M2185: The Forgiveness of Sins

M2185

The Forgiveness of Sins

by Martinus

1. The "forgiveness of sins" is a cosmic turning point

The cosmic analyses make it clear to everyone who studies them that every human being is the cause of its own fate. It has deserved whatever it has to undergo, it is itself the cause of everything, and consequently the student of the cosmic analyses can easily draw the conclusion that the concept of the "forgiveness of sins" has no meaning. Is there really something called the "forgiveness of sins"? There certainly is, and it constitutes a principle without which the cycle would not be able to continue. There has to be a point in a cosmic evolutionary spiral or a spiral cycle where the being goes from darkness to light, and that is the very point that consists of the "forgiveness of sins". If the forgiveness of sins did not exist, the cycle would come to a standstill. A cosmic spiral cycle consists of two great contrasts, darkness and light, each of which culminates in its half of the spiral, but there naturally has to be a transition from darkness to light, a period in which the living being can be freed from the karma of darkness.

2. The dark karma of the past

Since terrestrial human beings are getting used to doing good, they are thereby also beginning to create a lighter state, which means that they are beginning to create a state where there are no "sins" to "forgive". But the living being does not only send out thoughts and actions in the present that will be the cause of the fate that it reaps in the future. It has also sent out thoughts and actions in the past that not only form its fate today but for a long time into the future, and since all human beings have been greater bandits in the past than they are today, a great many human beings still have a lot of dark karma coming to them. Also those human beings that today do not want to murder have at one time in previous incarnations been murderers, not only once but many times; it is a stage in evolution that has to be undergone. If a human being commits a murder, what happens cosmically is that a concentration of energy, after it has found expression through the murderer's consciousness in physical matter, transforms into spiritual matter that moves through space as a part of the murderer's eternity body and sooner or later returns to its originator where it finds expression in the person in question being murdered. But if the murderer's thoughts, attitude to life and way of behaving today are completely different from the time in the past when the murder was committed, if today he absolutely cannot bear to kill, not only human beings, but also animals, it is then unnecessary and in fact completely meaningless for him to end up being killed.

3. "Sin and mercy"

In order to understand the concept of the "forgiveness of sins" one has to become clear about what sin is, and in order to understand this we have to think back to the distant past when human beings lived in a more primitive society. If a human being had committed an offence against another being, it would have to pay a penalty for its sin. This principle developed into the law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", a law that has been in force in terrestrial human society for a very long time. In certain situations the judicial authority could "temper justice with mercy", thereby bestowing a "forgiveness of sins" on the sinner. As the people saw the judges, whether they were chieftains, kings or civil servants, as being appointed by and representing the Godhead itself, it was God that bestowed the forgiveness of sins through his instruments, and this principle later became a dogma in the Christian religion. Through the belief that Christ through his death on the cross has "paid for" human beings' sins with his blood, human beings would succeed in getting the strict god to temper justice with mercy and forgive them their sins.

As long as human beings have been able to live and die with such a belief it has suited them well, but today there are many people who have grown out of this blind belief. Many people believe that it is an out-dated way of thinking that God should want an innocent being's suffering in order to be pacified in his desire for punishment and revenge, so tempering justice with mercy. And it is an out-dated way of thinking. It can make human beings think that the very concept of the "forgiveness of sins" is out of date and meaningless, and it is therefore important to have an explanation of the cosmic meaning of this concept, since it is an issue that is extremely relevant to the whole of terrestrial humankind in the situation it is experiencing at the moment and will experience in the near future.

4. Sowing and reaping or the law of karma

Seen from a cosmic point of view what one calls a "sin" is an action made out of ignorance due to lack of knowledge of the cosmic laws. In the great world plan it exists as a contrast to the light, and light and darkness appear as a "work of art", in which the "sin" is likened to the dark colours that are needed in order to form the contrast to the light colours. In order for the cycle to be completed there must provisionally be a point at which the individual no longer needs to be taught through the return of dark fate waves. This point comes when the being has enough knowledge of darkness and its effects. Darkness will then have become a background for the unfolding of the light. It is not the case, as some human beings think, that karma is a punishment, it is a teaching. It is not a punishment to have a dark fate, it is a teaching that every single terrestrial human being has to accept on its journey towards the light. A being cannot exist for one single moment without longing and wishing, and these wishes will be causes that release actions that will give experiences once they have returned as the reaping of what the being has sown. But once the living being has reaped the necessary experiences that cause it to see that it should for example not kill, whether human beings or animals, a cosmic law of protection exists that causes the being in question that has passed through a turning-point in its evolution to be protected against being killed.

5. The law of cosmic protection

Whatever a terrestrial human being is today is the result of actions it has carried out in the past and the experiences it has gained through them. Its wishes, longings and desires became thoughts that found expression in actions that will sooner or later return to the being as fate waves giving it experiences. There are always a great many fate waves on their way to every human being, and all these beings would experience an enormous amount of suffering, pain and misery far into the future were it not for the cosmic principle of the "forgiveness of sins" acting as a universal law in the transition from darkness to light. The experiences a human being makes gradually change its wishes, way of thinking and behaving, which means that the whole radiance of the being in question is changed. The aura changes when the human being begins to think differently than before, which of course cannot be seen with the physical eyes, only with spiritual clear-sightedness. To the person with cosmic clear-sight the aura of the human being in question will show its state of evolution. The aura has a certain quality, and this quality determines whether the fate waves that are returning find their way in or not. The vibrations of the aura are in reality the living being's only protection that can act as either an attraction or a repulsion of the fate waves. A dark aura will cause the being to attract the dark actions that it has carried out. If it is full of hatred it will have no protection against hatred, if it is full of malicious gossip it will meet gossip and slander through others. If it has had a tendency to self-aggrandizement at others' expense and is still not totally free of that way of being, it will meet human beings that have a colossal need for self-aggrandizement. This is the only way the being can arrive at the knowledge of the effects of its own previous way of behaving. It will be taught about the effects of gossip, revenge and self-aggrandizement and many other dark kinds of thought until the point at which it, with its own way of behaving, repels such waves that it now knows so much about that it wishes and manages to create the contrast to them in thought and action.

6. "Diluted murder"

The "forgiveness of sins" means that fate waves that are returning cannot strike the individual, or they strike the individual with reduced force, since they are more or less broken up by the transformed aura. If a human being, who at some point in the past has been a murderer in the sense that he has murdered human beings, still has a fate wave coming to him for such a murder, but in the interim as a result of having received other fate waves has undergone suffering and has developed such a degree of empathy that he is no longer able to murder another human being, there will be no other human being that murders him. But if he can still consciously kill an animal, he will not be protected against his dark karma, and this will take effect in a different way. It could be that he himself has not the heart to cold-bloodedly kill an animal, but he eats food of animal origin and is thereby the indirect cause of the suffering and death of a great many animals, he will therefore not be fully protected against his old karma either, even though in this case the effect will be different. For example he will lack protection against traffic accidents, where also here it is not a deliberate and cold-blooded action that causes the accident. In the final analysis it is also a case of "diluted murder". If a human being is struck by a "murder wave" from the past, but is protected against its direct murderous effect because the being is consciously absolutely unable to kill any living being, he could nevertheless be subjected to experiencing the effect of the "murder wave" as "diluted murder" until his conscience and ability to feel empathy is sufficiently well developed also in this respect, and the fate wave will then be completely neutralised. But what is "diluted murder"?

Wherever a human being can still have the heart to hurt another being through words or actions, wherever he can deceive, lie or in any other way create sorrow, pain, suffering and difficulties for others, he is still to some extent killing other human beings' happiness and joy in living, he is then committing "diluted murder". Such actions in themselves not only cause karma when they return, but, as long as one can commit them, they can result in one not being fully protected against karma waves from the past, even though one is subjected only to their effects in a "diluted" form. But of course also these effects will be a teaching that causes the being, when at some point the fate waves from its "diluted murder" return, to have received the "forgiveness of sins" in these areas, which in fact means that also this dark mental climate is a mental area that the being's consciousness has left behind.

7. The quality of the aura changes the quantity of dark karma

Since terrestrial human beings live in the very area where the killing principle culminates, it can happen that they kill without knowing it. If, for example, you walk across a field you can very easily kill animals and plants, even though your attitude is to be exclusively a joy to your fellow beings. There is a difference between consciously treading on an animal in order to kill it and it happening without in any way having wanted to. We have trodden on and killed so many thousands of small animals that we would never leave behind the zone of the killing principle if we were to have to pay it all back, to the last cent. And if, for example, Napoleon or Hitler, each of whom has in his own way been guilty of the death of a great many human beings, were to pay everything back, they would never be finished. But just like all other terrestrial human beings, they will in time transform their aura due to the fate that they are reaping, and they will obtain "forgiveness for their sins". No individual will have to undergo neither more nor less than is needed in order to have the necessary experiences and gain knowledge of darkness. There are no short-cuts, one just has to learn to take the correct roads to reach the goal. We carry the entire principle of the forgiveness of sins in our own consciousness, we do not suffer in those areas in which we no longer commit wrong actions. We undergo only those sufferings that are needed in order to change our consciousness, our consciousness neutralises what is left. Wherever we take part in creating light and joy for others we are tools for the Godhead, and through these tools our surroundings can meet the light fate that is their due. And we will then at the same time be unable to avoid creating something similar for ourselves in the future, which we will meet through other human beings' ability to create light and joy for us. Human beings' aura should be bright all the way round, and not be infested with dark patches as is still the case in the auras of most human beings. Where there are dark areas in the aura the human being is still open to dangers, suffering and pain. Depression can be a sign of fate waves that are returning, which may be neutralised to a certain extent but still not sufficiently. By forgiving others, by showing understanding and consideration, human beings will themselves create the state that is the "forgiveness of sins" for themselves. From representing what Christ in the parable of the "prodigal son" characterises as the "son that eats with the swine", the human being will be changed into a "human being in God's image", which means that it will eventually represent the mentality of the Father himself, he who goes to meet his son and gives him a warm welcome.

The prodigal son

8. The "prodigal son" is the terrestrial human being

In the parable of the prodigal son we have been given a tremendous explanation of the principle of the forgiveness of sins. Like all ingenious parables it contains a great many cosmic truths that as symbols are hidden behind the literal account. We can explore it in depth and study what it has to tell us, we can see how relevant it is to the present day and how it addresses itself to the individual human being. It is about what happens in the individual human being, about its past, its present and its future.

The son who wanted to receive his father's inheritance and who went to a distant country where he squandered his fortune in riotous living – who can this be other than the human being of today? What is this distant country that is being referred to? It is the physical world in which terrestrial human beings are incarnated. But what is this fortune or inheritance that the terrestrial human being has squandered? It is the consciousness that, based on cosmic instincts, has borne the being through the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and the primitive terrestrial human stages, and in addition to these instincts not least the religious instinct. It is the combined effects of the cosmic consciousness of a previous evolutionary spiral, when the "son" was "at home with his father".

When a living being from an evolutionary spiral's kingdom of bliss glides into a new spiral, which lies above it, in order to renew its consciousness, it removes itself from its father in the sense that it longs to live its own life. This of course does not mean that the living being removes itself from God, which cosmically is an impossibility, since one cannot remove oneself from that in which one for all eternity "lives, moves and has one's being". But the being's consciousness removes itself from the divine light that it has become one with to such an extent that it lacks experiences of contrast. The being will rigidify into sameness and a habitual existence, which is no true existence as long as its consciousness is not renewed through the contrast to the light. This being whose longing energies are drawing close to a physical plane of existence where it forms mineral matter, is the son that wanted to receive his father's inheritance so that he could travel to a distant country. Throughout the whole evolution in the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom and up until the state as a terrestrial human being, the being squanders its inheritance and uses up its instincts, which eventually degenerate. In the end the religious instinct and prayer, which first found expression as the animal's cry of anguish and later became primitive magic and higher religions, also wasted away and degenerated. Human beings, which are no longer true animals since they have begun to develop intelligence in place of instinct, are nevertheless still "eating together with the swine", which means that they are living according to the principles of the animal kingdom, the right of the strongest, the killing principle, everything that in the true animal kingdom is not a sin but second nature but has little by little become in the terrestrial human being's mind a sense of guilt and conscience.

9. Growing humanity is the road leading to the father

My analyses exist in order to show that this "fall" is not something awful, something that should not have happened, something caused only through the scheming of a Satan or a devil. It is also my task to show that so-called sin does not lead to eternal damnation in the torments of hell or such drastic, even downright sadistic, phenomena, but that on the contrary the prodigal son will come out of the darkness, the pain and suffering and will return to his father, which means his consciousness will be renewed through the experiences of darkness, and against the background of these he will once again manifest light as radiant wisdom and love. The terrestrial human being finds itself, as already mentioned, at a cosmic turning point and is therefore in the same position as the "prodigal son", who had to go out and have his own experiences through which he gained knowledge of darkness, thus renewing his consciousness through the development of the principle of contrasts, and is now once again turning towards the light. But it is now not the inheritance from the father, the blind instincts and the blind belief that are the connecting ties. All that has been squandered. Now it is the son's own experiences and his own will that makes him say: "I will arise and go to my father".

It will without doubt seem absurd to many present-day irreligious, atheistic and materialistic human beings to hear that they are on the point of turning towards God. They, on the contrary, think that they have thrown out all the old superstitions and thereby their relationship to God. They have certainly thrown out the relationship based on blind belief and the religious instinct. But something completely new, which they are still not themselves clear about, is about to take place in their consciousness. With respect to the fact that these human beings, who often have a humane attitude, use their intelligence and their creative ability in harmony with their humane feelings, they have also turned towards the light and towards God. If a terrestrial human being becomes more humane and loving it means that the being in question is reaching the point where he has had enough of darkness. His aura is on the point of being changed and this marks the beginning of his journey to the divine world. The soul of the prodigal son is about to become ennobled, the war-zone within him now exists as perhaps only certain dark patches in his aura, through which he will be able to reap "diluted murder", and this very reaping will perhaps cause this being to be dissatisfied with itself and its life and so it becomes a seeker. Its seeking will not be in harmony with the old world impulse, where it looks for a harbour where it can be "saved". It will be open for the new world impulse, for spiritual science, which does not put a human being in a box, typecasting him, it makes him more free.

10. Forgiving one's enemies

When the prodigal son came back home, his father was almost happier about him than about the son that had been at home. And as the son that had been at home gave vent to his jealousy and anger and reproached his father about the state of affairs (which can lead one to understand that it is now perhaps his turn to leave), the father answered: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found". Of course many people will see this as depicting a conversion that is pure feeling in character, but such a thing would still belong to the squandered inheritance from the father. That is the reason why the son lacks the ability to believe blindly. No, it is the experiences of suffering, his knowledge of darkness, suffering and pain that made him set out on the road to his father.

So what is the road to the father? It is that road, or way, that Christ who told this parable himself walked, and which meant that he could also say. "I am the way, the truth and the life". The parable tells about this road in these words: "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him". Just as the father received his son with joy, forgiveness and love, human beings also have to learn to receive their prodigal sons, that is to say those that have slandered them, plagued them with their anger, met them with lies and deception or been in some other way the tool or messenger bringing evil. We have to allow our slanderers and those who spread rumours about us and all so-called enemies to go out into the darkness with their dark thoughts and allow them to have their experiences. But when they come back and have thought other thoughts the most important thing is that we not be hard with them, but are ready to receive them with joy. To us they are nothing other than the prodigal son. We constantly have to forgive all those who cause us pain. It is our own dark fate that is returning through them. By not becoming angry with the other party, we are creating a new fate, which is completely different in character. We can of course not prevent the other party from feeling antipathy towards us, but on the other hand no one can prevent us from sending positive thoughts towards the person in question. But is there any sense in that? There most definitely is. We will then represent the father's mentality, we will then be with that part of our consciousness "a human being in God's image". It is true that both parties have to agree to forgive each other before the cycle can be completed, but one thing is certain, our enemies will definitely come back to us even though it will possibly not be until a future incarnation. We cannot forgive until they come to us. But it does not matter when it is, if we have already forgiven them in our minds and sent them positive thoughts. In that way we are accommodating, like the father was in the parable. Everyone that persecutes us is in reality on their way back to us at great speed, it is just that the cycle is not yet complete. Every persecution, even though it is not manifested with weapons and violence, is an expression of the killing principle. And the law of fate inevitably makes the persecutor see the error of his ways. He will sooner or later come to an understanding of what offence he has committed, he will long to make good and will therefore come back. I know that there are people who send dark thoughts and hatred towards me, but that cannot prevent me from thinking lovingly of them. For that reason I do not need to meet them physically. In the inner world it is lovely, there one can learn to think lovingly of those people who do not like you. Such thoughts make the human being's aura bright, round and like a sun. Every terrestrial human being has an oval aura that is gradually becoming more round. It can become disharmonious and out of balance when the human being is in excessively high spirits or excessively depressed. When the adjustment of the consciousness is based on understanding, forgiveness and love the harmony and balance comes about by itself.

11. The true resurrection or the "great birth"

All of us have been given the task to do what the father did towards the prodigal son. We benefit ourselves when we seek to understand all those who are against us. We have to bear in mind that, from the cosmic point of view, they are not aware of what they are doing, because if they were they would not do it. And not least we should not forget that they are the messenger delivering a teaching. They bear a message concerning something that we ourselves had at one time the heart to do, and in a certain situation still have the heart to do. But if we can forgive them, we will begin to create the kind of vibrations in our aura that in the future will break up dark fate waves. One of the most essential things a terrestrial human being can learn in this world is that there should not be someone or something that one does not like. Once one has understood that it is easier to wait for those who are persecuting us. When Jesus was going to be crucified he tuned his consciousness into God's will and was given the opportunity to show in a physical, practical manifestation what it means to be a "human being in God's image". He could say; "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do", and immediately afterwards: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit". And when Jesus had gone through the Passion and death, he appeared in a radiant resurrection. He has shown us how we should tune our consciousness in order to achieve resurrection – already in this physical existence! You certainly do not need to be on the other side of the grave in order to experience it. The true resurrection is the same thing as the "great birth", and you will all experience that at some time in future incarnations. This resurrection is the state of being one with the Father. You will then see that everything is love, and you will see it with the Father's own eyes, because you will think and act in accordance with the Father's will. And you will then see that the entire universe is a culmination of radiant logic. With this ability to see you will no longer be able to hate, and only then will you begin to create like the Father. You will no longer have outbursts of anger or states of depression that poison the blood and create illnesses. You will have achieved a harmony between the blood and the nerves because you will have created peace within yourself. You will know that if you are struck by a dark karma wave there is only one being that can ennoble you and that you should therefore in reality thank for it, like Job did when he said: "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord". Such an attitude to life and way of being will in due course make every one of you into sparkling suns that light up and warm your fellow beings, and wherever you stand and go, war will be unable to thrive; you will sow peace, joy and love wherever you go.

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This article is a reproduction of a summary edited by Mogens Møller. The summary was made by Hans Bønnelycke of a lecture given by Martinus in Kosmos Ferieby on Sunday 27^th July 1941. Original title and date of publication: Syndernes forladelse, Danish Kosmos 1968/7-8. Translated by Andrew Brown, 2016. Article ID: M2185.

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