Cathars
- Thread starter Harlequin
- Start date
It reminds me heavily of the Shkand-gumanig Vizar of Madanfarrox
1Based Frog1
Well-known member
They believed in two gods: one good (spirit), one evil (matter). So naturally, they saw the physical world, including the body, as a prison. That’s why they rejected sex, meat, and even sacraments. They didn’t believe Christ actually had a physical body, and they definitely didn’t think the crucifixion was salvific in the orthodox sense.
They rejected the Old Testament entirely, saw the Catholic Church as the synagogue of Satan (in fairness, that part aged well), and viewed the material world as irredeemable. So their answer was to spiritually detach until death, or if you were real committed, get the consolamentum and starve yourself to death to escape the evil realm.
They rejected the Old Testament entirely, saw the Catholic Church as the synagogue of Satan (in fairness, that part aged well), and viewed the material world as irredeemable. So their answer was to spiritually detach until death, or if you were real committed, get the consolamentum and starve yourself to death to escape the evil realm.
I somewhat understand why people called it Buddhist, although in reality it was quite different. I heard there was a sort of Cathar tantra element as well when it comes to Languedoc love poetry
Swede Immigrant
Well-known member
From “Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages” by Frances Gies & Joseph Gies.
I don't get why they were so anti-natalist if they believed that only a set amount of souls were stuck here. If that's the case then reproduction shouldn't be a positive or negative action. It can't "bring more souls" down. So either some angel's soul gets transported into this body or into another body some time later. It would be better to transport it into a body which is under Cathar guidance, as it increases the probability that this baby will eventually be able to ascend into the soulful realm
For them, to reproduce was to cooperate with the demiurge's design, perpetuating the entrapment of souls in flesh. Their ethic leaned more toward minimizing harm through disengagement and withdrawal from worldly structures.
1Based Frog1
Well-known member
Yeah, their whole philosophy was about escaping that trap, not perpetuating it. So, for them, having children was an active participation in the cycle of suffering, not something to be celebrated or encouraged. If you really bought into their worldview, the goal was to withdraw from the material and minimize entanglement with it, not bring more souls into it.
By their own philosophy, though, reproduction cannot bring more souls into the world.
1Based Frog1
Well-known member
The Cathars believed souls were trapped in bodies through reproduction. It wasn’t just biological. Even if the soul already existed, reproduction was the mechanism by which it got re-imprisoned in the material realm. So bringing a child into the world was still seen as helping the demiurge bind another soul in flesh. That’s why they took such a hard line on asceticism.