Editing Adam Weishaupt (section)

==Foundation of the Illuminati==
{{Blockquote|At a time, however, when there was no end of making game of and abusing secret societies, I planned to make use of this human foible for a real and worthy goal, for the benefit of people. I wished to do what the heads of the ecclesiastical and secular authorities ought to have done by virtue of their offices ...<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Heinrich |title=Quest for Mysteries: The Masonic Background for Literature in 18th Century Germany|year=2005 |orig-year=1947 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=1419182145 |page=24 n.49 }}</ref>}}

On 1 May 1776 Johann Adam Weishaupt founded the "Illuminati" in the Electorate of Bavaria. Initially, Illumination was designated for a group of outstanding and enlightened individuals in society. Indeed, the word was adapted from a Latin root, ''Iluminatus,'' which directly translates to "enlightened." He also adopted the name of "Brother [[Spartacus]]" within the order. Even encyclopedia references vary on the goal of the order, such as ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1910) saying the Order was not [[egalitarian]] or democratic internally, but sought to promote the doctrines of equality and freedom throughout society;<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia">Catholic Encyclopedia: [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07661b.htm Illuminati],</ref> while others such as ''Collier's'' have said the aim was to combat religion and foster rationalism in its place.<ref>{{cite book |last=Couch |first=William |date=1956 |title=Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 10 |publisher=Crowell-Collier Publishing Company |page=370 }}</ref> The Illuminati was formed with the vision of liberating humans from religious bondage and undermining corrupted governments.<ref>{{Cite web|title=illuminati {{!}} Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/illuminati-group-designation|access-date=14 December 2021|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref>

The actual character of the society was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know: a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />

Weishaupt was initiated into the [[Masonic lodge]] "Theodor zum guten Rath", at Munich in 1777. His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />{{failed verification|date=December 2021}} He used [[Freemasonry]] to recruit for his own quasi-masonic society, with the goal of "perfecting human nature" through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion. Presenting their own system as pure masonry, Weishaupt and [[Adolph Freiherr Knigge]], who organized his ritual structure, greatly expanded the secret organization.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />

Contrary to Immanuel Kant's [[Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?|famous dictum]] that [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] (and Weishaupt's Order was in some respects an expression of the Enlightenment Movement) was the passage by a man out of his 'self-imposed immaturity' through daring to 'make use of his own reason, without the guidance of another,' Weishaupt's Order of Illuminati prescribed in great detail everything which the members had obediently to read and think so that Dr. Wolfgang Riedel has commented that this approach to illumination or enlightenment constituted a degradation and twisting of the Kantian principle of Enlightenment.<ref>Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, 'Aufklaerung und Macht', in ''Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende'', ed. by W. Mueller-Seidel and W. Riedel, Koenigshausen und Neumann, 2002, p. 112</ref> Riedel writes:

::' The independence of thought and judgment required by Kant ... was specifically prevented by the Order of the Illuminati's rules and regulations. Enlightenment takes place here, if it takes place at all, precisely ''under''  the direction of another, namely under that of the "Superiors" [of the Order].<ref>Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, ''Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende'', 2001, p. 112</ref>

Weishaupt's radical rationalism and vocabulary were not likely to succeed. Writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, and the Society was banned by the government of [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Karl Theodor]], Elector of Bavaria, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />