Han Marie Stiekema
From HanMariepedia, the spiritual encyclopedia

While existing religions define "the Light" (God) as the Ultimate Reality, Han Marie claims to have gone beyond it. Not through concepts, ideas, visions or even experiences, but through direct interference of the Divine itself. To him the Divine ("God") is (continuously) born from Absolute Nothingness. It is corresponding with the insights of modern physics (vacuum physics, astrophysics, cosmology) that confirm, that the whole of the universe is "born out" of a Vacuum, while continuously returning to it. The deepest Cosmic (spiritual) Realization, therefore, brings one back to the Origin of All, ontogenesis being equal to phylogenesis.

Ever since his Great Experience, HMS - who, knowing his Essence to be Bottomless Emptiness, containing all forms, therefore playing with various names for "himself", like New Teacher, Sermes, the Green Man or Laughing Buddha - lived in a state of "uninterrupted Bliss" for 10 years, wandering around like a "monk", mostly on the bicycle, often without a home, without any special needs or possessions, totally carefree "like a lily in the field", enjoying nature and people, while writing (spiritual) poetry. Because everything within and without was (is) perfect, he didn't have any need to promote "himself", let alone to "start a business".

His Youth

Born from parents who deeply loved each other, "Green Man" experienced the last three years of German occupation, images still being remembered. He nearly escaped death as SS-bullets destroyed his little bed, just two minutes after his mother took him out. Other experiences - Gestapo-men at the door, air-raids with bomb-alarm - caused a deep sense of the horrors of war. Despite that, his first two years were "paradise", while later, after the family had the burden of raising four children, he started to feel abandoned and "on his own". He became a boy with "deep inner waters, guarding a precious treasure within". Only a few years before her death, his mother told him about her own Enlightenment, something that she had kept for herself her whole life, "because she didn't want to distract her son from good education and career".

Because of his pre-occupation with his "inner depth", to him high school wasn't a great time (at all). Especially physics, mathematics and chemistry were an abomination. He therefore has stayed down two times. Finishing it was a great relief. His time in the military (medical troups) wasn't therefore that bad. He enjoyed his stay as part of the Nato-forces in Germany*. There, close to the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, he again was confronted with the war. Especially after having found children's graves in the open. It was a time of grief and contemplation on the "human condition". His entry into university, on the other hand, was a "liberation". He started studying medicine out of "idealism", in contrast to the majority, which was seeking status and money, only. The curriculi were surprisingly easy, nay embarassingly "stupid", memorizing stuff rather than investigating it. He therefore became more and more critical to the program, even openly rebellious. At last he still wanted to become a doctor, "but not the way it had been taught to him".

His Great Experiences

As a young boy he rejected Christianity, saying that it was "false", not based on the Truth. He enjoyed nature, wildlife (bird watching), heroic stories from the Middle Ages (Robin Hood), and platonic love. Later, he became philosophically interested, reading hundreds of books from various writers. At university his thirst for knowledge was almost insatiable, following additional classes in psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology. Religion wasn't a part of it. Instead, the "cultural revolution" of the sixties got a great appeal to him. He tried to "let his dreams come true" and moved to the countryside. Apart from his clinic in natural medicine (for which he became very famous), he involved himself in organic gardening, the founding of a consumer cooperative and more. It lasted until 1972, that he read his first booklet about "Eastern spirituality". From that moment on, events happened in an almost "logical" sequence. First "an old wise man" came to his consultation hour and predicted, "that his life would be the fulfillment of the Parcival legend". The poor man was openly laughed in his face....Two years after, a transcendental Vision wasn't so easy to wave aside, though. He took it seriously, went to Karl Graf Dürckheim to be taught in Zen, where he had his first Satori breakthrough.

Han Marie found its culmination in October 1977, when he was with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Poona, India. After four days, he suddenly and totally unexpected (he had come to Bhagwan, because of great attraction to the latter, with no further ambitions of his own), out of "total innocence", a transcendental Lightning destroyed his entire Being, leaving only Absolute Blackness behind. Within a second or so after, he found "himself" dissolved into the Eternal Divine Light. There wasn't any watcher, no any consciousness left, just limitless and timeless Oneness. Only THAT was (is) all that existed (exists). The whole day its intensity was undiminished. Han Marie just laughed and laughed. "How stupid he had been", "how simple this is", indeed how "absurd" everything is. There wasn't any inner or outer. "The whole world", HMS says, "appeared as the content of infinite and timeless Space, the Space which I AM. I AM the All-Embracing One".....Through that Space "everything was interconnected, yet, everything had the glance of its beauty e.g. uniqueness"....Oneness being filled with transcendental joy, overflowing. As "a prisoner of the Eternal" he enjoyed unlimited freedom. At last his gratefulness towards the Cosmos was indescribable.

What was really unique though, was the "Trinity", that eventually constituted what would become his Threefold Cosmic Realization. Because that night after, he found himself in an Ocean of Horror, once again happening "out of the blue". Not an anxiety within, but all around, extending itself to all corners of the room (and beyond). It immediately sucked in all faculties of his bodymind: his energy, his "aura", his bodily feelings, his thinking, his emotions. Just limitless Angst, the awareness of the acuteness of the situation, close to death or psychosis. He smelled odor of death within, a flash e.g. image of worms eating his flesh, feeling deep electrical waves of extreme cold. Intuitively he understood, that only sitting in an exact upright position could "save his life". Even the slightest deviation from the vertical caused an acute danger of "being sucked in". In this position he sat for many hours, until dawn. The more extended his awareness became, the more the horror lessened. In the morning, the fear had totally subsided. His realization:  "I have returned from the Underworld, I resurrected from death!" Only after having been less than a week in Poona (and without having been a sannyasin), HMS was home again. He and his wife separated, ending a very troublesome relationship. It would become the beginning of his 10 years of ongoing Bliss, including some more Great Experiences. Peculiar was, that one night, totally out of Nothingness, he ("It") spontaneously and without thinking, wrote "The Ultimate Sutra", with Maitreya Buddha as its subject, something that puzzled him for many years.

"Dark Night of the Soul"

To go to the core of the ego-problem, one has to go back to the past first. Originally the "I" was embedded in the context of "Heaven, earth and the community". People's minds were dominated by a deep sense of relationship. "Ego"-activity did not harm life, like it does now, but contributed to the well-being of the Whole. Christianity destroyed this relationship. It persecuted all those who had a direct relationship with the Divine ("heretics"), with nature ("pagans", women), while subsequently destroying the spiritual foundation of entire communities. It needed many centuries (Inquisition!) to achieve this "noble task". In the end people's spirits were broken. The only way out was to fall back on their ego's. It was the beginning of the renaissance. Ever since, the ego functioned without a context. From its own point of view, this was a "liberation": the freedom to do what you (your self-centered desires) want. Lacking a context, the ego increasingly experienced the shadow parts of "freedom", though. As an isolated entity, it suffered from existential Angst, estrangement and meaninglessness. It started to compensate this with having*: the accumulation of material gains: money, possessions, status, work, power, sex, distraction. It (he) started living in an surrogate ("Ersatz") world, that eventually didn't really satisfy him. To have, as a way to compensate for the loss of Being, became an obsession. At last it resulted in the Ego-Catastrophy of our times.

* "To have is the inability to Be"

The cause of the ego-disease is, that it lost contact with its context. To cure it, several possibilities will be under scrutiny here. First there is the "traditional" way of coping with it: through taking refuge in "God". By surrendering to "Him", the ego finds a "Home" to rest. The point is, that rather than finding refuge in God, people are identifying themselves with an image of God, provided by a religious belief-system. Religious concepts, dogma's and convictions are in between. Very soon one is caught by all kinds of "theologies". In practice it means, that the ego disconnects from certain old identifications (the "materialistic" ones), in order to identify itself with new. Very quickly one becomes part of the dualism between "believers" and "non-believers". Hence, the ego didn't disappear, but just changed clothes. The solution is "the way within", to find "God" in your own innermost core. The first step to it is to become aware. By stepping back, one discovers an inner distance between one's inner observer, a hitherto unknown inner dimension, and one's thinking. "I am here (my New Self), and my thoughts are there, in front of me. While I stay here, thoughts, emotions and desires come and go, I am (inner) Space with thoughts as its content". Yes, this is indeed a major step towards true liberation. However, once again one will be confronted by trouble. First of all, this step is induced by ego. Self-effort is the base of it. In practice, it proves to be very difficult to overcome the ego through the ego.....Too many are entangled in a vicious circle. Combined with an ever increasing stressful life (complicated by the addiction to the "virtual world"), and the ongoing disturbance by unprocessed emotions coming from one's unconscious, the result is, that only a small group of "chosen ones" "manages" to be "mindful" for a certain time of the day. For the majority it appears to be "too much effort".

To what (whom) are people calling, being in a situation of life and death? When robust men - soldiers - face to instantly being killed? Right, they cry out for "mother". It is not that they have first thought about crying for mother. No, this desperate cry for help comes out of their deepest Depth. It is more than calling for your own mother. It is the noumenous Dimension - the HereNow of the Eternal Mother - they are crying for. It proves that the "Mother" is truly the last resort, the Ultimate Reality (crying for "father" would be absurd and....powerless). Taking this insight seriously - and I hope you do - brings you to your True Home. Spiritually She is the Dimension beyond God and the universe, Emptiness beyond Emptiness, the Absolute Vacuum, as confirmed by physics. In Her "Cosmic Womb" everything continuously disappears ("dies"....), while being reborn at the selfsame Moment. That's why She is the ultimate solution to the ego-problem. The ego is so cunning, that in (almost) all situations it can find something to cling to. As we have seen, even "God" gives rise to new identifications. The only Realm that is able to confront the ego is Absolute Nothingness. The ego has no answer when confronted with Her Bottomlessness. The miracle: the Destructive Force of the Cosmos being the Ultimate Redeemer to the problems of (wo)mankind. The West has never understood this. In India this is a common heritage. Kali is passionately loved, because She destroys evil! Black instead of white (Light) is the color that truly liberates. In Europe She is represented by the Black Madonna's. The ultimate liberation includes unconditional surrender (of the ego) to the Cosmic Mother. It goes without effort, just give it back to Her pre-existent Destructive ("sucking") Force, preferably in a dark room, shortly before sleeping. Observe everything with great clarity, while whispering "please, Mother, take my ego from me". Sooner or later the ego separates itself from your inner watching e.g. your true "I" is born. In order to "incarnate", this your True Self has to become part of the Whole - Heaven, earth and the (new) community - once again. The latter is called "Existential Consciousness". It is the foundation for the creation of a future One World Community.*

* Relevant links: www.healingtheplanet.info, index page.

"Unless there is a spiritual renaissance, the world will know no peace"
Dag Hammarskjöld, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

First of all, he is eternally grateful to that unknown (!) old wise man, who apparently triggered Han Marie's spiritual life by the prophecies he made. Equally dear to him is Karl Graf Dürckheim, who helped him crossing the road to his True Self. The latter also supported him in emphasizing the responsibility one has towards spiritual Realization. It creates an obligation to share it with (all) others. The great turning point clearly happened through the presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The latter's influence was contradictory. On the one hand, he facilitated Han Marie's Ultimate Realization, while on the other hand was himself an example of clinging to his enlightened state. This insight helped HMS in later stages not to make the same mistake. In fact, Bhagwan did a great job, for which he remains unforgettable. To the Realm beyond Enlightenment, Bhagwan had nothing to contribute, though. Here Han Marie found inspiration through a wonderful man - Sri Ramakrishna - one of the few, who acknowledged the Mother (Kali) as the Ultimate Reality. Up to this very day, a spiritual sister - Teresa of Avila - is very significant to him. Teresa is not the person the Church has made out of her. To the contrary, she is a most original, deeply mystical, non-conventional, courageous woman, who's teachings of surrender to the Ultimate have not lost any of its importance. To some it may be a surprise, but the last on his list is......science. Physics has confirmed that his Realization is universal and scientifically sound. The entire universe - nothing excluded - is born from a Cosmic Vacuum, while continuously returning to its Source. In his essay "The Supreme Design" Han Marie combines major insights from science and spirituality, proving that the future of religion can only be cosmic.

It is his deepest conviction, that the (current) world crisis, ultimately, is a spiritual one. "To have is the inability to Be". A world crisis implies a world teacher, one who possesses all the wisdom, compassion and strength for a necessary worldwide transformation. A universal mind is needed to overcome all obstacles and to open the gate to a "new Heaven, a new Earth and new Community". This Mind is everybody's inherent Conciousness! Han Marie Stiekema, therefore, calls on all responsible people, to do everything to discover, realize, develop and share his/her own Universal Mind, everything to the benefit of all "living and non-living beings". It starts with becoming aware, together with an inner distance towards self-centered thinking (ego). With the help of the body your consciousness stabilizes itself. It may extend itself, exceeding bodily limits. While the latter "drops off", your direct surroundings - your chair, the carpet, the table, the cat - all become content of your extended Space. It is the first experience of true love e.g. compassion - you embrace everything like yourself. You are the Space - eventually becoming the Omnipresence - in which you as well as everything else is. Its inclusivity raises great joy. Sooner or later self-effort will show its limits, though. The chance for an ongoing "battle" between your awareness and the ever returning ego is great. Stress, fatigue, demotivation, "dryness" or depression may take possession of you. Not to speak of confrontations with serious undissolved inner conflicts. It could be the moment of acknowledging the limits of "doing it yourself". Instead of "attaining" e.g. "realizing", you surrender to the Depth of your existence, in order to become renewed.

* HMS' teachings are utterly original, a true breakthrough, not a copy of existing spiritual systems and not aimed at adapting to people's self-centered desires e.g. interests.