Illuminati is a Latin term that translates as “enlightened.” The concept is usually used to refer to the Order of the Illuminati , a secret society that emerged in 1776 in Bavaria .
The Illuminati opposed the Catholic Church and aspired to build a society governed by science and logic . A decade after its founding, the group dissolved, although over time other movements appeared that vindicated its proclamations or had similar aspirations.
The Bavarian Illuminati Society was created by Professor Adam Weishaupt together with two of his students at the University of Ingolstadt . Weishaupt , captivated by the Enlightenment , set out to provide knowledge to his students and abstract them from the Jesuits who dominated the intellectual training and university environment of the time.
Little by little the lodge grew, spreading its anticlerical ideas . Faced with rumors that the Illuminati were behind murders to undermine the traditional order and reports that they had infiltrated the state to change its foundations, the Bavarian authorities banned fraternities and societies created without their authorization.
The Illuminati, like the Freemasons, began to be persecuted and the death penalty was even handed down to those who recruited members for these groups. That first group of Illuminati, which numbered around 2,000 members, was finally disarmed before the end of the 18th century .
There is evidence that over the course of history other movements of followers of the Illuminati appeared. There are even numerous conspiracy theories about the supposed influence of these societies in the spheres of power.
The conspiracy theory according to which the Illuminati have control of the world in their hands and act in secret pursuing the birth of a new order is so particular that none of them has so much strength or gets so much attention. Some scholars claim that all this paranoia arose in the 1960s almost by accident, as a result of a work of fiction.
If this were so, then we would be faced once again with the ease with which human beings confuse fiction with reality and allow the ideas of others to influence us to the point of conditioning our lives. Currently, the individuals who are labeled Illuminati have little to do with the former members of Bavarian society, and in fact there is no reliable evidence that links them to any type of conspiratorial activity, but rather their names are mixed up in this theory because that is what the creators of fake news decide.
Once the public falls into the trap of this news, it is too late to try to clarify the facts: the speed and force with which rumors related to the Illuminati spread are such that they considerably exceed the magnitude of the original news.
According to the research work of author and broadcaster David Bramwell , who dedicated much of his life to documenting the true origin of this myth, it is not an evolution of the secret society of the past but the result of a combination of cultural obsessions of the 60s, such as the consumption of LSD, the strength of the counterculture and the attraction to Eastern philosophy.
For Bramwell, therefore, the conspiracy theory that has the Illuminati as people who secretly seek to take over the power of the world to create a new order does not have a solid basis but rather arose after the misinterpretation of a text titled "Principia Discordia", a parody book about a religion that proposed worshiping the goddess of chaos , Eris.