Spiritual science of Martinus

[Stranger]

There is an interesting approach to spiritual science based on the works of Martinus.

Martinus Cosmology

An eternal world picture

Martinus (1890-1981) has described in his works - collectively known as "The Third Testament" - a logical, cohesive world picture that shows that all living beings form part of a living universe and evolve continuously towards higher forms of life. The great upheavals and crises of our time are expressive of the downfall of a world culture and the birth of new, humane world society.

A spiritual science

In a logical and scientific way the analysis of the living universe makes it probable that an eternal, all-loving God exists, a God that has always been the source of religions and spiritual life. Martinus also shows how our consciousness, psyche and morality evolve through reincarnation and karma according to natural laws that in the course of time result in all experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant, benefitting the individual. Martinus’ collected works constitute a cosmology or spiritual science that can give the reader an optimistic view of life and inspire him to practise tolerance, neighbourly love and a living relationship to God.

To me the Martinus approach to spiritual science seems to be more logical, coherent and grounded as compared to somewhat "unhinged" occultic approach of Steiner.

[Güney27]

Hi eugene,
I only caught a glimpse of the latter discussions.
Can you explain to me in a few sentences what bothers you about Steiner's approach.
What is not coherent and not so logical about Steiner's evolutional Cosmology.
There is a book in German that compares Steiner's and Martinus' ideas.
Best regards

[AshvinP]

There is an interesting approach to spiritual science based on the works of Martinus.

Martinus Cosmology

An eternal world picture

Martinus (1890-1981) has described in his works - collectively known as "The Third Testament" - a logical, cohesive world picture that shows that all living beings form part of a living universe and evolve continuously towards higher forms of life. The great upheavals and crises of our time are expressive of the downfall of a world culture and the birth of new, humane world society.

A spiritual science

In a logical and scientific way the analysis of the living universe makes it probable that an eternal, all-loving God exists, a God that has always been the source of religions and spiritual life. Martinus also shows how our consciousness, psyche and morality evolve through reincarnation and karma according to natural laws that in the course of time result in all experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant, benefitting the individual. Martinus’ collected works constitute a cosmology or spiritual science that can give the reader an optimistic view of life and inspire him to practise tolerance, neighbourly love and a living relationship to God.

To me the Martinus approach to spiritual science seems to be more logical, coherent and grounded as compared to somewhat "unhinged" occultic approach of Steiner.

Thanks for sharing this link, Eugene. I wonder what are your thoughts on the following passage, from Martinus' book 'The Fate of Mankind'? It would be ideal if you can resist using the word 'oneness' in your response since that is not mentioned in this particular passage by Martinus. In other words, I am interested to hear your thoughts on his precise position as expressed in this passage.

The eternal existence of the terrestrial human being thus takes the form of alternating physical and spiritual existences. As this being in its evolution still finds itself in the second plane of existence of the spiral zone, that is, the physical world, its physical body will, as previously mentioned, be the most developed; while the bodies for the other planes in the same spiral cycle, on the other hand, are still relatively unfinished or latent. The physical existences therefore also become the most fundamental for the same individual. But gradually, as evolution proceeds, the individual becomes more and more spiritually developed. Since the physical body, as far as the terrestrial human being is concerned, has passed its evolutionary peak, it will therefore be the spiritual bodies of the same being that are under development. In this growth, the body of feeling, the seat for the individual's faculty to sense or experience pleasantness or unpleasantness, will thus be that which is most advanced. Next comes the body of intelligence, the seat for the individual's faculty to define the experiences of pleasantness and unpleasantness or to create knowledge from these experiences. The evolution of terrestrial mankind will thus primarily be based upon the development of feeling and intelligence. As feeling can only be developed through suffering, and intelligence through competition in the struggle for one's daily bread, the earth is extremely well designed for such development, because its citizens, grounded in their primitive or relatively latent level of feeling, do not hesitate to maintain their existence, their pleasure or well-being at the expense of the over-exertion, poverty, sickness, pain, need and even mutilation of their fellow-beings or, in brief, entirely upon the right of these beings to life. In a world where the instinct for self-preservation of the beings is mutually or reciprocally based on such a level of feeling, only the strongest and most insensitive or inconsiderate will, without outside assistance, be able to reach a high physical position, meaning wealth and material prestige, while the less greedy or more sensitive or considerate must of necessity become the vanquished and so the slaves of the victor. The earth is therefore also the scene of many tears, much want and suffering, chaos, need and misery. It is the battlefield for the struggle of the beings for booty. But as such conditions or difficulties inevitably give rise to a growing desire in mankind for ordered relations or harmony, which in turn can exist only as identical with spiritual development, such a form of development can thus be traced in the terrestrial zone. But in order to attain ordered relations in the world, knowledge is essential. The desire referred to then also manifests itself to a great extent as an attraction towards all enlightenment about the eternal facts or most profound causes of life. The most universally known and most realistic result of this development is, as previously mentioned, "science".

Science, when it has developed the maturity necessary in all areas, spiritual as well as physical, to prove that any egoistic act whatsoever is a hindrance to the creation of the perfect society, will become the salvation of the world. Only absolute knowledge of the eternal facts can put its source in a position to control matter, and thereby might, for the benefit of right. But as knowledge cannot be absolute or perfect by means of intelligence alone but, on the contrary, only by being identical with a balanced result of experiences of intelligence and feeling, and as this result is the same as love, any kind of knowledge can be absolute only when it is a "science of love". This knowledge then becomes manifest to everyone as constituting "the holy spirit". For the time being it still constitutes in the zone of the earth merely "the unborn embryo" of this, its identity.

As a science, in order to be absolute or genuine, must be identical with the analysis of a fact, that part of terrestrial science that is an expression of the absolute facts will thus be the first fundamental or realistic realisation of the truth or the eternal facts, but of course as yet only the physical side or appearance of these factors.

Before I go further into science, the following quotation from "Livets Bog" section 180, which shows that terrestrial science, even in its "embryo stage", is extremely illuminating, can perhaps be justified. In reads:

"As science constitutes the first beginnings of knowledge of the universe and existence, it thus forms the periphery of the cosmic or spiritual world. It is the dawning cosmic consciousness. It is the fresh sea air by the sea. Modern science will thus in reality be unshakable proof of the fact that terrestrial mankind is becoming spiritual. Remove science from its consciousness, and all that remains is a primitive animal consciousness receptive only to coarse influences. Mankind would consist solely of beings who could not possibly perceive the clear light of a written book, who could not possibly perceive what an ingenious work of art is saying, who could not possibly harness the material forces in engines or other kinds of machines or means of transport over land and sea, through the clouds and under the water; beings who could not create buildings, clothes and articles for everyday use; indeed, beings who could not even express themselves through a perfect language. Through the achievements of science, the faint ticking of a clock can be heard from pole to pole and all the peoples of the earth can listen to the same lecture at the same time. By means of microscopes and telescopes the terrestrial human being has extended his material sight hundreds of times into the microcosmic as well as the macrocosmic world. From universities, schools and colleges the cosmic light in the form of science radiates out over the whole world. It rests like newly fallen snow in everything, on everything and over everything. Science is thus the first fundamental result of the penetration of a higher spiritual energy into the energy of gravity or the physical world."

[Stranger]

Thanks for sharing this link, Eugene. I wonder what are your thoughts on the following passage, from Martinus' book 'The Fate of Mankind'? It would be ideal if you can resist using the word 'oneness' in your response since that is not mentioned in this particular passage by Martinus. In other words, I am interested to hear your thoughts on his precise position as expressed in this passage.

Somehow what Martinus writes makes more sense to me compared to Steiner, even though their approaches are in many ways similar (except for Martinus being much less "occultic"). And by the way, he does speak of the "cosmic consciousness", which is synonymous with "oneness". I'm reading his books right now.

It is the dawning cosmic consciousness.

[Stranger]

Hi eugene,
I only caught a glimpse of the latter discussions.
Can you explain to me in a few sentences what bothers you about Steiner's approach.
What is not coherent and not so logical about Steiner's evolutional Cosmology.
There is a book in German that compares Steiner's and Martinus' ideas.
Best regards

Steiner's works are overloaded with occultism and with occultic statements too far from being scientifically verifiable. Take for example his astrological views or statements like "Buddha now lives on Mars" (see below) etc. To me that is not science, and we don't find similar kind of occultic statements in Martinus works. Martinus does speak about symbols as archetypes and cognitive tools for spiritual development, but that's different. I understand that many people resonate with occultism, and that's fine, but it just does not resonate with me.

When the eye of the occultist has been opened and he looks out into the vast spaces of the world, he beholds a remarkable sight. He discovers that the Buddha has now for his scene of action that planet which in physical astronomy we call Mars; and he can do no other than relate in all seriousness how, since the time when the Buddha acquired the faculty which made it no longer necessary for him to appear again in Earth life, he has been given a new mission. This new mission of the Buddha we can discover by making occult observation of Mars.

Another appealing aspect of Martinus approach for me is that it naturally embraces oneness and naturally integrates it with spiritual science, and that is what I was looking for in Steiner's works but could not find. His description of his awakening to the experience of "cosmic consciousness" is a perfect description of experiential non-dual awakening, and this is what he calls "initiation".

I saw how every limited thing ... revealed infinity and eternity. ... I became identical with what was "absolute" and "everlasting" and I saw all things from this "absoluteness" and "everlastingness". ... And it is this experiencing faculty that I have called "cosmic consciousness". ... I had experienced an "initiation"... Whereas my consciousness before this experience of mine was an expression of "local consciousness", it had now become an expression of "universal consciousness"

And yet another appealing aspect of Martinus approach is anti-sectarianism, and this is in striking difference to the approach taken by the anthroposophists on this forum, even though it does not seem to originate from Steiner's original approach.

As my work .... has begun to awaken an interest and create a movement, it is, in this respect, absolutely necessary that this movement is not led astray into limiting, encasing or crystallizing itself into a faith-based community, sect or association, thereby having a narrow-minded monopoly on "the one and only road to salvation".

[AshvinP]

Thanks for sharing this link, Eugene. I wonder what are your thoughts on the following passage, from Martinus' book 'The Fate of Mankind'? It would be ideal if you can resist using the word 'oneness' in your response since that is not mentioned in this particular passage by Martinus. In other words, I am interested to hear your thoughts on his precise position as expressed in this passage.

Somehow what Martinus writes makes more sense to me compared to Steiner, even though their approaches are in many ways similar (except for Martinus being much less "occultic"). And by the way, he does speak of the "cosmic consciousness", which is synonymous with "oneness". I'm reading his books right now.

It is the dawning cosmic consciousness.

Well, I asked for your thoughts on that precise passage. I was hoping to keep it objective. Now it sounds like you are speaking of your personal feelings about Martinus vs Steiner.

Actually what Martinus discusses there is quite occult. He is discussing the evolutionary progression of the fourfold human organism, which is only perceptible to clairvoyant sight. And we can find the same spiritual scientific research conclusions in Steiner and other streams of occult science.

So can you state plainly whether you agree or disagree, or in any case are following the logic of, with Martinus' conclusions about the spiritual evolutionary situation of current humanity and the Earth as expressed in that passage?

[Stranger]

So can you state plainly whether you agree or disagree, or in any case are following the logic of, with Martinus' conclusions about the spiritual evolutionary situation of current humanity and the Earth as expressed in that passage?

I do agree with it. But taking the Martin's scientific and non-sectarian approach, I agree with it only as a contingent and limited and not as the final truth. There may be much more aspects and facts about the human condition and human evolution that Martinus and we still do not know.

[AshvinP]

So can you state plainly whether you agree or disagree, or in any case are following the logic of, with Martinus' conclusions about the spiritual evolutionary situation of current humanity and the Earth as expressed in that passage?

I do agree with it. But taking the Martin's scientific and non-sectarian approach, I agree with it only as a contingent and limited and not as the final truth. There may be much more aspects and facts about the human condition and human evolution that Martinus and we still do not know.

OK, so I take it that you have now discerned how what you wrote only a few months ago with great passion was in error and, what you were ascribing to the 'lies of the dualistic heirarchy', is actually the progressive spiritual evolution of humanity on Earth, which can transform-redeem the latter IF we remain connected to it and working through it?

One of his [Demiurge's] arguments is that there is a spiritual progress and evolution in the dualistic domain, and that in this domain coexisting in both dualistic and nondual modes are possible and natural ("You can continue playing in our Casion and still be a good man!"). I can only say that the entire dualistic domain, its structure and content, is a big lie, it’s a hoax, because the dualistic perception on which this domain is built is a fundamental lie, so it is not surprising that all Demiurge’s arguments are essentially lies.

So Martinus has not been seduced by these lies, right? For ex., when he writes the following:

Spiritual science, in the light of the entire cosmic evolution of the earth and mankind, tells about these "things to come", about "the real human kingdom" which, with time, will be developed on this planet. Spiritual science is not something that will remove Christianity and create a new religion. On the contrary, it will "take of mine and preach to you", as Christ also said. People can begin to understand today everything that people at that time "could not have born" because they would not have understood it. In the approximately 2000 years which have passed since Christ lived, an enormous intellectual evolution has taken place here on the earth...

The world-situation of our time is what is referred to as "the last days". Not because the earth will perish or be destroyed, but because an old culture is breathing its last. The kingdom which Christ referred as "his", but about which he said that it "was not of this world", is about to be created as the real human kingdom on this planet. It lives in the minds of many people as the humane capacity, as the fact that they, in certain situations, would rather themselves suffer than be the cause of others' sufferings. But also this moral capacity must be intellectualised, and this will happen through spiritual science. The capacity for neighbourly love which has become strongly developed in the minds of many people through the experiences of suffering of many lives should not only be a strong feeling which can lead one astray in sentimentality and fanaticism. It must, in order to be manifested in the way Christ could manifest it, be united with an intellectual understanding of the relationship between the universe and the human being, or, as Christ referred to it, between "the father" and "the son".

There most certainly is more to this evolution that he and we don't know yet, but what has already been discerned can serve as a solid foundation of certain knowledge from which we begin experiencing and doing our redemptive work via living thinking. We can't one-sidedly seek unity with the 'awareness' of the Cosmos and cognitively ignore the living phenomenal pathways through which the Christ impulse manifests on Earth. In other words, we shouldn't keep all the precise living details of Earthly evolution in flux and practically discard this spiritual knowledge, effectively becoming (or remaining) like these people:

Let's put that in an analogy. Imagine once again the example in the video with going through the rooms at right angles. Imagine that a group of people go together but they have very short attention span. As they go from room to room most of them simply lose track of how many rooms they have traversed. Soon they begin to argue. They may even go to such extents that they arrive at the weird idea that there's no single truth about the geometry of the rooms but everyone is right! If some of them is sane, and tries to walk them through, room by room and tries to show them "Here, now we go through the first, now through the second" and so on, the attention span of the others will still lose track and they will still fail to grasp the full picture.
...
As an extreme case we can imagine someone (clearly a pathological case) whose thinking and attention span are so damaged that by the time he turns around he loses track of his previous view. Thus for that person the visual field is like a stream of disconnected pictures with no logic.
...
Imagine what the people with short attention span look like when they transform through space without any comprehension of the spatial lawfulness. They'll be like lost. They'll move as if through a maze, practically taking random turns. This is really the picture of our contemporary humanity. Even though we've learned to grasp the lawfulness of the sensory spectrum, we're moving as if through a maze in regards to the states of our inner life. People today lack even the most basic knowledge of the lawful dynamics of the interplay between thoughts, feelings and actions. It's hardly understood how what we think, feel and will, feeds back on us over larger periods of time. Because of our spiritual short-sightedness, we simply don't recognize the transformed reflections of our own spiritual activity which has reverberated through the lawfulness of spiritual reality and is fed back to us in unrecognizable form. Thus people are assailed by illness, misfortune, war, and they blame everyone else about it, without understanding how through their own unorderly inner life they have contributed to this outcome.

[Stranger]

OK, so I take it that you have now discerned how what you wrote only a few months ago with great passion was in error and, what you were ascribing to the 'lies of the dualistic heirarchy', is actually the progressive spiritual evolution of humanity on Earth, which can transform-redeem the latter IF we remain connected to it and working through it?

One of his [Demiurge's] arguments is that there is a spiritual progress and evolution in the dualistic domain, and that in this domain coexisting in both dualistic and nondual modes are possible and natural ("You can continue playing in our Casion and still be a good man!"). I can only say that the entire dualistic domain, its structure and content, is a big lie, it’s a hoax, because the dualistic perception on which this domain is built is a fundamental lie, so it is not surprising that all Demiurge’s arguments are essentially lies.

So Martinus has not been seduced by these lies, right? For ex., when he writes the following:

Spiritual science, in the light of the entire cosmic evolution of the earth and mankind, tells about these "things to come", about "the real human kingdom" which, with time, will be developed on this planet. Spiritual science is not something that will remove Christianity and create a new religion. On the contrary, it will "take of mine and preach to you", as Christ also said. People can begin to understand today everything that people at that time "could not have born" because they would not have understood it. In the approximately 2000 years which have passed since Christ lived, an enormous intellectual evolution has taken place here on the earth...

The world-situation of our time is what is referred to as "the last days". Not because the earth will perish or be destroyed, but because an old culture is breathing its last. The kingdom which Christ referred as "his", but about which he said that it "was not of this world", is about to be created as the real human kingdom on this planet. It lives in the minds of many people as the humane capacity, as the fact that they, in certain situations, would rather themselves suffer than be the cause of others' sufferings. But also this moral capacity must be intellectualised, and this will happen through spiritual science. The capacity for neighbourly love which has become strongly developed in the minds of many people through the experiences of suffering of many lives should not only be a strong feeling which can lead one astray in sentimentality and fanaticism. It must, in order to be manifested in the way Christ could manifest it, be united with an intellectual understanding of the relationship between the universe and the human being, or, as Christ referred to it, between "the father" and "the son".

No, he was not seduced by these lies because he clearly stated that the "initiation" into the state of "real human kingdom" that is "not of this world" is exactly transcending the dualistic state into non-dual, as he himself wrote in the quote below. I said it many times that there is nothing wrong with Earth condition and it is not dualistic by itself, it is the current human karmic-genetic-cultural condition that is dualistic and that has to be transcended. And sure, that nondual transcendence needs "to be united with intellectual understanding of the relationship between the universe and the human being, or, as Christ referred to it, between "the father" and "the son"", and that is the needed unity of spiritual science and non-duality that is lacking in your current paradigm.

I saw how every limited thing ... revealed infinity and eternity. ... I became identical with what was "absolute" and "everlasting" and I saw all things from this "absoluteness" and "everlastingness". ... And it is this experiencing faculty that I have called "cosmic consciousness". ... I had experienced an "initiation"... Whereas my consciousness before this experience of mine was an expression of "local consciousness", it had now become an expression of "universal consciousness"

[Federica]

...
Even though we've learned to grasp the lawfulness of the sensory spectrum, we're moving as if through a maze in regards to the states of our inner life. People today lack even the most basic knowledge of the lawful dynamics of the interplay between thoughts, feelings and actions. It's hardly understood how what we think, feel and will, feeds back on us over larger periods of time. Because of our spiritual short-sightedness, we simply don't recognize the transformed reflections of our own spiritual activity which has reverberated through the lawfulness of spiritual reality and is fed back to us in unrecognizable form. Thus people are assailed by illness, misfortune, war, and they blame everyone else about it, without understanding how through their own unorderly inner life they have contributed to this outcome.

Great reminder for me as well, thanks Ashvin!

***

There is an interesting approach to spiritual science based on the works of Martinus.

Martinus Cosmology

By the way, Eugene, thanks for bringing up Martinus. I remember the name was mentioned in that video you shared, on triadic idealism, that philosopher also was Danish. Who knows, maybe it's through Denmark that you will find your way to spiritual science

In any case, Martinus is interesting to me also because of geographical proximity, I'm seeing there are study circles even where I live. At the link, I'm finding many of the symbols intuitively helpful. Probably they would be valuable for concentration.