> > I'm an amateur medievalist. One of the books I came to > > France to write is based on the Cathars (also known as > > the Albigensians), a religious sect that flourished in > > the 12th and 13th centuries. They had an interesting > > approach to teaching, one that I have also seen in a > > number of Buddhist-based organizations I have run across. > > > > The Cathar priests (who were composed of equal numbers > > of men and women) *worked* for a living and taught for > > free. Everyone in the sect had a job, such as paper- > > making or woodwork or farming or whatever, and everyone > > was expected to pay his or her own way. Then the few > > who chose to become priests would spend their "free" > > time teaching, paying for everything themselves.
Vaj: > I've followed what I can of the Cathars for years--since > Holy Blood, Holy Grail came out. It's a fascinating topic. The problem with the Cathars is the problem with most history, only squared. "The winners write the history." In this case, the losers were almost all gone, exterminated, and the winners wanted to make sure that very few traces were left of them. As a result, very little of any historical accuracy remains. I would have to advise you, based on my research, that easily 80-90% of what you will find in books about the Cathars (including HBHG) is fiction. > Are you familiar with the Gnostic Catholic Church? They > claim to carry on the spiritual practices, which are > essentially tantric. Not familiar with them per se. It would be difficult for me to believe that any teachings related to Tantra could be associated with the Cathars. They were Duallists through and through; the physical world was not even *created* by God in their view, and contained nothing of God or Spirit within it. The bottom line is that the Cathars, because of the mystery surrounding them, have had projected onto them pretty much the full gamut of weird cultish belief systems. Few of them fit, IMO. > I bet your a Zoe Oldenbourg fan... I'm a big fan of her non-fiction, such as the classic "Massacre � Monts�gur," but much, much less of a fan of her fiction. My standards when it comes to histor- ical fiction are inordinately high, having been set by the Scottish author Dorothy Dunnett. Compared to her, I find Dumas and Hugo and Scott and Dickens to be lightweights, much less Oldenbourg. :-) Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
