I just discovered a website which represents a Traditionalist (Guenon,Schuon,Evola,Pallis,Ware etc. Traditionalist) take on the Cathars and their lasting influence on modernity.
Religio Perennis is a website which gives an overview of the Perennialist School of philosophy and its approach to many traditions - not only from the Christian and Abrahamite religions.
It even has its own section on the Cathar Tradition.
The section is comprised chiefly of excerpts from a book by Philippe Roy which has been translated by Patricia Reynaud.
A longer excerpt titled "Katharis and Gnosis in Catharism" discusses the importance of katharsis, purification, on the path of the Cathars. This is his introduction to the topic:
Purification as a means to receive spiritual baptism was an active element of Cathar spirituality. Purification followed a progression and was upheld by several vehicles, described in the first chapter. Truly it was a progression toward a spiritual awakening.
It was based upon two principles: the development of a gnosis and an inner metamorphosis.
No access to baptism was possible without a previous katharsis and an authenticated ripening of spiritual aptitude. Cathar initiation was not meant to form a cleric but to give rise to a genuine Christian, one proven along his path. In the same way that spiritual baptism was the very heart of Catharism, katharsis remained the concept that best summarized its unfolding. The name "Catharism" thus comes from the Greek word for "purification." For the adept, the meaning and the goal of Katharsis were "… and be renewed in the Spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness," Ephesians 4: 23-24. Therein lies the spirit of Catharism and there the Spirit is found in Catharism; for the only desire that the spiritual being keeps maintains to the end is that of reaching the Spirit.
As we should know about the Gnostic tradition as well - not a single of the ancient gnostics, either desert dwelling ascetics or city dwelling moderates such as Valentinus, taught that it was possible to receive the spiritual baptism without preparation.
Philippe Roy, further asserts:
Catharism was a gnosis as well, one which played an important part in man’s spiritual development, for it laid the foundation of an intimate experience. Man is a creature of consciousness; there is no real reaching of the Spirit without developing consciousness in all its potentials up to a point of balance and sufficient expansion.
For the gnostic, to believe is not enough; he must also experiment, feel, and know in consciousness. It implies an allowed spiritual freedom that enables one to be united with the divine in oneself. It is a total commitment of the self that leads one to the discovery of his soul, with the help of the individual Spirit existing as a seed in consciousness, an inner center. This Spirit is designated as the "inner God" who inspires the soul in its spiritual quest. For it is neither a doctrine nor a cleric who fulfills katharsis for man and in man, but his own will born of a deliberate choice. In this, Catharism presented itself as a spirituality meant for free individuals and it could be considered by the Church, and rightly so, as a dangerous ferment for the order established under its psychological influence. Freedom is necessary for consciousness to be fulfilled but, as I have previously pointed out, freedom can also lead to deviations when it happens too prematurely.
I look forward to reading more of this article later on,just wanted the readers of this blog know about this. Posted by terje at June 08, 2005 09:58 PM