I've only recently come to this theoretical explanation of Illuminism, and I'm more than open to being corrected and further "enlightened" on the subject, but here goes. The points which fired off these connections for me come from the Wikipedia description of Minsky's Society of Mind:
SOCIETY OF MIND
The society of mind theory views the human mind and any other naturally evolved cognitive systems as a vast society of individually simple processes known as agents. These processes are the fundamental thinking entities from which minds are built, and together produce the many abilities we attribute to minds.
Compare to Jane Robert's 'Seth teachings' about the mind:
"Each personality contains an inner civilization of the self which he yearns to govern... The ego rises from the civilization of the psyche just as a leader rises from the masses of the people; appointed, chosen, or taking control according to an inner politics first existing within the greater inner mind."
OF GODS, DEMONS appointed, chosen, or taking control according to an inner politics first existing within the greater inner mind."
INNER UNION
From what I have read of Illuminati philosophy and writings, they *seem* to be pointing to the same thing: an inner process whereby the individual's mind is liberated from disharmony through the yoking (yoga) together of these warring groups. For the Illuminati, their symbolic container for this process was a striving against the control of centralized religion over the lives of men. The flowering of this trend among learned individuals who went through the process of Self-Actualization within approximately the context outlined above brought to us nothing less than the Age of Enlightenment, Natural Law, the Industrial Revolution, the Modern Age, and the founding of the United States of America {See also: Freemasonry}.
As a result, they actually seem to have set the clock back to principles which flourished in Ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East. From writings connected to the Illuminati (supposedly):
NATURAL LAW RESTORED (DR. BRONNER'S MORAL ABC)
Jesus Christ established no new religion; he would only set religion and reason in their ancient rights. For this purpose he would unite men in a common bond. He would fit them for this by spreading a just morality, by enlightening the understanding, and by assisting the mind to shake off all prejudices. He would teach all men, in the first place, to govern themselves. Rulers would then be needless, and equality and liberty would take place without any revolution, by the natural and gentle operation of reason and expediency.
It's actually quite a beautiful, elegant philosophy - as I understand it, anyway. What I see as happening is something like this - and this is based solely on my own experiences and corresponding research I have done:
HOW IT WORKS (TENTATIVE EXPLANATION)
* On account of cultural conditioning, the natural mind is thrown out of balance by growing up and "learning" and conforming to societal standards. Cultures whitewash authentic sense data with mental, physical and emotional habits which promote the healthy functioning of the social order, and bend the individual to fit within that particular system.
* In most (many? These are all just estimates...) cases, this results in a personality which is easily manipulable by whatever the dominant power is culturally. Cultural leaders can use symbols which human nervous systems have been imprinted with in order to motivate specific types of behavior. Depending on how well and judiciously that's done, there may arise a conflict: the individual is not a happy, healthy, functioning member of society. They become alienated, listless, confused, disoriented, thrown out of intent/action harmony. Their mind enters into a state of chaos.
* The chaos and pain becomes so great or overwhelming that it must be beaten, or death may ensue {See: rockstar suicides}. Various esoteric systems exist to overcome this chaos. The simplest, most direct, and effective one I've seen is Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements. His system is all about analyzing the agreements and assumptions which govern our behavior, and seeing how they bring conflict into our lives, and writing with ourselves new agreements about how we can be {See also: Gathertogetherin musical, script-writing}
* As this process begins to work, the individual feels an extraordinary burst or explosion of creative energy. This has to do with the fact that much of our psychic energy is used to build and maintain walls between ourselves, our experiences, emotions, etc. When those walls are removed, the authentic human is revealed - illuminated, enlightened, whatever you want to call it.
* This state seems to be characterized by a higher-order functioning of the mind, organization and creative ability. This is where "genius" comes from: people who are able to make super-human leaps in knowledge and understanding, because the habitual routines of culture have been stripped away from their perceptions, so that they can see things as they actually are, and envision how they could become. This is also where prophets seem to come from - people who have a direct hotline to "God".
* Also typical to this state of mind seems to be a leap to another level of interacting with people: you begin to withdraw your projections of what other people seem to be and allow them to simply be as they really are. You become 100x more honest, more effective, and better able to communicate. This makes you become completely up front about your expectations with other people, and leads you into areas like social contracts, agreements governing interactions between people, voluntary associations, etc. In other words, all the things that the United States was actually founded on: Illuminati and Freemasonic ideals that men can and should govern themselves, that they have the right to do that and that society exists as an agreement which we can amend as needed. Like I said, I think it's a beautiful philosophy and I frankly don't see what is supposed to be so damned scary and conspiratorial about it.
The take-away point I'm trying to make with all that: that one who has mastered oneself has achieved a harmonious union within their mind and inner experience, which they then bring to bear on their interactions with other people. The "virus" spreads from person to person by example, by effective and authentic communication, by teaching and by agreement. And before you know it, you have a whole bunch of sovereign individuals running around, making agreements with one another, creating cool projects and enhancing the experience of everyone their shared value community.
And if that's what it means to be a member of the Illuminati, then totally sign me up - because that's the way life should be as far as I can tell!
Reference: http://witchnest.blogspot.com
