ILLUMINISM AND THE ILLUMINATI(2012)
BARRY SEABOURNE
INTRODUCTION
The word ILLUMINISM comes from the Latin ‘illuminare’ meaning ‘to give light’ and this provides the basis for other related words such as illumination, illuminati, illuminist and illuminate.
Illuminism has been called the philosophia sacra. It is a utopian system of thought that relates to religion, science, philosophy and politics. It is concerned with the history, knowledge and experience of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment and illumination. The aim of Illuminism is the quest for perfection and the experience of self realisation. The process of awakening Intellectual and spiritual illumination takes many forms. This process is influenced by an individual’s essential nature, their life experience, level of awareness and their psychological type.
Illuminism focuses on the experience of solar, cosmic and telluric energy that affect the growth and development of the human body, mind and soul. Over the last four millennia there have been those who have experienced forms of higher awareness and spiritual energy that have been interpreted and expressed in a myriad of ways.
The use of words such as illumination, gnosis, cosmic consciousness and enlightenment refer to an experiential truth that lies at the core of the human search for ultimate meaning. There are similar words in other cultures and languages that attempt to describe similar states such as Nirvana in the Indian Hindu and Buddhist traditions and Satori in the Japanese Zen tradition. All these terms relate to the human transcendental experience, mystical consciousness and the epiphany of Western religions and certain esoteric groups.
THE ILLUMINATI
Those who claim to be aspiring towards, or have attained a high degree of spiritual or intellectual enlightenment can be called the illuminated, illuminists or the illuminati. These words have been used to describe those who were focussed on the pathway of mystical and intellectual illumination throughout history.
In the early Christian Church people were called the Illuminati when they received baptism as they were handed a lighted candle symbolising the spiritual enlightenment being received at the time of initiation. Related terms such as illumination are often used throughout the history of Christianity for those who receive the Holy Spirit into their soul.
During the late 15th, 16th and 17th centuries in Spain and France there were different groups who believed that there was a divine illumination that could be experienced from the celestial realms that did not need the offices of the established Church. In Spain they were called the Alumbrados and in France the Illuminées. Many of these groups believed that it was possible for the human mind to become divine. They followed spiritual practices that would help them receive a direct experience of God. Gradually they came under the scrutiny of the Inquisition and were tortured and imprisoned.
In Germany a different form of Illuminism was formed that has become known as the Bavarian Illuminati. This group had nothing to do with other Illuminati groups in a direct way, Christian or non-Christian. The Christian groups included the Spanish and French groups as above. The non-Christian groups include the Illuminationists of Persia and the new and different Order of the Illuminati established in 1880 by Leopold Engels.
The Order of the Illuminati, established in 1776, was a product of the rational philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment in France. It became part of European Freemasonry that was separate from the earlier ‘infiltration’ by Rosicrucian’s. In Europe the educated classes were more focussed on the importance of reason, utopian socialism and natural philosophy. Liberty of the individual, freedom of thought and belief became important for various Enlightenment philosophers and ‘revolutionaries’ such as Voltaire and Diderot. This spirit of sweeping away the Ancien Régime was the new energising force that eventually led to American independence and the French Revolution of the late 1700’s and the revolutions in Europe following the defeat of Napoleon.
It was in this milieu that Adam Weishaupt started his new Order on 1 May 1776. They were going to be called The Order of the Perfectibilists but this was later changed to the Order of the Illuminati. Weishaupt had been educated in a Jesuit school and within a few years of leaving obtained a position as Chair and Professor of Canon Law at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria. He was well educated, intelligent and an excellent orator as well as a skilful organiser.
The purpose and aims of the Order were to create a ‘luminous centre for the promotion of national and religious enlightenment’. Their primary aims were ‘to help humanity achieve happiness and for their own members to achieve intellectual illumination and perfection’. Other aims include:
• Abolition of the inherited monarchy and leaders of the ruling regional and local government
• Freeing people from the control and domination of the institution of the Church
• Replace the Church with freedom of the individual and with a belief centred on Pantheism
• Equality for women
• Education of men and woman towards an enlightened state
• Freedom of all under a hierarchy of enlightened ‘Illuminates’
THE ILLUMINATI AND THE FREEMASONS
Weishaupt was in some ways the product of the period and his ideas were seen as a threat to the powerful organisations of the time - the Catholic Church, the European monarchies and the ruling class elite. To fulfil his utopian dream a major part of his strategy was to infiltrate the best organised secret group of its time – the Freemasons.
The Grand Lodge of England was established in 1717. The lodge system had grown from the guilds of stonemasons working in the Middle Ages. These were called operative masons. During the 17th century speculative masons started to join lodges. Freemasonry developed differently on mainland Europe than it did in England. In continental lodges masons debated theological and political issues whereas the English Grand Lodge did not permit this type of discussion. The three primary Craft Grades of English masonry were considered to be too low class for the European intelligentsia and the serious debate of meaningful issues in the areas of politics and religion.
Some German masons also believed that there were unseen forces operating at higher and unseen levels overlooking the progress of Lodges all over the world. German Lodges were places where the Illuminati members could meet others and debate and plan the future of progress towards a utopian state along the lines of Weishaupt’s ideas.
The link between the Bavaria Illuminati and the Freemasons was vital to Weishaupt in his plan to spread the principles of his Order throughout Europe and beyond. Weishaupt adopted the hierarchical structure of Freemasonry and planned to use the first three Masonic Craft Degrees in his initiatory grading system.
Those wishing to join the Illuminati would have to pass through various initiatory levels. As they progressed the Initiates would discover more of Weishaupt’s secret and revolutionary plans to change society.
Weishaupt’s aim was to ‘fit man by Illumination for active virtue’. The reality was that he was human and not perfect and for a while he suffered various personal agonies until his Order of the Illuminati was closed by the civilian authorities in 1785.
Weishaupt, who died in 1830, maintained that the Illuminati was less an Order but more of a Current. In Kenneth Grant’s book The Magical Revival he quotes Weishaupt as he describes how this vital ‘Current of Illuminism’comes at different times and in different places to various individuals and groups to bring the life force of truth, vitality and energy.
Certain people contain this energy that emanates from them in different ways – sometimes it can be felt or sensed but it is subtle and unseen, except by a few. At other times the emanation of current could be dynamic and transforming. Weishaupt called this force or spirit the Illuminising Current. It is similar to Chi, Akasha, Holy Spirit or Cosmic Electricity.
Another Order of the Illuminati was started around 1880 by Leopold Engel in Dresden. This Order had no links to the 18th century original, but was a lodge of the Theosophical Society claiming to follow the Illuminati tradition. This Order was carried on by Carl Kellner. Engels and Kellner disliked each intensely. When Engels died control of the Order was passed to Kellner who then persuaded Theodor Reuss to join. The Order was renamed Ordo Templi Orientis (Oriental Templar Order) where it became a ‘freemasonry lodge’ offering various initiatory degrees.
In the early 1900’s Reuss took over the Order and in 1910 he met Aleister Crowley and admitted him into the first three degrees of the OTO. Reuss died in 1923 and the OTO was taken over by Crowley. From here it moves into the darker and controversial worlds of Crowleyan Magick. Crowley creates his own religion with the Law of Thelema as its central religious principle. He claimed that this offered a rational basis for universal brotherhood and a universal religion. Crowley believed his new version of OTO offered esoteric instruction through dramatic ritual and guidance in a system he called illuminatedethics.
His unique occult system drew from his experiences and associations with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the earlier connections with Engels, Reuss and the later OTO with references to the Illuminati and Freemasonry. He devises a complicated organisational structures and series of rituals identifying an imaginary connection with the ‘illuminati’. When he publishes the OTO magazine Equinox he again uses the term Scientific Illuminism, adding that this publication offered a bridge between religion and science.
DION FORTUNE AND ILLUMINISM
In 1930 Dion Fortune published The Training and Work of an Initiate. In this book she searches for a term that would describe and express the goal of the various esoteric and exoteric pathways towards what may be described as spiritual Truth. She says “.....it is possible to indicate by a single word that which all its (esoteric) students will recognise as being the pursuit in which they are engaged.”
She then begins to question what this word may be and look at the various possibilities. This word must ‘indicate the subject under consideration’. The terms occult and mystical cannot be used as they exclude each other. She dismisses ‘spiritualism’ as being unsuitable. It cannot be a Sanskrit word “which has been wrenched from its original significance” by European esotericists. It cannot be the ‘jargon’ derived from of the languages of Classical Greece, the Qabalism of Israel or the terms of medieval alchemy. She continues to say that there are two other possible sources for this word. They are the “voluminous literature of Christian Mysticism and the analytic school of psychology.”
“Our choice is limited” Fortune says “for the word chosen, must convey an adequate mental picture to the outsider who looks up its meaning in a dictionary, and must not have been appropriated by any specialised school.” To conclude she suggests that in essence the word that describes the extension of consciousness to planes of experience not available to the physical world should be ILLUMINISM and to further subdivide this into two main branches – MYSTICISM and OCCULTISM. Dion Fortune then goes on to describe her particular definition of Illuminism in three chapters and a detailed diagrammatic chart.
CONSPIRACY THEORY
As had been seen above terms such as illuminism, illumination, illuminati and illuminate are used by many people with different agendas and levels of intellect, spiritual understanding and wisdom. This is even more the case in the area of conspiracy theories.
Most government agencies and political parties across the world engage in various forms of ‘planning’ that is hidden from the public. Realistic and provable investigations into devious and illegal activities can benefit society. Conspiracies are a fact of living in the world. There are many individuals, groups and organisations who conspire to effect some change that would advance their lives, beliefs and levels of control and power in the world, or in the minds of others. Some groups are dangerous; some operate on the fringes of sanity; others plot for control, money and influence, while others are so inept that nothing is ever achieved.
The advent of the internet seems to breed a new type of conspiracy theorist. Here rumours, demonization and disinformation are disseminated by conspiracy theorists, anti-Establishment groups and those with various alternative agendas who conspire to create false and imaginary scapegoats without any thorough research or evidence other than prejudice, hearsay, and innuendo.
Many people legitimately enjoy and creatively engage in the myths, fantasies and descriptions of secret and mysterious groups. Many centre on the Knights Templar or Freemasons. Sometimes the name ‘Illuminati’ is identified as one of the most famous but usually the only real evidence put forward with this group relates to Weishaupt’s Bavarian Illuminati.
At the more extreme end of the spectrum, and at times the lunatic fringe, some conspiracy theorists believe that our world has been infiltrated by aliens posing as high ranking humans ready to take control of us and dominate our world. Icke believes that these take the form of reptiles and are from the constellation of Draco and are living under caverns beneath the earth. The self identified ‘Christian’ Mark Dice, and others believe that there are sinister, evil and shady group called the Illuminati behind the scenes orchestrating the American War of Independence, the Holocaust, the attack on the Twin Towers and various other heinous crimes against innocent people all the product of Dice’s mind and the elaborate fantasies of other similar misguided writers.
There are numerous sources for current day conspiracy theories including the works of the controversial Fascist historian Nesta Webster, the Jesuit Augustine Barruel, Reverend Seth Payson and the Scottish lawyer, and enthusiastic conspiracy theorist, John Robison.
Another source of misinformation about the Illuminati comes from the psychedelic world and books of Robert Anton Wilson who, in 1975, together with Robert Shea, published the highly imaginative and influential The Illuminatus! Trilogy. This was then followed, in 1977, by Wilson with a second book Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati.
Added publicity was given to the Illuminati when Dan Brown’s book Angels and Demons was made into a commercially successful film. Here the illuminati are portrayed asan infamous secret group intent on revenge against the Catholic Church. Interestingly the twist in the film shows that Brown only uses the idea of the illuminati who are not, in fact, implicated in the plot but only used by the notorious perpetrator as a smoke screen.
In Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum he cleverly mixes fact and imagination as he takes the reader on a mysterious and complex tour of various occult and esoteric figures and groups such as the Comte de Saint-Germain, the Hermeticists, the Knight’s of the Temple and the Illuminati. This work is both a satire and a wry comment on some of the great occult stories, myths and conspiracies that have emerged from the secrets of the pyramids to the present time.
Although the subject of the existence of a genuine secret group of illuminates using the name illuminati cannot be discounted because some attach negative connotations or have used the term to describe their own belief system.
NEW WORLD ORDERS
More recently the existence of secret and elitist orders and groups that are engaged in plots has become a popular myth played out in various films and books. Part of the conspiracy is that these groups aim to gain control of the world, or, at least to influence everyone towards a particular agenda. This concept is often referred to as the New World Order and involves some totalitarian and elitist conspiracy attempting, secretly, to control the world for the benefit of a few very rich individuals or power cliques.
The reality is that there are numerous groups whose agenda is to create a new world order. The one that gets most of the publicity is the anti-establishment and anarchic idea of the Illuminati being a secret order within the higher echelons of the Freemasonry’s system of grades and lodges.
Other organisations that have world view include international religions such the Bahai faith whose principles are essentially altruist and idealist. Commercial international companies nearly always have a world plan on how to enter and dominate markets. Terrorist groups attempt to change countries, continents and cultures through fear and violent conspiratorial atrocities.
Utopian philosophers would like to see a new world order where there is greater fairness socially and economically. Adam Weishaupt’s vision was in some ways anarchic as well as being idealistic. He was one of a number of individuals throughout history who have dreamt of creating a new type of society that to them was fairer and reflected their own idea of perfection with a planned pathway for initially the ‘enlightened’, and ultimately for humanity
The concept of a New World Order need not be a negative. Visionaries such as Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas More, St Ignatius Loyola, Ouspensky, and others, have genuinely attempted to improve the world with a world plan for a new order in society that has at its apex a spiritual or intellectual philosophy that is utopian.
ILLUMINISM AND ILLUMINATION
Human beings live their lives at different levels and in different ways. The myth or the wish that we are all the same just isn’t the reality. Social and economic conditions, genetic makeup, backward cultural belief systems all conspire to ensure that the mass of humanity are kept in various stages of ignorance, suffering and intellectual and spiritual darkness.
According to more traditional pathways, such as Zen, the experience of illumination should be sudden. In other traditions enlightenment is to found in the gradual approach. Most people who search for some kind of enlightenment in their lives are usually content that enlightenment comes of its own accord, either after a life term of diligent spiritual practice or spontaneously.
The experience of illumination is coloured by the individual’s psychological and physical makeup but can be recognised during moments when life flows effortlessly as individuals touch something deep within themselves that they may call their soul. Spiritual illumination brings with it a sense of the divine, perfection and transformation.
At the heart of Illuminism is the way of true spiritual illumination. Here there is a sense of a breaking through or rebirth in one’s life into the light and fusion of inner and outer spiritual and life energies. The individual touches their core and individual soul. At this moment there may be a union with what we may call God or the Cosmic Soul.
Illumination and enlightenment are two very close experiences where the difference between them is subtle. Illumination refers to the moment of the actual transforming experience. Enlightenment refers to the transformation that takes place in the individual’s life after illumination adding knowledge and understanding with an awareness of its meaning and significance.
The journey towards illumination can provide a pathway towards the attainment of peak experience or spiritual enlightenment. Lives can be transformed with the possibility that individuals can discover their higher destiny.
Richard Bucke was the first to use the term Cosmic Consciousness. In 1901he described this stateas a moment when an individual becomes conscious of the cosmos and “there occurs an intellectual enlightenment or illumination which alone would place the individual on a new plane of existence.” More recently from a Rosicrucian source cosmic consciousness is described as “that unique moment beyond the descriptive power of language when the spirit is lifted up and out of its physical dwelling into union with the infinite.”
THE REAL ILLUMINATI
There are many esoteric and exoteric groups and individuals who believe there are enlightened human beings who exist in different times and in different spaces who are controlling, guiding or directing humanity towards freedom, enlightenment and higher evolution. The form that these beings take can be varied and exist in real time and space, in a spiritual or mythical space that exists in the present moment or that have existed in the past but still exist at higher unseen level in an astral or other cosmic region.
Ouspensky says in his book New Model of the Universe that there are two levels of humanity. The ‘Outer Circle of Humanity’ where most of us have our normal lives that are, in a sense, unconscious and mechanical. The other level he calls the ‘Inner Circle of Humanity’. These are enlightened and spiritual beings who he believes are watching out for those who desire to be free, perfect and immortal. Ouspensky and Gurdjieff’s believed that their concept of the Fourth Way School would cater for those who wish to follow a pathway towards this ‘inner’ world that they called the Way of the Householder.
There are others who believe that there are unseen being who exist in higher astral or cosmic worlds and are sometimes called ‘Secret Chiefs’ or ‘Ascended Masters’ who communicate to those who are prepared to receive their guidance and direction helping humanity towards its higher destiny and evolution.
Some look to the past higher Initiates who have existed as teachers and enlightened beings who have created schools and religions for their followers to find God or similar level of truth or pathway. These include Pythagoras, Plato, Christ, Buddha, Lao Tse. Others look to gurus who are in the world today to act as their spiritual masters and help them to grow spiritually and find their true way to enlightenment, self realisation and wisdom. These include figures such as the Shankaracharya in India, leaders of groups with esoteric or other special knowledge or other illuminated seers.
For many today on a pathway of illumination and enlightenment there is a personal search for an inner personal discovery that transcends orthodoxy, whether in the form a church or the persuasion of a charismatic cult leader. Knowledge comes from many sources and experiences.
Science moves into its own empirical pathways trying to find answers to question of meaning with new original and creative possibilities. Spirituality begins to replace some rigid religious belief systems that try to control and dictate to their followers. Nature and certain kinds of art provide many with a more tangible experience of the numinous and their own existential presence in this cosmos.
The Way of Illumination is a way that allows each individual to follow their own pathway with an experience of transcendence that relates to being alive and human. The idea that there are special people or illuminates living now or in the past that have contacted deep levels of truth and act in accordance with the Way of the Universe is an attractive and desirable concept and possibility.
These illuminates may or may not contribute to the well being and survival of our species in a way we or our society understand or appreciate. They may come from any walk of life; any culture; they may be religious or atheists – the label is not important. What is important is how we recognise the importance of illumination and allow the experience into our life to help us move nearer to the truth of who we really are.
© Barry Seabourne
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THE SECRET OF LIFE (2009)
Barry Seabourne
The Secret of Life revolves around Cosmic Energy and Prana. These forces are related to the concepts of Akasha, Pranayama and the creation and nature of the Universe. Cosmic Energy is the vital force in the Universe creating all manifestations of form, matter and ‘spirit’. This energy manifests as radiant, outgoing motion and the drawing back as gravity and magnetism. We reflect this Universal principle every time we breathe in and out. Our solar system, our galaxy and the Universe will eventually do the same but over vast time scales.
The smallest thought down to the densest matter is a manifestation of this Energy or Prana. When this Energy returns to its source the Cosmic Web or Cosmic Matrix is still there. It is also called the Aether, Universal Soul or Akasha. At the end of a cycle the energies that would be present in the Universe become passive and dormant. When a new cycle starts the Cosmic Energy begins again to create a new Creation.
The esotericist recognises that behind all happenings in the world of phenomena are dimensions of energies that can control and condition our responses at whatever level of development we have achieved. For those on the Esoteric Path awareness of Cosmic Energy must be conscious. For most of humanity the process continues without knowledge and consciousness. One aim of esoteric schools and Yogic philosophy is to bring consciousness of this Energy or Prana into realisation and with it understanding, control and utilisation. This process is called Pranayama.
Our whole world and Universe is made up of energy in one form or another. We are essentially a form of energy that needs different forms of energy to survive and grow. The right kind energy in the right form can transform us and keep us alive. The wrong type of energy can destroy us. Energy systems feed from each other and are in a continuous process of being created, living and dying.
Scientists and theoretical physicists attempted to define the nature of energy both empirically and theoretically. It was thought that the basic unit of energy and of the Universe was the atom. When the atom was split and its deeper quantum structure began to be understood the energy it contained was seen to be potentially infinite. Later, scientists then attempted to balance the theories of general relativity with quantum mechanics. The world’s top astrophysicists continue to look for an all encompassing theory that explains how energy moves and transforms through the Universe or multiple universes. More recent explanations include string theory and super-string theory. These in turn may be superseded by M-Theory! There is still no agreement and all current theories are virtually impossible to confirm at this time through normal empirical research.
In current mainstream physics scientists are trying to find a theory of ‘everything’ which would unify the fundamental laws of nature. These forces are usually considered as: gravity, the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. The problem of finding the ultimate Theory of Everything is that the various theories start with different models of the Universe. The theories of nuclear fission, the difference between gravity, magnetic energy and radiating energy, the actual structure and nature of the energy and how it is transmitted are some of the complex problems that need to be resolved.
In us energy works unconsciously and consciously as it relates to us as individuals. At times we make a conscious effort to shape, receive or communicate energy. How we interpret energy fields, forces and its myriad expressions is effected by the nature of our soul, our culture, mind and individual type. It is an active, radiating presence balanced by a more passive and magnetic cosmic element that creates the whole cosmos of which we may be the highest material expression.
We are continually giving off vibrations of energy in various forms and at different levels from the physical to the spiritual part of ourselves. We live our lives sometimes with others and sometimes alone. When we are with others we can be in resonance and interact with different energies from the two entities. Energy moves between us affecting our being and energy level in a variety of ways.
This interchange of energy occurs with all we come into a relationship with any living or inanimate form, organic or inorganic, visual impressions or sound, spiritual or sensorial. This energy force could be positive, negative, or a neutral state in between. For most people this happens in an unconscious way and the response can also be unconscious. As we move towards higher levels of awareness the energy interchange becomes more conscious. As individuals progress spiritually in their lives and become increasingly more aware the reality of finer forms of energy being passed or transmitted between individuals begins to become a reality. Our guide must be how we interpret the effect the energy source has on us. Is it the right kind of positive energy and does it enhance our journey to be who we really are and fulfill our higher destiny.
In some esoteric schools and systems that follow the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky there is the belief that we can, in this life, begin to ‘crystallize’ our spiritual energies into a subtle body through special practices, lifestyle, exercises, love, discipline and ritual. The belief is that this spiritual way or pathway may lead to the rebirth of the inner or higher soul that is inside us. In this recreated state it is then possible to transcend the level of our physical manifestation and achieve immortality at a higher level of energy or vibration. This true ‘soul’ could then exist in higher dimensions in the Cosmic Matrix or other parallel or spiritual universes which only a few individuals are aware of during our physical sojourn on this planet. This is why in some systems there is a vital emphasis given to the experience of breaking through into a higher cosmic level or world – through the higher gateway or portal.
