The Third Testament
The Continuation of the Bible
These symbol-introductions below have not been written by Martinus, but are based on his explanations in the books named: ”The Eternal Worldpicture” Vol. 1-4 and other parts of the Third Testament. These introductions offer the reader an quick overview and have been used for exhibitions, study groups and other. For further study read the work itself.
The spirit of God upon the face of the waters
The living, thinking universe
The universe is an eternal, living, allencompassing organism that, through religion, we have come to know under the concept of “God”. God’s organism – like our own organism – is enlivened by consciousness.
The principle of world redemption
The spiritual parent-principle
The offspring of human beings and the more highly developed animals are normally lovingly cared for and brought up by their parents until they can look after themselves. A similar care also applies to spiritually immature beings and it influences the way they are guided through their earthly lives from animal to finished human being. Individuals that are ahead of us in evolution function as our teachers until we can look after ourselves. Moses is an example of a firm teacher, whose commandments or laws were intended to curb the worst barbaric anarchy.
Intolerance
The real cause of all wars and conflicts
Intolerance is an obstacle preventing the experience of God’s light and love and is the cause of all forms of war. It results in the world still not being characterised by peace, joy and blessing for all and everyone. If one looks upon one’s neighbour as an enemy, one will never experience real peace of mind. The only way to defeat one’s enemy is with love and forgiveness.
The road towards the light
The evolution of cosmic consciousness
The symbol shows the cosmic road that all living beings are travelling from lesser to more evolved forms of existence.
Cosmic unconsciousness
Having no knowledge of oneself
Whereas the atheist does not assume the existence of God and believes life to be identical to the physical body, the religious person lives in the hope of a continuing existence after “death”. Both parties are believers. The only thing that they know with any certainty is that the physical organism will perish. What they do not know is that the physical organism is merely a tool for the immaterial, eternal I.
The mental states such as anxiety, depression are like the 'suicide' an expression that the individual has lost contact with his spiritual roots. He knows neither himself, God, nor the spiritual reality he lives in the midst of. Terrestrial human beings live alternately in a physical and a spiritual world. Following each transition to the spiritual world we are welcomed by those of our nearest and dearest who have passed over before us into the holiday paradise, which is where we all will live until we are ready to incarnate again. The birth into the spiritual world will become more and more of a celebration of happiness and light. The word “death” will become a concept belonging to the past.
The question mark in the symbol illustrates the present-day terrestrial human beings’ total ignorance with respect to their true nature, including where they have come from, their present situation and what lies ahead. The patchy, coloured areas symbolise the various basic energies or energies of consciousness, which human beings have some knowledge of without knowing
anything about how they are organised according to laws (see symbol 6). The orange circle shows the temporary physical body that terrestrial human beings are familiar with.
The cross symbolises the eternal I and its higher cosmic structure and functions. The cross is also the symbol of light, universal love and eternal life.
The cosmic symbols of Martinus are copyright protected by The Institute of Martinus Spiritual Science, Copenhagen, Denmark. All rights reserved.
The living being I
We are all immortal
The eternal nature of the Godhead and all living beings is described here as a triune principle: an I – in the Third Testament named “X1” (shown by the white field at the top), the super consciousness and the I’s ability to create and experience – “X2”, and the body that the I has created, which is a tool enabling it to create and experience – “X3”(shown by the lowermost field).
The principle of life units – the first glimpse of the existence of a Godhead
“In my Father’s house are many mansions”
According to The Third Testament, the physical part of the universe is equal to God’s physical organism, and “behind” the “empty space” of the universe is God’s consciousness and infinite I. God’s all-inclusive organism is built up of life within life without end. This once again confirms the words in the Bible: “In my Father’s house are many mansions”.
The triune principle
The eternal, infinite, triune structure of the Godhead
In the symbol, X1, X2 and X3 are separated into 3 aspects that determines all living beings’ immortal nature and their identity with God’s eternal nature thereby confirming the old saying: “Know yourself and you know the whole universe”.
The eternal world picture – the living being II, the eternal Godhead and the eternal sons of God
God and son of God are one
This main symbol weaves together the analyses from symbols 8, 9 and 10. Here these three eternal principles appear as an indivisible unit, which is shown by the fact that the disks from symbols 8, 9 and 10 are now laid one on top of the other. The universe is an eternal living being – God – that gives expression to itself through 6 different planes of existence. These are built up of life within life as we saw in symbol 7.
The combinations of the basic energies
The law-bound transformation of the eternal consciousness
In the symbol one can see how the energies of consciousness are mixed in different ways over the course of one cosmic cycle. The boundaries of the cycle are marked by the slightly broader horizontal lines at the top and the bottom. Each horizontal bar symbolises a plane of existence for living beings – a kingdom.
The eternal world plan
God’s eternal method and technique of creation
This symbol goes more deeply into the explanations from symbol 11. Again we can see the eternal cycle and how the contrast between light and darkness is created through the 6 different planes of existence in the universe. “The principle of contrast” is the eternal basic law of experience of life. An experience is something created. This takes place through “something” appearing in relation to something else. The eternal world plan is God’s method of maintaining an eternally renewed youthfulness in the eternal consciousness of both God and the sons of God.
The cosmic spiral cycles I
The cosmic journey through eternity and infinity
The cosmic journey of the living beings is really a journey through higher and higher cycles with no end. For this reason they are called “spiral cycles”.
The law of movement
All creation goes in cycles
The sphere is the fundamental cosmic balance of all movements. All movement seeks balance and equilibrium, like water making its way downwards, gathering in lakes and seas. Creation is – from the cosmic point of view – the same as a release of movement, which returns to the I.
The eternity body
Reincarnation, cycles and seasons
The cosmic seasons
“Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. This was Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus when he was asked about rebirth. (John 3:3-8) What Jesus meant by water was a new physical organism, while spirit is synonymous with a new consciousness. On another occasion Jesus pointed out that John the Baptist in a previous life was Elijah, the prophet from The Old Testament: “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come”. (Mat. 11:14) – and Mat. 17:13, Luke 1:1-25, Mat. 11:9-15 and Mark 9:10-13.
The fate arcs of the living being
The eternal now
When on Good Friday the disciple, Peter, intervened to defend the world redeemer, Jesus stopped him with the words: “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Mat. 26:52).
Through the initiation of darkness – Hell or Armageddon
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
The Bible has predicted a “time of tribulation” with “distress”, “fear”, “wars and rumours of wars” (Mat. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, John 14-16). These words and many more, seem to be perfectly suitable to the times that we are living in. In these times the Bible’s message of love should, according to Christ, be explained: “the Counsellor, 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” (John 14:26).
The forgiveness of sins
“Go, and sin no more”
Jesus taught with power and authority using miracles, symbols and in particular through example. This was the only way that believers could approach the eternal truths behind life. For a very long time the ways of God had been “past understanding” to terrestrial human beings; they lacked the abilities to understand the eternal truths behind Jesus’ words. But since terrestrial human beings have eaten the “apples of knowledge”, the speech of life has made many terrestrial human beings able to begin to understand for themselves the ways of God. And how else would they “become like God, knowing good and evil”? (Genesis 3:5)
The eternal, cosmic, organic connection between
The development, significance and function of prayer
The animal’s cry of anguish at the moment of its death is an automatic prayer for help. There must be spiritual receivers, and therefore there must be a meaning, behind such a prayer or instinctive, automatic function. There were also receivers of Jesus’ words from the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.
The eternal, cosmic, organic connection between God and the son of God II
“Enter into thy closet…”
The symbol explains how each living being (the little white triangle) is connected with God (the large white triangle) through a cosmic, organic structure (the grey, white and violet pyramid).
The materialistic or incomplete world picture
A lifeless universe
When the ability of believing degenerates the sons of God goes through a phase of godlessness and materialism. It has no knowledge of the living God behind the universe, and life can be experienced as an inferno of pure chance or the interplay of blind forces.
The fully-evolved human being in God’s image after his likeness
Turning the other cheek
In The Old Testament it is described how God made known to human beings the aim of creation: “Let us make man in our image after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Jesus demonstratet the behaviour and way of being of such a finished human being. His words and behaviour have been preserved in the Bible for posterity. Jesus was able to demonstrate humane behaviour towards his persecutors. While he himself was being crucified he could pray for them with the words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). These are the actions of the finished human being in the image of the allloving God. The world has been given an example of the aim of creation and evolution.
The unfinished human kingdom
The kingdom of the sphinx
The general world situation is characterised by nationalism i.e. the animal’s instinct of self preservation manifested as collective egoism. This tendency inherited from the animal kingdom characterises the relationships between human beings as well as between nations. In the animal kingdom might is right.
The karma of humankind
The world is transformed into one kingdom
Every living being’s fate is built up of its own actions that move through a cycle and return to the living being where they originated. This also applies to the actions of nations towards other nations and their citizens. These actions create collective karma that can be released on those of the nation’s inhabitants who share this kind of fate.
The perfect human kingdom of the future
The united states of the world, “one shepherd and one flock”
The countries of the world are being brought steadily closer together. Communication, infrastructure, distribution, economics etc. is developed and adapted to global dimensions.
More and more nations realise that in order to obtain global peace, political stability and wellbeing for all people on Earth, ratifiable, international laws and agreements are needed.
The cosmic radiance of the Earth
The days and nights of eternal life
In the cosmic 24 hour period of night and day, which extends over aeons of time, the spaceship Earth with its passengers has only just passed the culmination of mental darkness and cold. We have for example had two world wars within one century and there will be more to come. So in the same way that the winter is coldest after the solstice, the Earth is now still characterised by a mental form of the coldness of winter at its culmination. But after the night comes the day and the light is now rapidly increasing. The globe being, which is the living macro-I of all the living beings of the Earth, governs and supports all manifestation of life on the globe. The increasingly bright thought climate of the Earth (the increasingly bright aura) means that, among other things, beasts of prey, venomous snakes, and certain dangerous insects will gradually disappear from the Earth, just as the dinosaurs and other reptiles at some point had to seek out planets with possibilities of evolution that were more favourable to them.
Eternal life or the ladder of life
The eternal renewal of life, “Behold, I make all things new”
Eternal life implies a never-ending renewal of the experience of life. The adventure of life requires contrasts. Without contrasts there would be no experience. Constant warmth gives rise to a longing for coolness. Hard work gives rise to a longing for rest, which is in turn normally followed by a wish for renewed activity. No one can go on enjoying their favourite meal again and again for ever. An eternal longing for new experiences is the reason why one plane of existence is replaced by the next.
Cosmic evolutionary paths
The origin of species
In symbol 28 we saw the living beings’ ladder of life from the side. Here we see this step construction from the front.
Throughout the spiral, various “species” are travelling up this ladder of life. Each “species” is characterised by the various physical, astronomic or microcosmic conditions that it has passed through in its evolution. Some species are related, which means they have passed the same “planets” in their cosmic journey. These “cosmic paths” are thus the real factor behind the “origin of the species”.
The eternal Godhead and the beings’ sensory abilities
What is needed in order to “see God”
The combined sensory abilities of all living beings constitute the Godhead’s sensory ability. Any meeting with our neighbour, that is everything that we come into contact with, is a meeting with God. Through this interaction the various planes of existence are maintained.
The living being’s sensory faculty and the universe
He that has eyes to see, let him see
The cone-shaped figure on the left symbolises the universe that stretches infinitely through micro-, meso- and macrocosmos. The section of the staircase-shaped figure symbolises the evolutionary steps of ordinary terrestrial human beings. The white triangle symbolises an individual living being.
The shining ray emitting from this being symbolises its sensory ability, that is to say, its ability to manifest and experience life. It can only experience what is accessible to its senses See symbol 30). The rest, which is in fact the most, lies in darkness. The more highly developed are its senses, the more perfectly will the being be able to experience.
The twelve basic answers or the solution to the mystery of life
“Everything is very good”
The orange circle symbolises the zone of the killing principle, which is where terrestrial human beings are still to be found. It is in this sphere of consciousness that life’s dark contrast (the unhappy fates) takes place. Here one is unaware of the cosmic reality that lies behind the physical world. It is here that the question: “why?” arises, but the answer to this question requires knowledge of eternal life, the solution to the very mystery of life.
Animal and human thought climates
The transformation of the psyche from animal to human being
Terrestrial human beings live like sphinx beings in the transitional stage between animal and human being. The animal part of the consciousness is the cause of everything that we call “evil”, while the human part of the consciousness is the cause of everything that we call “good”.
The animal state, with its rivalry and struggle to obtain the favours of the partner – is the background to all forms of darkness. In this zone darkness culminates. But the greater the degree of darkness, the quicker the being becomes satiated with the traditions of the animal kingdom, and this expulsion from the animal paradise continues right up to the point where the human being is perfectly humane or loving towards its neighbour.
The act of copulation or the spirit of God in the darkness
“How can a man be born when he is old?”
The spirit of God pervades all life in the form of the highest fire. This is the organic power that promotes lust for life in the living being’s physical and psychic organisms. This force is distributed in such a way that each spiral cycle is divided into a light and a dark area. In the dark area (the animal kingdom) God’s shining spirit can be experienced only in glimpses and unconsciously through the sexual organs in the act of copulation. This artificial act of love in the animal kingdom, which is not unselfish, makes it possible for disincarnated beings in the spiritual world to attach themselves to two physical guardian angels (a mother and a father) and incarnate in the midst of the deadly zone of the animal kingdom.
The cosmic cycle of the pole principle
The magic wand in the fairy tale of eternal life
Our consciousness, just like our physical organism, belongs to the area of the created (X3). Everything that is created is changed and renewed eternally. The primal force behind the renewal of the eternal experience of life is the pole-transformation (see also symbol 33). In the symbol here we can see two horizontal fields each made up of a yellow and a green field. The yellow field symbolises the feminine pole, and the green one the masculine pole.
The structure of eternal life
The transition from one kingdom to another
In the symbol’s step formation we can see the six kingdoms of one spiral cycle delineated by two wide vertical lines. The colour of the field above the steps symbolize the main energy of consciousness in that plane of existence. Red for instinct (plant kingdom), orange for gravity (animal kingdom), yellow for feeling (true human kingdom), green for intelligence (kingdom of wisdom), blue for intuition (the divine world) and light indigo for memory (the kingdom of bliss).
The unrevealed and the revealed eternal truth
The veil of Maya
Over the course of evolution terrestrial human beings are able to acquire an ever higher understanding of the truth. The truth about life is adapted to each evolutionary step so that it is continuously in contact with the beings’ sensory faculty and does not give the impression of being either too “naive” or too “fantastic”.
Human beings and animal and vegetable food
”You shall have them for food”
“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food”.
Very little attention has been given to this guidance given in the Bible (Gen. 1:29). For many people it is a tradition to eat animal food. For beasts of prey it is natural, but for civilised human beings who have left behind the more primitive and robust evolutionary stages of the animal it is unnatural. It is a great strain on the modern, refined and civilised human body to take in the same food as the beast of prey, and the cost is organic illness in the body.
The categories of the consciousness of terrestrial human beings
“The good soil”
In the symbol the combined consciousness of terrestrial humankind is divided into two main groups: one that is under the influence of the so called "New world impulse" (symbolised by the upper star) and one that is under the influence of the "Old world impulse" (the lower star). We can recognize the white belt in the middle from symbol 1.
The sign of the cross
Knowledge from above and knowledge from below
One can look at the universe from two fundamentally different points of view. Natural science describes the world through the physical senses, from "below". Spiritual science looks at the world from the viewpoint of the eternal and infinite non-created I, "above", here symbolised by the vertical line of the cross. The viewpoint of natural science is symbolised by the horizontal line going “across” matter – from the grey field of light on the left (stellar mist in microcosmos) to the right (stellar mist in macrocosmos).
The star symbol
The symbol of universal love
The symbol expresses the universe itself. The triangle symbolises the basic analysis of the universe: the triune principle: the eternal I, the faculty to manifest and the organism (in The Third Testament named "X1", "X2" and "X3").
The structure of the flag
Peace
The symbol on this flag is intended to express the whole universe and is therefore the symbol of “the holy spirit”. It can rightfully wave only in an atmosphere of forgiveness, tolerance and love.
The symbol of “Livets Bog” (The Book of Life)
“He will bring glory to me…”
The lit-up area symbolises the content of the first volume of “Livets Bog” (that part of Martinus’ main work that had been completed in 1932). The work’s seven volumes can be seen divided up into five sections: Preface, Introduction (Volume 1), the main part of the treatise in the form of the chapters: “Cosmic Chemistry” and “Eternal Life” (Volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7), then a summary of the analyses and in the end the postscript: “The Son of God at one with the Father” (also in Volume 7).
The law of existence – Love one another!
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts”
The picture shows the rise of the Christ-consciousness over the world. The danish words ”Elsker hverandre” means: ”Love one another”, a mental state where people love one another irrespective of gender – illustrated by the three different couples.
The Third Testament - The continuation of the Bible