Martinus' Memoirs
Part 7
Postscript by Tage Buch
As the readers of this book will have noticed, Martinus finished this account of his life in 1963 when he was about 73.
Sam got the idea that I ought to be able to write such a postscript since I, like Sam himself, have known Martinus and his cosmology for 50 years. Moreover I have been so fortunate as to be at close quarters with Martinus from the early days and must therefore be expected to have a certain insight into this last epoch of his existence on the physical plane. Now that I am 75 my memory may be less reliable, but I have had the support of other friends of Martinus', and hope that the following will provide a useful supplement to Martinus' own utterances.
So Martinus had still over 17 active years in which he gave lectures, wrote his books and took part in the management of the institute's activities. Indeed, he was an inspiring force in all matters pertaining to his cause. Martinus was in the process of writing "The Eternal World Picture" (also known as the "symbol book"), the first volume of which was published in 1963. The next two volumes were published in 1964 and 1968, and he continued writing the fourth volume and finished the first half of it. At this point - it must have been around 1970 - he interrupted this work since he had got the idea that he ought to write an introductory book to his works so that these could now be known to a larger public. He envisaged a book of about 150 pages that could provide a first, easily accessible, overview of the cosmic world picture and inspire people to begin studying his main work.
Jarl Borgen, the publisher, who had heard about Martinus' idea of publishing a book entitled "The Third Testament" (that was the working title of the projected introductory book), offered in November 1971, in a letter to Martinus, to publish this book.
Martinus wrote, however, many new analyses and went into more detail about things he had dealt with previously. He eventually produced a manuscript for the book, which was proof-read by a good friend; a few pages were then finished and a fair copy of them was typed. But Martinus still found that the manuscript was not ready for publication, gradually realising that it was not Providence's intention that this little book alone was to be published with the title "The Third Testament", but that his entire collected works were to have this title.
Martinus in the process of writing "The Eternal World Picture", also known as the "Symbol Book".Martinus did not manage to publish the projected book or the fourth volume of the "symbol book", but this material exists in manuscript and will be published in due course, when it has been proof-read. Part of it must, however, be edited since it exists only as a first draft.
About 1980 Martinus came to the conclusion that in the future his works should continue to be published in the form in which the Martinus Institute already published them.
He therefore contacted Borgen with a view to a contract for the publication of the first volume of the main work, which was to be called "The Third Testament" with the subtitle "Livets Bog (The Book of Life)", which was the original title. That was on 10 June 1980, only 9 months before he left this physical plane. Martinus wanted to be sure that his books would really be published and come to people's knowledge before he left; so he signed a contract with this well-known publisher.
With this his mission was accomplished.
Martinus did not himself experience the republication of the first volume of "Livets Bog", for it was not published until November 1981.
Martinus' last years as a writer were trying in many ways. He was in his 80's and often very tired. His sight, moreover, had become poorer as the years passed and by the end he could hardly read what he himself had written on the typewriter. As Martinus only felt comfortable when he could work, a word-processor with a screen that had rather large letters was bought, at Rolf Elving's suggestion, and Martinus could now write again. This was about Christmas-time 1980, so Martinus got only a few months' joy out of this new purchase.
From 1963 onwards Martinus still gave lectures in the provinces, at the institute and at the Kosmos Holiday Centre. He also gave a few lectures in Sweden and went to England, of which more later.
During these years care was taken that Martinus' lectures and things he said on other occasions were recorded on tape. Even in the early days, around 1950, when technology was not far advanced and one had only "steel tape", an attempt was made to record Martinus' lectures in the lecture hall in Mariendalsvej. This succeeded to some extent, but both the tapes and the steel tape recorder have since disappeared. Not until an engineer by the name of Heiberg in 1954 began to record Martinus' lectures on magnetic tape with better equipment could Martinus' lectures be preserved for posterity. There are now some hundreds of lectures on tape, but that is of course only a small proportion of the many lectures Martinus gave over the years.
Martinus' mission was to create the theoretical basis for a new world redemption and, for this reason, his lectures had to deal with mankind and the human being, the world and world redemption, God and the human being in God's image. The lectures were therefore to give information about this cosmic world picture, at the same time inspiring people to study and, what is just as important, stimulating those interested to change their attitude to life in accordance with this world picture. He, for example, spoke about "The Creation of the Human Being", "The Human Being in God's Image", "The Human Being's Pole-Transformation", "Mankind's Situation as Regards Fate", "Unfinished Mankind", "The Godhead and the Macrocosmos" but also on such topics as "The Highest Fire" (the sexual forces) and "Death and Paradise", to mention but a few examples of his lecture titles from the years 1965-6.
In Sweden Martinus spoke in 1965-8 at "Kosmos Holiday Home (Kosmos Feriehem)" in Varnhem, where he also held question-sessions, tape-recordings of which likewise exist.
In all these tape-recordings there lies hidden an enormous treasure of information, which will gradually come to benefit all those who are interested. Those who can understand Danish can hear them when they are included as a part of the curriculum, but they can, once they have been transcribed and edited, be published in Danish and in translation into other languages.
Martinus stopped lecturing in the provinces in the autumn of 1969, and his last ordinary lecture was given in the centre at Klint on 27 July 1970. But until his death he gave the opening lecture at the beginning of the summer seasons in Klint (the last time was on 22 June 1980); there were, however, a few years in which Erik Gerner Larsson wanted to have an actor read aloud passages from Hans Christian Andersen and others to make the opening of the season festive, which it certainly was. But the students in the holiday colony would probably have preferred a lecture by Martinus, who did not insist on giving the opening lecture, but - tolerant as always - let Erik have his way. Every year, however, at his big birthday celebration Martinus delivered a speech to the guests; I can perhaps say something about that later.
Martinus - the man
It is almost impossible to paint even a barely adequate portrayal of Martinus. With his cosmic consciousness and his consequent multifarious talents and capacities, his life was tremendously multi-faceted. One becomes best acquainted with him through his books, which describe his relation to existence in its entirety, to the universe and thereby also to God. What we can give is merely an external description of his "space suit", which was how he once described his physical body. Through this alone one does not get any real impression of Martinus the man.
On 22 June 1980, when he was about 90, Martinus gave his last lecture in the holiday centre, which had now been re-named "Martinus Centre". When he left the lecture hall after the lecture he was surrounded by hundreds of enthusiastic supporters who wanted to greet him and shake his hand.When one reads through what Martinus himself has written about all these outer phenomena that have occurred during his life - and which are, of course, interesting and indispensable so that no myths, or no more than absolutely necessary, should arise about him -one notices two things. First that he all the time revolves around everything positive. Almost nothing of a sad or negative character slips through. That was characteristic of him. He preferred to see everything as light and positive occurrences and did not pay much attention to dark things and experiences. For him everything was the speech of God, everything had a loving purpose. Unpleasantnesses were for him merely "bells that rang", merely warning signals. And in his evening prayer - he was, by the way, in contact with the Godhead at all times of the day - he gave thanks for all the occurrences of the day, not only the positive and happy events but also the unpleasant and dark ones.
Another thing that was characteristic of Martinus in his stories was his great precision, exactness and love of truth. He wouldn't dream of saying or doing anything that wasn't true or right. But on the other hand it wasn't difficult for him to reconcile himself to the fact that the people close to him and people in general were not noticeably open or lovers of truth, and often tried to camouflage themselves. In his world - where he came from - one could only be open. The thought-world here is external, so all forms of thought appear for those around one. He therefore of course thought that it odd when even his co-workers were reserved towards him or kept their private experiences secret from him. He said on one such occasion to a co-worker, "When you yourself don't tell me anything, I have to guess!" But he never reproached us for anything.
When Martinus himself didn't emphasize the difficulties of life or within his cause, one could perhaps believe that there were none. For when Martinus had cosmic consciousness he must have had an easy life, mustn't he? Here there is probably reason to mention that there were sometimes very dark situations and great difficulties, both economic and personal, to overcome. It is precisely in the light of this that one can experience the enormous strength he possessed to let others say and do what they wanted, and to forgive all the unpleasantness that was inflicted on him by people's ignorance and, at times, primitive behaviour. However, regarding his own area of work - his writing and the management of the institute - he was, of course, unshakable.
Financial crises
Were there then financial crises within Martinus' cause? Yes, there really were. Martinus was entirely dependent on the understanding and interest of other people. From the day he himself tells about when he didn't have enough money for the tramcar out to Bernhard Løw's in Ordrup up to his very last days there could to all intents and purposes be financial problems. Martinus had to borrow his way forward, first from Lars Nibelvang and later from others. There was always a little support group of individuals who helped, but the funds were always a bit on the short side of what Martinus and Erik Gerner Larsson needed. Martinus bought "new" clothes a few times from a second-hand dealer. For a while he and Gerner had only one set of decent clothes; so when one of them had to go into town the other had to stay at home. His first slide-projector was also bought second-hand. Later, after he had acquired the institute in Mariendalsvej, he had to turn to a friend who could help him, and who was also very willing to do so, almost every time the mortgage payments had to be made. It was often a matter of 30,000 - 40,000 crowns, which was a great deal of money at that time.
The purchase of Klintsøgård in 1946 and the following years saw the finances so strained and critical that the accountant told Martinus that he ought to hand over the account books to the police and declare himself bankrupt. Martinus thought over the matter for twenty-four hours and said, "We will not hand over the books to the police; a solution will come." This solution was found by Erik Gerner Larsson one night; it consisted of the "cause" selling its summer houses to those interested in the cause and dividing into lots and selling the areas of land that had been purchased with Klintsøgård. In this way, as well as through the raising of a loan from others who were interested and the issuing of long-term bonds, the financial situation was stabilised.
Through all these greater or smaller financial difficulties Martinus always remained calm, as he did in all the other crises of life. He completely trusted the Godhead and His instruments in the form of the human beings who had become interested in his cause and who became his closest friends. His cause, then as now, had to exist by means of gifts and the income that the cause's various activities could earn through lectures, courses, a monthly magazine, renting out of summer houses and so on, but first and foremost from gifts that were given on Martinus' birthday and at Christmas, and by the great deal of practical help that was also placed at the disposal of the cause.
On many occasions, not least after the purchase of Klintsøgård, the financial situation was very strained and critical. But during all the financial difficulties Martinus always remained calm and optimistic. Not until his very last years did he feel that really large sums of money would come, and he said at that time, "Money will soon come to the cause!" He felt that his cause would soon be widely known and that expansion would be necessary. He himself lived long enough to receive the large sums that after his death enabled the institute to build a new pavilion and to renovate the lecture hall in Klint, among other things.
Martinus' co-workers
In this section one could use as a motto Jesus' pronouncement: "...for many are called but few are chosen." Many thought that Martinus' cause would some time become a world movement and felt attracted by this, some perhaps with more or less hidden suppositions of being able to play a role. A man who had just become 30 years old and who did not feel that anything in particular was happening in his life, now that his period of repetition was over, asked Martinus one day if he could have a mission within his cause. To this Martinus replied (as he later told us), "It is as a rule true that if one has a mission, it burns within one to carry it out." "I'm damned if there is anything burning within me!" - thereby answering his own question.
Martinus acquired many good, faithful co-workers over the years, both at the institute itself and "out in the field", many for whom Martinus' thoughts were their entire life but who all the same - like all other terrestrial human beings - had more or less imperfect sides to them.
Besides those whom Martinus himself has mentioned above, Per Bruus-Jensen played an important role. As a writer, speaker and practical worker in the printing room he made a significant contribution. He lived at the institute in a little room under Martinus' flat in the second half of the sixties. Here he carried out his studies and, through daily contact with Martinus, was introduced to his analyses. This was later reflected in articles in KOSMOS, which he edited for many years, and in books and a correspondence course in Martinus Cosmology and, of course, in many lectures and courses.
Later came Rolf Elving, who encountered Martinus' thoughts as a 17-year-old after the sudden death of his stepfather. At the age of 22 he came to Martinus and, like Per, was taught the cosmology through private study and long conversations with Martinus. From January 1971 he lived for three years in the little room under Martinus' flat. Rolf's study, like Per's, led to a positive and active contribution to the field of spiritual science. On his return to Gothenburg in 1974 (he was a Swede) he and his friends established a Martinus Centre and aroused great interest in Martinus' analyses through lectures, courses and brochures. He created here a training centre for lecturers and study-group leaders, which has benefited Danes and Swedes alike, particularly through the teaching at the centre in Klint, where later, as leader of the school there, he introduced teaching on various levels and, from the winter of 1984-85, an all-the-year-round school.
Many other teachers have in the course of time taken part in the work and many have done valuable practical work in the service of the cause. Perhaps one should particularly mention two from the institute's office: Grethe Brinkhard, who later became chairwoman of the council, and her sister Else Olsen who have both worked there for about forty years and who have carried out all the daily work with never-failing good humour. All the others who perhaps ought to be mentioned must unfortunately be left out here, but they are valued by life itself and have found great satisfaction in the work itself in the service of mankind -albeit a work in its infancy.
But how did Martinus manage to cooperate with the many, successive co-workers of very varying types and attitudes to life? His cosmic initiation had certainly been a difficult awakening for him. From being an apparently quite ordinary man, who was both loving, tolerant and humorous but not well-read or particularly knowledgeable, to suddenly possessing the highest knowledge and having access to all the wisdom of the universe, and then finding himself surrounded by more or less primitive people who were, in relation to his new knowledge, quite ignorant - in itself caused difficulties. The people around him - even his co-workers - often had difficulty in following his line of thought. He astonished them often with the entirely new line of thinking he had revealed. He had to repeat himself many times with incredible patience. They could misunderstand things that, for him, were a matter of course.
Some did not understand Martinus' exceptional sexual nature, which gave rise to misunderstandings. Some thought that he was downright derailed, mainly because they themselves were deeply anchored in family love or the one-poled state? How could they then understand the double-poled state. The latter problem was taken up by Professor I.G. Hannemann, who was Bernhard Løw's nephew and had known Martinus from the very early days; at Martinus' 75th birthday celebration he put the record straight in an elegant, witty and brilliant speech.
Perhaps one thinks it strange that even among the co-workers there could be a lack of understanding in this area when Martinus has openly presented all the details. In his works he has given sufficient information about the transformation of the sexual poles and the evolution from the plant and animal kingdoms' first stages, via the terrestrial human being's process of transformation, to the completely developed ability to love, to love universally, which is the double-poled or cosmically conscious being's daily way of being. He has thereby removed all mystery about his own and other cosmically conscious beings' sexual life. That universal love cannot be expressed physically here in our world in the same way as in the higher worlds, our world being dominated by self-love, the one-poled state and family life, is a matter of course, and in this area, and in many others, Martinus had therefore to live a rather lonely life.
Martinus was, of course, sometimes asked if he was or had ever been married, to which he had to say no. But once, when he thought that the questioner was a little too aggressive, he answered, "Yes, I am married." And then the questioner asked again in astonishment, "Are you married?" "Yes," answered Martinus, "I am married to the entire human race!"
In connection with this interchange of words it may be worth emphasising that one ought to be very careful about retelling what Martinus has said, and, like Martinus himself, try to retell all such pronouncements verbatim, as precisely as possible. I have heard the above episode retold in a misapprehended form. The person in question said that Martinus had been asked if he was or had ever been in love, to which he is said to have answered, "Yes, I am in love with everyone." But Martinus could not fall in love at all. Falling in love demands that one has another being to oneself alone, and he was well above that. He loved mankind and individual people (and all life for that matter), but he was never "in love".
One can thus give a quite false portrayal of Martinus if one either attributes things to him that he hasn't said, or if one does not take sufficient care when quoting him. On the whole it is therefore best to keep to what Martinus himself has written and to the existing tape-recordings of lectures and things said on other occasions, so that one does not risk misinterpreting or misquoting him.
Periods of ill health
Martinus did not escape periods of ill health, and many wondered that he could get ill when he thought and lived entirely according to his own teaching. But Martinus lived under the conditions and terms of ordinary terrestrial human beings, and as he said, "When I get wet feet, I, too, get a cold."
He had suffered serious illnesses, which he, however, quickly overcame.
In consultation with his doctor, Cai Ankerbye, Martinus let himself be admitted to Lukasstiftelse (the St. Luke Institute) in the summer of 1956 for a serious stomach complaint (cancer). He was operated on and recovered quickly. He was then 66 and thought that he was predestined to this illness, which his mother had also had.
About the risk of illness for initiated people who are to guide the terrestrial human being, Martinus writes in "Livets Bog":
"As a consequence of the fact that they have evolved to the standard of love by virtue of which one gives one's life for others, they do not shrink from leaving their high plane of existence in order to be born into the sphere of the killing principle or the animal kingdom in order, with their way of being and wisdom, to guide and help the beings existing here who are seeking a higher form of existence. That this descent to lower planes is voluntary and borne exclusively by a love of helping the seeker out of darkness forward to life's higher and sunnier parts is a matter of course. That this same descent to a lower plane makes it a condition that the beings concerned to a certain degree come under the life-condition or laws of this lower plane is just as much a matter of course. They must thus be born in a physical organism of a much lower nature than that which they have grown up to have on their home plane of existence. Since the organism of the lower planes is a product of the capacities of uninitiated beings' for reproduction and is thus a continuation of their flesh and blood and can therefore, within itself, already have a predisposition to illness and other karmic effects stemming from the unfinished or imperfect life of the parents, the descended being of love must be content with such an impure organism. In most cases the initiated being can turn such an organism into a relatively usable instrument for its initiated spirit, even if it cannot entirely liberate it from the overloading that a cosmic consciousness must always inevitably be for an organism whose psychic senses and physical brain and nervous system are as yet intended for the conveyance of the uninitiated human being's narrow psychic area of consciousness. This permanent overloading can in certain cases benefit any inherited predispositions to illness in the organism, so that they get the opportunity to grow. And the organism of the initiated being can thereby come to display illness or a certain degree of defect. But here the initiated being - in connection with his own great strength of mind, which cosmic consciousness gives its source - gets great help from the higher world from which he has come and from which his sojourn on the physical plane are watched over."
Martinus' illnesses were thus not "karma" in the usual sense but a risk that he consciously ran by taking upon himself his task in the service of world redemption.
In 1976 he was admitted to Frederiksberg Hospital for a month before he was operated on for a prostate problem. The operation went well, but he had a lot of pain. All the same he wanted as few painkillers as possible for the sake of the health of his brain and on this occasion he said, "I can tolerate a lot of pain." He was so tremendously strong that pain could not shake his balance. A year later he was again admitted to hospital with a hernia in the operation-scar, and he was operated on again.
Finally he broke the neck of one of his thigh bones on the night of Thursday 5 March 1981. He was admitted to Frederiksberg Hospital where he three days later quietly passed away. (See the section "Martinus' last days on the physical plane" below.)
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Final instalment in the next part
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