The Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment

Edgar Allan Wright asked a few days ago about possible Magnus´ from the past.[1] 13Magnus, a secret society that has been active since at least the Ancient Egyptian era dedicated to preserving humanity’s relationship with the Shapers. Closely aligned with the modern day Enlightened Faction, and currently led by Hank Johnson.[2]

To search for 13Magnus´ from the past means to answer the question about enlightenment. This question was asked by Immanuel Kant. In his essay „What is Enlightenment?“ (1784), the german philosopher summed up his era´s motto in the following terms:“Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!“ History knows this era as „The Age of Enlightenment“.

This era radically changed politics, science, philosophy and communication. Their thinkers questioned tradition and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Renee Descartes, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz were developers of the Early Enlightenment era (1685-1730) and we can speculate that they were highly aligned or part of the 13Magnus society.

During the era of High enlightenment (1730-1780) the revolutionary thoughts lead to the „Declaration of Independance“. Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson could have been part of 13Magnus. During this time Secret societies - the Freemasons, the Bavarian Illuminati, the Rosicrucians - flourished, offering new modes of fellowship, esoteric ritual and mutual assistance. Coffeehouses, newspapers and literary salons emerged as new venues for ideas to circulate.

The French Revolution of 1789 was the culmination of the High Enlightenment vision of throwing out the old authorities to remake society along rational lines, but it devolved into bloody terror that showed the limits of its own ideas and led, a decade later, to the rise of Napoleon. Still, its goal of egalitarianism attracted the admiration of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

List of possible Magnus´:

Immanuel Kant
Francis Bacon
Thomas Hobbes
Renee Descartes
Galileo Galilei
Johannes Kepler
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Thomas Paine
Thomas Jefferson
Mary Wollstonecraft

[1] https://goo.gl/hB6wQ2
[2] https://goo.gl/xAi6T4