Breaking Chains: My Enlightenment Journey from Catholic Church

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The word enlightenment can mean different things to different people. But according to Immanuel Kant, enlightenment is when a person grows out of his or her self-imposed immaturity. He defines it by saying, “Immaturity as one 's inability to use their own understanding without the guidance of another”(Kant, 1). Having our reason instead of following the in the footsteps of people who influence us. Also, that people impose immaturity on themselves because they fear the use of their own understanding without someone else 's help. In this essay, I will argue my own immaturity that I had with the church, showing how t being brought up in the Catholic Church can inflict this kind of immaturity without knowing, with issues arising that helped me see past my own immaturity, and the transformation of breaking out into my own enlightenment. Growing up in the Catholic Church my whole life sheltered me from think my own. I was told what to believe at a young age and thought since it was being taught to me it must be the truth. Therefore letting my “guardians” control my beliefs at a young age. Kant states that, “ It is difficult for each separate individual to work his way out of the immaturity which has become second nature” (Kant,1). These people according to Kant are people who enforce their beliefs on you and expect you …show more content…

If all people banned their children from thinking outside of what they taught them, progression would not happen. Kant states, “This would be a crime against human nature, whose original destiny lies precisely in such progress” (Kant, 3). This is saying that if we choose to restrict those form being enlightened much like myself, then we will never progress as a whole. We as humans are supposed to be able to argue against what is told to us if we feel it is not right. If we didn 't we wouldn 't progress any further than what we are

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