The Cathars, the demiurge, and belief
Who knows how many religions, cults, sects, sub-rosa-meeting secret societies, and schools of thought were forgotten or wiped out throughout history? One intriguing example are the Cathars. Barely anyone has heard of them today which is a shame. Cathars called themselves simply Christians.
Others also called them Good Christians.
Definitely not Christians in how we understand Christianity today, however.
The Cathars appeared in Europe in the eleventh century, their origins something of a mystery though there is reason to believe their ideas came from Persia or the Byzantine Empire, by way of the Balkans and Northern Italy.
Records from the Roman Catholic Church mention them under various names and in various places. Officially, the Catholic Church doesn’t recognize the Cathars as Christian. Heretics and similar, less diplomatic, names are used.
Cathars maintained a Church hierarchy and practiced a range of ceremonies, but rejected any idea of priesthood, and religious institutions – including the use of churches or other religious buildings. This parallels the Druze faith and practices. The Druze don’t need to gather in buildings to pray, they don’t need places of worship, as they believe God is beyond all attributes, yet present in everything. In a fundamental difference between the Cathars and most, if not all, other Christian groups and beliefs that I’m aware of, the Cathars also believed in reincarnation. Clearly, heresy, blasphemy, anathema, ad infinitum, in modern Christianity.
Reincarnation? The ultimate blasphemy – the belief in which sends one straight to hell. No wonder, then, that the Catholic Church wanted the Cathars gone. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–29) called by Pope Innocent III against the Cathari, resulted in at least two hundred thousand to even a million Cathars killed – men, women, and children, often brutally tortured, no one was spared or shown mercy. Genocide, although the word – genocide – is a relatively modern invention, applies here perfectly. All courtesy of the Catholic Church.
Interestingly, the Cathars identified two deities in charge of creating and managing the universe, indeed, existence beyond the universe, i.e. the spiritual world. The first being was the creator of the spiritual realm in the New Testament, while the second was the demiurge depicted in the Old Testament. The demiurge created the physical universe. The demiurge isn’t Satan. I’d venture to say the demiurge might be seen as the creator of Satan. The creator of the spiritual realm is God. The real God, not the false one that imprisoned souls in the material realm. The demiurge is also called an archon. In Greek, “archon” (ἄρχων, plural ἄρχοντες) translates to ruler or magistrate.
Well, then. Which God sends us signs, if we believe in signs from God, of course? Is it God or the demiurge the cosmic impostor?
Case in point, when I was angry and driving my car, I asked God for a sign, not expecting anything, only to see a car switch lanes in front of me with the ”Christian fish” sign on the trunk – was it a coincidence or God’s sign? Whatever the case, it was a splendid synchronicity.
A Cathar would ask: which God was giving you the sign? The Creator or false god the demiurge? Exactly. I have an intuitive sense it was God. Or so I want to believe.
Belief. It’s all about belief, isn’t it? We all live in our minds.
The mind is a complex ”place” (especially if I happen to have a genius reader in which case – I am honored). There are so many groups, religions, cults, what have you, out there, battling for our minds and assets, right now, and we don’t even know these groups exist, let alone that they are targeting us. There are cults out there, right now, that would convert you or me really fast, no matter how smart we are and no matter how powerful our intellects and defenses are. The enemy is cunning. We’ve got to stay vigilant. Not paranoid. Call it a golden mean.
As I write in my acclaimed (or so I’ve been told) article.
We think of society as a static construct but it’s a living organism in a constant state of flux. Lone wolves, spies, propagandists, serial killers, banks, think-tanks, corporations, governments, ad infinitum, all influence one another in countless ways. When these interactions break through to the mainstream, we see it in the news, but all we see is the tip of the social flux iceberg.
Not exactly hard to figure out, huh? Pretty obvious, actually.
Then, there are the former cult members who know cult tactics inside out (Steven Hassan). Well, they’ve lived it. Cult members who were successfully deprogrammed (some see what’s going on and deprogram themselves, it happens) are a gold mine of information because they understand the world of cults way better than someone like me, an outsider, ever will.
Now, going back to my encounters with SSPX. Years ago, I observed a physics lesson in high school near Warsaw taught by a Lefebrist priest. He taught in English. His accent was Swiss, French, not sure, which surprised me because, officially, he was from the US. He told me that he’s a descendant of Roger Williams. Given how well-educated he was, he was probably telling the truth. After the lesson, the priest signed my list I needed for university as proof that I had indeed observed the lesson. He never mentioned his allegiance to SSPX and, at the time, I knew little to nothing about them, anyway. At the time, I didn’t care about these different groups, schisms, what have you. All that mattered to me was that he’d signed my list. Only after a while, in retrospect, it dawned on me that he likely was a high-ranking representative of the SSPX hierarchy. Not that it matters now, anyway as it was a chance encounter a long time ago.
Point being, cult members aren’t always in-your-face.
So be careful out there.
