M0440: The Sheep and the Goats

M0440

The Sheep and the Goats

by Martinus

1. Doomsday predictions

Many people today, living in our troubled times and facing the risk of encountering even more troubled times ahead, would very much like to know something about the future. It is therefore not unusual for people to have their horoscope cast or in other ways try to obtain a prophecy about what the future will bring. As a rule, what they wish to know is something pertaining to their own private destiny. And that may of course in certain cases be of importance if the astrologer, besides his specialist knowledge based on study, also possesses intuitive abilities and is enough of a psychologist to see whom he is facing and what that person can bear to know. Otherwise, horoscopes may do more harm than good, and one should therefore, if one wants to occupy oneself with this age-old science, proceed with the utmost care. But terrestrial man does not have only a personal destiny or karma, he also exists within a great field of collective destiny. It is vital for him to find out about this. A prediction already exists about this collective or common destiny, but as it is written in a symbolical and metaphorical language, people have been apt to misinterpret it. It is know by the term "Doomsday". Some people take this account literally, and believe implicitly that, on a a particular date it will take place, exactly as described in the Bible. But most intellectuals shake their heads at this old narrative, and do not consider it to have any bearing on reality. The prediction reads as follows: "And before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate men into two groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. The the king will say to those on his right hand: "You have my Father's blessing; come, enter and possess the kingdom that has been ready for you since the world was made"... Then he will say to those on his left had: "The curse is upon you; go from my sight to the eternal fire that is ready for the devil and his angels".

2. Terrestrial man today lives in the epoch of Doomsday

To a modern human being, who lacks the ability to believe implicitly in religious formulas and doctrines, such biblical quotations, spring from an oriental world of thought and symbolism, must quite naturally appear as mere fantasy. But nevertheless, this ancient prediction has something to say about the destiny of today's terrestrial man, not in a literal sense, but as a symbol and a metaphor. In broad outline, it is an account of terrestrial man's destiny within the period of history aptly symbolised by the word "Doomsday". Naturally, "Doomsday" is not a particular day of a particular year; what can be characterised as "Doomsday" is the last part of the long epoch during which culture has been based on war. And as, even now, terrestrial mankind is living in that epoch, it can be of importance to those of its separate individuals who are spiritual scientists to understand what is happening around them, and what they themselves can do to benefit the world situation as a whole.

3. The destiny of mankind has been predicted in the parable of "the sheep and the goats"

In the above-mentioned quotation from the Bible we find a large part of terrestrial man's destiny concentrated in metaphorical form. It tells us how humanity eventually will be divided into two camps, and it is not hard to see that this is exactly what is taking place before our very eyes. For a very long time the culture of terrestrial mankind has been based on and maintained by war, that is with the help of warrior or "killers". This epoch is not meant to last longer than it takes for mankind to divide into two opposite groups. Then the "last days" of this epoch will have come, and then one of the groups will "enter and possess the kingdom that has been ready for them since the world was mad", whereas the other group will be removed in or by "the fire that is ready for the devil and his angels". Here we have the fate of mankind before us in a nutshell. Now the great question is who are "the sheep" and who are "the goats". Even this, however, is actually explained by the biblical narrative. Outwardly, the world today is divided into the two camps we call "the east" and "the west", and perhaps many people think that these are the camps symbolised by the terms "sheep" and "goats", and within each camp people may think of the others as "goats". But seen from a cosmic point of view the picture will be a different one, because "sheep" and "goats" will then be found in both camps. In the biblical prediction "the sheep" are told that they will "command the kingdom that has been ready for them since the world was made". So there is no mention of any of the kingdoms or cultures that have existed up to now and that have been maintainable only through war. The kingdom referred to here is a kingdom based on peace, a new world culture and the goal of the evolution of life, which has existed for millions of years on earth. But as it is supposed to be a kingdom of peace, it cannot be the warriors and killers who will take possession of it. This new world kingdom must be created by people and nations who are totally peace-loving and to whom the concepts of dictatorship, terror, espionage and depriving separate individuals of their right to independent thought are things of the past.

4. There is not yet any real democracy on earth

Every dictatorship on this earth is doomed and heading for its ruin. The deaths of Hitler and Mussolini and the fates that overtook their countries are examples of "the fire that is ready for the devil and his angels", that is to say killers, terrorists and people who lust for power over others. But surely there cannot be any intelligent people today who believe that the so-called culture of war, gas chambers and terrorism is over because Hitler and Mussolini are dead? There are still many believers in dictatorship who are trying to camouflage their politics as democracy, even though it has nothing to do with real democracy. Just because so many people today in their hearts feel a longing for a culture of peace based on spiritual freedom and an equal distribution of assets, the believers in dictatorship in every way possible try to camouflage their politics and claim it to be the only real democracy. But there still does not exist any real democracy on Earth. There are some budding beginnings of what will sometime become such a democracy. There exists a really democratic disposition in the consciousness of separate individuals all around the world, and it is those people who must be characterised as "sheep".

The biblical prediction also hints at the disposition or mentality that characterises "the sheep" and also at the one that characterises "the goats". It says that the king tells those who are on his right had side, that is, the sheep: "For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger, you took me into your home; when naked you clothed me; when I was ill, you came to my help, when in prison you visited me." But when spoken to in this way, they did not feel that the words were directed at them. They did not feel that they had done very much for the king. This shows us that this attitude of theirs towards the king was in no way calculated or contrived but a natural faculty, a way of behaving that came naturally to them, one they had not even thought about, so, whoever helps his neighbour, actually helps God. People who do not first and foremost seek their own, who do not wish to have power over others or force others to think the way they themselves do, but who try to help others in many ways, they are the real democrats of this earth, they are "the sheep" for whom a real kingdom of humanity, a culture of peace, was ordained even before this planet had solidified from its fiery form and become a world where vegetable and animal beings could dwell. The highest humanistic outlook characterises the mentality of "the sheep". The mental character of "the goats" is quite the opposite to this. These beings believe that they have "done everything for the king" and that they are therefore the obvious candidates for the position on the right hand side. When he says, "For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat, when thirsty nothing to drink; when I was a stranger you gave me no home, when naked you did not clothe me; when I was ill and in prison you did not come to my help", they reply, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirst or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and did nothing for you?" And the king replies, "I tell you this: anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not do for." All these people have been self-righteous. Whatever it is that they think they have done of "good", or for gain, or for other selfish reasons. They have had peace on their lips but war in their heart, and their fellow human beings have only interested them insofar as they could be used to their own advantage, otherwise they were of no value, and their welfare did not interest them at all.

5. By reaping the seed he has sown in previous lives the psyche of terrestrial man will be purified

We must understand that "doomsday" is a period of time during which a kind of purification of the psyche takes place. Through a series of reincarnation on this earth terrestrial man will reap what he sown through his thoughts and actions during previous lives. This purifies the psyche. Certain acts will become impossible for men to commit, because their conscience forbids them. But then what is their conscience? It is a way of thinking that is the result of many painful experiences during previous incarnations. Even though they cannot remember what they lived through, the experiences have clung to their psyche in the form of more or less conscious empirical knowledge and an imaginative sense for danger, so that not only are they unable to bring themselves to cause other people suffering, but they also strive, whenever possible, to remove suffering from their fellow human beings, and to create better living conditions for them. This also means that the terrestrial human beings who today represent "the sheep" referred to in the old biblical narrative have evolved to this state through the experiences they have gathered through reaping what they previously sowed as "goats". During the part of the "doomsday" period that has passed so far, they have transformed their consciousness, and they long for a culture that is really based on peace and neighbourly love, a culture where value lies in man's ability to create and work rather than in earthly possessions, and where "the king" mentioned in the Bible, that is, the pure human consciousness that has become initiated and one with the Father, manifests himself in the separate individuals to the benefit of the entirety.

6. The people who are democrats at heart will create a real world of peace on Earth

As people today, quite naturally, are interested in their future destiny, they would do well to consider that they themselves create their destiny through the way they think and act. In centuries to come, a real world of peace will be created oh this earth, a world where art and science will flourish to the benefit of all mankind. It is the people that are democrats at heart who will create this world. But then what will happen to the people who within this period of time are unable to transform their "goat-consciousness"? Well, for one thing, they will meet with terrible things in the Armageddon brought on by a future war, and for another, they will not henceforth be able to incarnate on this planet, but instead on a planet in the universe where their particular type of consciousness and organism is compatible with the totality. But as theirs is a warrior's consciousness, disseminating "fire and brimstone", it will be a rather primitive planet where they will have to experience "weeping and gnashing of teeth". But even these beings will, of course, eventually be able to develop a conscience, which may be characterised as "sheep-consciousness", and they will then promote a higher development on that planet, since no being is ever lost or doomed to eternal torment.

Many people fear a coming war, but I must emphasize that there is no reason to worry about any kind of war, if one works at removing war from one's own domain. If one, in though and action, tries to create peace and understanding in the atmosphere surrounding oneself, then one is working for the future of all mankind, for a new world culture, where living a life of service to others will be everybody's greatest joy and delight.

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Original Danish title: Fårene og bukkene.
A lecture given by Martinus at the Martinus Institute, Copenhagen on Sunday September 14, 1947. Manuscript for the lecture edited by Mogens Møller and approved by Martinus. First published in the Danish in Kontaktbrev no. 18, 1958. Translated by Gunilla Lindblad, 1993.

Article ID: M0440.
Published in the English edition of Kosmos no. 5, 1993.

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