Martinus Thomsen (1890-1981) was a Danish spiritual teacher. He is usually just called Martinus. His supporters often refer to Martinus' worldview as "Martinus Cosmology". They seem to be heavily concentrated in Denmark and Sweden. Martinus Kosmologi should *not* be confused with Martinism, a French occult current named after the 18th century mystic Saint-Martin.
I haven't read all of Martinus' writings, (collectively known as the Third Testament) so the following review should be condidered preliminary. It's wholly based on the first volume of "Livets Bog" (The Book of Life), Martinus' seven-volume magnum opus. The first volume was originally published in 1932. The Swedish translation (and all others) have kept the Danish original title.
I think it's obvious that Martinus' cosmic worldview is really a form of Theosophy. It could be described as Theosophy minus the exotic pseudo-Hindu-Buddhist terminology. Theosophy in plain Danish, perhaps? Martinus claims that the work is the result of supersensible revelation. It was apparently first published with financial backing from a Danish Anthroposophist. I admit that Martinus, while boring, is a better and more lucid writer than Steiner (although I suppose Steiner's forbidding style could be an artefact of bad translation).
Everything in the universe is alive, including planets, stars and galaxies. Everything is also constantly changing and evolving towards higher forms of life and existence. Like in Theosophy, there are Masters, here called World Redeemers, but at least in this book, they are strangely anonymous. Instead, I get the impression that the cosmic evolution is wholly pantheistic and automatic, propelled forward by entirely impersonal forces. It's not clear to me if the souls really have freedom of will to opt out of the cosmic cycles (or speed up their own evolution).
That Martinus was very much a product of his time is obvious at several points in "Livets Bog". He strongly believes in the Western idea of Progress, including technological and scientific progress. Martinus also turns out to be a very literal socialist. The society of the future is a world government which owns the means of production and administers them through central planning. High technology will abolish all human wants and give everyone enough spare time for artistic and other pursuits. And yes, people will be paid in labor vouchers...
Martinus is no revolutionary, however. Instead, he supports what we would call a welfare state, and believe it should gradually expand its power over the economy. In fact, he seems very positive towards the state in general, perhaps because it's a collective and hence potentially collectivist organ. What is lacking is a concrete political program. Martinus states that the ideal world society won't be established until 3,000 years into the future by a new "cosmic impulse".
Another tendency visible in the book is the idea that all competing worldviews are really part of the grand cosmic plan, and represent distinct stages or functions along the way. Martinus can therefore sound surprisingly positive when discussing Catholicism, Islam, "idolatry", materialistic science or secular socialist movements. An integral theory if I ever saw one! However, there is also a strong dose of condescention towards those not spiritually enlightened enough. They should be forgiven since they simply don't know better, and even their incomprehension is somehow necessary in the bigger scheme of things.
The central idea of "Livets Bog" is that evil is inevitable, necessary and wholly integrated into the divine plan. Evil doesn't seem to be an illusion (like in ACIM), but everything in the cosmos is "wholly good" in the sense that evil and suffering is what makes the souls turn towards the light in the first place. Creation itself has two phases, with the "dark" phase being the first, devolving the souls more and more into dense matter and individuality. The fall of man is the moment when humans become conscious of their "animal" suffering, while not yet being enlightened enough to enter "the real human kingdom" of love and foregiveness. This creates the impression that humans are "worse" than animals - we haven't learned how to be real humans, while all animals are perfect as animals. Of course, the fall is necessary for our future evolution.
Taking a cue from Theosophy and Anthroposophy, Martinus' view of evolution is non-Darwinian. All living organisms don't share a single ancestor. Rather, there are many parallel lines of evolution. Martinus seems fascinated by social insects, and believes that the class of Insecta must originally have come from another planet than the spiritual ancestors of Mammalia. In the distant future, some of the social insects may evolve into creatures on the "human" level of evolution. Plants are also strange. On the one hand, their consciousness is less developed than that of animals and humans. Yet, they nevertheless stand closer to the spiritual dimension, which explains why they can inspire great human artists, and so on.
One thing never explained in this first volume of "Livets Bog" is what practice we should follow to become more enlightened beings. What is Martinus' yoga? He does explain the ideal we should strive for. The spiritual man is wise, loving, humble, celibate, vegetarian, works in a lowly position (perhaps as a worker or janitor), doesn't proselytize, and so on.
In other words, he is like Martinus himself...
Stay tuned for more cosmic cycles!
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