M2097: Question-time for study-groups 1970

M2097

MARTINUS ANSWERS QUESTIONS

Question-time for study-groups (1970)

What follows is a selection of the answers Martinus gave at a question-time at The Martinus Institute on Wednesday 22^nd of April 1970. The answers deal with death, guardian angels and the spiritual world, a theme that appears in the new symbol-book "The Eternal World Picture", Book 6, which has recently been published in Danish and Swedish.

2. Do we develop in relation to our fate on the spiritual plane between two incarnations?
You do not develop on the spiritual plane. It is not a question of development. The spiritual plane is a plane of pleasure, a plane of rest. On that plane the point is to enjoy the fruits of the development you have achieved here on the physical plane. It is the case that as long as you have to incarnate physically, there is a connection between one spiritual life-time and the next. But that takes place beyond physical existence.¹

4. Do human beings change sex with each new incarnation?
If a human being changed sex with each new incarnation, it would mean being male every other time and female every other time. This would be highly unnatural. How could a petite feminine being, a delicate little maiden, become a robust man, a masculine being in her next life-time? [An outburst of laughter.] Being a woman demands talent just as being a man demands talent. This cannot change in such a way.

The cycle of sexuality stretches over two great sections of development, that is, over two spiral cycles. Those beings who in one spiral cycle are male beings, become female beings in the next and conversely. In this way it alternates. But, in fact, it is only in a very small part of the spiral cycle that the beings are one-poled. This development takes place only in the animal kingdom. The process of becoming one-poled begins in the plant kingdom and continues to grow until the beginning of the animal kingdom. The animal kingdom is the area where one-poledness reaches its culmination. Here we find the strongest masculine beings and the most feminine beings. Evolution then continues to the stage of human beings, who still have some of the animal principles in themselves. Evolution takes place in human beings in such a way that they grow out of this one-poled state. But this state is the basic requirement for marriage, which is still fundamental for the life of human beings here in the world, even though marriage and the state of copulation is degenerating and we call it "the zone of unhappy marriages".

We see how marriages are beginning to cease. People are living together without being married. All this has a part to play in the divine world plan. Everything connected with marriage, having children and so on, will cease. It is only in the animal kingdom and here in the unfinished human kingdom that this one-poledness exists, that the male sex and the female sex are separate. In reality every being has both sexes in themselves. In the male being the feminine pole has stagnated and in the feminine being the male pole has stagnated. This takes place in order to make it possible for human beings to do good and to do evil. Without this change of the poles no development at all would take place. Human beings would never ever experience what is evil and what is good and would therefore never ever come to fulfill the goal that it is their destiny to fulfill, that is, to become in God's image after his likeness. It is only here in the animal kingdom that human beings have this one-poled state of being male and female. Throughout the entire spiritual world, for millions of years, beings are not male or female; they are true human beings. This means that they have both poles in themselves, and it is with this state of being that they experience manifesting that they are actually in the image of God. God is not a man or a woman, but in God we find both these great cooperating pole-forces. If you are a man there is no need to be afraid that you will become a woman. A man does not become a woman in his next life-time and a woman does not become a man in her next life-time. It may happen that you have such a wish, but life does not comply with those kind of wishes.

6. What do abortions lead to in relation to the fate of the mother, the father and the fetus?
By contributing to an abortion you create hindrances in relation to your own birth. A woman who aborts her little fetus, will herself have such parents or will be in such circumstances where she has to become a fetus that is killed. It is not without significance when a fetus is killed and is not allowed to be born. The fetus is a discarnated spirit that is about to be born. Forces have been brought together to make it possible for it to be born. But when this birth is prevented, the being must return to the spiritual plane and try once again to get through. But it will then have lost a great deal of the force that it had collected the first time, and it can become a weakened being. Its physical organism can be less healthy, that is, sickly and so on. That is what can happen to the fetus. As I said, the mother can be born to parents where she will be aborted. If the father is partly to blame and has been taking part in the process then he cannot expect to be born in a normal way either. He might also repeatedly be prevented from being born.

7. How does a dying person experience the state in which he or she is being kept alive in an artificial way, for example in a state of brain death?
It must of course be a state which involves suffering. The dying person cannot come into the light. He is bound to the physical plane as long as there is life here. He would otherwise enter into the spiritual plane, but he cannot go there. Of course it is an unnatural situation. It is totally wrong to conduct such experiments. Yes, he is experiencing death in a highly unnatural way. He is kept alive and the normal processes of death are prevented and this is totally wrong. But this can only happen to a person who has that karma. It does not completely depend on the doctors. The man has this karma, he has this state of suffering. He is not protected from it, and therefore he is having this experience.

15. Where in the spiral cycle does reincarnation cease to exist?
Reincarnation ceases when we become finished human beings. When human beings become finished they become double-poled, they become true human beings. True human beings are not born by women. They can create a body for themselves through materialization and they can dissolve it through dematerialization. Within 3,000 years the time will come when human beings can materialize and dematerialize themselves. At this point they will be ready for the spiritual plane. They will pass over to the spiritual plane and do not need to come back to the earth. Reincarnation has then ceased and from then on they will live in the highest form of perfection in the cosmic kingdoms for thousands and thousands, indeed millions of years.

16. For how long have we been in the true human kingdom between two lives on earth? Do we ourselves decide when we would like to be born on earth again?
It is quite correct that human beings can generally enter the true human kingdom on the spiritual plane between two incarnations. If they are very advanced in their development, they will pass through the area of the true human kingdom, but of course not pass through the highest spheres but through the lowest spheres, where their stage of development allows it. In the same manner they will pass also through the divine world and thereafter find themselves in the kingdom of bliss, from where they will be born again.

The amount of time a human being can stay in the true human kingdom varies from one individual to another. Some do not enter the true human kingdom at all. It depends on whether they have developed humaneness – if they have not, they go to the lower paradises. There is, of course, a paradise for all degrees. The American Indians have their paradise, the Bushmen have their paradise. It is clear that they cannot all have the same paradise. They must have a paradise that they understand, a paradise that will give them joy and inspiration.

How long a human being stays on the spiritual plane varies from one individual to another. If a human being has a strong spiritual approach to life, is interested in spiritual matters and has a lot of spiritual knowledge, then he or she can be there for a long period. They can then be on the spiritual plane for about 80 years or maybe even longer. But this is on the condition that the being dies of old age. If on the other hand the being does not have this interest, if he or she is highly materialistic and does not have anything to do with spirituality, they will not stay on the spiritual plane for very long because there is nothing for them to do there. It has no conscious activity concerning spiritual matters and will be reborn very soon. Animals are reborn especially soon and primitive human beings are also reborn very soon.

Children and young people come back very soon. Soldiers that are killed on the battlefield can be born and come back to the physical plane after four or five years.

How long you stay on the spiritual plane depends on your state of spirituality. If you are far developed spiritually then you have good qualifications to be on the spiritual plane. If you are not as spiritually developed you will need to go back to the physical plane because it is there that you will develop your spiritual abilities.

17. If you wish to become a guardian angel between two lives on earth, how are you educated to become one? What do you learn and where does the work as a guardian angel take place? Is it from the true human kingdom?
It is a bit of a misunderstanding to believe that you are educated to become a guardian angel. Becoming a guardian angel is not a job that one gets in the same way that one gets a job on the physical plane. There are certain beings in the spiritual world that are especially guardian angels. When, for example, a mother dies, she can very well become a guardian angel for her daughter or son who is alive, and provide help from the spiritual plane. This happens due to the affection and love that the dead person has for people and things to do with the Earth. It does not necessarily have to be a family member, it doesn't need to be a son or a daughter. A person can also become a guardian angel for a friend, if he or she dies. It is something that happens automatically, according to your wish and desire and also according to the connection of love that you have for those on the awake plane. But it is something that ceases after a while. It can last only a short time.

But there are permanent guardian angels on the spiritual plane. They are angels. This is also what Christ says: "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" So, of course there are beings who care for people on Earth. For example, we cannot die without there being guardian angels there to help us, just as a child cannot be born without there being parents. Parents are also guardian angels for their children. Well, they are meant to be, although it is not always the case.

When it comes to learning, you do not learn anything on the spiritual plane. You have the talents that you bring with you from the physical plane. You do not learn anything on the spiritual plane, it is a plane of pleasure. You have pleasant experiences with the knowledge you have, and you create with the knowledge you have. It is not a place where you learn, gain experience, have disappointments and such like. If that was the case, there would be disappointments, sufferings and the like on the spiritual plane and that is not the intention.

18. Can our stay in the spiritual worlds be prolonged by us becoming guardian angels?
We cannot prolong our stay on the spiritual plane by becoming a guardian angel. The structure we have, our karma and so on decides our state, so that when we are mature enough we are born back to the material plane. It has nothing to do with whether we want to stay in the spiritual world, or whether we want to be a guardian angel for this or that person. That is not how it is. It is all taken care of in an automatic way so that the being gradually becomes ready to be born again. When that time comes the being becomes numbed in its inner world, the experience becomes more vague and the being goes into its state of experiencing memories. The outer world ceases to exist and after that the being is born.

The unborn child and the small child is conscious of its memories from earlier lifetimes. Up till about six months after its birth the child can remember its earlier lifetime, but it cannot tell us anything about this experience. We see sometimes that the little child laughs so that its whole body shakes. This happens because it has these experiences of bliss from the spiritual world. But as the child begins to experience the physical world, sees light and lamps and so on, it forgets about the spiritual world. The child becomes interested in earthly matters and its earthly consciousness begins to develop.

20. If when you die you donate your soul-less body to science, will that do you any harm?
There is no reason whatsoever to give your body to science. I cannot see that it is anything other than an abnormal thing to do. The scientists are of course doing their best. They see no other way of going about it. They have to cut and look and observe. But if they instead took steps to develop towards the cosmic state, they would not have to do all that they are doing.

If you really want to give your corpse to science because you believe that it will be helpful, then you can of course do so. But it is an abnormal thing to do.

It is also possible that you will regret it when, from the spiritual plane, you see your body being hurt. You are not finished with your physical body just because you have died. During a long lifetime you have had all your experiences through your physical body and there is a certain loving connection, a sympathetic connection, between the I and this body. So don't imagine that what you do with your corpse is completely without karmic consequences.

The same applies to burning your corpse. If someone choses to have their corpse burnt, this will cause a certain amount of suffering in purgatory on the spiritual plane. It will also have the effect of reducing the protection against being hurt or killed in a fire.

22. Are the so-called dead able to see us here on Earth, are they able to see our struggles and our joys?
Under certain conditions the dead can see and watch people on Earth, but only under certain conditions. If there has been certain connections between the dead and the living, the dead can certainly see, watch and take part. This is also what the guardian angels do. If they act as guardian angels they must be able to see. But what they see is not the physical organism. They see its spiritual equivalent, the astral organism. The astral organism does what the physical organism does and that is how the dead can observe the physical plane.

26. Is it loving and correct what the doctors do now, when they by artificial means keep old, very sick people alive, people who without these interventions would have been dead long ago?
It is true that it might seem strange to keep old people alive. But we cannot allow the doctors not to give these people treatment. We have to do what we can for people. There is no one that can know for sure whether there might be an improvement that would enable the old person to live a little longer. We cannot allow the doctors to decide to let a person die if they think it would be a good thing. That would not work. And another thing is that these people would not be in this situation if it was not their karma. It is their own actions that come back.

It is true that there is a lot to say for and against and we can have the opinion that it is not perfect to keep old, maybe very sick people alive for months or maybe years without them becoming better. But as long as people do not have enough morality, we cannot let the doctors decide that a person should die, just because they thing it would be a good thing. This could lead to deceit. For example, the heirs to a rich person might well contact such a doctor, who then lets this person die long before he or she would have died otherwise.

I mean that people must do what they can for the sick and the old. If they live or die, that is their own personal karma, but at least people would have done what they could.

Note:

1. See the white arcs of fate in symbol number 20, The Eternal World Picture, Book 2.

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Original Danish title: Spørgetime for studiekredse 1970. The transcription of the tape-recording was edited by Torben Hedegaard, Klaus Iversen, Per Jan Neergaard, Trine Møller and Ole Therkelsen and was approved by the Council on 1^st December 2013. Published for the first time in the Danish edition of Kosmos no. 2, 2015. Translated by Anne Pullar, 2015.

Article ID: M2097
Published in the English edition of Kosmos no. 2, 2015

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