It isn't always nice to have to talk about oneself, but in accordance with the mission I have, with what I have written and the knowledge I have manifested, I have felt it right. There are many people who have said to me that I must have read and studied, but I have not. I am a living proof that you can obtain the highest knowledge through your own consciousness, and this is a state, which all people will eventually reach. I have not been particularly favored by Providence. All those who come after me will have the consciousness that I have, just as all those who are in front of me have. Therefore, I think that it could be of interest to you to hear how I have experienced this state.

I was born in the country, outside marriage, as a so-called illegitimate child and I was brought up by my uncle and aunt. They were then old people and only had very limited means, so there was no question about my studying or achieving a knowledge apart from what you could get in an ordinary country school which only had two classes, one for bigger children who were from ten to fourteen years old, and one for those who were under ten. There I was taught Danish, biblical knowledge, psalms, Danish history, geography and a bit of arithmetic. I was very fond of biblical knowledge. This is all the teaching that I have had from without.

Once, when we were taught by the vicar, we were sitting in a lovely room opening on to a garden at the vicarage on a summer's day. The vicar was telling different things and then suddenly he said how terrible it was, if a small child died before its parents had had it baptized, then it would go straight to hell. I thought: 'This cannot be true. God cannot let a small child burn forever because of the whims of two parents'. During the same lesson he also said that illegitimate children were doomed. I felt: 'This cannot be true'. I could not believe that God would be angry with me, just because I was born outside marriage. In this way I felt that there was something wrong with what the church taught. I then had my own belief, which was very loving, because I could not accept that anybody should burn in hell or that God could be so brutal.

First, I was a farm hand, then I became a dairy man and later a clerk at the dairy Enigheden in Copenhagen. I had to do something to earn a living. I had no particular interest in these things, but I did my duty. At the same time, I had a great longing to do something better. As a clerk I wrote 10,000 numbers a day. There had to be a better life, I thought, than this to go out to write 10,000 numbers, go home, eat and go to the movies, go to bed and go out to write 10,000 numbers again etc. I would like to become a missionary, but I was not in contact with the church and I did not believe in eternal hell, so I realized that that was out of the question. As a child I had a great desire to become a school teacher, and my mother promised me that I would become a teacher, when I grew up, but she died when I was 11 years old, so nothing came of that. But still I became a kind of teacher.

At the office there was a colleague who was reading in a theosophical book, and he told me that we had lived before and that the life we live now is not the only one. I found that very logical, and I asked if I could borrow this book. He had borrowed the book himself, and he had to ask the owner, if I could borrow it. The result was that I was allowed to borrow it, but the owner wanted to see me and one day I visited this man, whose name was Lars Nibelvang. He was not a member of any theosophical or anthroposophical society, but he had read all kinds of philosophy. He asked questions, and I also asked questions. Among other things I asked if these new movements of theosophy and anthroposophy had anything to do with praying. Yes, they had. Now, if he had said, 'No, they don't' then I had been through with him. I listened to him very much and was given the book to take home. I was very eager to read in it, I had a strong desire to know more. I read in the book until I came to a place where it said that you had to meditate, you had to sit down comfortably in a chair and blindfold yourself in order to concentrate better.

Now I had to try this. I had a new wicker chair, which was very nice and comfortable to sit in. It was very much alive, quite magnetic and it creaked all the time. I sat down in this chair and blindfolded myself, so that it was dark. Suddenly I saw a figure resembling Christ. It was Thorvaldsen's statue of Christ that says: 'Come to me'. This figure was small and stood some distance away. Then it became dark, then light again and then the figure had come alive and was in a natural human size. It was dressed in a robe of small sparkling stars, almost like a robe of diamonds. It was giving off an enormous amount of light, the light was white as snow, the shadows were blue and the figure came slowly towards me. I sat in the chair and could not move. It became dark again and then light and then the figure went up through the ceiling and down through the floor. It went straight towards me, walked into me and stopped. The light from this figure inside me beamed out over the world, I could see continents and seas with sailing ships etc. It was as if I witnessed that the globe turned and turned, and I could see one continent after the other, still within this beam of light. When I had seen this, I took the blindfold away and I could move again.

What all this meant, I could not understand, but later it became clear to me. It meant that I was to preach the consciousness of Christ for mankind. This beam from Christ shone over the world, over continents and seas. This was the sign, but I didn't know how to do it, as I had no knowledge about anything.

On the following morning I sat down again in the wicker chair and blindfolded myself. Then it went dark again. A piece of sky appeared and across this sky a shadow passed. When the shadow had passed, the sky became lighter and so it went on. The shadow passed across the sky and it became more and more light, at the end this sky shone with an immense radiance in the colour of gold. Everything disappeared, my organism, my room, house, everything, I was only sitting in some golden rays. I felt a colossal pressure on my consciousness and I felt: 'This is God's consciousness. This is how the highest part of us is, without attachment to anything else, and thus we have this divine radiance, this divine force inside us'.

It would not have been of great consequence that I had experienced this, if I had not afterwards discovered, that when I thought of a higher problem to which I had no idea about its solution, this solution came to me as an explication, which presented itself to me in total clarity. I could control this and with my intelligence I could deduce the answer.

I had to return the book, which I no longer needed, to Lars Nibelvang. I told him what I had experienced, and he became very, very fascinated. From his study of spiritual books, he knew that such experiences existed, he had read almost all the philosophy in the world, you see. He was full of questions and this meant that I had to focus my consciousness on all higher subjects. But this also meant that I became good at creating unwavering analyses, because he was exceedingly sceptical. When I presented an analysis, he would say: 'No, it cannot be so, because this or that author says this and that'. I had not learnt to create analyses, so my analyses could be overturned. But the principle, the final answer in my analyses, could not be overturned. I became so good at creating analyses, that in the end he could not overturn anything and he was willing to give in, when he saw that I was right. Yes, you are right, nobody else has been able to see this', he said. In this way my analyses became enormously strong. Even today nobody will be able to overturn my analyses, they stand unshakably firm. He who tries to overturn an analysis will start to fumble and can make no sense of it all.

I worked on creating analyses, but I also had my job to do. But in this respect, I was helped, so that I could quit having a job and dedicate myself to the spiritual side. The idea was that I was to explain, and Nibelvang was to write, as I did not think that I had the ability to do this. But one day I tried to write anyway and this turned out to be the epilogue of my main work, Livets Bog. That is the first thing I ever wrote. This, then, showed that I was supposed to write myself. He said: 'No, I don't have to write, you must write yourself'.

So, seven years passed before I could begin to write in the right way. But there were also other things that I had to go through during these seven years, among other things various mental states. I could feel other people's illnesses in my own organism. When I rode in the tram, I could feel if somebody behind me had a problem with his lungs or kidneys. It was a very hard time.

When I saw these cosmic analyses or cosmic answers, I discovered that I could transform them into symbols, which made them easier to explain. During those three years, in which I was not allowed to read, I drew symbols and reached the point at which I had finished the world picture. When I had finished the main symbol, the symbol of the whole universe, where the basic energies and all the many details form a whole, I felt that I had the support of the whole spiritual world. I felt a happiness and a blessing, which I can hardy describe. Then I had been given the basis for the analyses that I was to write later. With this symbol I was safe against creating contradictions in the big task. No one will be able to find contradictions in my analyses, precisely because the whole world picture was finished in this symbol.

I drew more symbols, so that I could show the major principles of the universe. During this period, I was helped and supported partly from Lars Nibelvang and partly from other friends. When I had drawn seven symbols and was able to show the basic principle and structure of the whole universe, I felt that I had to reach out towards more people. During those seven years there were only close friends, very few people, who were informed about these things, but now I felt that I was ready to go public, that I could show it to more people.

It was then agreed that I had to present myself at Bernhard Løw's place one Sunday afternoon and bring my pictures. This elderly gentleman welcomed me and it was as if we had always known each other. I showed my pictures to him, his disciples and some guests and for the first time I presented the whole spiral cycle. They were very impressed and Løw, who was an old anthroposophist and mathematician, was very enthusiastic.

I gave my first public speech at Forhåbningsholms Allé in a little hall, which was all filled up. Later I had to move to Borup Højskole, which was also filled with people. I don't understand how they could stand it, because I spoke for two to three hours without stopping. Later, we have experienced that we are only supposed to speak for three quarters of an hour, maximum an hour. But they came.

A magazine called 'OM' was started to which I supplied articles, but then we thought that we might as well write articles in our own magazine, so we established the magazine Kosmos.

We could work and give lectures in winter, but in summer people don't attend lectures. But in order to continue the work during summer we founded the Vacation Colony Kosmos. One day one of our friends came with a newspaper advert about the sale of a large area, which was exactly right for a vacation colony, and it cost only 5 øre per square yard. Therefore, it seemed that we would be able to buy it. We did, and since then it has grown. We built the first lecture hall and later an even bigger one and now we have an even bigger hall from where we teach, as you know.

As I have mentioned, we have the vacation colony in order to continue work during summer, but the idea is also that we shall one day establish a major school here. Here we have to establish a school, where we can educate people from abroad to give lectures in their own countries. We cannot travel to all countries, but we can educate people to give lectures in other countries. The plan is that this vacation colony is to become an international school of spiritual science. One day there will be a large town here with hotels etc, but this will be in the future. Right now, we are just beginning.

The cosmic analyses turned out to be a picture of the whole universe. Never before in the history of the earth has there been created a world picture. All wise men have bits and pieces of the world picture, and what you learn is bits and pieces of it, but in the world picture that I have been allowed to present everything is there, everything fits and tallies.

The world picture also has a task which is completely new: to show that darkness is not the work of the Devil, with which God has nothing to do or which comes from a devil who has been expelled by God and who persecutes mankind and keeps it in the darkness. This is old superstition. Later, in the new world culture, for which my analyses will create the foundation, darkness will be seen as a divine blessing, as something that is absolutely necessary. Without having seen darkness, one will never be able to see the light. To the same degree that one has experienced darkness, one will be able to see the divine light. The world has been so cleverly constructed that people are allowed to experience exactly what they do to their neighbor. Our whole way of behavior is directed towards our neighbor and we get this back through our neighbor. It is our own acts that we get back. That is to 'eat from the tree of knowledge'. This makes us realize what is good, and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. My world picture shows the giant mission of darkness, it shows that this is also a part of love. If there were no opposite to love, we could not know what love was. You cannot paint a landscape with white colours on a white canvas, that will be fairly invisible. You have to have contrast. Through my analyses you get a living experience of this. All the way through I show the importance of darkness, why it exists, and I show that there is no eternal hell. A human being lives one earthly life here, and it has been said that if its sins are not forgiven, it shall burn in an eternal hell. But it cannot, in its short life, even if it lives to be 90 or 100, sin so much that an eternal punishment can be just. It is illogical, but all the former religious guidance of mankind has been illogical. It is not logical, it is symbolic. It is not adjusted to intelligent analysis. It is adjusted to people with instinct, people who believe in authorities and who need commands: You must not do this and you have to do that. These people only have this instinct that the ways of the Lord are past understanding.

Against the background of this instinct Christ could not complete his mission, but had to leave part of it to posterity. In his mission he had to show that love can exist. At the cross he showed that you can forgive your worst executioners and pray for them, pray that they are not punished. He says: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing'. That was his mission.

It has been my task to clarify a part of the explanations of Christ in the world picture. It is a continuation of the teachings of Christ, which he himself also calls 'The Spokesman, the Holy Spirit'. He said to his disciples: 'You cannot understand it, you cannot bear it, but to future generations the Father shall send the Spokesman, the Holy Spirit. It shall teach them what they do not understand, it shall take of mine and give to them'. Here he says that an illumination shall come, not a person, not a new world redeemer, but 'The Spokesman, the Holy Spirit'. But what is 'The Spokesman'? It is not a man. As far as I know, the Jews call their holy books the Spokesman. Spirit is the same as thoughts and knowledge. So 'The Holy Spirit' is holy thoughts and holy knowledge. What, then, is holy thoughts and holy knowledge? It is thoughts that express the absolute truth. He does, in fact, say that the absolute truth shall come to mankind, the absolute knowledge about the mystery of life shall be given to them; he does not say that a new Christ shall come. Now it is not the person who is in focus, it is not a dictator, a world redemption in the shape of dictatorship. Now it is a science, which has to be linked up to the materialistic science and become a divine science. On the basis of this (knowledge, ed.) the world shall be led forward, and this is all happening. The materialistic science is advancing rapidly and the spiritual science has been revealed through the solution to the mystery of life. He who wants to, can now study the world picture and achieve knowledge about the laws of life, what is right and what is wrong, and learn to see it all from God's own viewpoint.

To reveal the solution to the mystery of life and the laws of life and to see it all from God's own viewpoint is what I was elected to do through the before mentioned experiences with the figure of Christ who walked into me. It is still there, it still shines for he who can see it. It shone over the seas, countries and continents, over humanities etc. It could not have been shown more fundamentally.

So, in this way the world picture is now ready to be adjusted to science when science is ready. It is still fairly new, but it is growing with enormous steps. Scientists are not going to continue being only materialists, because there are other people than materialists who can become scientists. The spiritually developed people can also become doctors and professors on the material plane. In years to come, when the world war and the world catastrophes that are approaching have passed, there will be made ways to combine the materialistic science with the spiritual science, that is, the analysis of the world picture.

Without these analyses, mankind would not be able to advance. And advancing is very important because you are in the process of developing away from being an animal. The constellation of your poles is developing enormously and in a few generations you will not be able to live in the same way as today. Then you will want to live in a different way, and the life that you will then enjoy will lie ready for you. It will be a divine life in light and joy, science and art, and not a life in unhappy marriages, faithlessness, perversities, misery and poverty, war and exile. It is of such a character, that you are not able to comprehend it today and it may sound as if I am exaggerating, but I am not. I cannot exaggerate life's structure of love. Even if I use all my intelligence, I cannot exaggerate the divine love and wisdom within the whole system. I have been allowed to show this to a certain extent – in a form in which it can be understood by man. If I were to give it a higher form, you would not be able to understand it. If I were to continue, I would have to glide into a new form, which you would not be able to understand. Through the study of the cosmic analyses of the world picture and the solution to the mystery of life, you will grow into experiencing what I have experienced. You will become sovereign just as I am sovereign.

I don't have to ask others, how it is in the spiritual worlds. What we do, when we die. I have an open, complete day-conscious access to see and to describe this in my awake, physical state. At this material plane I am able to live in a divinely transfigured state of life, even though I have to have a camouflage. I have to look like other people, because I have been given a body that is equal to that of other people. But this is not my own body; it is not the body I am used to having in my own world. It is a body I had to have here, because there were no others to get. But as already mentioned, I have adjusted this body through the first seven years so that it obeys my 'I'. It obeys my spiritual state, so that I have been able to live so much in it, that my faculty of intuition, which is the organ for cosmic experience, is permanent, is under the control of my will in the same way as my physical eyesight is under the control of my will. With my intuitive faculty under full control, I have been able to create the world picture.

Naturally I am protected by the collaborators of world redemption, by Providence. There is an organic society of highly initiated beings on the spiritual plane. They are united, but not through membership and not through an association, but through having the same divine will, the same development, and the same view of what is right and what is wrong. Through this common view they are a unity. This unity directs and guides the world and it also decides what I have to give the world and what I must not give. Providence is my protection, my foundation. It is this unit that can hear your prayers, that hears my prayers; it hears all the sighs and screams of the animals. It is this unit that directs and guides the world; it instates different governments and politicians and takes them away when they no longer have to be there. It directs the entire divine plan that mankind is looking for. Mankind is not left to be governed by chance, it is governed firmly towards a divine state. This you can also learn through my analyses. There you will be able to see the entire divine world plan and see how everything fits and tallies. And you will be able to see that 'everything is very good', just as God sees it. At this moment everything is as perfect as it can be based on its past and in view of what it will be in the future. A speck of dust cannot fall accidentally, if it could, the whole universe would be out of order. There is no miscalculation in the universe, then it would never have been able to exist eternally. Something that has to last eternally must be made so that it can last eternally.

Now I have told you something about my mission and what it will mean for the future. The lovely state of affairs, this prosperity which reigns here, will not last forever, waves of karma will also roll over the welfare states and people will experience misery and pain. It is the sufferings that will make people humane, that develop the ability that means that you cannot find it in your heart to do evil. Therefore, the sufferings are something good, and I have called it an 'unpleasant good'. It is not pleasant, but it is a good thing.

The real Christianity is not over, even though the old Christianity is on the retreat. We no longer believe in 'eternal hell', 'grace' and the forgiveness of sins. We will get 'forgiveness of sins' but not in the way it has been said in the churches. When we perform a bad deed and go on performing this bad deed, we get the same deed back. When you have performed a bad deed towards a human being and you realize that this was wrong and you repent it and you are not able to do it anymore, then you don't get the karma back, you get 'forgiveness of sins'.

The main thing is not that you know the analyses and the complex issues to a high degree. The main thing is really that you can forgive your neighbor. This is where Christ says, not only seven times, but until seventy times seven times you must forgive your neighbor. This is the main problem for man in his daily life. Most people have somebody who they do not like and do not think well of. But you have to be in the same way as the sun. The sun is the foundation of the physical life here. In the same way we have to be the foundation for our surroundings. We must send light and heat into the terrain of ice in the mentality of other people. Maybe we can illuminate the mentality of 'dark people'* if we are strong enough, or we can train to do it. It is all about saying to ourselves: 'Today I want to be a joy and a blessing to everything I get in contact with'. Then you are in complete harmony and you are helping recreate yourself and mankind to be in the image of God."

* In this context Martinus uses the term "dark people" meaning human beings with a mental darkness, that is, a lower capacity for neighbourly love, due to them being on an earlier step in their evolution. Editors note.