Table Of ContentROBERT HOWELLS, born in London in 1968, has spent over 20 years
investigating secret societies, counterculture and conspiracy theories. During this
time he has built up an extensive knowledge and experience of secret societies,
symbolism and esoteric thought.
As a manager for five years of Watkins Books in London, one of the oldest
esoteric bookshops in Europe, he extended his research into comparative
religion, transpersonal psychology, sacred geometry, Gnosticism and alchemy.
He also came into contact with a number of secret societies during this time,
including the Priory of Sion, the Freemasons, the Order of Lazarus and various
neo-Templar orders, as well as Sufis and other religious groups.
His first book, Inside the Priory of Sion, was published in 2011 and his second
book, The Last Pope, in June 2013.
Robert Howells is married with two children and lives in Kent, England.
Also by Robert Howells
Inside the Priory of Sion
The Last Pope
THE ILLUMINATI
THE COUNTERCULTURE REVOLUTION
FROM SECRET SOCIETIES
TO WIKILEAKS AND ANONYMOUS
ROBERT HOWELLS
This book is dedicated to:
Julian Assange, a refugee for truth,
Edward Snowden, a patriot in exile,
and my friend Paul John Denham, a prisoner without guilt.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The journey to bring this book into the world was long and arduous. I am
indebted to the team at Watkins Media for their ongoing trust and support: to
publisher Michael Mann for his patience and guidance; to Bob Saxton for his
excellent editorial skills; to Vicky Hartley and the rest of the sales and marketing
team for their unending efforts on my behalf; and to Etan Ifield, who sees the
‘big picture’.
Also, thanks to those who support my work from the outside, including Bruce
Burgess and the many online community members both known and unknown.
And finally to my family and friends for taking a back seat as I headed for the
far horizons of culture.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: THECOUNTERCULTURE IMPERATIVE
CHAPTER 2: THE DESCENT INTO DISSENT
CHAPTER 3: KEEPERS OF THE FLAME
CHAPTER 4: THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI
CHAPTER 5: THE PATH OF THE ILLUMINATI
CHAPTER 6: DISSOLUTION AS EVOLUTION
CHAPTER 7: COUNTERCULTURE
CHAPTER 8: THE AGE OF CONSPIRACY
CHAPTER 9: THE OLD WORLD ORDER
CHAPTER 10: DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
CHAPTER 11: THE EMERGING SOCIETY
RESOURCES
Select Bibliography
Documentaries
Newsfeeds and Forums
Online Petitions
Privacy Resources
Ask yourself ‘What is the most important thing that I could be working on in
the world right now?’ AARON SWARTZ (1986–2013)
The entire legal system is called into question when laws are used to
persecute the innocent.
CHAPTER 1
THE COUNTERCULTURE IMPERATIVE
‘Socialization is a process by which we learn to fit into our surroundings.’
This was the mantra of my social studies teacher which I learned to recite in
secondary school at the tender age of 15. Even then I suspected it was the
anathema of individuality and creativity, and on reflection I consider it an
insidious piece of brainwashing to inflict upon young adults. Today, it is a lesson
that I see taught everywhere, from the tide of mainstream media that vilifies and
humiliates anyone who stands apart to religions that would imprison us with
blatantly dishonest dogmas. Socialization is apparent in the words of our
politicians that expect us to trust their disinformation and the actions of
government agencies that imprison hackers for defacing the websites of morally
corrupt corporations.
We should know better than to question the news channels that report wars
as if they were the spectacle of a firework display while denying us the footage
of bombed schools and hospitals filled with civilians. Nor should we call to
account the economists who recommend deregulation that allows bankers to
ravage the economy and walk away with huge bonuses. And there is absolutely
no alternative to banks charging interest on the money they lend, which puts
every country and individual in perpetual debt, making economic slaves of us
all.
In all aspects of life we are told this is how it must be and we have no choice
other than to conform to fit into society. But this is a lie.
Counterculture is the anathema of socialization. It is the ambiguity that
undermines all forms of government and their methods of control. In
counterculture there are no boundaries or social structures, just forms of
evolution and revolution. The new groups that gather and disperse usually
foreshadow future trends in some way, and might prove to be the catalyst for
change. To embrace counterculture requires that we cease to adapt to society and
begin to exert our own identity so that individuality becomes a form of
expression, a way of life that escapes tradition.
We now live in an age of mass surveillance which records and reports our
every electronic conversation, purchase, location and social interaction. Through
this, governments can track and identify the members of any counterculture, or
any party that would speak out against the ruling powers.
Since the dawn of civilization governments and dictators have fought to
take power and hold on to it by either force or manipulation. Those that stand
against them risk persecution, censorship and death. Treason and heresy have
always incurred the wrath of those trying to keep dominion over the masses, just
as challenging religion led to heretics and scientists alike being imprisoned or
put to the flame by the Inquisition. To counter this there have always been secret
societies working in the shadows of every civilization to uphold an alternative
view, and sometimes the truth, in the hope that one day all humanity would be
free. Their ideas and philosophies were seeded into the public domain through
philosophy and art, ritual and heresy. In Europe they fought to undermine the
Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the Age of Reason through social
engineering. During this period the controlling facade of the Church, toxic with
corruption and hypocrisy, was losing control and no amount of burning corpses
could hold back the revolution. By the 18th century a social upheaval was
blowing through the West in the minds of philosophers, the words of poets and
the civil unrest of the masses.
The secret societies of the 18th century established a philosophy that can be
traced through counterculture to the online hacktivist groups of today. But we
begin with the archetypal secret society and the one group that first stood in open
revolt against all forms of oppression set upon humanity: the Illuminati. The
term Illuminati belongs to three distinct groups in history.
The first is the original Bavarian Illuminati, the real secret society that
appeared in 1776 among European Freemasons and academics with the intention
of liberating humanity from physical, mental and spiritual bondage. During their
brief incarnation they encapsulated the entire ethos of counterculture into a
single system of organized dissent that is still relevant today.
Many secret societies were founded to protect and promote spiritual ideals
in the face of the Inquisition, and the Illuminati drew upon these but chose to be
far more politically active in shaping the world to suit their beliefs. They had
emerged among the Bavarian universities and Masonic lodges with the intention
of liberating Europe from the royal and religious control of education, politics
and science, and eventually they would become a driving force in the dissent that
culminated in the French Revolution.
As their influence began to impact society, the inevitable persecution
Description:This book demonstrates that the old secret societies were driven by the same impulse as Anonymous and WikiLeaks are today. These marginalized groups have always rebelled against the establishments; some subversively by spreading progressive ideas through art and literature, while others are far more
