Karma

Karma is the relationship between a living being's actions and the fate that results from them. Martinus states that karma is the same as fate, and describes karmic effects as retributory effects transported from life to life through arcs of fate. In Livets Bog, he connects the shaping of fate with the being's own will.

The law of cause and effect

Martinus describes the living being as the primary cause of its own fate. In Livets Bog, he explains fate as the shaping produced by the being's own will: life consists of "sowing" and "reaping", and the being is therefore "the master of his own fate". The same analysis states that the effects of an action move in cycles and return to the being that released them.

The returning effect is not necessarily immediate. Martinus describes arcs of fate that may be completed during the same physical life or during later terrestrial lives. A present life is therefore shaped both by arcs released in the present and by arcs originating in earlier lives.

In Martinus' cosmic analysis, the being that is the primary cause of an arc may differ from another being that serves as the medium through which the arc is released. The latter may appear to be the cause of the conflict in physical circumstances, but Martinus identifies the earlier action as the primary cosmic cause. He connects this distinction with forgiveness: anger and revenge release a new dark arc, whereas forgiveness can neutralise the returning situation.

Martinus also describes ignorance of the consequences of one's actions as a source of mistaken conduct. This ignorance includes not knowing that one has lived in previous physical lives, and therefore not recognising that present suffering may have causes in those lives. A being may experience the effects of its own actions as unhappiness while believing that another person is their ultimate cause; this misunderstanding can lead to revenge and further dark karma.

Karma, reincarnation and talent kernels

In Martinus' cosmology, physical lives are connected by Reincarnation. The Eternal World Picture depicts physical terrestrial lives separated by spiritual lives. The physical lives are shown as a series of reincarnations, while the spiritual lives are the intervening stages between them. Karma is carried from life to life through the being's talent kernels, primordial desire and mother energy. These elements take part in releasing and transporting the arcs of fate and their effects.

This is Martinus' explanation of the continuity of fate across successive physical lives. The present life is formed partly by arcs from previous lives, while actions in the present release arcs that may reach future lives. The timing varies: some arcs are completed in the same life, while others continue into later lives.

Martinus also presents death as the renewal of the physical organism rather than the end of the living being's existence. The new organism can express abilities and talents developed through interests and occupations in one or more previous lives.

Martinus describes abilities and talents as developed through occupation with them in one or more previous lives, while the symbol explanation gives talent kernels, primordial desire and mother energy a role in transporting arcs of fate. Karma is the returning effect of actions and ways of being within this continuing process.

Suffering and development

Martinus describes dark karma as suffering and misfortune resulting from actions that create darkness. He states that suffering contributes to the growth of the faculty of humaneness, which he identifies with neighbourly love. As this faculty develops, the being becomes less capable of harming others and can become free of unnecessary dark karma.

In The Road to Paradise, Martinus describes unhappy fate as the effect of earlier wrong conduct rather than punishment for sins. He presents mistakes as consequences of cosmic ignorance and as a basis for learning to act correctly.

In this account, the developmental meaning of suffering is connected with the being's changing disposition. A person who responds to a returning dark experience with hatred and revenge creates new dark effects. A person who develops forgiveness and neighbourly love no longer reinforces the same chain of actions.

Martinus states that suffering changes the being's way of thinking from hatred to love and helps it become incapable of creating the same harmful actions. Suffering is therefore necessary for development while the being is still able to create darkness, but becomes unnecessary when that ability has been outgrown.

Forgiveness and the neutralisation of karma

Martinus uses "forgiveness of sins" in a specific, cosmic sense. In About Myself, My Mission and Its Significance, he says that when a person recognises a bad action, regrets it and is no longer able to repeat it, the person does not receive the same karma back.

The more detailed analysis in The Eternal World Picture explains this process through the arcs of fate. If a person has committed a murderous act but, before the corresponding arc of fate returns, has completely outgrown the will and ability to murder, Martinus says that the returning effects can be neutralised by this changed disposition. He describes this as liberation from effects that have become unnecessary because the being no longer creates the same kind of darkness.

Forgiveness is therefore closely related to development and neighbourly love. In Martinus' account, suffering has the purpose of changing the being's way of thinking; when the harmful disposition has genuinely been outgrown, the returning dark karma can be reduced or neutralised.

See also

• Reincarnation
• Talent Kernels
• Livets Bog
• The Eternal World Picture