Over the entire Christian world, people are now about to celebrate the Easter holiday. I would therefore like to tell a little about one particular aspect of Easter, that is the basis for people celebrating this particular holiday. To the majority of the Christian world Easter is a memorial for an event that took place in Palestine, almost two thousand years ago. This event must have been of a special kind when it is still commemorated after so many centuries. Within the Christian religion all over the world, one hears sermons, masses, singing, pealing of bells and so on during Easter as on the other holidays, Christmas and Pentecost. But Easter is not just a tale of an event that took place in bygone days of long ago. The Easter-event is a mystery for unfinished man. That is why the event has not long since been forgotten. The same is, as mentioned, also the case with the other two holidays, Christmas and Pentecost. Each is an expression of a special mystery. In the churches the world over one tells only of an outer physical event, that, as mentioned, took place long ago. You all know the story of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus. But you know it only as a purely physical event, a fate that happened to a completely perfect person due to the intolerance and jealousy of the religious authorities of the day. And apparently there is no special mystery in such an event. There are many people who have been crucified like Jesus. Crucifixion was a common method of execution in those times. All Jesus' apostles, with the exception of John, were crucified or executed. No mystery has developed around any of these others that were crucified.

What produced the mystery around the crucifixion of Jesus and not around the execution of any of the other people? One might answer that it was because he was "the son of God". But how did that belief come about that he was "the son of God"? It was, as we shall see, because enormously great cosmic powers were connected to his birth and his manner of being, which through him were formed in word and deed.

To understand these cosmic forces one must learn to understand that the universe constitutes one single great living macrocosmic organism. In this organism suns, planets and galaxies are organic systems that work and promote the forces of life and distribute these in such a way that every planet, every life-system, every living being is charged with these cosmic forces, all exactly according to its needs. Exactly the same goes on within our own organism. This is in itself a miniature universe. This is just as full of living beings as the universe outside us is. Our organisms and organs have as their mission to promote, distribute and adjust the "life-nourishment" for all these small micro-beings, so their life and existence is protected. The earth with all the life that exists upon it constitutes a microcosmic region in the large and infinite organism that we call the universe.

But in order to maintain its experience of life, or its ability to live, it must have life-nourishment. This life-nourishment consists of two kinds of processes of nutrition: the physical and the spiritual. It gets its physical nourishment from the sun and those particles, meteors and other phenomena in the form of matter it accumulates and digests by means of the ocean of air or its special physical atmosphere. It receives its spiritual nourishment from a spiritual nuclear system in the centre or interior of our milky way.

It is this cosmic nourishment that manifests itself in the principle of world redemption through the beings we call "world redeemers" . Every time the earth receives such cosmic nutritional impulses, a new epoch of development with higher ideals arises. The ideals are formed by the aforesaid world redeemers who simultaneously incarnate in mankind's sphere of life bringing the people who are mature enough for it into contact with these new ideals, which usually become a new religion that in time will form the foundation of a whole new epoch of culture. In our time the new ideals will not form a religion but a spiritual science, which will in time form the foundation of a world culture that will abolish war and make the whole world one kingdom, one people; in which kingdom the Godhead, immortality and love are science, beauty and the everyday manner of being among all people on Earth.

Jesus Christ was thus incarnated in the spheres of the earth simultaneously with such a cosmic world impulse. In him the real, great, cosmic truth was incarnated. He belonged to a perfection and a stage of development that did not yet exist on Earth. His kingdom was not of this world. His manner of being was therefore quite different to that of other people. His home was not the earth but a much higher sphere of development, a plane of existence on which one loved one's neighbour as oneself and where the ideals from his sermon on the mount were universally accepted matters of course regarding everyday conduct. Jesus Christ was thus a human being from a higher world, the ideals and foundation of life of which were incarnated in him as innate abilities and talents in his earthly existence. He could therefore not avoid being different from terrestrial man in his view of life, way of thinking and his manner of being. The morality of life in the world, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", was for him a very primitive and imperfect manner of being. His manner of being was to love God above all things and his neighbour as himself and so too to love his enemies; that is a manner of being which to this day even within the so-called Christian world religion is by millions of ignorant people considered abnormal, maybe even insane.

Imagine the courage necessary to teach such a manner of being to the authorised priests and scribes of the day, that is to say the experts in religion, morals and philosophy of that time. They were completely ignorant of the justification of such a new morality and saw in Christ a very dangerous being who preached a false doctrine and misled the people. The morality of their religion was "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". They therefore thought he ought to be stopped. And therefore they had to put him away. And they had him crucified like a "criminal" believing that the matter was now over and done with. But that was not what happened. The crucifixion of Christ was not something that sank into oblivion, as happened to the many others who were crucified or executed in those times. Who knows the name and data of those beings today? But the name and life story of Jesus is known even to this day and will continue to shine and sparkle with increasing radiance as mankind moves forward in evolution. It is as if this tale of suffering absolutely cannot die. Indeed, millions of people still commemorate it in our day in the form of the Easter celebration.

How did it come about that a poor journeyman born under poor circumstances and who died young could create such a reputation that millions of people of today, nineteen centuries later, praise him with veneration? There must have been something about Jesus that brought about the fact that mankind has been unable to forget him and unable to let go of him, even after their disgracing him as a "criminal" deserving of execution. Great kings and emperors have lived and accomplished great deeds in terrestrial man's terms, but who venerates them today, who celebrates festivals or holidays for them? But Christ, who was born in a stable, became a mere craftsman and who was executed as a criminal, is today honoured the world over. That is the mystery. Can this mystery be solved? This Christ- or Easter-mystery can be solved and will absolutely not remain a mystery for mankind. But whether one can understand this solution is another question entirely. He who cannot understand the solution has to just go on considering the Easter event a mystery, if he can at all believe that such an event ever did take place.

If one wants to learn to understand the solution to the mystery of Easter, one must think back to the religious conditions that existed among the Jews and among mankind altogether before the personal appearance of Jesus. It was a very inhumane and barbaric philosophy that dominated and guided people. It was highly moral to keep slaves, conduct war, conquer other people and their cultural treasures and make the people their slaves. In the Jewish religion one had thralls or slaves, and the supporting foundation in the religion and therefore in government and practical manner of being was thus even more inhumane than the principle "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". Here there was no understanding whatsoever of the human psyche enabling one to understood why "criminals" were "criminals", it therefore was thought that they had to be punished without mercy, indeed, executed if one thought it necessary.

And is it not still here in the twentieth century a fact that the wake from this view of life is still very dominant within so-called good politics, good taste and manners and within the so-called Christian world religion? Are not death penalties and other penalties, torture and psychological dismemberment still sometimes used? But today the dark side of life occurs concurrently with a beginning humaneness. A sizeable amount of people today cannot agree to waging war, to taking part in murdering and to maiming, indeed, they cannot even take part in killing animals. These people have developed to a quite different mental wavelength than that which is normal in the so-called civilised nations. What is happening? Is it not precisely the beginning of abilities and talents for a new world culture's manner of being, abilities and talents that were evident in Jesus' manner of being, morality and way of thinking and the ideals that he revealed to mankind? And was this way of thinking and manner of being not something new in mankind's sphere of life? And was this new manifestation not cosmic, mental powers from a higher world? Christ was thus a kind of transformer for the transfer of higher mental forces the sphere of consciousness of a higher world to the beginning creation of culture of a lower world. This transfer could be effected or take place by virtue of the fact that in the lower sphere there were people who had become so spiritually mature that they were receptive to the higher cosmic wavelengths manifested through Christ's structure of consciousness. By this contact the earth was thus spiritually fertilized by the thought climate of a higher world or sphere of consciousness or the shining ideals of the moral manner of being. These ideals were adapted to the people on Earth who were developed enough that they could be brought into contact with these ideals and thereby be motivated to make them their rule of conduct in their everyday life.

But this manner of being was not just revealed theoretically but also practically. The crucifixion of the world redeemer had therefore to take place so that this event could stand as an irrefutable proof that such neighbourly love as that which he preached could really exist in a being of flesh and blood. The loving and forgiving manner of being that Christ demonstrated became in reality the model for the manner of being that is the absolute meaning of life for every being. And without this manner of being becoming the natural daily manner of being among the people on Earth they will never have the true experience of absolute and lasting peace. On the cross, in the middle of the most severe suffering that can befall a man, Christ showed that he loved his enemies and prayed that they should not suffer for brutally executing him. He pointed out that they did not know what they were doing.

But he also revealed by his manner of being and his prayer for his executioners that he experienced the Godhead of the universe as his real cosmic father. He prayed "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". Thereby it was revealed how people of a higher sphere of consciousness experience the Godhead as a reality or a fact. With the experience of the Godhead as his father he knew no fear - not even of the crucifixion - when he realised that it was the will of God that he had to endure it. Such a mental condition had to be demonstrated for people if they were at all to believe in the existence of such love that can cause a being to voluntarily let himself be crucified and die in order to show other beings the road to the light and thereby become happy and become one with God.

This fate of Christ was thus a very great play between terrestrial and divine forces, which the eliciting of the principle of world redemption will always be. It was the creation of the contact between these two kinds of forces that caused the cosmic forces in the form of cosmic ideals to be planted in the consciousness of mankind. And it is by virtue of the assistance of this higher world behind the life and manner of being of Jesus that his life has not long since disappeared from memory, as have all the other beings that were crucified and executed, but is now celebrated throughout the world. In him the totally perfect manner of being was incarnated. It had to be planted in the mentality or sphere of life of mankind in order to grow and make people perfect.

And we do witness a certain area of terrestrial man's manner of being within the civilised countries that have begun walking in the mental footsteps of Jesus. For instance, what is the meaning of the large modern hospitals, sanatoriums and other forms of health care? Is that not the realization in daily life of the parable of the good Samaritan? What is all that comes under the category of "social services"? Is it not help from the state to people of limited means who, due to age, illness or affliction, have become needy? Is it not the fulfilment of the words of Jesus where he says that he who has two coats must share with the one who has none? Are there not also countries that have abolished the death penalty? It is indeed a step towards the fulfilment of his words about turning the right cheek when you are smitten on the left or vice versa, even though this fulfilment does not constitute the total fulfilment of his admonitions. The abolishment of the death penalty is a beginning tendency in the direction of overcoming the brutal, primitive or heathen side of man's perception of justice and punishment. This tendency will continue to grow in the footsteps of Jesus. Someday mankind will have abolished all forms of "punishments" because these are in reality identical to "revenge", which in no way can constitute true Christianity. This, of course, does not mean that one cannot protect oneself against the lethal animal nature that can be released towards one by one's neighbour. But this protection should be through neither hot temper, hate nor revenge. The modern police and judicial system is the beginning of this protection, but it is still far from fulfilling the purpose that it will come to fulfil.

So we now see appearing in mankind a lot of the Christ-consciousness, the consciousness that Christ revealed theoretically in his talks to the disciples and the people, and confirmed in his practical manner of being by virtue of his crucifixion. Here he became a model consciousness for the world and his being became a model manner of being. And it is thus his ideals of love, as revealed through his words and manner of being, that are the nucleus of all Christianity the world over. It is his manner of thinking and being, based on the Godhead and love that is manifested in the world as an example of the perfect man in Gods image and after his likeness. It is this condition of consciousness, this intimate relation to the origin of the universe, the eternal father of all living beings that is God's destiny for all living beings' evolution, creation of fate and experience of darkness. It is out of this darkness that all living beings must rise in order to live conscious of and together with the Godhead in the highest spheres of life.

Through the life of the world redeemer we have seen that he rose from the horror or hell of the darkness, suffering and crucifixion to sparkle, shine and radiate God's spirit out over the world. Fundamental to his resurrection is not merely that his disciples and some of his other dear friends from his physical life were allowed to see him in a radiant, cosmic body during a few short meetings after the crucifixion or his physical death. This experience of theirs would relatively quickly be forgotten if this revelation of his radiant, cosmic bodily state was the only immortal part of him that existed after his physical death. What survived the crucifixion or the physical death was not merely Christ himself but the immortal spirit of divine wisdom and love, which was incarnated through him in physical matter in the form of his divine words and sentences, his sermon on the mount and other talks to the people and his disciples. With the creation of these words, underlined by his divine manner of being, he has now for almost two thousand years after his physical death talked to millions upon millions of people thereby creating the beginning of a whole new world epoch. In this epoch all the generations of man will be blessed.

He also predicted what would happen before this epoch. Terribly dark times, a state of doomsday and Armageddon would come in which the devil would rage with all his might. There would be wars and rumours of wars. People would rise against people. Religiousness and the worship of God would be despised, indeed, even persecuted. And what is it that man is experiencing in our century? Is it not the fulfilment of his predictions? What is death on the battlefields, in concentration camps, torture chambers, gas chambers, in the explosions of missiles and atom bombs? Is that not the essence of doomsday, directed and dictated by "devil consciousness"? But when the mental darkness that Christ predicted thus has come to pass before our eyes as a fact, why then should the great mental light that he also heralded, not likewise come to pass and become a fact for mankind? What has he predicted in this field? He has expressed these hard times as "the last days". That it is not "the end of the world" or the destruction of Earth that he expresses, becomes a fact by his predictions of what will happen on Earth to advance mankind, when these "last days" have passed. He heralds a great epoch of light that will come for mankind. His words, which is to say, the absolute and eternal truth in them, will be heard and known by all the people on Earth. And there will be one herd and one herdsman. That means that all the people on Earth will come to have only one single religion, namely the eternal truth as science and a totally perfect manner of being resulting from this.

As a science, religion can be neither Jewish, Buddhist, Moslem, Hindu nor in any other way bear the stamp of nationality. Indeed, it cannot even be Christianity as such because its current ecclesiastic interpretation deviates from its founder's spirit and heart. This is not intended as a criticism of Christianity or the other world religions. These high divine ideals could naturally at that time be neither understood nor accepted completely by the still primitive and heathen peoples to whom they were given. These ideals were therefore reduced to a dimmer brightness so they could form something in between, a transition to the high, pure ideals from the customary heathen ideals. It is not with war, atom bombs, missiles, gas chambers and torture camps that one fulfils the pure and highest existing ideals or commands of Christianity. It is not a glorious fulfilment of Christianity that its nations and states until now have been the world's greatest warriors and oppressors of other peoples on Earth.

It is not so strange that Christ understood that his incarnation on the physical plane was not sufficient to accomplish the world redemption or man's liberation or salvation from his inner animal mentality; he who with his cosmic consciousness saw that his pure teaching would not be victorious until after a doomsday or an Armageddon that could show people the hell, the lethal mental forces, the devil consciousness that would arise in a world where man for millennia would crucify his ideals by ignoring his preaching about God and the necessary love of one's neighbour. He also saw that mankind after this experience of doomsday would wake to its religious urge, which in turn would give rise to the great question: What must I do to be blessed? He also understood that this question could not be answered by any kind of information about physical matter or physical phenomena. By this time people would have had these questions answered ad nauseam. No, what people needed was really an answer to the mystery of life itself, an answer to or information about the intelligent power, that made its appearance everywhere as a scientific fact behind all Nature's forms of creative processes. What they lacked was the answer to all the invisible realities that constitute their own nucleus, self or I that they could not observe with microscopes or other optical instruments, indeed, they needed information about the whole world that they were beginning to understand had to exist behind the physical world but was quite inaccessible to their ordinary physical senses and thus were unable to research. He saw that the next process of world redemption had to be based on a science that would render people capable of researching into and observing for themselves the still mysterious world that they realized existed. And he knew that this science was the one from which he himself had given man the great ideals or solutions and commandments. It was nothing less than the so-called "holy spirit". Likewise he knew that the Father would reveal this science to man towards the final end of doomsday, towards the "last days" of the war culture. It becomes a fact through his pronouncements about "the Spokesman, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

As spirit is the same as thoughts and knowledge, "the spokesman, the holy spirit" is thus not a man that should come to the people. It is, on the contrary, thoughts and knowledge of the whole truth, that is, a science. When Christ says that "he will take what is mine and declare it to you" it means that it is Christ's doctrine in scientific form that is to be given to mankind. And it is this science that will glorify him. And it is the cosmic analyses of this divine science that is the world redemption of the twentieth century. It is this science about the eternal existence of the Godhead and the living beings, this science of God's eternal spirit that "moved upon the face of the waters" whose light sparkles and shines in the keynote of the universe as culminating love that is the solution to the mystery of life. It is the influence of this divine spirit in people's manner of being that will create "the kingdom of heaven" on Earth, which is, in other words, the same as the fulfilment of the Christmas gospel's peace on Earth and goodwill among men. It is not so strange that the memory of Jesus of Nazareth could not sink into oblivion or die, as was the case with the others that were crucified. With such an influx of divine light into the sphere of the earth, which the Godhead revealed and is still revealing through him, every human will eventually be compelled to acknowledge that he really was "the way, the truth and the life" and that everyone who follows him will become day-conscious in the Godhead and in his own eternal life.