I was lucky enough to grow up in a family where the teachings of Martinus (1890-1981), a Danish seer and mystic, were available. Although he is little-known outside Scandinavia his philosophy is so logical, coherent, optimistic and beautiful that you may be interested to learn a little more about him.
In 1949 the British philosopher and mystic Paul Brunton read a summary of Martinus’ teachings and a translation of his book ‘Mankind and the World Picture’. These inspired Brunton to study with Martinus, and from May to August 1952 he lived with his wife at the Martinus Institute in Copenhagen where he spent 2-4 evenings a week with him. The following words were written in the 1950s by Brunton as part of a Foreword to Martinus’s book, Mankind and the World Picture:
When I first met Martinus some years ago in Copenhagen, I found him a simple, unpretentious individual who dressed, spoke, and lived in quite an ordinary manner. No one looking at his physical exterior could easily guess that it concealed a man who must be regarded as the outstanding living seer of his own country.
He was grown up in very simple and primitive circumstances, without any higher education. His main reading so far had been the Bible.
Hitherto, the two signs indicative of the course of his future development had been a deeply religious temperament and the resolute adoption of a fixed attitude when confronted by any situation calling for a moral decision. He then always asked himself, ‘What would Jesus have done in these circumstances?’ The answer that evolved out of his own mind became his guide for action.
One day someone lent him a little book about Theosophy, a subject about which Martinus knew nothing at all, and handed it to him with the suggestion that it might be found interesting. Martinus, unaccustomed to reading as he was, idly turned over two or three pages and then his eyes alighted on a reference to ‘meditation’. This single word was enough to ring a bell deep inside his inner consciousness. Obeying a sudden urge, he sat down in a chair and started to meditate on God. Almost immediately his first ‘cosmic’ experience followed.
Far off he noticed the appearance of a tiny speck of radiant light. It then moved slowly towards him, enlarging itself as it did so, until it took the visible shape of a man – none other than the master Jesus, himself. This luminous form then entered into Martinus’ own physical body and since that time has lived within him as the Christ consciousness.
The next day he went into the same deep state of introverted consciousness again, and during this experience there was revealed to him the fact that God was present in every part of the universe, that a perfect pattern was hidden behind the movements of everything and the lives of every creature within it. There was meaning and purpose behind the activities of suns, stars, planets, seasons, and all the grand panorama of Nature. What he thus saw intuitively constituted a large revelation which he set himself to communicate to his fellow men.
An eternal evolutionary spiral
Perhaps Martinus’s greatest spiritual accomplishment was to give a truly satisfying and thorough explanation of where evil, or ‘unpleasant good’ as he sometimes called it, comes from. By revealing this secret to humanity, he gave us an understanding that can relieve us, once and for all, of any fears of eternal damnation or of not being good enough, and take away all reasons for wars and intolerance. According to Martinus life is an eternal evolutionary spiral, in which all of us and everything we come across are eternal beings on their never ending cosmic journey.
Nothing, says Martinus, is ever lost or forgotten; there is no injustice. Everyone has been enlightened countless times in the past, and will become enlightened countless times in the future.
Yet Martinus does not expect us to believe a single word of his on trust. He invites us all to observe carefully our inner and outer worlds, so that ultimately, we will see for ourselves whether or not his statements are true.
When you truly perceive the greatness of life – not an impossible feat but an unavoidable consequence of your own natural evolution – you will see how every breath you have ever taken, every piece of dust, every catastrophe, everything you have experienced in this and your other lifetimes has been nothing but an eternal loving embrace between you and God, and when you understand this, you will have no reason ever again to become intolerant, afraid or unhappy. What is more, if you happen to forget this, that is also part of the perfection!
Besides thoroughly explaining the mystery of evil, Martinus also explains – in the most logical and uplifting way I have ever come across – where the wisdom in nature comes from and why we have so many unhappy marriages and sexual problems in our present society. He also gives directions on how to create a future united world without wars, pollution or poverty.
A glorious awareness
According to Martinus, life can thus be defined as an everlasting love story between God and his sons and daughters who include all living beings: humans, animals, plants, minerals and also purely spiritual beings. The quotation below is chosen to give you a glimpse of the deep peace, joy and understanding available to us all through Martinus’s teachings. It is taken from the very end of his main work, The Third Testament, a seven volume, many thousands of pages long manifestation of love and logic, explaining all the main philosophical issues of mankind.
Dear Almighty Father!
I praise and thank you because you have allowed me to awaken in a state of consciousness in which I see that I am forever within your almighty presence. In your divine, fatherly compassion, you have revealed to me your vast kingdom of mystery, and the wisdom, universal love and omnipotence of your infinite being. You have shown me that the universe is an eternal manifestation of love, giving to all living beings an eternal experience of life in your luminous and warming radiance.
I thank you because you have shown me, in such a loving way, that all existing creatures rest eternally in your divine, luminous and warm embrace, and will never dwell anywhere else. I see that it is only a question of time before the people of today who are unaware of this glory will awaken to a consciousness of eternity and in blissful rapture will envision the source of life: the sun of suns, whose dazzling light and heat embody your eternal spirit , revealing you as the one and only true God and the eternal Father of all living beings. And so you show me here, that all living beings exist in an eternal divine kinship. And I see that this relationship can only flourish in light, happiness and bliss if your great commandment is respected: to love God above all things and your neighbour as yourself, and that this is the fulfilment of all laws.
Dear Heavenly Father! I thank you that, by means of a temporal, physical condition, you have allowed me to awaken to full awareness of an everlasting life, in which I am contained by your love and forever surrounded by living beings who are precious to me, no matter where I might find myself, and no matter with whom I happen to come into contact, because you have given me the ability to see and recognise the fire or radiance from your scintillating face in every living being.
This glorious awareness, my friends, is where we have come from and where we are going. So, resting in that assurance, what need have we to fear? Let us, then, love God above all things and our neighbours as ourselves.
© 2012 Mikael Nordfors
(www.medicdebate.org) and the Martinus Foundation
(www.martinus.dk/en/)
