by Phillip D. Collins
August 15, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Understanding
the Epistemological Foundations of Scientific Totalitarianism
One
of the earliest exponents of the scientistic Weltanschauung
was Sir Francis Bacon, who coined the famous aphorism: "Knowledge
itself is power." According to Carl Raschke, this dictum is thematically
underpinned by Gnostic occultism: "The well-known maxim of Bacon,
nam et ipsa scientia potestas est ('Knowledge itself is power'),
is often commemorated as the credo of the new science, but it also suits
quite precisely the magico-religious mentality of Gnosticism" (49).
Bacon
was a member of a secret society called the Order of the Helmet (Howard
74). The organization's name was derived from Pallas Athene, the Greek
goddess of wisdom who was portrayed wearing a helmet (Howard 74). Although
regarded as an innovator of science by orthodox academia, Bacon's studies
mostly embraced occultism. In his youth, Bacon was "a student of
Hermetic, Gnostic, and neo-Platonist philosophy and had studied the
Cabbala" (Howard 74).
Allegedly,
Bacon was also a Grand Master of the secret Rosicrucian Order (Howard
74). The Rosicrucians were closely associated with Freemasonry (Howard
50). In fact, a Rosicrucian poem written in 1638 voices the organization's
close ties with the Lodge (Howard 50). It reads, "For what we presage
is not in grosse, for we brethren of the Rosie Crosse, we have the Mason's
Word and second sight, things to come we can foretell aright. . ."
(qutd. in Howard 50). In other words, Rosicrucians knew the "inner
secrets of Freemasonry and possessed the psychic power to predict the
future" (Howard 50).
In
1627, Bacon published a novel entitled The New Atlantis (Howard
74). The pages of Bacon's book were adorned with Freemasonic symbols,
such as "the compass and square, the two pillars of Solomon's temple
and the blazing triangle, and the eye of God, indicating his association
with the secret societies who supported his Utopian concepts" (Howard
75). The novel "describes the creation of the Invisible College
advocated in Rosicrucian writings" (Howard 74). This Rosicrucian
mandate for an "Invisible College" was realized with the formation
of the Royal Society in 1660 (Howard 57).
Fischer
synopsizes Bacon's "Utopian concepts":
For
Bacon, the defining feature of history was rapidly becoming the rise
and growth of science and technology. Where Plato had envisioned a society
governed by "philosopher kings," men who could perceive the
"forms" of social justice, Bacon sought a technical elite
who would rule in the name of efficiency and technical order. Indeed,
Bacon's purpose in The New Atlantis was to replace the philosopher with
the research scientist as the ruler of the utopian future, New Atlantis
was a pure technocratic society. (66-67)
Not
surprisingly, the socialist revolutionaries of the Promethean faith
sought to tangibly enact their own conception of Bacon's New Atlantis.
Sociopolitical Utopians, their various ideological permutations notwithstanding,
have always strove to establish a "pure technocratic society."
Sociopolitical Utopianism is, in turn, derivative of Gnosticism. This
derivation is illustrated by sociopolitical Utopianism's rejection of
pistis, which the early Gnostics considered inferior to gnosis.
Yet,
the sociopolitical Utopian's derision for cognitio fidei led
revolutionaries to conclusions that were even more radical than those
of traditional Gnosticism. For traditional Gnostics, the transcendent
held primacy over the immanent. The sociopolitical Utopian, on the other
hand, re-conceptualized transcendent objects of faith as objects of
immanent experience. This re-conceptualization began with the Gnostic
desire to draw knowledge that was commonly associated with the transcendent
"into a firmer grip than the cognitio fidei, the cognition of faith,
will afford" (Voegelin 124). The resultant Weltanschauung, however,
bestowed metaphysical primacy upon the ontological confines of the physical
universe. Thus, sociopolitical Utopians attempted to transplant objects
of faith within the finitude of human knowledge and experience. In this
sense, the sociopolitical Utopian qualifies as a new Gnostic whose immanentist
impulses find affirmation in scientific materialism.
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One
object of faith that this modern incarnation of Gnosticism sought to
draw into human history was the Eschaton (i.e., the End of Days): "In
place of an Eschaton which ontologically transcends the confines of
this world, the modern Gnostic envisions an End within history,
an Eschaton, therefore, which is to be realized within the ontological
plane of this visible universe" (Smith 238; emphasis added).
Herein is the conceptual basis for the Utopian vision of a "heaven
on earth." It is premised upon Gnostic epistemology and, as such,
is inherently occult in character. Its adherents spawned secular revolutionary
movements that, sociologically, behaved like religions:
In
this century, with the presentation of traditional religious positions
in secular form, there has emerged a secular Gnosticism beside the other
great secular religions--the mystical union of Fascism, the apocalypse
of Marxist dialectic, the Earthly City of social democracy. The secular
Gnosticism is almost never recognized for what it is, and it can exist
alongside other convictions almost unperceived. (Webb 418)
Secular
Gnosticism has manifested itself throughout the 20th and 21st century
in a myriad of forms. Of course, the two most prominent examples are
the ideological kissing cousins of communism and fascism. Other variants
include neoconservativism, neo-liberalism, secular progressivism, and
technoprogressivism. While many of these secular Gnostic permutations
have superficially feuded with each other over the years, they all have
shared a core dialectical commonality: the Utopian vision of "heaven
on earth." In turn, this vision is couched in the anthropocentric
dictum of Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things."
This dictum echoes the promise of the serpent in Eden: "...ye shall
be as gods." In The Hypostasis of the Archons, an Egyptian
Gnostic text, the serpent in Eden is portrayed as humanity's benevolent
"Instructor" and "incognito savior" (Raschke 27).
Meanwhile, the Hypostasis caricatures Jehovah as "the archon of
arrogance" (27).
Gnosticism's
veneration of the serpent and misotheistic view of Jehovah bespeaks
the perennial ambition to usurp the throne of God. The aspiration to
achieve apotheosis was a defining feature of the Mystery cults of pagan
antiquity. It is also lies at the heart of Gnosticism. While Gnosticism's
origins with the Ancient Mystery cults remain a source of contention
amongst scholars, its promise of liberation from humanity's material
side is strongly akin to the old pagan Mystery's variety of "psychic
therapy" (28). In addition, the Ancient Mystery religion promised
the "opportunity to erase the curse of mortality by direct encounter
with the patron deity, or in many instances by actually undergoing an
apotheosis, a transfiguration of human into divine" (28).
It
is interesting to recall Billington's observation that the young Marx
venerated Prometheus as the allegorical embodiment of science (6). Science,
according to the Promethean faith, was the new lantern of salvation
that would "lead men out of darkness into light" (6). Given
this Promethean reverence for science, it is interesting to recall that
Engels described Marx's theory as "scientific socialism" ("Scientific
socialism," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia). Again,
Engels' selection of this appellation was predicated upon the common
epistemological foundations of Marxism and modern science: radical empiricism.
Saint-Simon's functional class analysis, which "prepared the way
for Marx," stemmed from the extension of "radical empiricism
into the altogether new field of social relations" (Billington
212-13). Herein is the epistemological foundation for all modern totalitarianism.
In turn, that epistemological foundation stems from the Gnostic rejection
of pistis. Thus, Gnostic occultism constitutes the epistemological heritage
of almost all modern socialist totalitarian regimes.
Returning
to Marx's preoccupation with Prometheus, it is interesting to recall
that the mythic figure's name shares the same meaning with the term
"Lucifer," as translated by St. Jerome from the original Hebrew
Helel ("Lucifer"). Marx's possible flirtation with
Satanism is an often overlooked, yet controversial topic. It is not
this researcher's contention that Marx was a Satanist in the traditional
sense. In all likelihood, Marx probably denied the existence of Satan
as a literal metaphysical entity. Yet, it is important to remember that
the Luciferian conception of Satan is premised upon the same existential
contention. From Marx's neo-Gnostic vantage point, Lucifer or Prometheus
was probably rendered immanent by the cognitive powers of man. Ultimately,
whether or not Marx was a Satanist is irrelevant. Essentially, one needn't
accept the existence of Satan if one accepts the principles embodied
by the Fallen One. In his poem "Human Pride," Marx expressed
the Luciferian aspiration to achieve apotheosis:
With
disdain I will throw my gauntlet full in the face of the world,
And see the collapse of this pygmy giant whose fall will not stifle
my ardor. Then will I wander godlike and victorious through the ruins
of the world And, giving my words an active force, I will feel equal to the Creator.
("Human Pride"; emphasis added)
Ironically,
Promethean revolutionaries, whose Weltanschauung was heavily informed
by Marxism, murdered millions of the very species that they sought to
apotheosize. Marx's words, when given "active force," apotheosized
the State. The State, in turn, subordinated the individual to the collective.
The individual could no longer lay claim to any intrinsic value. Instead,
meaning and purpose were only found in the group. Thus, Marxism actually
devalued humanity. Again, it is extremely ironic that such devaluation
stemmed from an anthropocentric belief system. Yet, such contradictions
proliferated the Weltanschauung of the Promethean radicals and still
persist in the minds of the modern purveyors of socialism. Chesterton
enumerates the various internal contradictions of the revolutionary
Weltanschauung:
All denunciation
implies a moral doctrine of some kind and the modern skeptic doubts
not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he
denounces it. Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression
insults the purity of women, and then writes another book, a novel
in which he insults it himself. As a politician he will cry out that
war is a waste of life, and then as a philosopher that all of life
is a waste of time. A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman
for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical
principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. A man denounces
marriage as a lie and then denounces aristocratic profligates for
treating it as a lie.
The man of this
school goes first to a political meeting where he complains that savages
are treated as if they were beasts. Then he takes his hat and umbrella
and goes to a scientific meeting where he proves that they practically
are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite
skeptic, is forever engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book
on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book
on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the
modern man in revolt becomes practically useless for all purposes
of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to
rebel against anything. (41)
Thus,
when the modern revolutionary tangibly enacts his Utopian vision, it
automatically qualifies as a dystopian nightmare for others. Promises
of unlimited freedom begin to fade as the apotheosized State confiscates
the citizenry’s wealth in the name of socioeconomic egalitarianism
and imprisons dissidents. In the name of facilitating evolution, a theory
that the orthodoxy of science has deemed infallible, those members of
the human species who fail to meet the arbitrarily established standards
of biological and genetic purity are expunged through eugenical regimentation.
Fanatical as they are in their scientism, modern revolutionaries view
man himself as a quantifiable entity. The irreducible complexity of
humanity is overlooked as man is gradually transformed into a paint-by-numbers
schematic. Society, by extension, is also considered a quantifiable
entity. Thus, modern revolutionaries work to install their own bowdlerized
form of democracy: the democracy of “experts.” By virtue
of their own purported scientific and technical expertise, these policy
professionals calculate and systematize the motivations of the populace
and develop economic and technological stimuli that can produce the
desired patterns of mass behavior.
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The
final and most tragic casualty of this form of governance is not the
political dissident or the marginalized “dysgenic.” Ultimately,
the final victim of scientific totalitarianism is the human soul. Man,
from the scientistic vantage point, is little more than amalgam of behavioral
repertoires. He is a tabula rasa whose value depends entirely upon the
final portrait rendered by the brush strokes of his “enlightened”
conditioners. If he cannot or does not conform to the paint-by-numbers
template of the “experts,” he is deemed a product of retrograde
evolution. Because man’s soul defies quantification, the content
of his character is appropriated absolutely no currency in the scientistic
Weltanschauung. Again, it is indeed ironic that, in their hopes
of apotheosizing the human species, modern revolutionaries devalue man.
This is the Faustian face of modern science: the inhuman human race.
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Baigent, Michael, Richard Leigh, & Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood, Holy
Grail. Delacorte Press, New York, 1982.
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Bramley, William. The Gods of Eden. 1989. New York: Avon Books, 1990.
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Billington, James H. Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary
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Chambers, Mortimer and Barbara Hanawalt et al. The Western Experience.
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Chesterton, G.K. Eugenics and Other Evils. 1922. G.K. Chesterton's
Works on the Web. Ed. Martin Ward. U. of De Montfort 3 April 2000---.
Orthodoxy. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday 1959.
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Fischer, Frank. Technocracy and the Politics of Expertise. Newbury Park,
California: Sage Publications, 1990.
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Goeringer, Conrad. "The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and the Illuminati."
American Atheists 2006
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Hirschman, Elizabeth. "Legends in Our Own Time: How Motion Pictures
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Hoffman, Michael. Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare. Coeur
d'Alene, Idaho: Independent History & Research, 2001.
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Melanson, Terry. Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of
the Illuminati. Walterville, OR: TrineDay, 2009
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Raschke, Carl A. The Interruption of Eternity: Modern Gnosticism and
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Russell, Bertrand. Religion and Society. Oxford University Press, London,
1947. "Scientific Socialism." Wikipedia:
The Free Encyclopedia 5 November 2007
Phillip
D. Collins acted as the editor for The Hidden Face of Terrorism. He has
also written articles for Paranoia Magazine, MKzine, NewsWithViews,
B.I.P.E.D.: The Official Website of Darwinian Dissent, the ACL Report,
Namaste Magazine, and Conspiracy Archive. In 1999, he earned an Associate
degree of Arts and Science. In 2006, he earned a bachelors degree with
a major in communication studies and a minor in philosophy. During the
course of his seven-year college career, Phillip has studied philosophy,
religion, and classic literature.
He has recently
completed a newly expanded and revised edition of The
Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship (ISBN 1-4196-3932-3), which
is available at Amazon.com.
He is also currently co-authoring a collection of short stories, poetry,
and prose entitled Expansive Thoughts. It will be available late Fall
of 2006.
For Bacon, the defining
feature of history was rapidly becoming the rise and growth of science
and technology. Where Plato had envisioned a society governed by "philosopher
kings," men who could perceive the "forms" of social justice,
Bacon sought a technical elite who would rule in the name of efficiency
and technical order.
