To help humanity in its task of global transformation, Maitreya the World Teacher has formulated certain priorities. They cover the essential needs of every man, woman and child: an adequate supply of food; housing for all; health care and education as universal rights. Other top priorities include the restoration of the environment and the establishment of peace.

The key to achieving these goals is a more equitable sharing of the world’s food and resources. According to Maitreya: “Without sharing there can be no justice; without justice there can be no peace; without peace there can be no future.”

Humanity at a crossroads

Humanity is at a crossroads. One path into the future leads to increasing social and economic division, environmental destruction, war and planetary peril. The other path leads to increasing social harmony, economic and environmental balance, and global peace.

Fortunately, at this critical point in history, we have in our midst a group of extraordinary spiritual teachers, the Masters of Wisdom, to help guide us along the path to peace. But it is up to humanity whether or not we accept this guidance and take action to resolve our most pressing global problems.

Among the most dangerous of the many crises we face is the growing disparity between the world’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ For example:

• The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people (nearly 90% of the world’s population). (Oxfam, 2020)
• 2.1 billion people lack safe drinking water at home; more than twice as many lack safe sanitation. (WHO, 2017)
• About 821 million people do not have enough to eat, a little over 10% of the world’s population. (FAO, 2018)
• More than 700 million people, or 10% of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day. (UN Sustainable Development Goals 2020)
• New research warns that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or 8% of the total human population. (UN Sustainable Development Goals 2020)
• Over 265 million children don’t attend school, and 617 million youth worldwide lack basic mathematics and literacy skills. (UN Sustainable Development Goals 2020)
• It’s estimated that no less than 150 million people, or about 2 percent of the world’s population, are homeless. About 1.6 billion, more than 20 percent of the world’s population, may lack adequate housing. (Yale University, 2017)

This growing divide between the wealthy and the poor threatens us all, as the resulting crime, social unrest, civil war and environmental degradation do not respect local or national boundaries.

In his book ‘The Awakening of Humanity‘, Benjamin Creme says: “We have descended into a depth of materiality which is now dangerous for the continued existence of ourselves and the world. Maitreya calls it the blind following of market forces.” Although market forces have their role, they ultimately benefit the few at the expense of the many, due to their in-built division and separation. “Where market forces are the sole priority, inequality is assured and injustice must be the result.”

Global consumption and the environment

A UN Human Development Report (1998) concluded that “runaway growth in consumption is placing unprecedented pressure on the environment.” This report and others cite the destruction of the world’s forests; depletion of the world’s fisheries and fresh water supplies; pollution of air and water; depletion of the world’s topsoil; desertification; species extinction; a dramatic increase in fossil fuel burning and resulting global warming trends. The list of growing environmental problems is nearly endless. Time is running out to prevent the most damaging and potentially irreversible impacts of climate change.

• The material footprint per capita has increased at an alarming rate. …In 2017…high-income countries had the highest material footprint per capita, 60% higher than the upper-middle-income countries and more than 13 times the level of low-income countries. (UN Sustainable Development Goals 2019)
• Areas of the planet home to one-third of humans will become as hot as the hottest parts of the Sahara within 50 years, unless greenhouse gas emissions fall, according to research by scientists from China, United States and Europe published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The rapid heating would mean that 3.5 billion people would live outside the climate ‘niche’ in which humans have thrived for 6,000 years. (Washington State University)

We need to recognise that our health and happiness as a society depend on a healthy environment. As Greta Thunberg has said: “If solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then maybe we should change the system itself.”

Sharing is the answer

Given ever increasing imbalances in global living standards, what could cause humanity, particularly those in the developed world, to change to a less destructive, more sustainable lifestyle before it is too late?

Current events, including the worldwide racial justice protests and COVID-19 pandemic, may be the trigger for a much needed change in direction. This is particularly true in economies favouring free-market capitalism, which have hollowed out their middle class through austerity practices in infrastructure, health, and wellbeing and through their ill-judged investment in financial speculation. Experience shows that blind obedience to market forces does not ensure a fair distribution of wealth. Economic and health inequality, together with environmental destruction, are global time-bombs if allowed to persist without being addressed equitably and responsibly.

A new principle must govern economic laws and regulations: the Principle of Sharing. Such a change would be based on a recognition that we are a global family, and, consequently, an acceptance of the need to share the world’s resources among the nations as we would within a family, to create a safe, secure world for everyone. (See article: ‘The case for sharing‘)

Solutions at hand

Fortunately, the answers to these seemingly intractable problems are readily available.

Maitreya will help us to see that the world’s food, raw materials, energy and technological resources belong to everyone and must be shared equitably. These resources, Maitreya says, are given by divine right for the sustenance of all humanity, not for the use and misuse by a relative few. He will recommend a re-ordering of economic priorities so that adequate food, housing, education and health care become universal rights.

The next steps

The immediate priority will be the saving of millions of people now starving to death in the developing world. Maitreya will propose a crash program of aid on a world scale to alleviate this suffering.

As humanity begins to accept the principle of sharing, and people call on governments to implement this principle, each country will make an inventory of its assets and needs. This data will provide a United Nations agency, set up for this purpose, with the information required for a rational redistribution of the world’s resources. That which each country has in excess of its needs will be put aside, in trust for the world.

The plans for such a redistribution program ― drawn up by economists, financiers and industrialists of great achievement ― are already in existence, awaiting only the demand of humanity for their implementation. A sophisticated form of barter, on a global scale, will eventually replace the present economic system.

No doubt there will be opposition to such plans from some of the more privileged members of society who will see in them a loss of their traditional status and power. But the need for change will become so obvious that they will find themselves increasingly powerless to halt the momentum.

Another top priority will be saving, protecting, and healing the environment. This will require the creation of economic systems based on the principles of sustainability and sufficiency, rather than the present system of overproduction and waste. The goal is to supply the needs of all while maintaining the planet’s health.

With the transformation of economic structures, people throughout the world will increasingly be able to live decent, dignified lives. The need for large families will diminish, particularly in the developing world, where it is mainly an insurance for old age. The earth’s population will gradually decline to a more natural level.

Humanity’s choice

The bright future ahead for humanity is dependent on the decisions we make today. Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom will advise and guide, but the future rests in our hands.

Maitreya will present humanity with two alternative scenarios of the future ― either to continue in the selfish, greedy ways of the past and destroy ourselves, or to accept the principle of sharing and create a brilliant new civilization where all may participate as full members of the human family.

Maitreya is in no doubt about the choice humanity will make. He says: “The success of my mission depends on you: you must make the choice ― whether you share and learn to live peacefully as true men, or perish utterly. My heart tells me your answer, your choice, and is glad.”