I have cited cathar.info as a good source of information, but like many other resources I think it suffers from leaning too much on the records of the Inquisition, which are virtually all that survived. However, it should be borne in mind that the Inquisition was a "mop-up" operation put into place (after the Albigensian Crusade had already slaughtered the great mass of Cathars and Cathar perfecti) in order to ferret out and eliminate the stubborn remnants in isolated villages and settlements. So, Inquisition records are not only being written by very hostile witnesses, they generally only contain the possibly distorted views of simple village adherents rather than the greats--IMO. Consequently, I am often finding things that I think are simply incorrect, distorted or lack nuance.
For example, among the implications of Cathar dualist beliefs on Cathar.info and repeated in various forms elsewhere are these two (
http://www.cathar.info/cathar_beliefs.htm#implications):
1. Procreative sex was bad, since conception would result in another soul being trapped. For this reason, normal sex between man and wife was as bad as any other procreative sex. Marriage was worthless, while contraception was regarded with approval. Also, there was no reason to condemn any form of non-procreative sex.
3. The sooner we can shed this tunic of flesh, the sooner our souls could be free to fly like a spark of light back to heaven, the realm of the good God. There was therefore no reason to discourage suicide.
Neither of these two make sense from the standpoint of Cathar theology, and the Cathars were not simpletons. Before they were wiped out, they had been sending their best and brightest to some of the finest Universities in Europe where they were trained in all of the wisdom of the day (and consequently capable of laying low the clergy that sought to best them in public debates).
As to 1, above, Cathar perfecti were ascetics and shunned sex in any form as part of their search for salvation (i.e., being able to ascend after death and not be reborn), but sex was not forbidden to ordinary believers. However, the primary misconception set forth pertains to "being trapped". The Cathars believed that we had already been led astray and trapped in matter. More babies did not create this fact, they provided the way out. The Cathars saw humanity as part of the third of the angels that were cast down to Earth in Satan's fall as per Rev. 12:4 and 12:9. Like Buddhists, they believed that human to animal reincarnation took place. And, they believed that one or the other would take place after death unless the believer achieved the "good death" dying like a perfecti after receiving the Consolamentum and not falling back into "fleshly" things before death. However, there is a hitch there. For obvious reasons, One could only accomplish the "good death" while in human form. Thus, to deride or deny human procreation was to discourage or deny a fellow soul an available human body with its associated opportunity to achieve the "good death" that would free them to ascend on high. The Cathars probably were less insistent on marriage and procreation as an absolute duty for those not bound by vows to a celibate religious life, and probably more easy-going on a variety of issues. But the idea that they saw conception as merely trapping another soul and being an evil to be avoided would make no sense as it would merely condemn the fallen souls (i.e., all of us) to endless lifetimes as animals--unable to achieve salvation and once again "enter the Light". The idea set forth in 1, above, in its various forms strikes me as an exaggeration by their detractors, who were quite willing to twist their positions into absurdities that they would never have taken.
As to 3, above, Cathar Perfecti who had received the Consolamentum were indeed eager to shed the tunic of flesh, but that was only after and if it had served its purpose and they were ready for the "good death". Part of the purpose of the tunic of flesh was to allow Perfecti to do good and spread the tenets of their religion during their remaining time "in the flesh". However, they did bow to the inevitable, and it is reported that Perfecti willingly walked into the flames when they could not be avoided. Nonetheless, that was only because they had received the Consolamentum and not fallen again into fleshly ways afterwards, meaning that their way into the Light was prepared. Dying without it being a "good death" simply meant a return to the flesh, trapped once again in the darkness of matter. And, in that situation, suicide (like any other form of death) just meant another turn of the wheel. If they were lucky that meant a human body, and another chance to escape via the "good death". If not, they might end up as a gelded steer being fattened for the Yule feast--or even worse. So, this idea is once again, IMO, a twisting or over-simplification of their position.
Cordially,
S&S