Briefly, the background of the Bavarian Illuminati puzzle is this: On May 1st, 1776, in Bavaria, Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a professor of Canon Law at Ingolstadt University and a former Jesuit priest, formed a secret society called the Order of the Illuminati within the existing Masonic lodges of Germany.  Since Masonry is itself a secret society, the Illuminati was a secret society within a secret society, a mystery inside a mystery, so to say. In 1785 the Illuminati were suppressed by the Bavarian government for allegedly plotting to overthrow all the kings in Europe and the Pope to boot.  This much is generally agreed upon by all historians. Everything else is a matter of heated, and sometimes fetid, controversy.

It has been claimed that Dr. Weishaupt was an atheist, a Cabalistic magician, a rationalist, a mystic; a democrat, a socialist, an anarchist, a fascist; a Machiavellian amoralist, an alchemist, a totalitarian and an “enthusiastic philanthropist.”  (The last was the verdict of Thomas Jefferson, by the way.)  The Illuminati have also been credited with managing the French and American revolutions behind the scenes, taking over the world, being the brains behind Communism, continuing underground up to the 1970’s, secretly worshipping the Devil, mopery with intent to gawk. Some claim that Weishaupt didn’t even invent the Illuminati, but only revived it.  The Order of the Illuminati has been traced back the to the Knights Templar, to the Greek and Gnostic initiatory cults, to Egypt, even to Atlantis.  The one safe generalization one can make is that Weishaupt’s intent to maintain secrecy has worked; no two students of Illuminology have ever agreed totally about what the “inner secret” or purpose of the Order actually was (or is…). There is endless room for spooky speculation, and for pedantic paranoia, once one really gets into the literature of the subject; and there has been a wave of sensational “exposes” of the Illuminati every generation since 1776.  If you were to believe all the sensational literature, the damned Bavarian conspirators were responsible for everything wrong with the world, including the oil prices and the fact that you can’t get a plumber on the weekends.  – Robert Anton Wilson, Cosmic Trigger

The outstanding example of the negative self-fulfilling prophecy in our century is Joseph Stalin, who always believed himself surrounded by enemies.  His own party, he suspected, was permeated by deviants who hated him.  He steadily increased the size and powers of the secret police, and each chief of the secret police, in turn, was executed as one of the plotters against him.  They all signed confessions before they died;  Stalin insisted on that.  He wanted it in black and white, proof that his suspicions were justified.  Eventually, it appears, his closest associates conspired to poison him.

In contrast, there is the case of R. Buckminster Fuller, who stood one day in 1928 on the shore of Lake Michigan contemplating suicide.  He was despairing because of his daughter’s death by polio and his own lack of financial success as a construction engineer.  But, in a moment of Sufi insight, Fuller decided to gamble that the universe had some use for him.  Today, he is not only one of the most influential scientists in the world, the inventor of a new system of mathematics and a universally respected philosopher and poet, he is also a multimillionaire.  He is one of the most radiantly optimistic men on this planet, as everybody who has ever heard him lecture will appreciate.  Now, let’s not confuse self-fulfilling prophecy with the puerilities of positive thinking or other Pollyanna philosophies that ignore reality totally in favor of a cocoon of self-delusion.  Bucky Fuller, for instance, has had his share of hard times since his act of faith in 1928.  His dymaxion automobile cracked up on a trial run and was never mass-manufactured.  His most important scientific ideas were ignored for nearly two decades during which he was dismissed as a brilliant crank.  He has experienced the usual human bereavements.  Nevertheless, he transcended all such setbacks by believing that he could do something good in this universe.
- Robert Anton Wilson – The Illuminati Papers

The biosurvival winner: “I will live forever or die trying.”

The biosurvival loser: “I don’t know how to defend myself.”

The emotional-territorial winner: “I am free; you are free: we can have our separate trips or we can have the same trip.”

The emotional-territorial loser: “They all intimidate me.”

The semantic winner: “I am learning more about everything, including how to learn more.”

The semantic loser: “I can’t solve my problems.”

The sociosexual winner: “Love, and do what thou wilt.” (Anon. of Ibid)

The sociosexual loser: “Everything I like is illegal, immoral, or fattening.”

The neurosomatic winner: “How I feel depends on my neurological knowhow.”

The neurosomatic loser: “I can’t help the way I feel.”

The metaprogramming winner: “I make my own coincidences, synchronicities, luck, and Destiny.”

The metaprogramming loser: “Why do I have such lousy luck?”

The neurogenetic winner: “Future evolution depends on my decisions now.”

The neurogenetic loser: “Evolution is blind and impersonal.”

The neuro-atomic winner: “In the province of the mind, what is believed to be true is true, or becomes true within certain limits to be learned by experience and experiment.” (Dr. John Lilly)

The neuro-atomic loser: “I am not psychic, and I doubt anyone is.”

copyright Robert Anton Wilson