Welcome to the Church of the Illuminati! Here, we will attempt to outline who we are, our goals, and the essentials of Illuminist philosophy as we define it. It is our intention to provide our particular form of Illuminism to seekers. While philosophical Illuminism has historically been held only within certain hidden circles, we feel the time has come to disseminate information on our interpretation of this philosophy for those seekers who hold to the ideals of knowledge and self-improvement. At the outset, we feel it is important to note that we do not claim to be the original Bavarian Illuminati. It is our opinion that the original, first order has died out a long time ago. However, certain groups of people do exist that hold to the original principles of Illuminism. We do not claim lineage or connection with any other group of Illuminists, and any ties members might have to other groups are unrelated with this Church in all regards. We are certainly not connected with this mythical Illuminati which conspiracy theorists claim are ruling the world behind the scenes. This has nothing whatsoever to do with us, nor any other group of Illuminati to the best of our knowledge. We are not connected with any real Illuminati running things. If this is what you are seeking, then you had better look elsewhere! We will not respond to requests asking to join the illuminati to be famous or obtain wealth! We are only open to those seeking a meaningful philosophy. We are a group of seekers from all walks of life who are brought together by the bond of brotherhood and the mutual goals of improving our characters and seeking after knowledge. We are a society of freethinkers, and as such, do not hold to any dogma or authoritarian doctrines. With the goal of not being biased, we hold all forms of knowledge to be worthy of inquiry. And this is our main purpose: to seek intellectual Light. WHAT IS ILLUMINISM? Illuminism is a philosophy that centers around the idea Light as a symbol of knowledge. Thus, when someone is intelligent, one says that he or she is bright or brilliant. When something is understandable or logical, we say that it is lucid (from the Latin lux, meaning light). To illuminate (explain) an issue is to shed light on it. In fact, even the word enlighten is composed of the word light with en put on each end. Therefore, to enlighten is to give knowledge. In all these cases in our everyday language, light is a symbol for knowledge. This is the single most important ideal of illuminism. All forms of knowledge are important. The Light of reason and logic is required for us to understand our world. This intellectual Light was the working ideal behind the Enlightenment Era and the Scientific Revolution. However, other forms of knowledge, such as experiential knowledge and something more akin to gnosis should be included also as relevant. In fact, the idea of illumination goes beyond mere logical deduction. It comes more as an experience with the use of deep meditation and altered states of consciousness. Part of the process of inner work involves experimenting and experiencing aspects of the mind which go much deeper than our surface awareness. What these are we will leave up to individual experiment and experience. Illuminists are often referred to as Fire philosophers. This is because Fire is the essence of Light. We must keep in mind that, before the recent invention of the light bulb, Light was always had its source in Fire--whether from a candle flame, oil lamp, torch, or the Sun itself. All of these sources of Light are in fact a form of Fire. The Flame is, therefore, perhaps our most sacred symbol. There are attributes of Fire which are very significant in our symbolism. Another quality of Fire, besides being a source of Light, is heat. Heat speeds up the vibration of atoms and changes lower states of matter into higher states (solid, liquid, gas, etc.). Therefore, Fire is a symbol of transformation and evolution. It represents self-improvement and personal advancement. We are ever perfecting ourselves and moving into ever higher states of being. Light also is necessary for us to see. In the absence of Light, we cannot see. Thus, darkness is the symbol for ignorance, just as light is the symbol of knowledge.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:02:42 +0000
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