Between 1977 and 1982, Maitreya gave 140 messages through Benjamin Creme during public lectures in London. The method used was mental overshadowing and a telepathic rapport thus set up. Maitreya’s messages of sharing, co-operation and unity inspire readers to spread the news of his reappearance and to work urgently for the rescue of millions suffering from poverty and starvation in a world of plenty. They also reveal the nature and purpose of his return at this moment in human history, and the qualities by which we may recognize him.

The following are excerpts from a few selected messages:

His purpose

In this coming time, I shall show you Beauties and Wonders beyond your imaginings, but which are your birthright, as Sons of God. My children, My friends, I have come more quickly, perhaps, than you expected. But there is much to do, much that needs changing in the world. Many hunger and die, many suffer needlessly. I come to change all that; to show you the way forward – into a simpler, saner, happier life – together. No longer man against man, nation against nation, but together, as brothers, shall we go forth into the New Country.

When I make Myself known, I shall express the hope of all mankind for a new life, a new start, a readiness to change direction; to see the construction of a New World in which men can live in peace; can live free from fear of themselves or their brothers; free to create from the joy in their hearts; free to be themselves, in simple honesty.

How to recognize him

Look for Me, My friends, as a Teacher of men, outlining the possibilities of the New Time. Remember that I am a man among men as well as a True Son of God. My Masters, too, are simple men and come to live among you as such. Nothing separates Us from you; we shall live and work among you as brothers. Remember this and look not for Gods. My Teachings will be simple indeed, will show you the way to God through Love and Service to man. My Plans are proceeding well and soon My Face will become known to you. May it be that you will allow Me to guide you into the future.

When you see and hear Me you will realize that you have known for long the Truths which I utter. Within your hearts rests the Truth of God. These simple Truths, My friends, underlie all existence. Sharing and Justice, Brotherhood and Freedom are not new concepts. From the dawn of time mankind has linked his aspiration to these beckoning stars. Now, My friends, shall we anchor them in the world.
Our role

Man is made to serve both God and Man, and only through that correct service can the path to God be trodden. Each man is a lighthouse and sheds abroad his light for his brother. Make bright your lamp and let it shine forth and show the way. All are needed, every one. No one is too small or young to take part in this great Plan for the rescue and the rehabilitation of our world. Resolve to do this and be assured that My help will not be withheld. How to start? Begin by dedicating yourself and all that you are and have to the service of your brothers and sisters everywhere. Make sure that not one day passes without some act of true service and be assured that My help will be yours. This, the Path of Service, is the only path for True Men, for it is the path which leads them to God.

My People are everywhere. Join them. Become one of them. Make this life a crowning achievement, and take part in the Great Plan. I ask you to do this because you have come into the world for this. You are here, not by chance, but to serve at this time your brothers and sisters. Seize then this opportunity, presented to you with love.

I am emerging soon, but first I would point the way into the new direction which Man, if he would survive, must take. Firstly, men must see themselves as brothers, sons of the One Father. This is essential if they would progress one step nearer The Godhead. Throughout the world there are men, women and little children who have not even the essentials to stay alive; they crowd the cities of many of the poorest countries in the world. This crime fills me with shame. My brothers, how can you watch these people die before your eyes and call yourselves men? My Plan is to save these, My little ones, from certain starvation and needless death. My Plan is to show you that the way out of your problems is to listen again to the true voice of God within your hearts, to share the produce of this most bountiful of worlds among your brothers and sisters everywhere.

All who share the hope that mankind should live in peace together work for Me. Peace, Sharing and Justice are central to My Teaching. Wherever the Light of these Truths shines I turn My eye, and through the channel of that Light do I send My Love. Thus do I work. Thus through you do I change the world.
His Emergence

It has been My intention to reveal Myself at the earliest possible moment, to brook no delay, and to come before the world as your Friend and Teacher. Much depends on My immediate discovery, for in this way can I help you to save your world. I am here to aid and teach, to show you the path to the future, and to reveal you to each other as gods. I am sure you realize that much depends on the actions of men in the coming years. All the world knows this. All the world stands in fear. Nevertheless, there is a growing sense of hope, a likelihood of change, a response to My Presence, creating thus a point of stillness in the tension. Hopes now run high for My appearance. Gladly would I present Myself to the people.

Look for Me then, and grasp My hand. I need your help to come before you, to bless this world and teach, to show men that the way forward is simple, requires only the acceptance of justice and freedom, sharing and love. These aspects are already within you and need only to be evoked by Me. Christ is here, My friends, the Avatar has come. Your Brother walks among you. My mission begins. Know me soon and help your brothers to know Me. Take My hand and let Me lead you to God. May the Divine Light and Love and Power of the One Most Holy God be now manifest within your hearts and minds. May this manifestation lead you quickly to see your roles in this heroic time.

Between 1988 and 1993 Maitreya gave another series of messages through an
associate in London’s Asian community, which were then transmitted to two
independent journalists and to Benjamin Creme. These communications covered
a wide range of topics: from Self-realization, awareness and detachment to
war, pollution, economic systems, and the science of light. They also included
highly accurate forecasts of impending world events, such as the breakup
of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa, earthquakes and
other “natural” disasters, and the rising power of the people’s voice.

Following are a few excerpts from this large body of information which has been published as Maitreya’s Teachings: The Laws of Life:

The Master within

“The Master is within you. If you follow the disciplines of life the Teacher teaches you, the Master reveals Himself within you. Do not be attached to the human form.”

“First you are the disciple. When you realize, as Jesus did, that ‘The Father and I are One’, you become the Master. The Master is within you. The Almighty is within you.”

Be what you are

“Be what you are. Do not follow one another. If you practice honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit and detachment, you will know your Self, you will know Me, you will know the Lord.”

I am with you

“You are experiencing Me at every moment. Every moment, I am with you. Only those whose mind, spirit and body are tranquil, in a state of equilibrium, become aware of God’s presence.

“There are times when you become aware that someone is behind you, within you, over you, around you – something is present. That ‘something’ is the Almighty. It does not participate; it observes. No one need struggle for this step. Everyone qualifies at this stage. Then, as your awareness grows, if you practice the discipline of detachment, you will know Me in My totality. The moment you think of Me, I am with you.”

Death

“I come at the eleventh hour to save My sparks of life. The sparks of life are each and every individual Self. If someone is in trouble and he is My disciple, I come to console and guide him.” ["My disciple" is one who applies the teaching.]

“Death is also the eleventh hour. Does it hurt you when you change your clothes? When you leave your body, it will not hurt you. You may panic. This is your eleventh hour. At this moment, everything stands still. I am with you, and with everyone, at their eleventh hour. I help the one who is slain and the one who slays, I give experiences to both. When Jesus was on the cross, I was by the side of both crucified and crucifier at the eleventh hour. When Jesus saw this He said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do…In victory and in defeat, I am with you… When the moment of death comes, the person experiences a sort of loneliness, as if things are moving away from him…At that moment, I am also helping the person to become detached.”

Enjoy life

“Remain open-minded. Enjoy life. When you enjoy life, it is as if you are sitting on the beach looking at the vast ocean. At that moment you experience serenity, tranquility, detachment within. You do not think of your bank account at that moment. Nobody lectures you at that moment. The gift of life flowers within you.

“Experience this and you will realize you are a unique person. You are unique in this creation.”

Make yourself happy

“Do not make Me happy. Make yourself happy and you have made Me happy. If you look after yourself, you look after Me.”

Self-realization

“Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization has nothing to do with religion, politics or any form of ideology.”

Religion

“Instead of teaching salvation, religions are creating pockets of imprisonment. You are to teach the individual that to Self-realize is his destiny – the ultimate freedom and the ultimate salvation. The moment you personify teachings, you create demigods and dogmas which imprison.”

“To love your neighbor as yourself has nothing to do with religion. When it comes to loving yourself, you love your neighbor because the Self in him is the Self in you.”

“Fundamentalism and dogmatism are coming to an end. That time is quickly passing. I have come to teach you not to cry out for Me. The gurus and religious fanatics cry out for Me and the end result is that they never know Me. You are not born in sin, as they insist on telling you. For I am with you and you are with Me.”

Awareness

“Awareness alone is more powerful than nuclear bombs, more powerful than anything else in the universe. Awareness is even ‘beyond light’ and is growing fast now.”

“To start with, I come to you ‘like a thief in the night’, so that you will not become too excited. Slowly, as you become aware, you can ‘digest’ what is ‘eaten’. In awareness you will know Me. In ‘isms’ you will fight against Me.”
Conditioning

“Your destiny is freedom. No one is ‘born in sin’. Rather, the Self is subject to conditioning during the process of evolution. The process of evolution is the Becoming.

“If you follow the three principles of honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit and detachment, evolution proceeds naturally. Your ‘second nature’ is conditioned nature, but practice of the three principles will free you from conditioning. No one is ‘condemned’ to conditioning.”

Ideologies

“Look at the world situation today. Everyone has fallen victim to ideologies in the name of religion, politics, civilization. Is it worth living this sort of life? The world has been polluted with ideologies. If the human race does not follow the path of justice, peace, happiness, grace, then nature will explode. If human beings (nations and countries) do not respect each other, the energies which are goading nations and countries to fight, and which are so vibrant in nature, will find expression in major disasters which are just around the corner now. You will witness major earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, airplane explosions. Everything you see happening in the world is entirely man-made.”

War

“When there is war, human beings will express and demonstrate every type of animal instinct and quality. Those who are destroying a country will experience vulture type instincts and grab whatever comes to hand. There are no human qualities in these actions.

“I belong to every individual and every nation and country alike. There is no ‘high’ and ‘low’. If you have faith in Me, trust Me, why go out and take part in such destruction?

“Ask your leaders why you are doing so. They will try to compel the individual, either forcefully or by stirring up the emotions in the individual. They will try to play with your mind and spirit. Thus, Iraqis have killed Kuwaitis. Kuwaitis are using other nations to kill Iraqis. In both cases, after death, they come to the Lord.

“You, the Self, are sent into creation by the Lord, not because of any leader, guru or politician. And it is the Lord Who takes you back.”

“There will be no war as a result of the corruption and deceit of the politicians because I am among you. So far I have been acting behind the scenes, with My hands concealed, in order to give room to those in authority to change their ways and to serve the will of the people. But now the time is imminent when I will have to raise My hand so that people can converge on Me and look towards Me for guidance.”

United Nations

“Famine is man-made. You cannot any longer say it is God-made. Now the developed nations, through the agency of the United Nations, must look after the welfare of the Third World. You will see many changes in the UN. The Secretary General will be changed. Younger blood will come in. The UN will become a powerful force.

“The United Nations is the seed of the World Parliament. This is a gradual process. It does not mean national parliaments will disappear. But there will be cooperation between world and national parliaments. The highest priority will be the environment; the lowest will be defense. Back door deals to sell more weapons will not work in the long run.”
Water privatization

“It is a time bomb. The elements of nature should never be privatized. If the politicians try to carry this out they will not succeed. Something spectacular will happen that will astonish the world. You cannot put profit before life.

“Commercialization is more destructive than any nuclear bomb.”

Economic systems

“The present economic systems are crumbling. The Japanese economy has cracks in it; and it will come to an end. It is clear now that pure capitalism has come to an end. It has no future whatsoever. The economy, education, the environment – everything – will be placed within the context of global social democracy in which everyone participates. Communism also is coming to an end.”

“The essence of market forces is greed and separatism. The more one is attached to these forces, the more they create cells of imprisonment. This leads to spiritual bankruptcy and mental disequilibrium.”

Politicians

“The world does not belong to politicians. You cannot afford a war. He who is humble, who respects the will of the Lord, will always say, ‘I am the servant, I am the messenger’ – never ‘I am the leader.’ This is true of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and others.

“The time has come for money to be spent on the welfare of the nations. Every nation, every country, belongs to the people. Those who divide God’s health and wealth in the name of ideology are themselves corrupt.”

“Politicians have double standards. When the leaders themselves have lost the way, what have they to offer? They are like zombies: psychologically, spiritually, mentally finished.”

“For all politicians, educationalists, doctors, etc., the message is: Everyone is important. Life itself cannot be dissected. For politicians the particular message is: You are here to work for the masses, the people, to create harmony instead of divisions.”

Sharing

“If you want to be happy, make sure that your neighbor is happy. If you are rich and he is poor then share with him.”

George Catlin, a long-time associate of Benjamin Creme, will present free talks on “The Masters and the Path” from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. and “Transmission Meditation” from 3-3:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Minneapolis Convention Center. Daily admission is $9, or two for $10. For complete details, visit www.edgelife.net/expos.

Last of a three-part series

"There will be no war as a result of the corruption and deceit of the politicians because I am among you. So far I have been acting behind the scenes, with My hands concealed, in order to give room to those in authority to change their ways and to serve the will of the people. But now the time is imminent when I will have to raise My hand so that people can converge on Me and look towards Me for guidance." Maitreya

Scottish-born painter and esotericist Benjamin Creme has spent more than 30 years preparing the world for the most extraordinary event in human history: the return of our spiritual mentors to the everyday world. Creme has appeared on television, radio and documentary films worldwide since 1982 when he announced that the Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher long awaited by people of every spiritual tradition, albeit under different names, is living in London, ready to present himself openly when invited by the media to do so. This event is now imminent.

Creme, based in London, continues to carry out his task as messenger of this news. He has written 14 books, most recently The World Teacher for All Humanity (2007) and The Awakening of Humanity (2008). He is editor of Share International magazine, which circulates in more than 70 countries and is dedicated to the emergence of Maitreya and the political, social, economic, environmental and spiritual changes that are now taking place.

In an interview with Edge Life, speaking by phone from San Francisco during a recent visit to America, Creme reminds us that Maitreya is a teacher who, when he makes his long-awaited emergence telepathically into the consciousness of every human being on the planet over the age of 14 on the imminent "Day of Declaration," will give each of us a glimpse into who we truly are as human beings and offer us the personal choice of awakening.

The process is described thusly: Maitreya, who can change his physical form at any time, will come forward as a consultant on global issues and will be interviewed on American television. Those public and corporate leaders who have met with Maitreya at a conference in 1990 will come forward and support his ideas. Then, when enough people begin to respond to his ideas, the Day of Declaration will take place and Maitreya will emerge to teach and inspire. Maitreya teaches, among other things, the oneness of all life, humanity’s great spiritual destiny, the Law of Cause and Effect and its corollary, the Law of Rebirth, and the absolute need to share the world’s resources more equitably among all people.

Last month, Creme shared with us Maitreya’s perspective on capitalism and the current global economic crisis. He continues the conversation now, beginning with Maitreya’s views on religion and more on the Day of Declaration.

What’s the future of organized religion in the bigger picture?
Benjamin Creme: Organized religions will remain, some of them for a very long time to come, but under the inspiration and guidance of the Masters there will be built another approach to Divinity. You can’t call it really a religion. It’s a very scientific religion, esotericism, a path to spirit, to union with your soul, and through the soul, union with the spark of God.

You could call it religion if you have to, but we have no word to explain it yet. This scientific religion, scientific path to God, is such that you become a disciple and then you become an initiate, and then you can become a Master and reach the top of the mountain that way. People will go to the mystery schools, which will be reopened, as they go now to university. When ready, they will seek training for these five initiatory processes, which take place in the last few lives of our evolutionary experience.

All of us stand somewhere in relation to that path. We’re either coming up to the first initiation, or have taken that and are somewhere towards the second, or towards the third, or the fourth, or the fifth. Eventually, in the crowning glory for all of humanity, all of us will have taken the fifth initiation and be Masters, and as far as planet earth is concerned, be perfected.

But, the Masters see this as only semi-perfection. They don’t even think they have finished the path of evolution on planet earth. They see stretching ahead of them vistas of being, of knowledge that we can’t even begin to imagine.

But, on the Day of Declaration, Maitreya will give people an inkling of this. He will show how old humanity is – far, far older than we can imagine. There have been before us great civilizations that now lie under the sands and the deserts. We know very little about this, but the Masters know this, and they know the state of humanity and will inspire humanity to see itself in these terms, as growing towards a greater spirituality, a greater understanding of the spiritual nature of all life. We will see politics as having to be spiritual, economics as having to be spiritual, science and education and everything that we do as being essentially spiritual, lifting humanity to higher and higher levels.

Life is not about making money. It is about enhancing the quality of life for every single being so that they go from physical satisfaction to astral satisfaction to mental satisfaction to growing spiritual satisfaction, up and up and up, all the way. It’s all spiritual.

It’s been said that it’s a unique gift given to us to have been chosen to be incarnated at this time on the planet. Is this so?
BC: Indeed it is. We have the world to rebuild. We have the chance to build it rightly for the first time in 98,000 years, under the inspiration and guidance of the Masters who are returning to the everyday world.

At the moment, 14 Masters plus Maitreya, and eventually about 40 Masters plus Maitreya, will be in human bodies. This is a unique happening. We have known nothing like it since 98,000 years ago, and here it is happening. We can, through their guidance, enlist their love and concern and build a world like nothing that has ever happened on planet earth before – a world of great beauty.

Before he died, the Buddha, through the prince Gautama, wrote a sutra that said a time would come when a great teacher, a Buddha like himself, by name Maitreya, would galvanize and inspire humanity to create a brilliant golden civilization based on righteousness and truth – and that is what will happen.

Maitreya Buddha is in the world now along with 14 of the Masters , and eventually more will come in. On the Day of Declaration, Maitreya will speak about his group of Masters. They won’t speak then, but one-by-one in the days, weeks or months following the Day of Declaration, the Masters will begin to come forward into the everyday world.

One of the first of these is the one who was Jesus in Palestine 2,000 years ago. He is now a great, highly evolved Master, one of Maitreya’s closest associates. They are inseparable, and they will teach and advise and work with groups of disciples all over the world, and through these disciples the world will be changed. Everyone who is responsive to this reality has the opportunity to lend their all, their energy and their time and their focus, to save the world through right relationship, brotherhood and sisterhood.

Prior to the Day of Declaration, what can an individual do in preparation for the experience?
BC: Be prepared that it is going to happen. You will hear and see Maitreya on television long before that – no one knows how long – but the Masters don’t expect it to be very long. My guess is that they have a working idea of something like two to three years between the now very soon emergence of Maitreya and the Day of Declaration, but that depends on humanity – whether it responds.

I know your government doesn’t even acknowledge that the world is heating up, that global warming is a reality. They think they can overcome it by all sorts of technical advances, but really it isn’t a question of a little fiddle here and a little fiddle there. It is a huge work, and only the Masters know precisely the time involved and the amount of work involved. The sooner the people respond to Maitreya, the sooner they will get the information from the Masters on how to tackle global warming and all that causes global warming.

One of the deadliest issues is the nuclear radiation pouring from every nuclear power station in the world. With every atomic process and experimentation that is going on, high-level nuclear radiation is pouring out at the highest level. There currently is no technology to measure beyond a certain level. Scientists see only three levels of matter – liquid, solid and gas. But, in fact, the Masters and all esotericists theoretically know that there are four etheric physical planes above gas, and that the worst damage from nuclear radiation is on these highest levels.

The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is growing at a pace like never before, affecting people at a younger and younger age. This is the direct effect of nuclear radiation polluting the air of our planet from the power stations and other nuclear experimentation.

The nuclear power stations they are planning to build by the dozens all over the world to overcome global warming have to be abandoned. The advice of Maitreya right away will be to abandon all power stations of a nuclear type. There is a way to use nuclear energy, but it is a FUSION process, which is cold and simple and can be had from one simple isotope in water, which is everywhere on the planet. That information will be given to humanity when they have abandoned their nuclear fission.

But the true energy of the future is what Maitreya calls the science of light, in which we will receive all energy for every use directly from the Sun – and this will be one of the crowning achievements of our new civilization.

Will this information – the science of light – be spontaneously given to people at some point?
BC: When we have totally renounced war forever that technology will be given to humanity, and it will solve all our energy problems. Otherwise it would be terribly dangerous for any nation to have that technology.

In your two recent books, The World Teacher for All Humanity andThe Awakening of Humanity, you mentioned that people can connect directly with Maitreya. How can this be done?
BC: In 2001 the imprint of a hand appeared on a bathroom mirror in Barcelona, Spain. Since it was in the home of one of our co-workers, a photograph was taken and sent to me. My Master confirmed it was the handprint of Maitreya, given so that people can come in contact with him, on subjective levels, and ask for his help. He says, "My help is yours to command. You have only to ask." People should look at the center of the palm for a few moments and talk to Maitreya. Even if they don’t know it, this alerts him to their presence. He has no sense that we are separate. If we look at the handprint and ask for his help, that help will be given.

A photograph of this handprint has now been circulated throughout the world, and many people have confirmed that the help they asked for was received. The image is included in both of the books you mention and is also available free of charge from Share International. We have received reports that these handprints are now being discovered in other countries.

What is your personal relationship to Maitreya? Have you communicated in person?
BC: I am a "conscious disciple" working closely with one of the Masters – and all of the Masters are the disciples of Maitreya. (There are many disciples of the Masters who are not conscious of that relationship.)

How does Maitreya share his writing and messages? Does he share them through his disciples and they are given to you?
BC: The first series of messages were given through me by a process of mental overshadowing during my public lectures in London between 1977 and 1982. These 140 messages have been published by Share International Foundation in the book Messages From Maitreya the Christ.

Later, between 1988 and 1993, Maitreya gave another series of messages to a colleague in the Asian community of London where he lives. That colleague was told to give them to either of two independent journalists, with further instructions to pass them on to me.

I published all of them in our magazine, Share International, and sent them, wherever they were relevant, to the media of the world. Maitreya also gave some unique and extraordinary forecasts. There is nothing of this kind of forecasting going back thousands of years. It is so full and so direct, and it has been borne out to the letter. Maitreya gave this information so that we could awaken humanity, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

For complete information on the emergence of Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom, visit www.share-international.org or contact Share International USA toll-free at 1.888.242.8272. George Catlin, a long-time associate of Benjamin Creme, will present free talks on "The Masters and the Path" from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. and "Transmission Meditation" from 3-3:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Minneapolis Convention Center. Daily admission is $9, or two for $10. For complete details, visit www.edgelife.net/expos.

The essence of market forces is greed and separatism. The more one is attached to these forces, the more they create cells of imprisonment. This leads to spiritual bankruptcy and mental disequilibrium.." – Maitreya

Scottish-born painter and esotericist Benjamin Creme has spent more than 30 years preparing the world for the most extraordinary event in human history: the return of our spiritual mentors to the everyday world. Creme has appeared on television, radio and documentary films worldwide since 1982 when he announced that the Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher long awaited by people of every spiritual tradition, albeit under different names, is living in London, ready to present himself openly when invited by the media to do so. This event is now imminent.

Creme, based in London, continues to carry out his task as messenger of this news. He has written 14 books, most recently The World Teacher for All Humanity (2007) and The Awakening of Humanity (2008). He is editor of Share International magazine, which circulates in more than 70 countries and is dedicated to the emergence of Maitreya and the political, social, economic, environmental and spiritual changes that are now taking place.

In an interview with Edge Life, speaking by phone from San Francisco during a recent visit to America, Creme reminds us that Maitreya is a teacher who, when he makes his long-awaited emergence telepathically into the consciousness of every human being on the planet over the age of 14 on the imminent "Day of Declaration," he will give each of us a glimpse into who we truly are as human beings and offer us the personal choice of awakening.

The process is described thusly: Maitreya, who can change his physical form at any time, will come forward as a consultant on global issues and will be interviewed on American television. Those public and corporate leaders who have met with Maitreya at a conference in 1990 will come forward and support his ideas. Then, when enough people begin to respond to his ideas, the Day of Declaration will take place and Maitreya will emerge to teach and inspire. Maitreya teaches, among other things, the oneness of all life, humanity’s great spiritual destiny, the Law of Cause and Effect and its corollary the Law of Rebirth, and the absolute need to share the world’s resources more equitably among all people.

Last month, Creme shared with us more about the return of the masters and greater insight on the Day of Declaration. He continues the conversation now, beginning with Maitreya’s views on the current economic crisis in America.

In your book, The World Teacher for All Humanity, you write that Maitreya calls speculation the great disease of humanity.
Benjamin Creme: Absolutely. Speculation for the Masters is anathema and is the greatest disease that humanity has, and it ends up, of course, in commercialization.

What is the future of the financial markets in America and Europe? Having them collapse and then rebuilt with new ideas?
BC: Maitreya says they will never have the same role again. The present stock exchanges of the world have very little to do with the real economy of the world. Trading is a small part of the work of the stock exchanges. They are really to do with financial speculation, and they speculate on the value of the yen, the dollar, the pound, the franc, or the euro, at any given time. Billions are lost and billions are made by this speculation, and that’s what the stock exchanges are about. They are for greedy minds.

The Masters say that perhaps some segment of it might be retained for these greedy minds to play with, but for humanity as a whole, they have no major part to play. The Masters, through their disciples, have worked out various interrelated plans that will solve the problems. Any one of them would solve the problems of distribution, which are at the heart of the economic problem.

It is not economics per se, it is non-distribution. There is more food in the world than we could possibly use. There’s a huge surplus of food per capita, but it’s locked away and rotting in the storehouses of the Western world, whereas in the East, in many parts of Africa, India and South America, people are starving to death. Millions of people are dying of starvation in a time in which there is a huge surplus of food.

Maitreya says, "Nothing so moves me to grief as this shame. The crime of separation must be driven from this world. I affirm that as my purpose." So the saving of the starving millions of the world is the number one priority. After that, the number two priority is the saving of planet earth from decay and death, because this is a very sorry state.

Capitalism, as it’s practiced in America, seems to go against these values shared by Maitreya.
BC: Yes, it does. But Maitreya asks us to think of the problem of the world as a cart. It has to have two wheels. If you have one wheel, the cart doesn’t go. If you have one wheel called socialism, it doesn’t go. If you have only one wheel called capitalism, it doesn’t go. It needs two wheels. These two wheels are capitalism and socialism.

Because of what they call the "new economy," the economy of market forces, the world is moving more and more toward a complete commercialization of life on earth, and the Masters find this a desperate state of affairs. One Master has said that commercialization has humanity by the throat and is removing humanity, men and women, out of life.

Others say life is not about commercialization. It is not about market forces. Maitreya calls market forces the forces of evil, because they benefit the few at the expense of the many. How long do we expect the many to go on? He says it’s reaching a point when these many will not put up with this state of affairs forever and will revolt. There will be massive upheaval, social destruction, revolutions of one kind or another, and eventually war – and that war would destroy all life.

We have no alternative but to share, and sharing is the divine plan. The Plan of Evolution is the plan destined by the Logos (God) of our planet for the evolution of the earth, and the governments of the world try all they can to make the economy work, but they can’t. Nothing works anymore, because it’s of the past. All the technology, all the ways, all the ideas, all the theories of economics don’t work. They work for a time and build for certain people a lot of money, and then there’s a depression and the whole thing collapses for a time, and then they build it up again, and for a time it works for a few, and then again collapses. This same pattern is repeated year after year, decade after decade.

Maitreya says governments are dealing only with the ways of the past, and we have moved into a new cosmic cycle. Humanity is no longer the same. Its needs are no longer the same, and the needs of all around the world are recognizable. We need jobs. We need food. We need shelter. We need health care. We need education. These few things are the absolute necessities of all people everywhere, and yet even in the most-developed world, like America and Europe, no one has all of these things by right, unless they have money – and this is the rub. Unless you have money today, you cannot live life according to your need.

Politically it seems as though we have a candidate in this nation who is encouraging a renewal of hope through the removal of fear. Is this in line with Maitreya’s blueprint?
BC: All the thoughts and ideas that move in that direction are the result of the effect of Maitreya’s ideas. They saturate all the planes, from the dense physical to the high spiritual planes, and people respond to them according to the state of their heart. If the heart is relatively pure, they respond to the highest level, and downwards to just common sense – although it takes heart sensitivity at times to recognize it as common sense.

Politics seems to be a part of Maitreya’s message in terms of how to lead people responsibly. What has Maitreya thought about the course of these past eight years of America’s leadership, in proclaiming a war on terrorism?
BC: America, like all nations, has to renounce war. It’s an utter, utter necessity to renounce war forever. And nothing new can be built until this is done. The wars of today, the terrorism of today, are the result of injustice, and that injustice is the outcome of our greedy, selfish, competitive way of working through commercialization and market forces. They no longer work and have to be seen to be of the past, and relegated to the past, so that we can build new structures, new forms of living together and sensing our common bonds of brotherhood and justice and freedom for all peoples – not just some of the people, but for all people.

One of those ancient civilizations, the Mayans, have their calendar ending around 2012. What’s the significance of that time period from Maitreya’s perspective.
BC: None at all. There’s no significance. The Mayans disappeared as a culture, which was for the time extremely high. People have asked me this question many, many times, and the Masters say that when you wake up on the next day, the sun will rise as usual and you’ll have your bacon and eggs as usual. Life will be the same as what we have reached by 2012.

One thing that some of us do feel is that time is speeding up. Is that actually happening?
BC: That is literally true, yes. Maitreya has created a new relationship between this planet and the Sun. It is so slight that you could never measure it, but we are slightly closer to the Sun than we were before, and this speeds up the evolution of the planet. Therefore, our sense of time is speeding up.

But for the Masters there is no such thing as time. For them, what we think of as the past, the present and the future are all one. There is only this moment of time. That is it, all of it. I have been shown by the Masters that the past is still going on as if it were happening, and the future is already happening, although from our point of view it has yet to arrive. But on the level from which the Masters work and from which they look at the world, these are all now, just everlasting permanent now, and there’s nothing else but now.

Next month: Maitreya’s views revealed.

For complete information on the emergence of Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom, visit www.share-international.org or contact Share International USA toll-free at 1.888.242.8272. George Catlin, a long-time associate of Benjamin Creme, will present free talks on "The Masters and the Path" from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. and from 3-3:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Minneapolis Convention Center. Daily admission is $9, or two for $10. For complete details, visit www.edgelife.net/expos.