from:alt.conspiracy
As, always, Caveat Lector
Om
K
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Click Here: <A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.conspiracy:608709">Re: WHO ARE THE
ILLUMINATI ?</A>
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Subject: Re: WHO ARE THE ILLUMINATI ?
From: "Christopher J Campbell" <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">cjcambell@h
ome.com</A>
Date: Thu, Apr 13, 2000 9:23 PM
Message-id: <Y2xJ4.19654$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8d5gc4$equ$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
| Have read of a secret group called the 'illuminati' but it's all a bit
| vague. Can someone enlighten me please ?
|
|
| Sent via Deja.com <A HREF="http://www.deja.com/">http://www.deja.com/</A>
| Before you buy.
"Illuminati" is a generic term applying to a number of groups claiming
secret knowledge or power. Members of the groups have been "illuminated"
with the truth as they see it, hence "illuminati."
Among the more famous Illuminati are the Bavarian Illuminati that existed in
the late 18th century. Supposedly a splinter from an earlier Italian group,
they recruited their members from Masonic temples, claiming to be a secret
order of Masons that were passing down ancient secrets from antiquity. They
were a serious threat to genuine Masonic orders. They also conspired to
overthrow the governments of the German states and to re-establish the Holy
Roman Empire along lines of their own choosing. Crushed by the Bavarian
secret police, some conspiracy theorists believe that one of their leaders,
Adam Weishaupt, escaped to America where he murdered George Washington and
took his place, conspired with Jefferson and other Masons (who supposedly
were actually Illuminati) to throw off the British yoke in order to
establish a country where they could operate in relative freedom to achieve
domination of world trade. Their symbol was a pyramid surmounted by an
all-seeing eye (see the back of a dollar bill). People who take themselves
far too seriously trace the roots of many other organizations such as the
Tri-Lateral Commission, the Communist Party, the United Nations, and the New
World Order to these early Illuminati.
Other groups, such as cultists, Satanists, Masonic splinter groups, various
orders of "knights" claiming to trace their origins to Medieval times, etc.,
have all claimed to be or accused of being Illuminati. Even such large and
benign groups such as Mormons, Jews, Democrats, Catholics, Protestants, the
CIA, world bankers, etc., have all been accused by their detractors as being
illuminated or run by illuminati.
The truth of the matter is that numerous groups characterizing themselves as
"illuminated" existed and continue to exist. Many of them count some very
prominent people as members, including world leaders. However, the idea that
the Illuminati themselves are behind everything that happens in the world is
actually a practical joke promoted by Wilson and Shea in their "Illuminatus"
trilogy. Long-time students of conspiracy theories, they simply took every
conspiracy theory they ever heard, tied them all together into a single
organization they called the Illuminati, and sat back and laughed at the
world. The real secret was that the Illuminati did not exist as such, and it
was a running joke among the hippies of the '60s and '70s.
A more serious treatment of the same thing was later published as
"Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco, the Italian symbiologist. The point of
his book was that belief in the Illuminati was actually a self-fulfilling
prophecy, in that there were plenty of nuts running around loose who would
claim to be the rightful heirs of these secret organizations. Given a lost
link, even if imagined, members of all these cults and secret societies
might actually pull together and organize an Illuminated conspiracy.
It is no secret that many wealthy, powerful, and politically connected
individuals go to the same schools, golf at the same clubs, compete in the
same sports, eat at the same restaurants and private clubs, belong to the
same fraternal organizations, etc. The surprise would be if they did not.
The question that conspiracy theorists should answer, therefore, is whether
the Illuminati are the cause or an effect of these relationships, or both. I
tend to believe that the Illuminati do not exist in a formal sense, though
there are plenty of criminal organizations and political and economic
relationships that could fairly be described as illuminated. There have
always been insiders with a fast track to success, power, fame and wealth.
It is quite a stretch, however, to blame this on a single organization that
has existed continuously since ancient times.
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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