Re: His Dark Materials (was Re: "Da Vinci" Debunking

At 02:40 PM 4/28/2004, David Rivers wrote:
> > Clever, but surely the Cathars had a much better idea (and actually existed
> > to boot): do whatever you want (indeed, the more hedonistic the better) and
> > then confess everything right before the end. You don't need to plan things
> > out so carefully that way.
> >
> > Scott Carson
>
> It sounds like you'd have to plan very carefully exactly when and where to
> die.
> Imagine dying of a sudden heart attack due to an excessively hedonistic
> lifestyle, and not having a chance to confess. I guess they thought it was
> worth
> the risk. :-)

That might be bad, it's true, but maybe they had views about the
possibility of perfect contrition at the moment of death. I think if I
belonged to such a group I would make *sure* that I had such a view.

Another element of Cathar practice that I find congenial is the view that
we really *ought* to live as hedonistically as possible all the time, at
least until we are ready to repent of it all at the end, because if we try
to live moral lives *all* the time we thereby fight against our natural
impulses, and it is sinful to fight against what is in accordance with the
natural law. It's a win-win situation!

Scott Carson
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~carsond