Tradition
Martinism
Overview
Martinism is a form of Christian mysticism and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his materialistic state of being deprived of his own divine source, and the process of his eventual (if not inevitable) return, called 'Reintegration'.
As a mystical tradition, it was first transmitted through a Masonic high-degree system established around 1740 in France by Martinez de Pasqually, and later propagated in different forms by his two students Louis Claude de Saint-Martin and Jean-Baptiste Willermoz.
The term Martinism applies to both this particular doctrine and the teachings of the reorganized "Martinist Order" founded in 1886 by Augustin Chaboseau and Gérard Encausse (aka Papus). It was not used at the tradition's inception in the 18th century. This confusing disambiguation has been a problem since the late 18th century, where the term Martinism was already used interchangeably between the teachings of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin and Martinez de Pasqually, and the works of the first being attributed to the latter.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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We have explained this in the treatise entitled _Marvels of the Heart_, which forms part of our work, _The Revival of the Religious Sciences_. The certitude derived from proofs is called “knowledge”; passing into the state we describe is called “transport”; believing the experience of others and oral transmission is “faith.” Such are the three degrees of knowledge, as it is written, “The Lord will raise to different…
Ghazzali, The Confessions of Al Ghazzali
States what Martinism is.
The Roman Catholics have expiations which are called "penitences." By the laws of the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire, crimes were expiated with money. That was called _compounding_, _componat cum decem, viginti, triginta solidis_.
Voltaire, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary
States what Martinism is.
This last expression denotes that which in the Gospels is called denying ourselves and taking up the cross (Matt. xvi. 24, 25; Mark viii. 34, 35; Luke ix. 23, 24, xiv. 26, 27, 33). This tendency soon developed itself more and more, and was the origin of hermits, anchorites, and monasticism—an origin which in itself was pure and holy, but for that very reason unsuitable for the great majority of men; therefore what…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
States what Martinism is.
Philosophers who discussed Martinism
Related ideas
- French Revolution
- Freemasonry
- Beatific vision
- Gnosticism
- Meditation
- World War II
- Bordeaux
- Jakob Böhme
- Magic (supernatural)
- Christian mysticism
- René Guénon
- Arturo Reghini
Place in the tradition
Part of Western esotericism.