Neither Reduction nor Rejection
The Enlightenment bequeaths reason, critique, science, universality, and individual rights. Romantic, mystical, and esoteric currents protest when these are narrowed into reductionism. The Royal Art need not reject reason; it requires enchanted reason—critical enough to test claims, imaginative enough to perceive meaning, and humble enough to recognize Mystery.
The cultural setting
Enlightenment movements changed the public place of religion, authority, evidence, and individual conscience. They also expanded scientific and historical ways of studying traditions. Esoteric currents answered in several ways: defending inherited symbols, testing them against new knowledge, or recasting them as forms of moral and spiritual education.
This book treats the Enlightenment as part of the environment in which modern mystery schools developed. Its importance lies in the questions it made unavoidable: who may teach, what can be known, what can be made public, and how tradition can answer criticism.