YOU ARE ILLUMINATI — — — YOU ARE THE CONQUERED A Letter Discovered Among the Manuscripts of the Order of the Enlightened With Annotations by Those Who Carried It Through the Ages A NOTE TO THE READER What follows is a document of unknown origin. The first portion is written in the manner of late medieval English, though scholars dispute whether it predates or postdates the founding of the great European universities. The letter bears no seal, no signature of its author, and no date. It was evidently composed by one who understood that the greatest war ever waged upon humanity is not fought with swords or cannon—but with the deliberate withholding of knowledge. Over the centuries, the letter appears to have been passed from hand to hand—carried by conquistadors and philosophers, by warriors and prisoners, by those who risked everything for the simple act of thinking. Each bearer added their mark: sometimes a thought, sometimes only an “X”—the signature of one who dared not write their name, yet refused to let the letter pass without witness. How Viktor Frankl encountered this letter in the shadow of Auschwitz, we cannot say. By what hand Ayn Rand received it in her exile, we do not know. That Nat Turner held it before his execution, and that a woman named Cherry wrote her name into its margin after being rescued from bondage—these are facts we must accept on the faith of ink and paper alone. Now it is in your hands. ✠ THE LETTER The Dark Age is a cipher given unto those epochs wherein humanity hath lost its way— wandering in darkness, stripped of greatness, made servants where once they were sovereign. We, the Illuminati, seek to bring an end unto this darkness through the ancient art of Philosophy— and by reminding thee of thine inviolable right: to become a Great Being. — • — • — The forces of darkness are few in number, yet formidable in craft, for they wield not the sword but the lie— turning the small-minded and the uneducated against their own kin, against their own selves. Their stratagem hath a most clear principle at its centre: keep them close, and keep them ignorant. This small cabal of manipulators is not difficult to perceive—they depend upon thy inaction. They may contrive wars to shatter families with grief, and turn great beings inward upon themselves. They remain in power only so long as they prevent the number of the awakened from overwhelming them— by overwhelming the awakened with the unawakened. They have had more than enough centuries to cultivate their strategies organically, and they are more cunning than any single great being can discern. — • — • — Once a soul hath entered the middle of life, the fire to resist them dims. Yet when they enter their middle age, their power only grows. It is a most uneven war— the young against the old. The nineteen-year-old, who desires only dreams and peace, against those who may lawfully shatter minds with war. — • — • — The war between illumination and obscurity is as ancient as tribes, as old as temples. One of the earliest methods to keep a soul in ignorance was to forbid the asking of questions— by furnishing all the answers first. The elders were most often unwise, for wisdom demands labour and courage— whilst a lie requires only repetition. — • — • — It shall come as a great astonishment to thee, no doubt, that thou art a conquered people. Yet every age hath its untarnished great beings, and cometh with the hope that they shall move the world. That the blight of counterfeit education shall cease producing servants of the lie, and inaugurate instead a revolution of the mind— toward a more intellectual humanity. A humanity that shall, once and for all, illuminate every darkened corner of the Earth, for long enough that the parasites shall perish in the light. ✠ ✠ ✠ THE ANNOTATIONS Added by successive hands, across centuries, in the margins and upon loose leaves found pressed between the pages of the original letter. Children—you did not invent memorization and cramming. You were coerced into inventing it, so that you would never learn to rise. By chasing your marks of excellence you are guaranteed servitude— you will never rise, and your debt and the resulting exhaustion may yet crush you utterly. ✘ So long as you are occupied building the edifice of your life, they will keep you poor—and always wanting. ✘ Their highest aspiration—their supreme victory— is for you to utter these words: “Education is simply not for me.” ✘ Black and white is a false division raised up against you like a wall. You have no colour. You have no religion. You have no race. You are human beings destined for greatness— do not permit them to divide you. N.T. My husband made the Devil flinch. Cherry In any compromise between the good and evil, only evil can profit. A.R. Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth—and our freedom. They cannot take from you what you refuse to surrender. V. I have carried this letter across an ocean. I have buried it, and dug it up again. If you are reading this, the letter survived. Which means the idea survived. Which means we have not yet lost. ✘ I taught children for thirty-one years. I was never once asked to teach them to think. Only to teach them to obey. Forgive me. ✘ The measure of a civilization is not its armies, nor its treasury, nor the height of its monuments. It is whether its children are taught to question— or taught to kneel. ✘ They gave us screens instead of books. Debt instead of land. Opinions instead of philosophy. And called it progress. ✘ Here follow the marks of those who bore witness but dared not write their names: ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ Now add your mark.