Article


Ellen Stuttle

Recommended Posts

I'm in process of venturing into various odd corners and corridors around the web while pursuing details of literary history.

On a site called "The Public Domain Review," I came across an article I found really interesting on the history of the Illuminati conspiracy idea:

"Darkness Over All: John Robison and the Birth of the Illuminati Conspiracy" by Mike Jay.

The article is lavishly illustrated.

Excerpt:

[....]

The first edition of Proofs of a Conspiracy sold out within days, and within a year it had been republished many times, not only in Edinburgh but in London, Dublin and New York. Robison had hit a nerve by offering an answer to the great questions of the day: what had caused the French Revolution, and what had driven its bloody and tumultuous progress?

[....]

Robisons vast conspiracy needed an imposing figurehead, a role for which Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, seemed on the surface to be an unpromising candidate. Obsessive and domineering, Weishaupt had from the beginning found difficulty in attracting members to his secret society, where they were expected to adopt mystical pseudonyms chosen by him, jump through the hoops of his strict initiatic grades Novice and Minerval, Illuminatus Minor and Major, Dirigens and Magus and take up subservient roles in his grandiose but unfocused crusade for world domination. After 1784, when the Order had been exposed and banned by the Elector of Bavaria, Weishaupt had exiled himself to Gotha in central Germany, since when he appeared to have done little beyond producing a series of morose and self-justifying memoirs of his adventures.

Yet there was much in the career of the Illuminati that offered, to Robison at least, a view of a far more expansive and sinister scheme. Weishaupts messianic sense of his own mission and the Orders extravagant structures hinted at a far larger organisation than that which had been exposed, and its suppression had generated a furore quite out of proportion to the danger it represented. It had become a lightning-rod for the deep anxieties of church and monarchy about the agenda of reason and progress that was being seeded across Europe by the confident vanguard of philosophers and scientists.

[....]

Politics had also thrown a long shadow across [Robison's] professional life. The physical sciences were in the grip of another French revolution, led by Antoine Lavoisier. During the 1780s Lavoisier had overthrown the chemistry of the previous century with his discovery of oxygen, from which he had been able to establish new theories of combustion and to begin the process of reducing all material substances to a basic table of elements. Lavoisiers revolution had split British chemistry: some recognised that his technically brilliant experiments had transformed the science of matter, but for others his new and foreign terminology was, like the French metric system and the revolutionary Year Zero, an arrogant attempt to wipe away the accumulated wisdom of the ages and to eliminate the role of God. The old system of chemistry, with its mysterious forms of energy and its languages of essences and principles, had readily contained the idea of a life-force and the mysterious breath of the divine; but in Lavoisiers cold new world, matter was reduced to inert building-blocks manipulated by the measurable forces of pressure and temperature.

Robison had never accepted the French theories, and by 1797 had worked the new chemistry deep into his Illuminatist plot. For him, Lavoisier along with Britains most famous experimental chemist, the dissenting minister Joseph Priestley was a master Illuminist, working in concert with infiltrated Masonic lodges to spread the doctrine of materialism that would underlie the new atheist world order. Madame Lavoisiers famous salons, at which the leading Continental philosophes met, were now revealed by Robison to have been the venues for sacreligious rites where the hostess, dressed in the ceremonial robes of an occult priestess, ritually burned the texts of the old chemistry. Implausible though this image might seem, it was of a piece with other proofs that Robison had assembled in his book for example, the anonymous German pamphlet that claimed that, at the great philosopher Baron dHolbachs salons, the brains of living children bought from poor parents were dissected in an attempt to isolate their life-force.

[....]

f the shock of the modern world erupting into existence before his eyes had unbalanced Robisons judgement, it had also given him a vivid, even visionary perspective on the new dangers that might result from wresting politics away from church and monarchy and placing it in the hands of the people. Forged in the same crucible as every modern political ideology from conservatism to nihilism, anarchy to military dictatorship, the Illuminati conspiracy has become a modern myth: not merely in the dismissive sense that its factual basis evaporates under scrutiny, but as a shapeshifting narrative capable of adapting its meaning to accommodate new and unforeseen scenarios. [....]

Ellen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in process of venturing into various odd corners and corridors around the web while pursuing details of literary history.

On a site called "The Public Domain Review," I came across an article I found really interesting on the history of the Illuminati conspiracy idea:

"Darkness Over All: John Robison and the Birth of the Illuminati Conspiracy" by Mike Jay.

The article is lavishly illustrated.

Excerpt:

[....]

The first edition of Proofs of a Conspiracy sold out within days, and within a year it had been republished many times, not only in Edinburgh but in London, Dublin and New York. Robison had hit a nerve by offering an answer to the great questions of the day: what had caused the French Revolution, and what had driven its bloody and tumultuous progress?

[....]

Robisons vast conspiracy needed an imposing figurehead, a role for which Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, seemed on the surface to be an unpromising candidate. Obsessive and domineering, Weishaupt had from the beginning found difficulty in attracting members to his secret society, where they were expected to adopt mystical pseudonyms chosen by him, jump through the hoops of his strict initiatic grades Novice and Minerval, Illuminatus Minor and Major, Dirigens and Magus and take up subservient roles in his grandiose but unfocused crusade for world domination. After 1784, when the Order had been exposed and banned by the Elector of Bavaria, Weishaupt had exiled himself to Gotha in central Germany, since when he appeared to have done little beyond producing a series of morose and self-justifying memoirs of his adventures.

Yet there was much in the career of the Illuminati that offered, to Robison at least, a view of a far more expansive and sinister scheme. Weishaupts messianic sense of his own mission and the Orders extravagant structures hinted at a far larger organisation than that which had been exposed, and its suppression had generated a furore quite out of proportion to the danger it represented. It had become a lightning-rod for the deep anxieties of church and monarchy about the agenda of reason and progress that was being seeded across Europe by the confident vanguard of philosophers and scientists.

[....]

Politics had also thrown a long shadow across [Robison's] professional life. The physical sciences were in the grip of another French revolution, led by Antoine Lavoisier. During the 1780s Lavoisier had overthrown the chemistry of the previous century with his discovery of oxygen, from which he had been able to establish new theories of combustion and to begin the process of reducing all material substances to a basic table of elements. Lavoisiers revolution had split British chemistry: some recognised that his technically brilliant experiments had transformed the science of matter, but for others his new and foreign terminology was, like the French metric system and the revolutionary Year Zero, an arrogant attempt to wipe away the accumulated wisdom of the ages and to eliminate the role of God. The old system of chemistry, with its mysterious forms of energy and its languages of essences and principles, had readily contained the idea of a life-force and the mysterious breath of the divine; but in Lavoisiers cold new world, matter was reduced to inert building-blocks manipulated by the measurable forces of pressure and temperature.

Robison had never accepted the French theories, and by 1797 had worked the new chemistry deep into his Illuminatist plot. For him, Lavoisier along with Britains most famous experimental chemist, the dissenting minister Joseph Priestley was a master Illuminist, working in concert with infiltrated Masonic lodges to spread the doctrine of materialism that would underlie the new atheist world order. Madame Lavoisiers famous salons, at which the leading Continental philosophes met, were now revealed by Robison to have been the venues for sacreligious rites where the hostess, dressed in the ceremonial robes of an occult priestess, ritually burned the texts of the old chemistry. Implausible though this image might seem, it was of a piece with other proofs that Robison had assembled in his book for example, the anonymous German pamphlet that claimed that, at the great philosopher Baron dHolbachs salons, the brains of living children bought from poor parents were dissected in an attempt to isolate their life-force.

[....]

f the shock of the modern world erupting into existence before his eyes had unbalanced Robisons judgement, it had also given him a vivid, even visionary perspective on the new dangers that might result from wresting politics away from church and monarchy and placing it in the hands of the people. Forged in the same crucible as every modern political ideology from conservatism to nihilism, anarchy to military dictatorship, the Illuminati conspiracy has become a modern myth: not merely in the dismissive sense that its factual basis evaporates under scrutiny, but as a shapeshifting narrative capable of adapting its meaning to accommodate new and unforeseen scenarios. [....]

Ellen

Can the "conspiracy hypothesis" be falsified by empirical means?

For a conspiracy theorist the very lack of definitive evidence is proof that the conspiracy exists. The lack of evidence is proof of how clever "they" are.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Back to the 18th and early 19th century. In some parts of the World, the Illuminati, or rather Illuminism, is not considered a secret or a conspiracy, but just the Continental manifestation of the ideas of freedom and secularism that constituted the consequence of humanism. In Argentina, it is taught in primary school about the city block in the historical district called "of the lights" (illuminated) in reference to the intellectuals that gathered there and who would promote the Independence Revolution from Spain.

Today (yesterday to be technical) was the anniversary of the death of General San Martin, the Bolivar of Southern South America (and Peru), the Libertador.

It is not taught in primary school, only in secondary school, but it is no secret that he is openly considered a British-influenced Freemason by traditional history, not even revisionists. Most educated people know and are in good terms with the fact that the destruction of the Spanish Empire (and the settling of its frontiers, namely Argentina, Chile, Uruguay by these same people's ancestors) was brought about by the British through some sort of organization or another.

Rotary clubs have always existed in different ways, and back in the Middle ages Guilds were common, so there must have been something in history and level of secrecy in between, I suppose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can the "conspiracy hypothesis" be falsified by empirical means?

For a conspiracy theorist the very lack of definitive evidence is proof that the conspiracy exists. The lack of evidence is proof of how clever "they" are.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Every conspiracy theorist I know of claims to have evidence. I never heard one use the argument lack of evidence is proof.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ellen,

I recently read an article that presents an explanation of how a lot of the Illuminati conspiracy stuff infiltrated our culture. It was through a fake religion established by pranksters who called themselves Discordians. One of the members was Robert Anton Wilson.

The Greatest Fake Religion of All Time
by Jesse Walker

The article starts with a fake letter sent in 1970 to Robert Welch, of the John Birch Society, on Bavarian Illuminati stationery. It's pretty funny, especially as the signer was "Ho Chi Zen, Cong King of Gorilla Warfare." This was part of what they called "Operation Mindfuck." :smile: Welch, obviously, did not take that seriously, but the Discordians were active and others did.

From the article:

This prank was the brainchild of Kerry Thornley (AKA Ho Chi Zen), co-founder of the satiric religion Discordianism. In theory, Discordians are devoted to Eris, the Greek goddess of chaos. In practice, they're devoted to a worldview that mixes anarchistic politics, a general disdain for dogma, and an interest in the illusions that emerge when the mind tries to find order in a disorderly world. They are especially intrigued by the mind's capacity to imagine vast conspiracies, which helps explain their fascination with the Illuminati.

. . .

Besides letters like the one sent to Welch, they planted pieces in the media—including one in a teen magazine and another in Playboy—blaming the Illuminati for everything from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the career of Bob Hope. They concocted ads for the Illuminati too, including one that began, "How was Adolph Hitler able to take over a whole country, starting out with only five followers? (Have you ever tried to take over even a single city block? It isn't easy!)"


The article is a hoot. I like the topic of crowd control, propaganda and so forth, I study it, and I have a nasty mischievous streak, so this is right up my alley.

Jesse Walker also wrote a book called The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory. The article states that it includes a chapter on the Discordians. I looked at it on Amazon (I intend to buy it) and saw the following quote at the beginning of it:

Can't you see, he'd said, the truth is so much more interesting: secret societies have not had power in history, but the notion that secret societies have had power in history has had power in history.
—John Crowley, Ægypt


:)

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can the "conspiracy hypothesis" be falsified by empirical means?

For a conspiracy theorist the very lack of definitive evidence is proof that the conspiracy exists. The lack of evidence is proof of how clever "they" are.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Every conspiracy theorist I know of claims to have evidence. I never heard one use the argument lack of evidence is proof.

Even when the "evidence" is refuted, the Conspiracy Theorist responds: That is what THEY want you to think.

In the mind of the Conspiracy Theorist, the Conspiracy can NEVER be disproved.

The mere possibility of a Conspiracy is sufficient proof to the Conspiracy theorist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bob,

There is a danger in going too far out slamming conspiracy theories.

NSA spying was a conspiracy theory that would bring howls of laughter at the folks who took it seriously--that is until Snowden...

:)

I'm glad we have our conspiracy theorists. They can get goofy, but they keep certain topics alive in the mainstream space, some of which need to be kept alive. The rest is entertainment.

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a danger in going too far out slamming conspiracy theories.

[...]

I'm glad we have our conspiracy theorists. They can get goofy, but they keep certain topics alive in the mainstream space, some of which need to be kept alive. The rest is entertainment.

I am not placid on conspiracy theorists. Some conspiracy theories do damage in the sense of obviating rational conclusions and obscuring reality, evading real evidence, proclaiming false conclusions. I don't think one can go 'too far out' in putting conspiracy theories to rational test -- and if they fail, denouncing them as unwarranted and untrue. If the theory passes every test, it is not conspiracy, but more likely truth -- I don't think it's reasonable to do without the tests.

A couple of recent articles in the Arab-world media tackled conspiracy theories. I excerpt one from al-Arabiya. It's pretty on point, and illustrates the kind of damage unrefuted theories can do in pragmatic terms. If a lie or an unwarranted conclusion or an evasion of reality -- an untrue theory tends to corrupt reason, in my opinion -- or at least leads to unjustified conclusions.

Mind you, there is a lot of 'what we know that ain't so' that isn't conspiracy thinking at all, just plain old wrong, lazy, uninformed cogitation ... with conclusions based on faith, guesses, corrupted input, bias and cant.

Here's a few signal paragraphs from "Enough lies, the Arab body politic created the ISIS cancer," by columnist Hisham Melhem. Here also a link to an article at the BBC, "The US, IS and the conspiracy theory sweeping Lebanon." The material ties in with a couple of other issues of current concern on OL.

Most people are averse to introspection, and rarely engage in self-criticism. Arabs are no different. However, the political culture that developed in the Arab World in the last 60 years, particularly in countries ruled by autocratic regimes, shifted blame from their catastrophic failures in governance to other external, sinister forces. For these countries, self-criticism has become next to impossible.

Over time, this legacy has created fertile terrain for conspiracy theories, delusions, self-deception, paranoia and xenophobia. If you read an Arab newspaper or many a website in the region, you will invariably encounter some of these symptoms.

Admittedly, sometimes they can be entertaining, but in most cases they are downright ugly, reflecting deep pathologies of fear.

Conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories reign usually in undemocratic societies lacking transparent institutions, free and vibrant media and a political culture that does not shy away from dealing with issues that some may consider taboos.

Clinging to conspiracy theories, particularly in times of challenge and uncertainty becomes attractive because it relieves the believers of any sense of responsibility for what is taking place in their midst, and apportion it to hidden and powerful forces beyond their control. Denial of reality and/or responsibility is the other side of conspiracy theories. In this manufactured world others, usually conniving, ill-intentioned and cunning are behind our travails and not us.

[...]

Those who have a more charitable view of the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the ME would point out that since the Second World War, the U.S. and its allies did engage in clandestine activities and conspiracies, including fomenting coups, influencing elections and collaborating with unsavory characters in the name of combating communism and radicalism, and that the invasion of Iraq was based on baseless allegations regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction and lies. That is all true, but that does not excuse the wide tendency of many Arabs, including journalists and government officials to believe in outlandish conspiracies without bothering to present evidence. The lies and fabrications spread by many in the Egyptian media before and after the coup of 2013 about the policies and views of U.S. officials towards Egypt, such as accusing the former U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson of urging the Muslim Brotherhood to use violence, or greeting Secretary Clinton on one of her visits to Cairo as “The supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood “are a national embarrassment. There is no escaping the fact that most of what is considered political discourse in many parts of the Arab world reflects the paucity of intellectual life in those societies.

Gutted societies

Ever since the 1967 Arab defeat in the war with Israel, Arab politics have been influenced and mostly shaped by various stripes of Islamists, including the radical and violent groups that constitute the antecedent of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Their emergence was in the making for decades. Today most of the politics in various Arab states from the countries of the Maghreb; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, through Egypt and on to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen is highly influenced by Islamists who occupy a shrinking spectrum. Most of the debates are essentially “all in the family” of Islamists kinds of debates. The rise of the Islamists; such as al-Nahda, the Muslim Brotherhood, the various Salafists, the Jama’a Islamia, Hezbollah, Hamas and later al-Qaeda and ISIS has been facilitated by the depredations of the “secular” Arab regimes, the military strongmen and the one party rule, particularly the depravities of the Baath Party in both Syria and Iraq.

Edited by william.scherk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

William,

We are thinking about different contexts.

Your context (quoting from the article you quoted): "Conspiracy theories reign usually in undemocratic societies lacking transparent institutions, free and vibrant media and a political culture that does not shy away from dealing with issues that some may consider taboos."

I agree with you about the damage conspiracy theorists can cause in that environment.

The context I was thinking about is where we have a democratic society, relatively transparent institutions, a free and vibrant media and a political culture that does not enforce religious taboos.

Granted, the current mainstream is a mess and there are specific thorny issues that come up, but the description of my context more or less characterizes our current North American world, especially in relation to dictatorships elsewhere.

I have no problem letting the conspiracy theorists loose in our environment. They make their own messes, but I certainly appreciate their checks on abuse of power. And they get it right sometimes to differing degrees.

I don't want a king. That comes with a price and I gladly pay it.

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bob,

There is a danger in going too far out slamming conspiracy theories.

That is what THEY want you to think.

I am an anti-conspiracy theorist conspiracy theorist. The conspiracy theorists are all around us and everywhere.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few years back (aftermath or momentum of 9/11 I suppose) I became interested in conspiracy theories, always keeping them at an arms length from my psyche. There is as almost as much material as fiction literature since it is a somewhat a genre of it, at best, and the seed of a new(ish) kind of mysticism at worse.

During my "investigations" I found a group of intrusive cameramen bent on "discovering the truth" that interrupted or otherwise invaded the grounds of a hotel where a Bilderberger meeting was being held. At some point, a representative of the Bilderberger Conference very serenely explained to the intruders that there is a difference between secrecy and privacy.

I wholeheartedly agree, and let's not forget Ayn Rand's definition of Civilization: (Progress toward) a society of Privacy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... if only the world actually were controlled by a group of rationalistic planners with some goal in mind. I imagine that Davos, the Bilderbergers, teh Pugwash Conference, Jekyll Island, all were just like this, a lot of arguing off-point while some guy with an idea watched his thread get hijacked...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ellen,

I recently read an article that presents an explanation of how a lot of the Illuminati conspiracy stuff infiltrated our culture. It was through a fake religion established by pranksters who called themselves Discordians. One of the members was Robert Anton Wilson.

The Greatest Fake Religion of All Time

by Jesse Walker

Ironically, Robert Anton Wilson ended up believing in an esoteric tradition with much influence. I read his book Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati years ago - Google search link. I didn't know until I searched for that book that it was the first of a series of three.

Ellen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ellen,

I recently read an article that presents an explanation of how a lot of the Illuminati conspiracy stuff infiltrated our culture. It was through a fake religion established by pranksters who called themselves Discordians. One of the members was Robert Anton Wilson.

The Greatest Fake Religion of All Time

by Jesse Walker

Ironically, Robert Anton Wilson ended up believing in an esoteric tradition with much influence. I read his book Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati years ago - Google search link. I didn't know until I searched for that book that it was the first of a series of three.

Ellen

Setting up bogus religions may be a hobby among science fiction authors. In addition to Discordians you have Scientologists. Scientology was invented and founded by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard aka Elron. By the way, the stuff he wrote was mostly crap. He wrote "This Island Earth" which was made into two barking dog movies. Yip. Yip.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ellen,

I recently read an article that presents an explanation of how a lot of the Illuminati conspiracy stuff infiltrated our culture. It was through a fake religion established by pranksters who called themselves Discordians. One of the members was Robert Anton Wilson.

The Greatest Fake Religion of All Time

by Jesse Walker

Ironically, Robert Anton Wilson ended up believing in an esoteric tradition with much influence. I read his book Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati years ago - Google search link. I didn't know until I searched for that book that it was the first of a series of three.

Ellen

Ellen:

The above seems like a distinctly "Non-Ellen" type of book. What did you think of it?

The google link and Wiki summary isn't very enticing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ellen:

The above seems like a distinctly "Non-Ellen" type of book. What did you think of it?

The google link and Wiki summary isn't very enticing...

I guess you have a distinctly non-complete impression of Ellen-type books. :laugh:

I enjoyed reading Cosmic Trigger. One thing which happens, not directly related to Wilson's thesis, I remember with horror - his daughter being killed in a robbery at the corner store sort of place where she was working at the cash register.

I don't clearly remember his thesis, and I didn't look yet at any of the links on the search screen I posted. Later. Just from memory, I think it's true, as he indicates, that there's a core mystical tradition which has roots going back to Sufism, but I don't think any "conspiracy" is needed in explaining this.

Ellen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I enjoyed reading Cosmic Trigger. One thing which happens, not directly related to Wilson's thesis, I remember with horror - his daughter being killed in a robbery at the corner store sort of place where she was working at the cash register.

Ever the optimist and futurist, Wilson had his daughter's brain frozen by the Bay Area Cryonics Society.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of conspiracy theories, here's one that turned out to be true: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/10/richard-nixon-100-criminal-traitor

How is derailing peace talks with No. Vietnam in any wise making ware upon the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of conspiracy theories, here's one that turned out to be true: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/10/richard-nixon-100-criminal-traitor

How is derailing peace talks with No. Vietnam in any wise making ware upon the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies?

Nvm. I recently found out that this was either a hoax or disinformation. Apparently, some guy got confirmation of a Nixon's long-suspected involvement in delaying peace talks between the US and Vietnam. The article said this was treason under the 1797 Logan act, which forbade unauthorized citizens from interfering with negotiations between the US and foreign governments. The problem? There is no 1797 Logan act. There is only a 1799 Logan Act, which makes the aforementioned offense a mere felony punishable by up to 3 years in prison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now