M2002: The Mystery of Easter

M2002

The Mystery of Easter

by Martinus

1. The Maundy Thursday principle

Even though in my book entitled "Easter" I have given an account of my view of the mystery of Easter, there still remain some things to point out regarding this holy story that has been handed down to us. Even if the Easter story was not the expression of an actual event that once took place, which it in fact is, it would still be such an extremely fundamental piece of poetic writing, so ingeniously and deeply rooted in the very principle of life, that it will endure into far distant times as a steadfast symbol of reality itself.

The Easter story can be divided into three sections, each of which expresses a specific aspect of life. It is these three sections that we commemorate through the three holy days, which are respectively Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The first section we can therefore call the "Maundy Thursday principle", the next, the "Good Friday principle", and the third, the "Easter Sunday principle". These three principles are far more deeply rooted in everyday life than you have perhaps ever imagined until now. They are in fact so deeply-rooted within ecclesiastical Christianity that they are mentioned at every burial service in the form of the three sentences: "From earth hast thou come", "to earth shalt thou return", "and from earth shalt thou rise again".

What do we understand by the "Maundy Thursday principle"? According to the account that has been handed down to us, we are told that Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples and that Judas left the gathering in order to betray his Master. We are then told about the walk that same evening to the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as Jesus' spiritual struggle, the presence of the angel and how the disciples fell asleep leaving Jesus to his own hard fate. What is it we are witness to here? Is it not precisely a complete characterisation of the still primitive terrestrial human being's everyday existence? Do we not see human beings sharing intimate friendship, feasting together and yet beneath the outward pleasures of the feast they are surreptitiously slandering and betraying one another? Is it not also very often the case that like-minded friends are sleepy and indifferent to each other's suffering? And is this not also the very place wherein dwells the culmination of mental agony and the fear of death? And is there any other situation or sphere of consciousness in which the presence of an angel is more needed than precisely here? And is it not such an angel that reveals itself through every being who practises or interprets the gospel of love? Is there a greater angelic action than this: to give up one's life in order to save one's neighbour? There is, at any rate, no action that is more loving. The account of Maundy Thursday is therefore, besides being an account of the world redeemer, a symbolic picture of terrestrial mankind itself.

2. "From earth hast thou come"

As we mentioned earlier, this picture is also given expression through the concentrated sentence, "From earth hast thou come". Is it not the case that as a result of modern scientific research in all fields it is becoming more and more clear that the terrestrial human being was not produced out of "nothing", as a result of some momentary command, but that its outward creation is a visible expression of an evolutionary process that took place over an immeasurable period of time? Is it not apparent to every intellectual human being that the Earth was at one time in a state of flaming, glowing fire, inevitably devoid of all plant and animal life? Is it not just as much a fact that the flaming matter gradually cooled down thereby becoming transformed into water, gravel and sand, in other words into "earth"? And as a result of an interaction between this "earth", the sunlight and the water of the globe, did there not then evolve plant life? And did not plant life gradually turn into animal life? Have not the transitional forms of plants, which are both half plant and half animal, long since become scientific facts? And can we not follow the gradual evolutionary process of the animal organisms right up to the terrestrial human form? The terrestrial human organism is quite literally made out of "earth". And this sentence from ecclesiastical Christianity therefore expresses a scientific truth.

3. The Good Friday principle

The next principle in the mystery of Easter can be expressed as the "Good Friday principle". This is expressed in the Bible as the account of how Jesus was brought before the supreme judge in Palestine, Pontius Pilate, as well as the account of his scourging, his divine utterances, suffering and death on the cross. So what are these events an expression of? Do they not constitute in principle death itself and the outward trappings that always exist around death? Every terrestrial human being will without fail undergo the process that we call "death". And is it not the case that every terrestrial human being when it begins to sense the approach of death, will become anxious and begin to feel itself facing the highest judge, as a result of which it can experience all sorts of terrors. And is it not precisely these terrors that together are the beginnings of so-called "purgatory"? Are there not many terrestrial human beings that at this point experience "crucifixion" in one form or another? There are in fact even some who as a result of a very bad conscience actually feel themselves to be in "the burning fires of Hell" and in their agony call out to Providence or the world redeemer to be saved or set free, just as there are also others who are happy, forgiving all and everything and surrendering their spirit in the greatest and most heartfelt trust in the eternal Godhead. And is it not precisely these details connected with the process of dying that can be expressed symbolically in the events surrounding the death of the world redeemer? Are not the crown of thorns, the scourging, the scorn and mockery of the crowd and the nailing to and death on the cross an apt expression of "purgatory" or "Hell"? Is this not where the feeling of being cut off from God appears in its culmination? Does not the world redeemer cry out and confirm this very point in the well-known words: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me"? But can we not see salvation and bliss symbolised in the scene of the world redeemer's death? Amidst the scorn and humiliation, when he stood before Pilate and the crowd, was he not conscious of being a "king", even though his kingdom "was not of this world"? Did he not feel that his life's work, his mission, was brought to its conclusion? And did he not take all his enemies to his heart with the cry: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"? And can we not see a limitless trust in Providence in the final weak sigh from his dying lips: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"? Can one imagine a greater symbolisation of the opposite of "Hell"? To feel oneself enveloped in royal dignity, to feel the work of one's life brought to its conclusion, to embrace one's executioners and tormentors with the deepest and most sincere longings of one's love and at the same time, out of the culmination of security, to give up one's spirit into the care of God, can only be the culmination of the ideal of a being's meeting with death or its return to God.

4. "To earth shalt thou return"

This "Good Friday principle" is in turn, as already mentioned, also expressed in the sentence, "to earth shalt thou return". So what is it that will and can turn back into "earth"? Is it not the very same as that which "came of earth"? And that which "came of earth" was, as we have already mentioned, the being's flesh and blood, animal organism. This animal organism will therefore once again become "earth". But this is only what all human beings have long since known to be a fact. It is this fact that everyone calls "death". But there is something that cannot die, something that has not "come from earth", and that therefore cannot "become earth". It is this "something" in the organism that feels anxious about dying and joyful about living; it is this "something" that feels spiritual agony and suffering and hungers for love; it is this "something" that finds redemption in sensing a Godhead, into whose hands it can commend its spirit. It is this spirit that lives, commends, commands and creates in the organism. That there is such a commending and commanding "something" in the organism becomes clear as a result of the fact that we can move our limbs, we can sense, feel and perceive, we can love and hate. All this takes place as a result of the will, in one or other of its three stages: "A-knowledge", "B-knowledge" or "C-knowledge", which in turn means: will as an awake day-conscious function or will as an automatic function. We express this "something" that directs the will as the "I", when we are speaking about ourselves. We say "I thought, I spoke, I wrote" etc.. That this "something" that commands or directs the will must come before the organism is merely what is everywhere shown to be a fact. One has still never seen anything other than that an organism, right from its first weak, embryonic stage and through to its fully grown state, is normally built up completely according to a plan. And if something has a plan it can only exist as a product of will. As will, in turn, can only exist as a product of wishing, and wishing is ultimately the same as "desire for life", it becomes clear that "something", which had a desire for the life that can be experienced through the organism, existed before the organism. The fact is that desire can absolutely only exist as a characteristic of "something"; it cannot be a characteristic of "nothing".

5. The "creator" behind the "created"

This living "something" that directs the will thus constitutes the "creator" behind the "created". If this were not the case, it would be the "created" that produced the "creator", which of course is one hundred per cent at odds with the facts and reality. A builder is needed to build a house, a baker is needed to bake bread, just as a poet is needed to write a poem. Nothing can come into existence out of chance occurrences or chaos. Only a "something" with a strong will and desire to realise a plan can transform chance occurrences and chaos into something with a plan or a logical organisation. This organisation is what we call the created. And to such an organisation belongs the living being's organism. And the organiser of this organism thus constitutes what we call the "I" or the "spirit". And it is the vague presentiment or hope that this spirit is present and immortal that particularly emerges in the individual's physical day consciousness through the "Good Friday principle" or in the being's sense that it is about to "die". It becomes more and more accustomed to putting this "spirit" into the hands of God each time its physical organism must of necessity turn back into the "earth" from which it has come. The "Good Friday principle" is thus "the death principle" or the giving back of the material of the organism to the earth. It is the separation of the I or the "spirit" from the physical organism. This separation comes about as a result of the cycle that occurs everywhere in the natural world. Without this separation the living being would never ever be able to experience its divine sovereignty as the absolute lord and master of matter and life. If it did not experience its life outside a certain kind of matter or basic energy, it would eternally remain uncertain about its immortality and the true nature of its I as a spark of God.

6. The principle of resurrection or the Easter Day principle

The sentence, "to earth thou shalt return", does not therefore in reality express a discouraging process whereby life is destroyed, but a shining decree that guarantees the eternity of the individual's vital functions. But this guarantee would be a total impossibility were it not for the existence of the principle of resurrection, or what I have already described to you as the "Easter Day principle". The Easter story that has been handed down to us tells how Jesus of Nazareth, having been buried for two days, rose from the grave and was recognised by several of his friends, in fact was even on one occasion present at a gathering of all of them where he added to the teaching and knowledge that he had already given them before his crucifixion or death. Just as the two other sections of the Easter story, the principles of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, were rooted in reality and were the expressions of extraordinarily common basic principles in the everyday existence of terrestrial human beings, the principle of resurrection or the Easter Sunday principle is also to the very highest degree a symbol or an expression of a steadfast principle that dominates the whole of life. It is true that to ordinary terrestrial human beings this principle is not so materially and physically clear as the first two principles, and this is precisely the reason why to these beings this principle still appears as a profound mystery. Terrestrial human beings' sensory capacity still mainly encompasses only physical reactions and their purely material dimensions and weight, their speeds and volume. But the results of these calculations cannot give the individual any direct information about things that have no dimensions, things that have no weight, things that have no speed or movement, things that have no volume or consistency or that take up no space. These results can give information only about the characteristics of matter. And as a result of the strong limitations in the sensory capacity of terrestrial human beings, matter has become what dominates entirely the terrestrial human mentality or consciousness, in fact it has become so all-encompassing that these beings sometimes flatly deny the existence of anything else whatsoever, thereby rendering themselves identical to matter.

7. In terrestrial human beings there exists a certain, specific hunger that cannot be satisfied with ordinary, scientific results

So is there anything else? Yes, most definitely! Matter cannot possibly constitute everything that exists, which is made clear through the previously mentioned results calculated on the basis of weight and measure. These do not in any way answer the questions of evolved beings and cannot therefore satisfy their intelligence, which they would definitely be able to do if they one hundred per cent expressed what exists. That a being is 175cm high, that it weighs 70kg and that it expresses a certain speed through its manifestations or takes up a certain amount of space with its organism, gives no explanation whatsoever of why it expresses these specific results. One is therefore left with a "why?" One can of course say that the being's dimensions and weight as well as other aspects of its appearance are to some extent "inherited" from its parents, but does this answer the question? Does one not want to ask why these things are inherited from its parents? Finding out that this inheritance is due to certain principles of reproduction in the deepest function centres of the organism, by means of which abilities and characteristics can be transferred into new beings where they can then develop, does not remove the persistent "why?" either. Does this not make one long to know "why" it is inherited? Why does the material and mental outward appearance of the children sometimes end up being almost a copy of the material and mental outward appearance of the father and the mother? Does it offer any satisfaction to gain the information that also here it is due to the functions of specific organs of one sort or another? What knowledge has one actually gained? Have we arrived at anything other than functions? To gain the knowledge that the creation of a thing is the result of functions, and that these functions are in turn the result of other functions and so on ad infinitum, is just as impossible an explanation as that the hen came out of the egg, and the egg came out of the hen, which in turn came out of the egg and so on. Who determines these functions is still an open question. But since a question is the same as a mental hunger, it is therefore an irrefutable fact that in terrestrial human beings there exists a particular kind of mental hunger that cannot be satisfied with ordinary scientific results or information about functions or degrees of weight and measure, regardless of how irrefutable these facts may be. But since hunger can never under any circumstances exist without in itself constituting one half of a principle, of which the other half constitutes satiation, it is consequently a fact that there also exists a "satiation" for this hunger or an answer to the question: Who determines the functions?

8. What characterises the living being is thinking and the exercising of will and the planned creation that is manifested as a result. The "something" that directs cannot be identical to matter

As you have seen, the answer is not to be found in the results of calculations based on weight and measure, as they express only the nature and characteristics of functions, and are quite unable to give any direct information whatsoever about who determined the functions. And this has in fact caused people to make do with the substitute result or answer that everything is down to "pure chance". People claim that all the processes and functions of Nature are mere "chance occurrences". But what are "chance occurrences"? People use the expression "chance occurrences" to denote those things or functions that cannot be said to be a product of a living being's will or logical intervention. They have therefore had to divide the functions, or what they experience, into two groups, namely, "what is pure chance" and "what is planned". This then means that there are functions or things that are such that they can exist only as a revelation or an irrefutable proof of an originator behind them that is living and thereby thinking and exercising its will, and at the same time there are other functions or things whose appearance is such that they seemingly give no expression whatsoever to being a product of will or thinking. To the extent that this exercising of will or thinking is revealed as a fact, the living being behind the thing will also be a fact. What characterises the living being is thinking and the exercising of will and the planned creation that is manifested as a result. As the researcher therefore has to divide all the functions that make up the experience of life into two groups or categories, namely "what is pure chance" and "what is planned", it becomes clear that life cannot be made up of mere "functions"; by nature it expresses more than that. It expresses that which makes the functions planned. But for the functions to be able to be planned and a logical manifestation arise as a consequence, they have to be governed by "intelligence" and "will". Besides the ordinary functions or movements, life is also made up of these two factors. But as these also constitute "functions", albeit of a different kind to those mentioned first, they also leave behind a big question in the observer's consciousness. Because they are "directed", "intelligence" and "will" are subordinate functions. The question then arises: "Who or what directs the "intelligence" and the "will"?

Functions or movements are in themselves "dead" things and cannot therefore control themselves. The functions of an aeroplane themselves cannot wish that the aeroplane should ascend or descend. It is only through the use of will and intelligence that this ascent or descent can take place in a logical or perfect way. But as "will" is the same as "wishing", it becomes clear that there must be a "something" that wishes the aeroplane's ascent or descent and that has to use "intelligence" in order to achieve the satisfaction of this wish. And to this you might say, "Yes, but that is of course the pilot". But does this give a satisfactory answer to the question? Who or what is the "pilot"? Examining his birth certificate does not solve the matter, just as the fact that he is a human being provides no comprehensive answer to the problem either. What is a "terrestrial human being"? Is it not an organism built up of matter as a result of certain functions, and which itself elicits certain functions in matter? But in this respect it is no different from all other existing so-called "living beings". What is an "animal"? Is it not just as much an organism that is built up of certain functions and that elicits certain functions, quite irrespective of whether this being is a bird, a fish, a tiger, an insect or any other living being. But is it in any way an explanation of the intelligent steering of the aeroplane, its logical ascending and descending, to know that there is behind its control wheel an organism that is built up of functions and that itself elicits functions? What is it we are witnessing here? We see an aeroplane. This constitutes an organism that is built up of functions and that is made to elicit functions. Behind its control wheel sits an organism that is also built up of functions and that is made to elicit functions, that in turn are transmitted to the aeroplane's functions, which they control. What we see are some functions (the terrestrial human being's) controlling, through the use of intelligence and will, other functions (the aeroplane's), but has this enabled us to find the solution to the mystery of life? Is this not still a riddle? Can anyone understand that functions can elicit functions that have intelligence? Can functions laugh or cry? Can functions build a house, make a garment or give a lecture? Such questions sound naive, don't they? But they are nevertheless highly relevant if one claims that the living being constitutes merely its flesh and blood organism and that every notion of the existence behind the organism of a so-called "immortal spirit" is pure fantasy or superstition. But is there any truth in such an assertion? Is it not becoming increasingly clear to all intelligent human beings that a logical function cannot possibly exist independently, but can absolutely only ever appear as a characteristic that is directed. But as it is a characteristic that is directed, it becomes clear that there must exist something that is directing. That this "something" in the first instance is "intelligence" and "will" cannot be an adequate answer because these two factors are also "functions" that are directed. We are still left with the question: "Who is directing the intelligence and the will?" And there can never ever be an end to this question until the answer represents a "something" that absolutely cannot be directed, but is itself what is directing. It must be a "something" to which "intelligence" and "will" are subordinate characteristics like the other functions. As matter and functions are in reality the same, because they both constitute movement or vibration, the directing "something" cannot therefore be identical to matter. But as it is not identical to movement or matter, it cannot constitute any other analysis than that it constitutes "something that is". Absolutely any other analysis that we bestow on it can express only this "something's" subordinate characteristics and cannot therefore constitute this "something" itself. And in the acknowledgement of the existence of this "something" there is no longer a question about what or who is behind the organism.

9. The living being's "something" or "I" is an eternal reality

One can understand that the living being represents two irrefutable principles: "matter" and so-called "spirit". "Matter" constitutes the functions, and "spirit" constitutes the "something" that directs the functions. The functions are in turn the same as "what is created" whereas the aforementioned "something" constitutes the "creator". We have therefore arrived at the true, steadfast "creator" behind the functions, behind the will and the intelligence. We have arrived at a "creator" that shows itself to be, not a mere "function" or a manifestation of intelligence and will that is lacking a master or originator, but a living "something" to which everything in life without exception has to be a subordinate characteristic or something of secondary importance. It is quite obvious that this "something" in itself cannot have a beginning or a conclusion, because it has never ever been created. But because it has not had a beginning, because it has not been created, it cannot be a function or a movement. But because it does not constitute any form of movement, it cannot demonstrate or be subject to any form of change and cannot therefore represent any form of conclusion. It is an absolutely eternal reality. And it is this eternal reality that we have been unable to avoid giving expression to in language. It is this that we express as the "I". When we want to express ourselves we do not say "the organism saw" or "matter saw", which would otherwise be the completely correct expression if this eternal "something" did not exist and the organism or matter was thus the absolutely only thing in existence. What we say is "I saw", "I went", "I wrote" etc. To express the organism or matter as the originator that directs the will would not therefore have been satisfactory. These two factors would not have been able to cover the actual experience of life. But because we have thus had to find an expression for "something" that could not be expressed as the "organism" or "matter", but had to be expressed as the "I", each one of us individually confirms, albeit unconsciously, the existence of this "something" each time we feel compelled to express our own self by using the term "I".

10. "From earth shalt thou rise again"

As we have seen, what we express by using the term "I" thus constitutes neither "matter" nor the "organism". But as it is not "matter" or the "organism", it can be only what governs the organism and matter, and that is the individual's or the being's real, eternal self. And we have therefore in the "I" found the real, "immortal spirit" of the individual. But one cannot explain this "spirit" in a single lecture; one would need a whole book or series of volumes. And it is precisely such a book that it has been my task to manifest in the form of "Livets Bog" (The Book of Life). You will therefore understand that in my lecture I have been able to outline for you only the most prominent details of this "spirit" or our eternal, immortal I. But because we have in this way become aware of this immortal I, it is easier to understand the sentence, "from earth shalt thou rise again", just as the mystery of the resurrection on Easter morning also hereby becomes accessible to the intelligence or intellectual investigation.

11. What we call "death" is life's greatest illusion

Because the living being's organism thus does not constitute the real being, but is made up of matter that, through the use of intelligence and will, is combined in such a way that the organism constitutes a tool, with which the "I" can reveal its existence or presence in the universe, it is evident that this I is therefore above and beyond the existence of the organism or this tool. It therefore neither stands nor falls with it. What does stand or fall with the organism or tool is therefore not the I or the eternal "something" in the being, but what constitutes the result of the existence of the organism or this tool. And as this result constitutes the I's revealing or proclaiming of itself as an "individual" or a "living being", it is this revealing or proclaiming that stands or falls with the organism. But the fact that the "I's" proclaiming or revealing of its identity as an "individual" or a "living being" to other beings stands or falls with the organism, does not mean that this identity in itself does not exist. Quite the contrary, it constitutes, through the "I" or the eternal and thereby immortal part, the individuality itself or what is real or imperishable in the individual. In turn this therefore means that it is only outwardly to other living beings that the individual's death or perishability appears to exist. These beings' recognition of the individual's existence is exclusively dependent on the proclamation of this existence that the individual can give through its organism. As the organism, which is a "created thing" and therefore perishable and like all other created things must once more be broken down, owing to the great universal principle of cycles that all matter is subject to, the individual can thereafter no longer manifest this proclamation. And because it no longer exists, it cannot of course create reactions in the sensory apparatus of other beings either. They can no longer see life in the individual's organism and therefore believe it to have been destroyed, thereby causing the individual's conscious existence to cease to exist. And this brings us to the greatest illusion in life, or what we call "death". Death is therefore in itself merely the individual's ceasing to proclaim its existence to other beings. The fact that the commencement and ceasing of this proclamation is not normally subject to the will, but is governed by the previously mentioned universal principle of cycles that all matter is subject to, does not change the identity of death as an illusion. It is and will remain, not the cessation of an individual, but the cessation of a proclamation. The cessation of this proclamation is due to the failure of the tool (the organism) through which the proclamation could be manifested. This failure can be the result of an accident or a disaster, which causes the organism to become so disabled that its functioning can no longer in any way be maintained and it is then separated from the domain of the I. But normally this separation of the organism from the domain of the I takes place as a result of old age, which is in turn based on the previously mentioned principle of cycles.

12. Reincarnation or the replacement of organisms

Because the I has at one time, by virtue of its imperishable or eternal state, taken part in building up the organism that has departed, it will also once again be able to take part in building up a new organism, through which it will be able to once more proclaim its existence or presence in the universe or life. And this brings us to the very foundation of reincarnation. The individual continues to form for itself a new organism when the old one, as a result of the principle of cycles, has to be replaced or broken down. This replacement of the organisms, which is what reincarnation is, is therefore not an interruption of the individual's existence or its actual life, but merely an interruption of its proclamation of its eternal existence. And this is the reason why we, through physical sensing, are not able to witness anything permanent or eternal about the individual's existence. What we do in fact witness is that in all individuals without exception this existence is interrupted. We of course see new organisms coming into existence, but because the beings are still mainly able only to sense physically and have no day-conscious memory of previous lives, no day-conscious recognition of the originators of these new organisms can take place, even though the "I's" or "spirits" of these originators have known each other in many previous lives. The beings are inevitably reduced to believing that it is a completely new individual or being that begins with the formation of each embryo in a mother's womb, and that the womb is therefore the very place where their own life had its origins, and that their present life is the absolutely only one that they have experienced or ever will experience, because at worst they believe that death is an absolutely uncompromising annihilation of their existence. But despite everything, there nevertheless dwells deep within all individuals the hope of a continuing eternal existence, even though it can temporarily be hidden behind the dark, impenetrable clouds of materialistic thinking.

13. All living beings have existed eternally and will go on existing in all eternity

Because the individual or the living being thus constitutes an organism made up of matter and an "I" or a "spirit" that exists eternally, it is easy to analyse the principle of resurrection. As the "I" or the "spirit" is eternally imperishable and thus to the same extent "immortal", a "resurrection", as I said before, cannot constitute the creation of a "new spirit" or a "new I". There could never ever exist a "new spirit" or a "new I". All the life that exists today has existed eternally and will go on existing in all eternity. Only the combinations of matter that are a product of the will and the might of the "I" or the "spirit", that is to say the "created things", are subject to creation and cessation or "birth" and "death". Regarding "resurrection", this is merely a question of something that "emerges" or "arises", which in turn means something that comes into being, something that is "created", something that is "born". But because "new spirits" or "I's" cannot "be created" or "come into being", a "resurrection" cannot constitute the appearance of a "new I" or a "new spirit", but merely the appearance of a "new creation" produced by the "I" or the "spirit". But because "creation" is actually the "spirit's" or the "I's" "proclamation" of its existence or presence in the universe, a "resurrection" will therefore merely constitute a "new proclamation" of this "spirit's" or "I's" eternal existence. When a little child is born, this birth, which by nature is also a "resurrection", will not be the creation of a "new spirit" or a "new I", but the creation of a "new proclamation" of an eternally existing "spirit" or an "immortal I".

14. Resurrection is the same as an enlargement or enrichment of consciousness

The eternal existence of the "spirit" or the "I" is unaffected by resurrection. Only the "spirit's" or the "I's" proclamation of its existence changes. And these changing proclamations that the "I" makes of its eternal existence are what we call "terrestrial lives". In principle a "terrestrial life" is thus a "new proclamation" of our "spirit's" or our "I's" eternal being. These "proclamations" (the terrestrial lives) are not an exact copy of each other. Each "new proclamation" differs to some extent from the preceding one. This process of change reveals itself in turn as constituting a "cycle". What is meant by a cycle in this instance is the passage of a manifestation through "spiritual", gaseous, liquid and solid matter. It is this process of change that we witness in every form of matter and in every form of creation. For example we can see air condensing into water, water freezing and becoming ice, ice in turn melting and becoming water, that in turn evaporates and becomes air, from where it in turn transforms into forms of electricity and becomes "spiritual" in nature. But it is not only with water that this process takes place. Every form of matter will be able to appear only in one or other of these states. So no matter can occur without being solid, liquid, gaseous or electrical. And in fact we can also see that the very creation of the Earth demonstrates the same cycle. This creation began out in space as a combination of electrical forces that gradually turned into luminous mists, that turned into liquid fire, which was then condensed into a solid globe and this in turn, through the evolution of the living beings in its sphere, is in the process of changing from a state of coarse, physical matter into one displaying colossal mental expression and refinement of thought. From being heavy, primitive, physical matter it is now on its way to being made spiritual. We also witness this process in the study of the evolutionary path of the human being. Are not the first apelike, primitive humans equipped with a mighty, material organism, with a colossal skeletal structure and a compact musculature, but only a very small mental function? If we go even further back in the living being's evolution on this Earth, we come to the great prehistoric animals. These creatures' mental function is even less by far, whereas their organism's representation of heaviness and volume is even more massive. If, on the other hand, we look at the present-day most refined and intellectual, civilised human being, it's organism is far less material in nature, whereas its mental function is colossal. As the mental function is electrical in nature, it means that the Earth, as well as the living beings in its sphere, is on its way towards the cycle's state of "spiritual" matter. And this passage in the cycle is what we term "evolution". This process constitutes in reality a kind of "spiritualisation" of matter or its transformation from a solid, heavy state into more porous, gaseous and "spiritual" states. This "spiritualised" matter is what we call "thoughts" or "consciousness". The "spiritualisation" of matter therefore implies an "expansion" of consciousness and a corresponding "reduction" of the material organism. And this brings us to the principle of resurrection in its highest analysis.

Resurrection is therefore the same as an enlargement or an enrichment of consciousness. But an enrichment of consciousness is in turn the same as a kind of awakening from "ignorance" to "knowledge". And is it not this very "awakening" that we are witnessing in the form of the colossal increase in "education" that is becoming more and more prevalent in all civilised states? Is not the world war that is at present asserting itself a colossal gathering of experience in how "the killing principle" and its effects find expression? Is it not conceivable that the thoughts this experience gives rise to, or the familiarity with the true effects of this principle, which the beings experience as a result of war, will become books that will in turn form the basis of education in the creation of culture, which in turn means education in the creation of "humaneness"? Is not war precisely an activation of everything that destroys or opposes humanism and that thereby undermines all creation of culture? Is it not the case that the great universities, colleges and ordinary schools are based on creating culture, at the same time as the very fact that they are needed constitutes proof that religions, churches and faith are not capable of creating it? They constitute the proof that experience is needed in order for the eternal answers that are proclaimed by the churches as "dogmas requiring faith" to be proclaimed by the universities and colleges as "science" or "facts". As these facts are never in any circumstances or instances found to be in favour of inhumaneness or war, murdering or wounding, but are universally in favour of, either directly or indirectly, the creation of humaneness and the peace and neighbourly love that is based on it, between states as well as individuals, it becomes clear that the more powerfully war takes place, with its destruction, murdering and wounding, the more powerfully it undermines and destroys itself, thereby creating correspondingly quickly the "resurrection" of a new era for humankind. The millions of graves into which have been cast the individuals of thousands of families, generation after generation, will inevitably bring into focus the delusions, the mental filth and rubbish or the mental barrenness that has brought about the horrors of war. And together with the contents of these graves, the dismembered corpses, the glazed eyes, the cold hands and the dried blood, all these delusions will face complete resolution, will pass into other forms and become new matter in accordance with the eternal laws of the cycle. And before our eyes, the dark graves will have disappeared, they will have passed into the great nothingness of oblivion, but their sad contents will, in the form of the lilies, roses, lawns and parks, sparkle in the bright light of their resurrection. And where once the death cries of the wounded rose towards the heavens and their blood fell towards the Earth, the terrain will be made golden. The innumerable summer morning dew drops on the grass and on the leaves and flowers reflect the warming light of the sun, making the Earth one with heaven, while from thousands of tiny throats a great stream of song soars upwards to the clouds in praise of the eternal Father. There is a sense of heaven on Earth. And walking amongst this sphere of beauty in gloriously beautiful, new organisms are the I's, whose previous organisms at one time filled the dark graves as corpses, but which have now, through the principle of cycles, risen from the dead and in a glorified state become material for the Godhead's caressing of his eternal sons. The contents of the graves, the stinking corpses, have become luminous matter, they have become new nourishment and life, they have become colour in all its variety, they have become joy and blessing. A more beautiful meeting with the living beings' rubbish from the past cannot possibly be imagined. And just as sewage is transformed into the crystal clear water that we drink, which becomes the pure air that we breathe, which is the same as the blue sky that we look at, the effects of our delusions are transformed into a sense of God's presence. This transformation is the same as "resurrection". And to this "resurrection", all is matter subject.

15. The resurrection in the mystery of Easter is a symbol of the principle of cycles. The I is "that which is eternal", matter "that which is changeable"

The "resurrection" in the mystery of Easter is therefore not a mere account of Jesus' appearance in a spiritual body that was free of physical matter; it is also a symbol of the principle of cycles or the fundamental principle that determines that no absolute destruction or annihilation can take place, because it renders all destruction as well as all creation identical to "transformation". And it is this transformation of matter that is expressed in the three well-known sentences: "From earth hast thou come", "to earth shalt thou return", "and from earth shalt thou rise again". What are these sentences an expression of, if not an eternal, rhythmic process of change or transformation. They describe how two fundamental realities relate to each other. These two realities are expressed in the sentences as "earth" and "thou", and are in turn, from a cosmic point of view, identical to "matter" and the "I" respectively. As the I cannot become "matter", and "matter" cannot become the I, the absolute substance of the three previously mentioned sentences can therefore only be: "from matter the I has freed itself", "to matter the I will again attach itself", "and from matter it will once again free itself". The I is therefore "that which is eternal" and matter "that which is changeable". And this brings us to the very deepest substance and absolute essence of the mystery of Easter, which is a description of the I's eternally changing relationship to matter. This changing relationship constitutes a liberation from and an attachment to matter. These two phenomena make up the two great main phases of the cycle. And of these, terrestrial human beings are at present experiencing the liberation, which is the same as what we call "evolution". This liberation will eventually culminate in the highest and most perfect, conscious mastery of matter, which in turn means, the total hundred per cent experience of the fulfilment of the laws of life, which in turn constitutes total neighbourly love, or being one with the Godhead. The other phase in the cycle constitutes the opposite of evolution and is expressed in "Livets Bog" as "involution". Here the individual as a result of its strong material desires and wishes becomes increasingly attached to matter. This attachment reaches its culmination in a total continuation of matter, which has settled itself layer upon layer around the individual's spiritual consciousness, to a certain extent putting it out of action and bringing it into a kind of state of rest. It is this weakened spiritual functioning or this state of rest of the higher spiritual centres that is the cause of the total ignorance of its own being, its immortality and identity as a son of God and the resultant downright antipathy and intolerance towards and persecution of all religiosity that characterises the primitive, materialistic terrestrial human being and that makes him an enthusiastic practitioner of everything that comes under the concept of "evil".

16. Terrestrial human beings' deepest hope, longing and goal is "peace"

But terrestrial human beings are already far advanced in "evolution" or the liberation from this state and find themselves in the midst of the maximal form of the "resurrection" principle. Their deepest hope, longing and goal is "peace", which means total neighbourly love. It is true they still take part to a great extent in war and bloodshed but this happens exclusively because they believe that by these means they can procure or create more perfect, idealistic conditions or the peace they so strongly desire. The battlefield of today is not, as it was in times gone by, the scene of wild, rapturous satisfaction of mere warmongering and bloodthirstiness; it is the result of an illusory necessity that serves as a means of satisfying the real craving, the longing for the perfect civilisation, which is in turn the same as neighbourly love or total, lasting and mutual peace between states as well as individuals, and the real, perfect experience of life and existence that is its consequence.

17. The Christian burial ceremony is a splendid account of the son of God's exalted identity as the absolute, sovereign master of matter and death

As you have seen, the three sentences that we referred to from the Christian burial ceremony are nothing less than a splendid, perfect account of the son of God's real, exalted identity as the absolute, sovereign master of matter and thereby death. They are, in a nutshell, the deepest essence of the mystery of Easter and the absolute basis or foundation of world redemption. Neighbourly love is the real, perfect life. And to the extent that you, in an intellectual way, begin to envelop those people or things that today you do not like, or perhaps even hate, in the warmth-giving light of understanding and sympathy, with which you would otherwise envelop only your best friends, a new, transfigured body will begin to bear your consciousness and cast its heavenly light through your physical appearance. And behold, you will, like a blazing torch, cast the celestial light of peace into the eyes, minds and hearts of those you meet. You are peace. Wherever you go on the globe the blessing of the Almighty will shine forth and the presence of God will be felt.

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Original Danish title: Påskemysteriet. From a lecture given by Martinus at the Kosmos Holiday Camp on Maundy Thursday, 22 April 1943. First published in Danish in Letter nos. 40-43, 1943. Translated by Andrew Brown, 2005./p>

Article ID: M2002
Published in the English edition of Kosmos no. 1, 2005

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