World picture
Martinus's world picture presents the universe as an eternal whole and as a cosmic analysis of existence. It concerns the relation between the eternal creator, consciousness, matter, living beings, energies, cycles and planes of existence. Martinus calls an analysis “cosmic” when it includes the living reality behind visible forms and follows phenomena through their complete cycle rather than describing only a local or temporary appearance. [1]
The world picture as a cosmic analysis
He contrasts a picture expressed only in measurements of matter, time and space with an analysis that includes the “living Something” behind movement, creation and the logic of nature. A world picture in this sense includes the origin, continuation and cosmic function of what it describes; it is not simply a description of the part of reality immediately available to the physical senses. [2] [3]
The world picture is therefore inseparable from the idea that the universe is alive. The visible universe is presented as an organised manifestation in which living beings experience and create. Its subject is consequently the universe's principles and the individual's place within them. [4]
The triune principle and the living being
The basic unit of this world picture is the living being, understood through the triune principle. Martinus analyses every living being as the inseparable unity of three principles: the I, the creative and experiential ability, and matter or substance. These are designated X1, X2 and X3. X1 is the nameless “Something” that experiences and creates; X2 is the ability to create and experience; and X3 is the created or manifested result, including the organism through which experience takes place. [5] [6]
The three X's are not three independent objects. They are three analyses of one reality. The I cannot manifest without a creative ability and material, while matter without an I would remain unmanifested. When the interaction between them appears as logically organised creation and experience, it is recognised as a living being. Martinus accordingly traces every planned creation to a living source, whether it is found in human activity, nature or the larger cosmic processes. [7] [8]
The I itself is therefore not identical with a particular human body, animal or plant. Created forms begin and end, but the I and its creative connection with matter are eternal in Martinus's analysis. The organism is an instrument used by the living being; its destruction changes the form of manifestation but does not abolish the living being. This is the basis for the continuity expressed through Reincarnation. [9] [10]
The same triune analysis is applied to the universe. Since the universe contains an eternal creative principle, consciousness and the totality of manifested matter, it too is described as one comprehensive living being or Godhead. Individual beings are not outside this unity: they are living beings participating in the Godhead's total organism and experience. [11] [12]
The six basic energies
The six basic energies describe the principal ways in which the living being experiences and manifests life. Martinus names them instinct, gravity, feeling, intelligence, intuition and memory. A seventh energy, the Mother energy, binds the six together and belongs especially to the eternal structure associated with the Superconsciousness. [13] [14]
The energies are not six separate substances operating alone. All are present in every plane, but one predominates in each plane and gives it its characteristic form. Their order corresponds to six kingdoms or planes of existence: instinct and the plant kingdom; gravity and the animal kingdom; feeling and the real human kingdom; intelligence and the kingdom of wisdom; intuition and the divine world; and memory and the kingdom of bliss. [15] [16]
The energies are also the material of consciousness. Thoughts, feelings and mental processes arise through their interplay, which Martinus calls the atmosphere or “thought-climates” in which the I manifests itself. Thus the world picture joins cosmology to lived experience: joy, fear, ambition, hatred, love and other mental conditions are expressions of energy combinations. [17]
The spiral cycle and evolution
The six planes form a spiral cycle. The living being passes through the kingdoms in a recurring sequence, with the forms of experience changing from cycle to cycle. Martinus describes the cycle as a movement between the culmination of darkness and the culmination of light, or between primitiveness and intellectuality. Contrasts are necessary for experience: without darkness and suffering there could be no recognition of light, happiness and love. [18]
Evolution is consequently not only a change in physical form. It is the gradual development of the faculties through which the being can sense, understand and create. In the physical part of the cycle, development proceeds through mineral, plant, animal and human forms, while the later kingdoms are spiritual or mental. Terrestrial humanity is described as transitional: intelligence has developed considerably, while humane feeling and universal love are still developing. [19] [20]
After the six kingdoms have been passed, the being enters a new spiral cycle. At the end of one cycle, the being's experience is concentrated in memory; a new longing to sense and create in the outer world then leads it into a new cycle and the gradual recreation of physical consciousness. Through physical existence it develops wisdom, love and the ability to think and create logically; when this ability is perfected, reincarnation becomes unnecessary. [21] [22] [23]
Microcosm, mesocosm and macrocosm
The world picture extends the idea of living beings to three mutually related cosmic perspectives. The mesocosm is the sphere of human beings, animals and plants and their organisms. The microcosm consists of the smaller living beings whose activity builds and maintains organisms, while the macrocosm consists of larger living beings and systems within which the mesocosmic being exists. [24]
A being can therefore be viewed in both directions. The organism is a world for its cells and other microbeings, while the being itself is part of a larger organism. Martinus argues that the regular processes of microcosm and macrocosm are manifestations of consciousness, even where their sources cannot be recognised by ordinary senses. Matter that appears dead from a limited perspective is, in the cosmic analysis, associated with living beings and organised creative activity. [25]
The three cosmic perspectives are not three unrelated universes. They express the same principle at different scales and distances. Each is subject to the combinations of basic energies and to the alternation of light and darkness in a spiral cycle, although the particular forms of experience differ from one spiral to another. [26]
From limited perception to cosmic consciousness
Martinus distinguishes between physical and spiritual existence as different degrees of energy or matter. The physical world consists of more condensed energies, while the spiritual world consists of more refined energies. Human senses are primarily adapted to the denser degrees, so the wider cosmic structure is not immediately available in ordinary perception. [27]
The world picture is linked to the development of perception. Martinus describes Cosmic consciousness as the awakening of higher sensory faculties through which the being can experience the spiritual and cosmic structure. The Superconsciousness is connected with the eternal structure from which the I uses bodies and energies, while cosmic consciousness makes the living being increasingly aware of the unity and laws that the cosmological analysis describes. [28] [29] [30]
See also
References
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 435
- ↑ Reinkarnationsprincippet, section 2.3 (*)
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 435
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.5 (*)
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 314
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 463
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 314
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 316
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 315
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.8 (*)
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.5 (*)
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.9 (*)
- ↑ Livets Bog 1, section 261
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 349
- ↑ Menneskehedens skæbne, section 1.10 (*)
- ↑ Livets Bog 1, section 261
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 442
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.10 (*)
- ↑ Menneskehedens skæbne, section 1.10 (*)
- ↑ Meditation, section 3.11 (*)
- ↑ Vejen til paradis, section 1.16 (*)
- ↑ Vejen til paradis, section 1.18 (*)
- ↑ Vejen til paradis, section 1.20 (*)
- ↑ The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.8
- ↑ The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.15
- ↑ The Eternal World Picture 1, section 14.17
- ↑ Menneskehedens skæbne, section 1.9 (*)
- ↑ Reinkarnationsprincippet, section 2.3 (*)
- ↑ Livets Bog 2, section 471
- ↑ Livets Bog 1, section 250