How to begin studying Martinus
I came across Martinus at a language school in France
“I first made contact with Martinus when I was on a study trip to France after high school. There I saw a book that was on my friend Sébastien’s bookcase, which turned out to be a book by Martinus. I then asked Sébastien what it was,” says Jens Christian Hermansen, who is today the editor of the magazine Kosmos, which is based on Martinus’s world picture.
Jens Christian was not particularly interested in spiritual subjects at the time, but this Martinus book was about the organisation of society, and this was something that interested the future sociology student a lot.
“In the first place, it was Martinus’s descriptions of a peaceful, democratic world society, in which institutions such as the United Nations play an important role that occupied me. This was also what I first and foremost discussed with both my friend and the other people interested in Martinus that I met the following year during a week’s course at the Martinus Centre in Klint”.
Heard about Martinus at a very early age
Five reading tips for beginners
1 | Livets Bog (The Book of Life) 1: Preface and Introduction It was one of the first things I read. At that time, I did not continue reading Livets Bog, which is Martinus’s main work in many volumes, but it was a springboard for further study and interaction with others who were interested in Martinus. The introduction is, among other things, about the current and future world situation, as Martinus sees it. Here he takes a bird’s eye view and looks hundreds of years into the future. |
2 | The Eternal World Picture 1 Martinus also worked visually and drew over 100 symbols. The book contains 14 of these symbols, which, with Martinus’s own explanations, give a good, brief overview of the world picture as a whole. |
3 | Martinus’s Memoirs Martinus’s Memoirs was one of the first books I read. It is about Martinus, the man, and tells his own story based mainly on taped conversations with him. I enjoyed reading them because they were easy to read and because I needed to get a sense of the man behind the work, a sense of who he was and an insight into his story. You can read the memoirs in English here. |
4 | Short books and articles Martinus has written a total of 28 short books that deal with particular topics, such as food, prayer, death and reincarnation, the transition from religion to science, and world politics. I read several of them in the beginning – including The Fate of Mankind, which is an excellent little introductory book. In a slightly different genre is Leaves of God’s Picture Book, which shows a more poetic side of Martinus’s writing and contains many fine, more evocative descriptions. Several of Martinus’s short books are made up of articles. Martinus has written many articles that are more easily accessible than his main works. For example, the article Through the Gates of Death – Sleep and Death provides a very good introduction to his analyses of death. Many of the articles are published and are currently in our online library. |
5 | Secondary literature I also read several books about Martinus by other authors, and that can help because there are many new concepts and ways of thinking in his works. I also read the magazine Kosmos, where you can read about current topics, such as economics, sexuality, food and health. It is also a good way of approaching Martinus’s work if you are new to it. |