illuminati - good or bad?

[Eddi]

I have started reading up on the Illuminati and to be honest I am becoming increasingly sympathetic towards them. Allow me to quote from a book:

In contemporary mythology, the Illuminati have been branded as the puppetmasters who stand behind the establishment, pulling the strings, orchestrating the enslavement of the people of the world. The opposite is true. The Illuminati have always led the resistance against the tyrants. On occasions, they have come tantalisingly close to success, but mostly they have endured catastrophic defeats. They have tried to infiltrate the establishment, tried Trojan Horse strategies, guerrilla tactics and popular uprisings, tried to win the intellectual and religious debate, tried to subvert and undermine the establishment.

Weishaupt, Adam. The Illuminati (The Illuminati Series Book 1) . Hyperreality Books. Kindle Edition.

This is obviously a different view of them to the likes of David Icke, who use the term to mean some kind of sinister ruling class

So...

Are the Illuminati good or bad?

The powerful or the resistance?

The status quo or progress?

Should we be cheering them on or should we try and confound them as best we can?

What do people think?

I'm beginning to think they have been maligned and misunderstood

 

[exchemist]

I have started reading up on the Illuminati and to be honest I am becoming increasingly sympathetic towards them. Allow me to quote from a book:

In contemporary mythology, the Illuminati have been branded as the puppetmasters who stand behind the establishment, pulling the strings, orchestrating the enslavement of the people of the world. The opposite is true. The Illuminati have always led the resistance against the tyrants. On occasions, they have come tantalisingly close to success, but mostly they have endured catastrophic defeats. They have tried to infiltrate the establishment, tried Trojan Horse strategies, guerrilla tactics and popular uprisings, tried to win the intellectual and religious debate, tried to subvert and undermine the establishment.

Weishaupt, Adam. The Illuminati (The Illuminati Series Book 1) . Hyperreality Books. Kindle Edition.

This is obviously a different view of them to the likes of David Icke, who use the term to mean some kind of sinister ruling class

So...

Are the Illuminati good or bad?

The powerful or the resistance?

The status quo or progress?

Should we be cheering them on or should we try and confound them as best we can?

What do people think?

I'm beginning to think they have been maligned and misunderstood

This is like asking whether the fairies are good or bad. Since there aren't any, it's either a silly question or a question about fictional ideas.

There was, once upon a time, a Bavarian society that called itself the Illuminati. Goethe was a member. But today they don't exist - except possibly in the form of a few home-grown clubs for people who want to big themselves up and feel special.

 

[Eddi]

This is like asking whether the fairies are good or bad. Since there aren't any, it's either a silly question or a question about fictional ideas.

There was, once upon a time, a Bavarian society that called itself the Illuminati. Goethe was a member. But today they don't exist - except possibly in the form of a few home-grown clubs for people who want to big themselves up and feel special.

But was it good or bad?

I think that the term has changed and now refers to a group of people who most certainly do exist - the power elites, the establishment, the ruling class etc. I see it as meaning a class of people, as opposed to a conspiracy or organisation, as it was in Goethe's time

But that this is not what the term originally meant

I see the group that exists today who could be labeled as The Illuminati to be sinister

But I don't think the original Bavarian group was

 

[pearl]

There was, once upon a time, a Bavarian society that called itself the Illuminati. Goethe was a member. But today they don't exist - except possibly in the form of a few home-grown clubs for people who want to big themselves up and feel special.

Maybe yes, maybe no, myth based on what? There are apparently many opinions. The term is only familiar to me due to the movie; 'Angle's and Demons'.

"The term 'Illuminati' was used by one early writer, Menendez Pelayo, as early as 1492 and is attributable to a group known as the 'Alumbrados' of Spain. The Alumbrados were said to receive secret knowledge from an unknown higher source, resulting in superior human intelligence. This group was condemned by an edict of the Grand Inquisition in 1623..."

Wake UP!: February 2011 (lifeisnotafairytaledude.blogspot.com)

But didn't the Illuminati claim a much older origin than 1776?

Introvigne: Yes, they did. Weishaupt originally claimed that the Illuminati originated with the last King of Persia who was a Zoroastrian by religion, Yadzegerd III (†651), although he confused him with Yadzegerd II (†457, King of Persia from 438 to 457), and built a whole genealogy listing many famous historical characters. When Knigge joined the Order, he asked Weishaupt for evidence of this genealogy. Weishaupt wrote back in January 1781 that the genealogy was an "innocent lie", in fact needed because not many would have joined a newly established order (see René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande, Paris: Hachette 1914, 227 -- the book is the doctoral dissertation of a famous French historian, and a key source for the Illuminati). Rather than being offended, Knigge agreed that a mythical genealogy was indeed needed, and proceeded to build one of his own, where the Illuminati were declared as having originally been founded by Noah, and revived after a period of decline by St John the Evangelist.

The shadowy world of the Illuminati (catholiceducation.org)

 

[Sirona]

@Eddi In this aspect, German wikipedia is better than the English one. The German wikipedia states there were 3 groups called "Illuminati"

1. a Bavarian secret society, Illuminati - Wikipedia

2. Alumbrados - Wikipedia

3.Brethren of the Free Spirit - Wikipedia

The most common use in Germany refers to the Bavarian secret society, and their aim was to break or lessen the power of the Catholic Church over politics and life in general. Think of blasphemy laws. No freedom of opinion. Absolutist kings. The Church could forbid you to marry (for example, if a main was impotent or sterile). Consider the things we take for granted these days when it comes to personal freedom. So it's no wonder the Church didn't like them. You can see that the battle of enlightenment vs. superstition is fought on this forum every day. In the times of the Bavarian Illuminati, you could get jailed, coerced to leave the country or possibly killed for such things as they're being written in the forum "Religious Debates".

 

[Kooky]

The historical illuminati had laudable goals, but seem to have been pretty cultish, and a major factor in their inability to ever expand substantially beyond Bavaria seems to have been their near-constant infighting alongside Weishaupt's ego tripping.

 

[PureX]

The "Illuminati" is mostly make-believe. A kind of social mythology that a few small groups of individuals here and there co-opted for their own agendas.

I made a series of sculptures years ago that were all titled "Illuminatus" (i.e., vehicles to aid in the attainment of 'illumination'). They were basically designed as trophies that one might receive after experiencing a major 'life lesson'. Here is one of them ..., that small painted legend in the middle says "ILLUMINATUS"