M0970
The First Christmas Carol on Earth
by Martinus

1. The promise of the Christmas gospel
At a time when so many traditions are crumbling and everything is undergoing such transformation, parliaments are being overthrown, more or less primitive dictatorships are arising, religious problems are being discussed, life's highest, occult or spiritual issues are on occasion being invoked in support of swindle or humbug, when nations are preparing for war and building up their store of armaments to a previously unheard of degree, and the very factors of any real importance for world peace are unpopular, there still remains, amidst this tumultuous confusion, a trace of a voice from the past, an echo of a song from the hills of Palestine: Unto you is born this day a saviour. On Earth peace, good-will toward men.
These were the sublime words of the first Christmas carol heard on Earth and the heavenly announcement of the first vibrations of the presence of another voice: It is more blessed to give than to receive. Blessed, are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
2. Christmas is a festival that resonates into the very hearts of human beings
This divine song and its words would resound over the whole Earth, making its way right into the farthest times and kingdoms. And it is this resounding that, each year with recurring force, in the form of "Christmas" sends its "waves" right up to the present generations in Christian countries. With the ringing of bells, the swell of organ music and Christmas carols it resonates into the very hearts of human beings. It unlocks the great treasure house of memory so that people become jubilant, telling each other about happy experiences from previous Christmases, about meeting kind and loving people, about charitable deeds, presents, festivities and happiness. These are the notes of a song about love. But they are also the undogmatic interpretation of the entry into the history of the Earth of the beginnings of an epoch of love. They are the impartial birthday song for the incipient birth of a world redemption or for the incipient advent of a luminous world morality's confirmation of the great commandment of love: Love one another. They are a reminder of the beginnings of the neutralisation of the principle of killing, of revenge, war and mutilation.
There is something solemn, something magnificently sublime, about these notes or vibrations of Christmas, something that is able to soften even the most robust and harsh mentality. In all of us they give rise to the urge to be kind, to give presents and to send greetings to people far and near.
3. The atmosphere of a higher world embraces, permeates and inspires everyone in the form of the vibrations of Christmas
It is therefore not so surprising that all this kindness and all this divine spirit, should penetrate into the mentality of almost everybody, since the vibrations of Christmas have despite everything gradually gained so much influence that, when seen with cosmic sight, they actually constitute a visit for some few hours of nothing less than the true, great "peace on Earth". For a brief while, from the sounding of the first chimes of Christmas until a little after midnight on Christmas Eve,* some of the great peace is visiting the world. For these few hours it seems as if the atmosphere of a higher world really comes closer. This divine atmosphere embraces, permeates and inspires all those people with open minds and loving hearts, all those people who, in contact with both the old and the new world-impulses, are engaged in transforming the Earth into a place where love, peace and true harmony can permanently dwell. But even though it is not directly visible to the physical eye, this atmosphere is nevertheless identical to the true "spirit of Christmas", which is felt by all truly spiritually-minded people, as well as constituting the wonderful atmosphere that on Christmas Eve can be felt to be resting everywhere, whether town or country.
The Earth, however, is still so steeped in darkness that the heavenly peace has to return to its own kingdom. Its presence here can only last a matter of hours and can still only be described as "a visit" to the Earth. And the human race continues to hasten hither and thither across the world, along new pathways, towards unknown goals, towards adversities that, even though people are not conscious of it themselves, will eventually bring about results that will cause "Christmas" to become permanent, or cause the great peace to become one with all the Earth's zones.
4. There are some Christmas traditions that mankind is growing out of
As mentioned earlier, many traditions are at present on the decline, and consequently it will be a question of relevance to many of my readers as to whether Christmas and all its traditions will continue to be maintained and accepted by the world culture that is now coming into being. As a consequence, I have felt compelled to provide a few words of guidance in answer to this question.
In order to understand this answer, one first has to become clear about what Christmas really is, and its significance as a "good" thing or a "bad" thing for mankind. If there is something in it that is "good", it must of course be retained, and if there is something in it that is "bad", it must be discontinued or got rid of.
On closer analysis, it cannot be denied that over the centuries many different traditions have arisen in connection with this festival that now begin to appear unsuitable or not in harmony with the true spirit of Christmas, traditions that, when seen from a higher, spiritual viewpoint, prove to contribute, not to the glorification of Christmas, but rather to a darkening of the recognition of its true greatness and deepest meaning. Preventing these traditions by using an externally imposed force would be totally unnatural, as well as unnecessary. Each of these traditions, like all other traditions in existence, belongs to its own particular level of consciousness or step in evolution. As human beings outgrow these steps, the traditions that belong to this step become antiquated in the beings' consciousness and wither away of their own accord. Concerning the Christmas traditions, there are, as already mentioned, some that mankind is in the process of growing out of. To promote these traditions would serve no useful purpose for those beings that have already grown out of them. One cannot force traditions to be kept alive in any beings' consciousness in which they have already become antiquated, that is to say in any beings' consciousness in which they are no longer stimulating or enlivening, but have become boring or uninspiring. The beings themselves will in due course discard them. I shall now point out some of the traditions or habits connected with Christmas that many people are at present growing out of, as well as others that will be preserved and that human beings are increasingly growing towards. However, I am not pointing out these things as an attack or as a form of propaganda, but as an absolutely impartial analysis that can be of benefit to whoever is in need of it.
5. The "heathen" elements in the "Christian" Christmas celebration
In the Christian countries Christmas is celebrated in remembrance of the birth of the world redeemer, Jesus Christ. This birth became the factor that gave rise to the beginnings of an idealism or a morality whose solid contours or most profound analysis pointed towards a one-hundred-percent rejection of the principle: to kill. Consequently, a festival honouring and remembering the birth of such a morality cannot possibly be one-hundred-percent in contact or in harmony with this morality as long as it is not celebrated in a form that depends on a correspondingly one-hundred-percent rejection of killing. This means that to the extent that you celebrate Christmas, whether consciously or unconsciously, on the basis of the principle: to kill, your celebration will to the same degree be the expression of a different world morality than the one you really think you are commemorating, and for which you are actually claiming to celebrate Christmas. And this other world morality will be in direct contrast to the morality of love that teaches you to love everything and everyone, and as such, to the degree that it is manifested on the basis of the principle: to kill, it must be considered as more or less "heathen".
To many people this statement might sound a bit strong, since the majority of people are not really conscious that they are celebrating Christmas at the expense of other living beings' death and mutilation. The fact is that the majority of human beings have not come so far in their evolution that they have arrived at an understanding and recognition of the deeper meaning of the sixth commandment: "Thou shalt not kill". They therefore think that they are breaking the sixth commandment only by killing human beings, while it is not considered a violation of the law to kill animals. But there is no greater illusion than just this: to consider animals as outlaws or as beings outside the protection of the law, and there is nothing whatsoever in the sixth commandment that gives any indication of such an exemption from the law. Seen from this point of view, it cannot be denied that the so-called "Christian" Christmas cannot be totally acquitted of the charge of being "heathen". Is not the "Christian" Christmas precisely the cause of a tremendous massacre of living beings?
6. Christmas celebrations are the cause of a tremendous massacre of living beings
Several weeks prior to Christmas the shops begin to be packed with mutilated, dead animals, beings that have been deprived of a life in healthy, physical bodies, beings that are so far advanced in their physical development that they have the initial qualifications for experiencing marital happiness, together with the joy of being parents that have the ability to love their offspring, at the same time as having the beginnings of an ability to use their bodies to express the nuances of their soul, possessing an embryonic form of "language", these beings are now only a row of corpses destined for human beings' "Christmas dinners". Illuminated in bright, electric light, amidst sparkling Christmas trees, some decorated with shining "Christmas candles", which are in reality symbols of "the holy spirit", we find the severed limbs of pigs, plucked poultry, geese, ducks, hens, turkeys etc. piled high, sometimes artificially dressed up and decorated to look as if the animals are still alive. Why? Is this perhaps done in order to conceal or reduce the impression that we are in fact looking at carcases? Is there perhaps something in the depths of the subconscious that is causing the shopkeeper to think that it would have been better and more beautiful if the animals were still alive?
The walls outside such big shops are usually covered with "game" from the fields and the forests: roe deer, hares, pheasants, wild ducks etc. These corpses must furthermore be hung long enough for them to become "tender", which actually means "tainted", because in that state they are considered by the meat-eater to be a special delicacy, a circumstance that would inevitably lead us in our thoughts back in evolution to the stage to which "scavenging animals" belong.
This "Christmas display", this parade of butchered animals, is based on making it easier for the intending purchaser to choose the slaughtered animals that they can take home to use in their "celebration" of the festival that is in honour of the abolition of the principle: to kill.
7. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends
This article has of course not been written in order to make sarcastic remarks about human beings' attitude towards the Christmas celebrations, but this attitude is still so little advanced and so far from being in harmony with the real or innermost essence of Christmas that a true and impartial analysis of the real facts will inevitably appear somewhat ironical. But I wish to add in this connection that absolutely nobody can be blamed for having such an attitude to the Christmas celebrations. It is the expression of the specific developmental stage that the beings in question are at. And one cannot expect them to give expression to or to manifest details or realities that belong to a developmental plane or step that they have not yet reached. A little child cannot do the work of an adult. And the people in question still do not understand their imperfect attitude towards Christmas, since a recognition of the true analysis of Christmas has never yet been of vital importance to them. The inhabitants of Christian countries all of course know that Christmas is a festival honouring the birth of Jesus. This aspect of the matter is quite simple. But what these people have not fully realized is that this birth was, in reality, the birth of a new form of morality, whose innermost essence was, as mentioned in the first section of this article, "to love one's neighbour as oneself", "to turn the right cheek to him that smites you on the left", to find it "more blessed to give than to receive" and when crucified, whether mentally or physically, or when wronged in any way, to pray: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" and to acknowledge that "greater love hath no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends".
As you can see, the essence of this new morality consists of, in its details, realities that, wherever they are able to take over, undermine or render impossible every form of contrast to love, which means that they render impossible all forms of revenge, murder, killing and mutilation, and all forms of slander, intolerance, hard-heartedness, envy or unfriendliness, in short, they promote the complete abolition of "the killing principle".
8. In its highest analysis Christmas is a celebration honouring the abolition of the killing principle, honouring the influx of love into the mental atmosphere of the Earth
It cannot be denied that the birth of the infant Jesus would have had no significance, and would never have become widely known, had he not been a being from a higher world, had he not been a "missionary" from a kingdom that is not of this world, a fact that made it possible for him, in the midst of the zones of darkness and hatred, in a world that is in reality one vast battlefield of bloodshed, to leave behind an example of how to put this morality of light into practice as a practical and theoretical reality, thereby giving it a solid confirmation on Earth as a seed in which all the peoples of the Earth will be blessed.
Since it is this "seed" that has led to Jesus becoming known, it is quite naturally also the true or rightful origin of the Christian festival of Christmas.
As the results or the fruits of this "seed" are therefore the abolition of the killing principle, Christmas is really in its highest analysis a festival that honours the abolition of this principle, and consequently it is nothing less than a festival that honours the influx of love into the mental atmosphere of the Earth.
That mankind has not come to this realization is fully proven by the wholesale massacre with which they manifest the festival. If they had been able to understand the true nature of Christmas, they would at the very least have gone about it in completely the opposite way. They would have understood that a real and absolutely true Christmas can only become a reality by first and foremost making the days of the festival into "meat-free days", thus reducing the killing principle as much as possible for the duration of the festival.
Even though the Christian Christmas has been celebrated for hundreds of years, most people are still ignorant of the fact that, from Jesus' own viewpoint and in accordance with his teachings and message, it is to a certain degree very difficult to deny that the way Christmas is kept is an extreme indulgence. By celebrating Christmas mainly with "festive banquets" consisting of butchered animals or the corpses of living beings, which are rather advanced in evolution, one is celebrating Jesus' birth and moral standard with an indulgence that according to this very moral standard should in fact be done away with or removed. And it follows that a Christmas that is celebrated by killing as little as possible, instead of killing as much as possible, will draw the heavenly world or a higher plane of existence closer, resulting in a truly divine Christmas and one that is more intimately in contact with the true, fundamental analysis of Christmas, namely the keeping of the sixth commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
9. The loving, mental atmosphere that pervades the Christian countries for a few hours on Christmas Eve will eventually continue from one Christmas to the next
But even though terrestrial human beings have not yet arrived at the point of being in perfect contact with the moral standard that is commemorated at Christmas, they have nevertheless reached the stage where they are able to perform an infinite number of acts of kindness that are so blessed and so perfectly in contact with the true spirit of Christmas that, as I mentioned earlier, they cause a higher atmosphere to mingle for a few hours with the Earth's otherwise so dark and tragic mental atmosphere, making it so elevated, so pleasant and stimulating, that even people who are less sensitive and rather robust can be affected by it. These manifestations of kindness whereby mankind is in contact with the true standard of Christmas will eventually have come so far that the loving, mental atmosphere that pervades the Christian countries for a few hours on Christmas Eve will be extended further and further so that finally it stretches from one Christmas to the next. These manifestations that contribute to prolonging the true spirit of Christmas consist of all those realities that tend towards loving one's neighbour or truly practising "giving rather than receiving". And it is a symbol of the true Christmas form of existence that we experience in the form of "Christmas gifts". All Christmas gifts that are merely given because it is the custom, or because one has received Christmas gifts oneself and therefore feels obliged to give gifts in return, are not truly given out of love and can therefore in reality be merely a "symbol" of the true gifts. On the other hand, those gifts that are, for example, given to those in need, those gifts that consist of food, clothing and shelter to the poor, homeless and those who have fallen on hard times, be they human or animal, they are the true Christmas gifts. These are gifts that are in harmony with he who gave human beings the story of the good Samaritan, he who taught human beings that "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone", he who gave the greatest gift of love and thereby the greatest Christmas gift possible, namely, to sacrifice of his own life in support of the "salvation" of mankind, that is to say in support of guiding mankind out of the dark zones of ignorance, naivety, superstition, intolerance, hatred and killing, and it is this very guidance that Christmas should rightly be a true remembrance of, both now and in the future.
10. The Christmas traditions in many different fields will become more and more refined
As you can see from this article, Christmas is a festival of love or a festival commemorating the initial stages of the abolition of the killing principle, and as a result all those things connected with this festival that stimulate or promote this principle will not survive, but will "die out" or decline with the advancement of the new world-culture. Among the traditions that will be the first to "die out" will be Christmas dinners consisting of meat and fish. But the feelings and the sensibilities of human beings will steadily become more and more refined and will lead to the fir tree no longer being used as a Christmas tree, since people will eventually not be able to avoid feeling it to be a desecration to use the Christmas festivity as an opportunity for slaughtering plant-life in its prime. And one will eventually react in the same way towards the use of ordinary "Christmas candles", because also here it will be seen as wrong to celebrate the abolition of the killing principle by inflicting on the life-units in the candles an extremely unpleasant and unnatural death by burning such candles**.
As a symbol of the festival of Christmas, the "Christmas tree" will be increasingly replaced by a specially made candelabrum in the shape of a Christmas tree or pyramid with electric lights attached. There is no killing involved in using such electric lights, since the all the "life-units" in the electric current are "fire-beings", which means that they have their natural evolution and life-experience in the element of fire, or in the form of fire or light.
In this way the Christmas traditions in many different fields will become more and more refined, until they become united with such a pure conscience that the Christmas festivities become a totally true and absolutely perfect festival in honour of universal love and respect for every living being's right to life.
11. A friendly Christmas greeting
I hope that you will be able to understand that this article is in no way intended as an injunction against meat-eating or the traditional form of Christmas trees and candles etc.; it is an objective and unambiguous analysis of some of the most important details in the process of refinement that Christmas celebrations will undergo as mankind progresses in its evolution. I therefore accept that acquiring this analysis is, on every point, completely a matter of conscience or something that everyone absolutely has to decide for him or herself. It cannot therefore be imposed on any being, but is intended solely for those people who think that they can learn from it. I therefore ask all my readers to receive this article as a friendly Christmas greeting together with my heartfelt thanks for all the support that, through your subscription to Kosmos, you have given to my work over the past year.
With a sincere wish that we can continue to work happily together in the new year, I wish all my readers a Happy New Year.
Editorial notes:
* In Denmark Christmas Eve is the highpoint of the Christmas celebrations.
** Martinus is referring to the use of candles made from stearin, which is processed from animals and therefore consists of animal microbeings. Nowadays it is more common to be able to buy candles made from paraffin wax, which consists entirely of mineral matter, or to use electric candles.
Original Danish title: Den første julesang på jorden. First published in the Danish edition of Kosmos no. 9, 1933. Translated by Ingrid Okkels 1979. Retranslated by Andrew Brown 2011 and published in the English edition of Kosmos no. 4, 2011. Article ID: M0970
Published in the English edition of Kosmos no. 2, 2022
© Martinus Institut 1981, www.martinus.dk
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