Over the past century, the Illuminati have been widely demonized, and have been the victims of numerous conspiracy theories accusing them of the worst wrongdoings. But do we really know who these famous Illuminati are? Where do they come from and what are their objectives? This is the real story of the Illuminati.
A movement of thought based on the fight against superstition and obscurantism
Illuminati is a name given to several real and fictional groups and communities of influence. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society of the Enlightenment centuries, founded in Bavaria, a region that is now part of Germany. At that time, the society’s goals were clear: to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence on public and political life, and abuse of state power.
The man behind the Illuminati is Adam Weishaupt. Orphaned at a very young age, Weishaupt was raised by his learned uncle who ensured he received the best of educations. Until his thirties, he lived an unsurprising life becoming a professor of natural and canon law at the University of Ingolstadt and starting a family. There was no indication then that he would become a staunch opponent of Church and State. However, this is what happened, and he ended up becoming a Freemason, but he quickly left this organization whose ideas differed from his, can we read on National Geographic.
Eventually, after conducting extensive research, he ended up creating his own secret society. On May 1, 1776, Adam Weishaupt thus founded the Order of the Illuminati, an organization which advocated a state of freedom and moral equality where knowledge was not limited by religious prejudices. At first, the society had only five members, namely Weishaupt’s five most talented law students. The secret society soon grew in popularity, and with the help of German diplomat Adolph Franz Friedrich, the underground group grew to over 2,000 members all over Europe.
A secret society demonized because of a parody work
Unfortunately, this society which never wanted to be noticed ended up being discovered and infiltrated by the religious and governmental authorities of Bavaria, barely a decade after its creation. Thus, the Illuminati was shut down and Weishaupt was banished from Ingolstadt. Despite this, his revolutionary ideas endured, and so did the fame of his secret society. As for Weishaupt, he took advantage of his exile to write a series of works on illuminism and on the secret society of the Illuminati in Bavaria.
So far, there is nothing diabolical about the history of the Illuminati. So it’s worth wondering when this secret society started feeding the fertile imaginations of conspiracy theorists. The latter believe in particular that the Illuminati are influential people controlling world economic affairs, operating secretly in order to establish a New World Order. Beyoncé, Celine Dion and Barack Obama have notably been accused of being diabolical members of the secret society.
And to come back to our big question, a report of BBC explained that this wacky paranoia started with Principia Discordiaa work of playful fiction, a parody work written by David Bramwell in the 1960s. Even though the contents of the book are not at all confusing, it was enough evidence for conspiracy theorists to associate the Illuminati with absolute evil.
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