Fasting: From Cathar Endura to Today's 'Tune-Up'

From Cathar Endura to Fasting Retreats: Health as a Business

Can something that originated as a sacrament be sold as therapy? This question lies at the heart of a recent discussion about fasting, the ancient Cathar practice of Endura, and its leap into the wellness economy. Central to the narrative is Antonio, a friend of the narrator, nearing eighty, with no named illness but shifting aches and pains.

What was Cathar Endura and why is it compared to modern fasting

According to one participant who claims to have read about the Cathars, Endura existed as a sacrament within Cathar doctrine. The Consolamentum, they explain, was akin to baptism. It was not, some argue, a pursuit of death, but rather a way to discover one's reasons for living. The issue arises precisely at this point, where ritual fasting and the fashionable fast meet.

Fasting as Therapy: 'Getting the Body's MOT'

Centuries later, fasting re-emerges as a product. A center promoting itself as vital health presents it as "a forgotten path to health" and a way to "get the body's and emotions' MOT." In a shared account, a participant describes trying a week on water only, "without juice, without broth." Conversely, the advocacy for frugality: being frugal would extend life, according to one comment, though it requires a willpower not everyone possesses.

Loneliness, Roots, and the Rise of Suicidal Thoughts

The uncomfortable part emerges when the conversation touches on suicide. One school of thought argues that without roots, without an active society, loneliness drives people to suicide. Another describes suicidal ideation as an alert signal, the highest stage of warning against suffering, urging a focus on its causes rather than alarm at its increase. These are interpretations, not diagnoses, and neither turns suffering into an escape.

Selling the body's tune-up has its audience. Selling the soul's, it seems, does too. The business, however, remains unlisted on the stock market.