Sociological surveys confirm the trend: a segment of Europeans is abandoning the regular practice of monotheistic religions to embrace beliefs with a wide variety of forms and contents. The rejection of an uncompromising dogma inherent to the former benefits the latter, which appear more flexible and humanly accessible. To the point that it is sometimes forgotten that the various elements of esotericism generally originate from biblical or Quranic traditions. Hence the attention warranted by a recent publication by Editions “Tallandier” in collaboration with “Le Point”: “Esotericism. Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Astrology, Sufism… the fundamental texts commented upon.”
One will discover with dual interest, both intellectual and visual, a well-documented book, didactic like the start of a school year but enjoyable due to its artistic layout. This mixture of genres, between dictionary and art book, makes accessible a knowledge of the oldest currents of thought to the most contemporary esoteric movements.
These enlightened and illustrated commentaries, presented as separate files and consultable like records, do not merely recount the emergence of mystery cults and societies of initiates in Upper Egypt and ancient Greece. By also propelling us into the Christian mysticism of the Renaissance, condemned and then partially rehabilitated by Vatican orthodoxy, explaining the emergence of Jewish Kabbalah in the 12th century as a reaction to the abstractions of Judaism, and finally emphasizing the universality of Sufism centered on its promise of love, the specialists gathered for the occasion demonstrate the profound and rigorous nature of these quests often undertaken by isolated individuals.
The modern person, in search of themselves, might be touched by the beauty of certain passages from ancient texts often ignored by a broad public. Impressions likely to remind them of the authenticity of a journey far removed from the superficial and custom-tailored esotericisms that they indulge in like a weekend sports discipline.
A “particularly rigorous personal asceticism,” a mix of gnosis and primitive Christianity, also inspired the “good men and women” whose spiritual priorities Anne Brenon invites us to discover in a fascinating book, a true immersion in the mysterious world of the Cathars.
While the Gregorian Reformation in action since the mid-11th century attempts, according to the author, to “organize the Christian world,” this “multitude of men,” followers of a “highly ritualized religious order,” base their existence on a strict interpretation of the Johannine Gospel highlighting the radical opposition between God and the world.
Not content with also admitting women within their Church, the Cathars draw strength from their deep integration into the villages, notably through the phenomenon of the “Cathar house,” a kind of local religious establishment at the heart of the city as accessible as a private dwelling. So many criteria that obviously do not align with the norms defined by Rome. The Catholic Church was quick to label them heretics, hence their later name Cathars (probably derived from the German “Katze,” the “cat” considered a diabolical animal). The docetism that drives these scholars and prelates to reject the human nature of Christ also leads them to refute his suffering on the Cross, an instrument of torture that, according to them, should be vilified rather than venerated. This religion, centered around the rejection of the altar sacrament, took root deeply at the beginning of the millennium in the “domains of the rural aristocracy” located in Occitania (Narbonne, Toulouse, Albi…) and, more curiously, in northern Italy where their churches experienced significant development before the end of the 12th century. To the point, Anne Brenon says, that it initially prevented the Roman Church from “exerting any repression.”
However, the latter would come soon enough. Through extensive trials and burnings, the powerful inquisitorial machinery took almost a century to overcome those who saw themselves as genuine apostolic Christians, who were in turn victims of a persecuting church.
“Esotericism. Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Astrology, Sufism… the fundamental texts commented upon,” Under the Direction of Catherine Golliau, Texts selected and commented upon by Armand Abécassis, Xavier Accart, Réza Moghaddassi, Olivier Souan, and Eric Vinson, Editions Tallandier, 2007, 130 pages, 15 euros.
Anne Brenon, “The Cathars,” Coll. “Living Spiritualities,” Editions Albin Michel, 2007, 290 pages, 8 euros.
