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'''Killing principle''' is [[Martinus]]' term for the zone of life in which existence is maintained through killing, mutilation, conflict and the destruction of organisms. In his analyses it is both a necessary feature of the [[Animal kingdom]] and the culminating expression of darkness in the unfinished terrestrial human being. It is contrasted with humaneness, neighbourly love and a life-preserving way of being.{{ref|TEWP 2|19.14}}{{ref|TEWP 3|33.52}}{{ref|LB3|641}}

== Meaning and cosmic position ==

Martinus distinguishes between the animal's situation and that of the evolving human being. For a carnivorous animal, killing in order to live is described as a vital necessity: its survival depends on physical power and on taking the organisms of other animals as food. The human being, however, is a transitional being. As it develops beyond the animal stage, killing animal life is no longer, in Martinus' view, an absolute necessity for maintaining life. The corresponding commandment becomes “Thou shalt not kill”, understood as an expression of the law of love rather than merely as a prohibition against killing humans.{{ref|short book 17|4.10}}{{ref|short book 1|1.35}}

In the symbol explanations, the killing principle is associated especially with symbol no. 10 and with the [[Animal kingdom]]. It includes murderous bloodshed, massacres, deadly mutilation and [[Suffering|suffering]], together with the returning fate or [[Karma|karma]] generated by unnatural death. The term therefore covers more than an isolated act of killing: it denotes an entire sphere of consciousness and a pattern of life based on force and self-preservation.{{ref|TEWP 3|33.52}}

== The culmination of darkness ==

The killing principle is not limited to physical nourishment. Martinus also applies it to the unfinished human being's instinct for self-preservation. War, murder, revenge and the death penalty are expressions of the same principle when force is treated as the protection against force. In this way, the belief that killing can secure [[Peace|peace]] perpetuates a cycle of armed conflict and fear.{{ref|TEWP 2|19.14}}

In his account of the [[Livets Bog|spiral cycle]], Martinus describes terrestrial humanity as approaching the culmination, or “satiation”, of the killing principle. The increasing longing for humane ideals marks a transition away from the old domain of darkness.{{ref|LB3|641}}

Martinus does not describe the dark zone as an arbitrary punishment. He describes it as part of the being's education through experience. The effects of violence and suffering gradually awaken feeling and the capacity for humaneness. Through the [[Cause and effect|law of cause and effect]], the being learns that a way of acting which produces death and misery cannot produce lasting happiness or peace.{{ref|short book 20|3.12}}

The principle therefore has a place in Martinus' account of contrasts. The experience of darkness makes a hunger for light, love and well-being possible; without such contrasts, the cycle could not be experienced in the same way. Martinus presents the principle as a phase in the larger movement of evolution, while the advanced human being's ideals turn towards love and the intellectual regions of the cycle.{{ref|LB3|641}}

== Food and the fifth commandment ==

Martinus gives the killing principle a direct application to nutrition. He states that the commandment does not say “Thou shalt not kill people”, but simply “Thou shalt not kill”. On this basis, he treats participation in consuming animal food as participation in the killing of animals, even when someone else performs the slaughter. He presents the widespread human use of animal food as a survival habit inherited from the animal stage, one that has not kept pace with the development of human feeling and thought.{{ref|short book 5|1.5}}

The distinction between animal and [[Plant kingdom|plant]] nourishment is, in Martinus' account, a distinction of degree rather than an assertion that plants are lifeless. He describes plants as living beings whose physical consciousness is less developed. Vegetarian nourishment consequently involves less killing than animal nourishment. In his more detailed account, plant products still contain life-units whose organisms are destroyed in digestion, but they are less advanced than those in animal products; this is why plant nourishment represents a lesser form of the killing principle.{{ref|short book 5|1.11}}{{ref|short book 5|1.24}}{{ref|short book 5|1.28}}

Martinus also connects food with fate. In his analysis, the sudden death inflicted on animals through slaughter, hunting or fishing returns as a corresponding kind of unnatural and unexpected fate for those who participate in it, including through consumption. He says that this effect may be delayed and may appear later in the being's cycle of [[Reincarnation|lives]].{{ref|TEWP 3|33.61}}

== From killing to love ==

The opposite of the killing principle is not simply passivity but a positive capacity to protect and benefit living beings. Martinus identifies humaneness or love for one's neighbour as the beginning of the spiral cycle's contrast to the killing principle. As these qualities grow, the advanced human being's ideals turn away from being a warrior, hunter, butcher or executioner and towards the intellectual and spiritual regions of the cycle.{{ref|LB3|641}}

Martinus presents love of one's neighbour as the fulfilment of the laws of life and as the pinnacle of the new human stage. The commandment not to kill is therefore connected with a wider transformation of consciousness: the being is to move from animal self-preservation and force towards neighbourly love. This direction leads towards the [[Human kingdom|human kingdom]] rather than back towards the conditions of the animal stage.{{ref|short book 17|4.10}}{{ref|LB3|641}}

Martinus nevertheless presents the transformation as evolutionary rather than instantaneous. Experience, suffering and growing feeling gradually alter the being's disposition. He also describes a cosmic principle of forgiveness in which a person who has completely changed a murderous disposition before the return of its fate can become immune to the effects of the earlier act. The direction of development is towards a life in which love becomes habitual and the old principle is no longer needed for survival.{{ref|short book 5|1.5}}{{ref|TEWP 2|20.8}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==
* [[Animal kingdom]]
* [[Human kingdom]]
* [[Karma]]
* [[Peace]]