Saturday, May 5, 2007

Opus Dei "Conspiracy"

Taki's blog has a piece by John Zmirak on the Dan Brown-style "conspiracy theories" about Opus Dei. The Rothschilds are somehow brought into it. I was always fascinated with the Rothschild family and will have to do some posts about some of the more colorful Rothschilds.

The founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt is also mentioned. According to New Advent:

His order was to be based entirely on human nature and observation; hence its degrees, ceremonies, and statutes were to be developed only gradually; then, in the light of experience and wider knowledge, and with the co-operation of all the members, they were to be steadily improved. For his prototype he relied mainly on Freemasonry, in accordance with which he modelled the degrees and ceremonial of his order. After the pattern of the Society of Jesus, though distorting to the point of caricature its essential features, he built up the strictly hierarchical organization of his society. "To utilize for good purposes the very means which that order employed for evil ends", such was, according to Philo (Endl. Erkl., 60 sq.), "his pet design". For the realization of his plans, he regarded as essential the "despotism of superiors" an the "blind, unconditionalobedience of subordinates" (ibid.), along with the utmost secrecy and mysteriousness. At the beginning of 1777 he entered a Masonic Lodge and endeavoured, with other members of the order, to render Freemasonry as subservient as possible to his aims....

The real object of the Illuminati [was]the elaboration and propagation of a new popular religion and, in the domain of politics, the gradual establishment of a universal democratic republic. In this society of the future everything, according to Weishaupt, was to be regulated by reason. By "enlightenment" men were to be liberated from their silly prejudices, to become "mature" or "moral", and thus to outgrow the religious and political tutelage of Church and State, of "priest and prince". Morals was the science which makes man "mature", and renders him conscious of his dignity, his destiny, and his power. The principal means for effecting the "redemption" was found in unification, and this was to be brought about by "secret schools of wisdom". These "schools", he declares, "were always the archives of nature and of the rights of man; through their agency, man will recover from his fall; princes and nations, without violence to force them, will vanish from the earth; the human race will become one family, and the world the habitation of rational beings. Moral science alone will effect these reforms `imperceptibly'; every father will become, like Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and absolute lord of his household, and reason will be man's only code of law" ("Nachtr.", p. 80 sq.; repeated verbatim in Knigge, "Die neuesten Arbeiten", p. 38).

While Weishaupt and his followers may not have been directly responsible for the French Revolution, their ideas played a part. It cannot be doubted that his philosophies influenced contemporary thought and our culture in which man, not God, is the center. Share

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm always perplexed by people who make jokes about all conspiracy theories, since history proves that there have been some conspiracies that contributed to world events. The Pharisees conspiring against Jesus Christ, for example.

Anonymous said...

The much maligned Opus Dei, calumny upon clamuny are thrust upon it.

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, it is terrible....

Methodius said...

I've been receiving spiritual formation via Opus Dei for about two years and recently converted to become a Catholic. I am often amazed at the boogey-man type characterizations -- my experience with Opus Dei has been extremely positive. Opus has no political agenda, but rather is aimed at providing spirtual direction to its members and their friends. It's not secretive nor is it particular exciting -- the "norms" of Opus Dei center around about 90 minutes of prayer each day -- things like attended Mass, silent prayer, spiritual reading, and saying the rosary. It's about bringing the individual closer to God -- nothing more.

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, Methodius, it is a beautiful, disciplined lifestyle.