Spiral cycle

Introduction

In Martinus’ world picture, a spiral cycle is a complete passage of the living being through a cosmic circuit of experience. The circuit extends from a latent condition of consciousness, through a culmination, and back towards latency. It is not a repetition of exactly the same experiences: each completed cycle becomes a new variation that lies above the previous one. The spiral cycle is therefore the form in which the living being’s eternal evolution unfolds. ^[1] ^[2]

The cycle includes physical and spiritual planes of existence. A living being passes through six kingdoms of existence, experiences the contrast between light and darkness, and then enters a new spiral. The cycle thus renews the being’s ability to experience life and provides the stages through which its consciousness and creative ability develop. ^[3] ^[4]

The spiral as a cycle of consciousness

Martinus describes the spiral in terms of cosmic consciousness. Consciousness moves rhythmically from latency towards culmination and then from culmination towards a new latency. The spiral is the section of life-experience in which this entire circuit is represented, including the rising and falling stages between the two extremes. Every living being occupies a particular position in this circuit, and its form of consciousness reflects that position. ^[5]

The cycle contains two great contrasts: light and darkness. In the dark part of the cycle, the being is concentrated on the physical and temporal aspects of existence. In the light part, consciousness is increasingly directed towards the eternal and spiritual. Martinus describes the experience of darkness as the contrast through which the being gains knowledge of the light and of the conditions for living in harmony with other beings. ^[6] ^[7]

Martinus calls the passage a spiral rather than a circle because the being does not return to an identical condition. After having passed through both the dark and the light parts of one spiral, it enters a new spiral of greater dimensions. The descending and ascending parts of the previous cycle thus form one continuous upward course, which Martinus identifies with evolution. ^[8] ^[9]

The six kingdoms and the basic energies

A spiral cycle consists of six kingdoms or planes of existence. Each kingdom is characterised by one of the six basic energies reaching its culmination there, although all six energies participate in the being’s experience. Martinus gives the following correspondence: ^[10] ^[11]

Basic energy	Kingdom or plane of existence	Colour
Instinct	Plant kingdom	Red
Gravity	Animal kingdom	Orange
Feeling	Real human kingdom	Yellow
Intelligence	Kingdom of wisdom	Green
Intuition	Divine world	Blue
Memory	Kingdom of bliss	Indigo

^[12]

The seventh energy, the Mother energy, is connected with the eternal plane and regulates the rhythm in which the other energies develop and decline. The six energies provide material for temporal bodies, mentality, experience and creation. The Mother energy is connected with the eternal nature of the I, the superconsciousness, the fate element and the talent kernels. ^[13] ^[14]

The kingdoms are six forms of life-experience produced by changing combinations of the basic energies. Instinct culminates in the plant kingdom, gravity in the animal kingdom, feeling in the real human kingdom, intelligence in the kingdom of wisdom, intuition in the divine world and memory in the kingdom of bliss. ^[15] ^[16]

The physical mineral kingdom is associated with the transition from the kingdom of bliss to the plant kingdom of a new spiral. It is described as the reflection of the spiritual kingdom of bliss on the physical plane. From this mineral condition, life develops through the plant and animal kingdoms and reaches the human stage before continuing through the spiritual kingdoms. ^[17] ^[18]

Cosmic day, night and seasons

The spiral cycle is also described as a cosmic day and night. The light period extends through the culmination of the divine world and the kingdom of bliss. This is the cosmic noontide. The plant kingdom and the movement towards the culmination of the animal kingdom correspond to the cosmic afternoon and evening, while the animal kingdom and the human kingdom belong to the cosmic midnight. The kingdom of wisdom and the movement towards the divine world correspond to the cosmic morning. ^[19]

The same structure is expressed through the four cosmic seasons. Cosmic winter is the zone in which darkness, suffering and the killing principle culminate. It includes the latter part of the animal kingdom and the real human kingdom. Cosmic spring extends through the kingdom of wisdom and the first part of the divine world. Cosmic summer comprises the latter part of the divine world and the kingdom of bliss. Cosmic autumn begins with the plant kingdom and continues through the first part of the animal kingdom, before the cycle again reaches winter. ^[20]

Terrestrial humanity is placed in the winter and midnight zone of the spiral. Martinus describes the unfinished terrestrial human being as belonging more or less to the animal kingdom, while moving towards the real human kingdom. The human being is therefore a transitional being between the animal and the finished human being. ^[21] ^[22]

The cosmic seasons are produced by changing combinations of energies. Martinus compares the Mother energy with the sun in the physical year: just as the sun governs physical climates, the Mother energy provides the basis for the thought-climates through which consciousness is manifested. These climates appear in ordinary experience as joy, sorrow, fear, longing, anger, hatred and other forms of mental weather. ^[23] ^[24]

From darkness to light

The dark part of the spiral culminates in the animal kingdom. Here the being experiences the effects of ignorance, conflict, illness and suffering. Martinus calls this condition cosmic death: not annihilation, but a reduced experience of life in which the being experiences only the temporal and has lost day-consciousness of the eternal. ^[25]

The animal kingdom is the turning point from darkness to light. In the human kingdom, the individual has left the animal kingdom and the killing principle, and in the kingdom of wisdom and the divine world the light becomes increasingly perfect. The development is therefore not a return to the animal state but a gradual improvement of the light and of love. ^[26]

In the divine world, intuition reaches its culmination. The energy of intuition, together with intelligence and universal love, forms the primary capacity of consciousness. In the kingdom of bliss, memory energy takes over the being’s wakeful consciousness, which becomes concentrated in its inner world. ^[27]

The kingdom of bliss and the beginning of a new spiral

The kingdom of bliss is the sixth kingdom of the spiral cycle and is characterised by the culmination of memory energy. The being no longer experiences the outer world through ordinary outward senses. Its day-consciousness is concentrated in its own world of memory, consisting of the experiences gathered during its passage through the other kingdoms. ^[28] ^[29]

These memories are called gold copies. Experiences that were dark and painful when they occurred physically are seen in a purified and glorified form. The being can move backwards and forwards through its memory world and re-experience the stages of the completed spiral. The kingdom of bliss is therefore an individual inner universe rather than a shared outer kingdom. ^[30]

Bliss is itself a created condition and therefore has a beginning, culmination and decline. When the being becomes satiated with its memories, a longing to sense and create in the outer world arises. The being then enters a new spiral through the mineral and plant kingdoms. The transition from one spiral to another is not a return to the same life but the beginning of a new variation of the eternal process. ^[31] ^[32] ^[33]

Reincarnation and the renewal of consciousness

At the beginning of a new spiral cycle, the being’s physical consciousness is latent because the physical faculties from the previous spiral have degenerated. Its spiritual consciousness is also minimal, and it lives primarily through memories from the previous cycle. Consciousness must therefore be recreated through the formation of a new organism and the gradual emergence of sensory perception. ^[34]

The physical kingdoms are necessary for the development of thought and creation. On the spiritual plane, matter obeys the being’s spiritual impulses without resistance. Physical matter requires the being to transform energy impulses into logical thought and concrete mental constructions. Through physical existence, the being acquires knowledge and experience that become part of its consciousness and can later be used in spiritual matter. ^[35]

When the being has reached the highest level of thinking and humaneness, physical rebirth is no longer necessary. It can create perfectly in spiritual matter, and reincarnation becomes superfluous. It then continues its existence through the kingdom of wisdom, the divine world and the kingdom of bliss, where it experiences the light culmination of the spiral cycle. ^[36]

Microcosmos, mesocosmos and macrocosmos

The spiral principle applies not only to the living being’s passage through the six kingdoms but also to the structure of the universe. Martinus distinguishes between microcosmos, mesocosmos and macrocosmos. The spiral in which terrestrial human beings, animals and plants are found is the mesocosmic spiral. The lower spirals comprise the microcosmos of substances, cells and organs, while the higher spirals comprise the macrocosmos of planets, solar systems and galaxies. ^[37]

Each spiral contains the same six kingdoms, arranged in corresponding order. Beings in lower spirals constitute the microlife or material through which beings in higher spirals build their organisms. Beings in higher spirals constitute macro beings and living spaces for beings in lower spirals. A living being is therefore simultaneously a microbeing in a macrobeing and a macrobeing for its own microlife. ^[38]

This structure makes life experience dependent on cooperation. The organism could not exist without its organs, cells and other forms of microlife, just as the individual could not exist without a world in which to experience and create. Harmony with other living beings is expressed as peace and, in its highest form, neighbourly love. Harmony with microlife is expressed as health. ^[39]

The eternal movement of the spiral

The spiral cycle is both a structure of existence and a principle of renewal. It ensures that the living being repeatedly experiences the contrast between darkness and light, while each new cycle gives the experience a higher variation. The being’s passage through the physical and spiritual kingdoms develops its faculties, renews its consciousness and transforms its relationship with other living beings. ^[40] ^[41]

The culmination of the spiral is harmony with life. Through the finished human kingdom, the kingdom of wisdom, the divine world and the kingdom of bliss, the being becomes increasingly capable of expressing universal love and creative intelligence. The experience of darkness supplies the contrast through which these qualities become conscious, and the completed cycle leads into a new cycle lying above the previous one. ^[42] ^[43]

References

[1] Livets Bog 2, section 461

[2] Livets Bog 4, section 1537

[3] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.5

[4] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[5] Livets Bog 2, section 461

[6] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[7] Livets Bog 4, section 1537

[8] Livets Bog 1, section 44

[9] Livets Bog 4, section 1537

[10] Livets Bog 1, section 261

[11] Livets Bog 2, section 442

[12] Livets Bog 1, section 261

[13] Livets Bog 1, section 261

[14] Livets Bog 2, section 357

[15] Livets Bog 1, section 261

[16] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.5

[17] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.5

[18] Vejen til paradis, section 1.16 (*)

[19] Livets Bog 2, section 461

[20] The Eternal World Picture 2, section 17.14

[21] Livets Bog 1, section 44

[22] The Eternal World Picture 2, section 17.14

[23] Livets Bog 2, section 462

[24] Livets Bog 2, section 442

[25] Livets Bog 4, section 1543

[26] Livets Bog 4, section 1585

[27] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.10

[28] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.8

[29] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.10

[30] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.8

[31] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.8

[32] Vejen til paradis, section 1.16 (*)

[33] The Eternal World Picture 4, section 36.5

[34] Vejen til paradis, section 1.18 (*)

[35] Vejen til paradis, section 1.20 (*)

[36] Vejen til paradis, section 1.20 (*)

[37] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[38] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[39] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[40] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[41] Livets Bog 4, section 1537

[42] The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.21

[43] Livets Bog 4, section 1537

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