Progress of Enlightenment: A Brief Overview of the Practical Execution of the System of the Illuminati

partiality is best. We spread slanders against him, make him suspicious among devout people, and exert all our strength to render him completely inactive, just as he will be replaced in his position. We must reflect on how such a proudly made cabal can be brought forth in a word; the more we work in this manner, the more secure we are, for as many people as there are, so many instruments do we possess. Those who are not suitable for us must be removed from their positions. The affairs of the bishops against the Pope are the most glorious means in Catholic countries to make the people aware that here lies not a livelihood, but an interest that serves our intention. Every precaution leads one step closer to what we ardently desire. According to our system, all associations and any slander through which a counterforce might arise against us must be disrupted. Therefore, it is not enough to maintain the disagreements between the bishops and the Pope; it is also necessary in religious matters to make Catholics suspicious of Protestants, and vice versa. All books of the Protestants that are contrary to our materialism are to be made suspicious to Catholics under the pretext of hidden Lutheranism or a new religion. Similarly, all books of the Catholics that advocate for Christianity are to be made suspicious to Lutherans as hidden, secret Catholicism and Jesuitism the policy and practices of the Jesuits. The Union has already made provisions for this through its reviews of writings, and the matter will be carried out even better once the teaching offices are occupied by our own people.

However, it is not enough to hinder the influence of writings on church law and spiritualism; one must also work against the closer connections between Protestants and Catholics so that the scholars can never join in a common cause. It is therefore necessary to make all Protestants who have closer ties with Catholics suspicious to the Catholics and of Jesuitism the policy and practices of the Jesuits, so that they lose their influence with the people or are removed from their positions.

Catholics who are in correspondence with Protestants are to be denounced by us in their own lands as dangerous Illuminati enlightened ones, as Rosicrucians members of a secretive occult-Christian order, and as hostile rabble who wish to establish a universal monarchy in their secret orders. One can slander them in other ways as well, which is left to the judgment of each member. Simple fools or bigoted priests who have no knowledge of human nature are often the best tools for breaking the necks of such persons whom we would gladly like to see removed from their places.

One must portray such people, who are so contrary to our intentions, as unrefined or even as Illuminati enlightened ones ourselves, if the opposite is indicated to us. The art consists of using every right to achieve one's purpose.

One of the most necessary means to maintain arrangements and to carry out our intentions also consists in seeking to derive an advantage from secret denunciations. Through this, we obtain the greatest benefit by damaging, through slander, everyone who is not for us. The endeavor and reputation have already brought it about with the Emperor that he alone gives ear to denunciations, which grants us a terrible power against our opponents, and through which, in a short time, all top positions should be occupied by our own people.

Every Illuminatus member of the Illuminati, moreover, should be as hidden as possible in his private life. He must assume all forms like a chameleon a person who changes their opinions or character to suit the situation; be a freethinker with freethinkers, a bigot with bigots. But above all, he must guard himself against all passions, especially friendship and love. They are weaknesses, and a friend is something that one uses, and only as long as one needs him; the boundary does not extend further.

He can certainly indulge in lust; it is a necessity of nature. But love is a figment of weak, unreasoning minds that puts our heart in chains and makes us incapable of executing great things.

We have repeated these principles often to the Emperor, who uses them with good success.

Each person is his own neighbor; that is the law of nature. Pity and mercy are not virtues; they are weaknesses. To act according to principles, this is the worth of a man. Whoever follows nature knows no virtue and no vice. Everything is good that leads to the end goal. Love for the fatherland, for relatives, for wife and children is a prejudice from which the tributes of our fathers originate. He who is truly a man is a statue himself, and like a god, if he knows how to rise above all of this.

To cast off all obstacles that make us slaves, therein consists the great word of our day of regeneration, therein lies the great privilege of our strength.

Our heart is a divine essence. None of ours must forget this principle. He who has no passions and knows how to tame the passions of all others, he is...