Martinus Thomsen, referred to as Martinus, (11 August 1890 – 8 March 1981) was a Danish author, philosopher and mystic. Born into a poor family and with a limited education, Martinus claimed to have had a profound spiritual experience in March 1921. This experience, which he called "cosmic consciousness", would be the inspiration for the books he wrote later on which are collectively entitled The Third Testament. Some of his works have been translated into twenty languages, and while he is not well known internationally, his work remains popular in Denmark and to a lesser extent other parts of Scandinavia.
Early life
Born on 11 August 1890 near Sindal, a small town in northern Jutland, Denmark, Thomsen grew up in a house called "Moskildvad". This house, now open to the public, is testimony to the poverty he experienced during childhood. An illegitimate child, Thomsen never knew his father. His mother never married and worked on a farm called Kristiansminde. There, a stableman by the name of Thomsen was named his father and therefore he was named Martinus Thomsen. He did state that he suspected the proprietor of the farm to be his real father.
His mother was unable to care for him as a young child and as a result, he was taken in by her brother and his wife. They were an elderly couple who had already raised eleven children of their own but despite this, Thomsen always referred to them fondly. He mentioned that despite their meager circumstances, they always made him feel secure. His mother died when he was just eleven and for the most part, his contact with her was very limited.
His education at the local village school was very basic, focusing mainly on verses of hymns, geography, Danish and natural history, arithmetic and the catechism. He spent six hours per week in class in the summer and thirty hours per week in the winter. His foster family could not afford books and Thomsen has stated he inherited old copies of Familie Journalen (The Family Journal), which became the basis of his reading material.
At the age of sixteen Thomsen became a dairyman, working around various parts of Denmark, he later worked as a watchman, and in 1920 he was an office clerk in at the dairy company Enigheden in Copenhagen.
Religious experiences at the age of 30 and subsequent history
According to Martinus, during March 1921 a decisive transformation took place in his life, in that he had strong spiritual experiences that led to a profound expansion of his consciousness. Prior his revelation it is known that he moved in Theosophical circles. Biographical accounts are inconclusive about the Theosophical inspiration for Martinus´ spiritual revelation. Martinus himself rejected any suggestion that his revelations were inspired by Theosophy.
His books On the Birth of My Mission and Intellectualized Christianity provide a description of these experiences. Martinus called the new state of consciousness which he attained at the age of 30 "cosmic consciousness". He considered the prerequisite for cosmic consciousness to be a highly developed faculty of intuition, which all human beings will develop sooner or later.
After his experiences, he was first financially supported by his friend Lars Nibelvang (1879–1948), and later other friends, allowing Martinus to devote himself to his philosophy full time by the autumn of 1922. Martinus initially found it difficult to express his ideas in writing, drawing symbols instead. It was not until 1928 that he began to compose his major work, the Livets Bog (The Book of Life), which was published in 1932. After his initial experiences, he began doing audiences with small numbers of people, and by 1930 he had begun to lecture to larger audiences. The magazine Kosmos, dedicated to Martinus' thought, was first published in 1933. In 1935 the Martinus Centre (then named the Kosmos Camp) in Klint, Zealand was inaugurated.
Ideas and works
Martinus' works are collectively entitled The Third Testament. His 7-volume main work is Livets Bog (The Book of Life). The Eternal World Picture, vols. 1–5, in which he explains the main principles in his world picture with the aid of coloured symbols and explanatory texts, supplement his main work. His other books include Logic, Bisættelse (On Funerals), Intellectualised Christianity and 28 shorter works; he has also written a substantial number of articles.