Read Online The illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Science fiction; American, Visionary & Metaphysical
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of the identity of a well-known figure was especially hard to credit, despite the circumstantial evidence quoted in the memos—two strong arguments against choice one. The memos are not
all
true.
How about choice three? The Illuminati might not be a straight unbroken line from the first recruit gathered by old Hassan i Sabbah to the person who bombed
Confrontation
—it might have died and lain dormant for a term, like the Ku Klux Klan between 1872 and 1915; and it might have gone through such breakups and resurrectionsmore than once in eight centuries—but linkages of some sort, however tenuous, reached from the eleventh century to the twentieth, from the Near East to Europe and from Europe to America. Saul’s dissatisfaction with official explanations of recent assassinations, the impossibility of making any rational sense out of current American foreign policy, and the fact that even historians who vehemently distrusted all “conspiracy theories” acknowledged the pivotal role of secret Masonic lodges in the French Revolution: all these added weight to the rejection of choice 3. Besides, the Masons were the first group, according to at least two of the memos, infiltrated by Weishaupt.
Choice 1 is definitely out, then, and choice 3 almost certainly equally invalid; choice 2, therefore, is most probably correct. The theory in the memos is partly true and partly false. But what, in essence, is the theory—and which part of it is true, which part false?
Saul lit his pipe, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
The theory, in essence, was that the Illuminati recruited people through various “fronts,” turned them on to some sort of
illuminizing
experience through marijuana (or some special extract of marijuana) and converted them into fanatics willing to use any means necessary to “illuminize” the rest of the world. Their aim, obviously, is nothing less than the total transformation of humanity itself, along the lines suggested by the film
2001
, or by Nietzsche’s concept of the Superman. In the course of this conspiracy the Illuminati, according to Malik’s hints to Jackson, were systematically assassinating every popular political figure who might interfere with their program.
Saul thought, suddenly, of Charlie Manson, and of the glorification of Manson by the Weatherman and Morituri bombers. He thought of the popularity of pot smoking and of the slogan “by any means necessary” with contemporary radical youth, even outside Weatherman. And he thought of Neitzsche’s slogans, “Be hard…. Whatever is done for love is beyond good and evil…. Above the ape is man, and above man, the Superman…. Forget not thy whip….” In spite of his own logic, which had proved that Malik’s theory was only
partly
true, Saul Goodman, a lifelong liberal, suddenly felt a pang of typically right-wing terror toward modern youth.
He reminded himself that Malik seemed to think the conspiracy emanated chiefly from Mad Dog—and that was God’s Lightning country down there. God’s Lightning had no fondness for marijuana, or for youth, or for the definitely anti-Christian overtones of the Illuminati philosophy.
Besides, Malik’s sources were only partly trustworthy.
And there were other possibilities: the Shriners, for instance, were part of the Masonic movement, were generally right-wing, had their own hidden rites and secrets, and used Arabic trappings that might well derive from Hassan i Sabbah or the Roshinaya of Afghanistan. Who could say what secret plots were hatched at Shriner conventions?
No, that was the intuitive pole vaulter in the right lobe at work again; and right now Saul was concerned with the plodding logician in the left lobe.
The key to the mystery was in getting a clearer definition of the purpose of the Illuminati. Identify the change they were trying to accomplish—in man and in his society—and then you would be able to guess, at least approximately, who they were.
Their aim was English
all
true.
How about choice three? The Illuminati might not be a straight unbroken line from the first recruit gathered by old Hassan i Sabbah to the person who bombed
Confrontation
—it might have died and lain dormant for a term, like the Ku Klux Klan between 1872 and 1915; and it might have gone through such breakups and resurrectionsmore than once in eight centuries—but linkages of some sort, however tenuous, reached from the eleventh century to the twentieth, from the Near East to Europe and from Europe to America. Saul’s dissatisfaction with official explanations of recent assassinations, the impossibility of making any rational sense out of current American foreign policy, and the fact that even historians who vehemently distrusted all “conspiracy theories” acknowledged the pivotal role of secret Masonic lodges in the French Revolution: all these added weight to the rejection of choice 3. Besides, the Masons were the first group, according to at least two of the memos, infiltrated by Weishaupt.
Choice 1 is definitely out, then, and choice 3 almost certainly equally invalid; choice 2, therefore, is most probably correct. The theory in the memos is partly true and partly false. But what, in essence, is the theory—and which part of it is true, which part false?
Saul lit his pipe, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
The theory, in essence, was that the Illuminati recruited people through various “fronts,” turned them on to some sort of
illuminizing
experience through marijuana (or some special extract of marijuana) and converted them into fanatics willing to use any means necessary to “illuminize” the rest of the world. Their aim, obviously, is nothing less than the total transformation of humanity itself, along the lines suggested by the film
2001
, or by Nietzsche’s concept of the Superman. In the course of this conspiracy the Illuminati, according to Malik’s hints to Jackson, were systematically assassinating every popular political figure who might interfere with their program.
Saul thought, suddenly, of Charlie Manson, and of the glorification of Manson by the Weatherman and Morituri bombers. He thought of the popularity of pot smoking and of the slogan “by any means necessary” with contemporary radical youth, even outside Weatherman. And he thought of Neitzsche’s slogans, “Be hard…. Whatever is done for love is beyond good and evil…. Above the ape is man, and above man, the Superman…. Forget not thy whip….” In spite of his own logic, which had proved that Malik’s theory was only
partly
true, Saul Goodman, a lifelong liberal, suddenly felt a pang of typically right-wing terror toward modern youth.
He reminded himself that Malik seemed to think the conspiracy emanated chiefly from Mad Dog—and that was God’s Lightning country down there. God’s Lightning had no fondness for marijuana, or for youth, or for the definitely anti-Christian overtones of the Illuminati philosophy.
Besides, Malik’s sources were only partly trustworthy.
And there were other possibilities: the Shriners, for instance, were part of the Masonic movement, were generally right-wing, had their own hidden rites and secrets, and used Arabic trappings that might well derive from Hassan i Sabbah or the Roshinaya of Afghanistan. Who could say what secret plots were hatched at Shriner conventions?
No, that was the intuitive pole vaulter in the right lobe at work again; and right now Saul was concerned with the plodding logician in the left lobe.
The key to the mystery was in getting a clearer definition of the purpose of the Illuminati. Identify the change they were trying to accomplish—in man and in his society—and then you would be able to guess, at least approximately, who they were.
Their aim was English
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