Up to the end of 2025, the online edition of Share International magazine presents a selection of items from the printed edition. Each online edition includes a complete article by Benjamin Creme's Master. Most other articles reproduced here, covering a wide range of topics, are excerpts. The online edition usually also includes a selection of Questions and Answers, Readers' letters, and photographs of Signs of Maitreya's presence. From the beginning of 2026, the printed edition is no longer being produced, but the entire magazine is available on this website.
See the full table of contents of the printed edition at the foot of the page.
From the inception of Share International magazine, Benjamin Creme’s Master provided an article every month for nearly 35 years. These were intended to be published not only at the time they were written, but also whenever appropriate according to world circumstances.
Twice, last century, the world was convulsed by total war, two terrible phases of one war which cost humanity many millions of lives. Each was meant to be “the war to end war”, but still there are those who plot and plan for yet another trial of strength, with weapons of even greater destructiveness. How long, we must ask, will it take man to realize that war solves nothing, proves nothing and adds only pain and loss to the peoples of Earth?
A major reason for the Masters’ return to the everyday world is, precisely, to remind men of this; to so influence their thinking that they turn away from war for ever. So many nations today possess the nuclear bomb, the most destructive weapon ever conceived and built, that a future major war would be the ultimate horror: the complete destruction of life on planet Earth. For many millions of years Earth would be a dead planet, a toxic waste. Men, themselves, would have to incarnate on some dark, far-off world, and begin again the long, long journey into the light.
You may be sure that when Maitreya, imminently, begins His open mission, He will face men with this problem and its outcome, and offer His solution and advice. War, He will remind men, is a blasphemy, a detestation and crime against all men, involved or not. War, He will say, must be considered thus if humanity and the lower kingdoms are to survive.
Sharing and justice alone, He will say, will ensure the future for men. Strive for unity and co-operation for the men of Earth are One. “See your brother as yourself” and take the first step into your divinity. “Take your brother’s need as the measure for your action and solve the problems of the world. There is no other course.”
Thus will Maitreya speak to the people of Earth. Thus will He endeavour to change the direction of their thinking. Will the people listen to and act on His advice? Fear and foreboding fill the minds of men: ancient habits of thought die hard and are loath to change.
More and more, however, the problems and privations which accompany the economic collapse of today encourage men to seek new ways of living, and turn their thoughts to sharing, to the creation of a more just and generous world. Thus are many ready to respond to Maitreya’s words. Many, of course, are not ready to change. Many are content with the present situation, expecting an ‘upturn’ in the markets before too long, when they will begin again to make money from air for their company and themselves.
Many, too, in the religious fields, will welcome little the appearance of Maitreya. Bereft of knowledge, clinging to their man-made dogmas, they will find in Maitreya, the Lord of Love, the abomination of evil that they fear. But not all. Many religious groups around the world have seen and heard Maitreya’s words before, albeit in another guise. They will remember the Teacher Who appeared to them and planted the seeds of sharing and justice in their minds while endowing their lands with the Waters of Life from Aquarius.
Eventually so great will be the pressure for a better, a fairer and a safer world that even the most bigoted will add their voices to the clamour for change. Thus will it be.
(Share International, September 2009)
From time to time, there appears among men a figure who embodies the best, or the worst, that men can show. These individuals become the most loved or the most hated of men. In either case, they usually draw to themselves many followers or devotees. Such figures have enormous magnetic appeal for the majority of men or, on occasion, are an inspiring example of destructive power on a large scale. The history books are full of examples of both types.
Today, in large numbers, many examples of both types are manifesting worldwide. The effect of this manifestation is to set before humanity two opposing lines of action, and so create the tension of choice which will determine the future of the race. In biblical terms this is the ‘Sword of Cleavage’. For many years the energies emanating from, and directed by, Maitreya have sought to create such confrontation of opposites. This may seem strange indeed to many people but it is essential that humanity make the correct choices for its future. Otherwise that future would be bleak indeed.
The Sword of Cleavage is the energy we call Love: wielded by Maitreya it sets “brother against brother” and tests the true divine consciousness of men everywhere. The ultimate aim of all evolution is to establish on Earth the ‘Kingdom of God’, and the Sword of Cleavage shows men the way.
The teaching of Maitreya is simple. One might think that His priorities would seem obvious to all men; sadly this is not the case. Maitreya presents a future of tranquillity and peaceful endeavour as the inevitable result of sharing and justice for all, the creation of a world “where no man lacks, where no two days are alike, where the Joy of Brotherhood manifests through all men”. How is it possible, you might think, to gainsay such a message of hope? Is this not the future yearned for by everyone? It is the future hoped for by the majority of men, but not by all. Humanity stands on different rungs of the evolutionary ladder; above a certain level, all bodes well for men. It is those who have not as yet manifested that measure of their divine Self who do not recognize that sharing is divine, that justice and right relationship are divine, but who see Divinity as competition and conflict, and register a man’s worth by the weight of his gold.
Many are fearful and suffering; bereft of work and hope for the future, they struggle from day to day. But many others are making their future for themselves, and many, too, are dying in the process. Throughout the world, men are awakening to the possibility of a better life with freedom and justice at its heart. Have no fear, the people’s voice is rising and, like a contagion, affecting more and more. Maitreya stands behind those who live — or die — for the truth of freedom, justice and the unity of man. The young lead the way, and the future is for them.
(Share International, October 2011)
These articles are by a senior member of the Hierarchy of Masters of Wisdom. His name, well-known in esoteric circles, is not yet being revealed. Benjamin Creme, a principal spokesman about the emergence of Maitreya, was in constant telepathic contact with this Master who dictated his articles to him.
In the title to this piece there is history and our place in it — and therefore our responsibility. A question surely millions ask themselves every morning as the news headlines roll in: ‘Why isn’t the whole world screaming in protest?’ A horror beyond any nightmare plays out on our screens; do we simply accept a new and degraded definition of what it is to be human and what the rule of law meant and once guaranteed? An ancient evil has been unleashed on the planet. How are we to respond?
One question must trouble us: as witnesses, are we complicit? Are we contributing to the apparently limitless depravity now let loose on the world? Is there an antidote available to rid ourselves of the toxicity of our times?
“Hague schmague”
At present, a convergence of many tensions together create a climate in which the negative is flourishing at the cost of much that most cultures and countries value as the hallmark of a beneficent civilization. Now, a more blatant element strides the world stage with impunity. An insidious attack on spiritual or higher values is playing out before our eyes and this is part of a process of polarization, with positions quickly taken and fanatically held. Values are being warped by the trend towards cruelty, factionalism and criminality — corruption, misogyny and fascism have been normalized. Take politicians, presidents, and elected representatives who make explicit statements about ethnic cleansing, or about abusing women, denigrating and destroying whole populations. As if it is normal. Clear defiance of the highest international court of law (the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague) is apparently ‘not a problem’, derided in comments such as: “Hague schmague”. The slaughter of civilians, starving people of food, depriving them of clean water and medicine, or allowing people to die in deserts, jungles, rivers and seas trying to reach a better life — all of that, too, seems perfectly acceptable.
The Master Djwhal Khul (DK) writing in The Externalisation of the Hierarchy in 1940, in a section called ‘The coming world order’, raises questions about the origins of the chaos of those times (the ‘war years’). He cautions that “there must be realization of the general guilt and a shared responsibility for the evil conditions …”. But here’s a possibly unexpected challenge: “The tendency to fasten the war on Hitler and his gang of evil men should not blind us to the causes which have made his evil work possible. … The causes of this rampant evil are inherent in humanity itself.”
Who else but all of us? How can resolution ever be possible if we cannot accept these truths? If it is always ‘their fault’ there can never be reconciliation or compromise — there must always be enemies.
This truth must be our starting point, but the evolution of consciousness and the incarnational history of each person is different. The global population can very roughly be divided into three groups. The Master DK describes them as: those tending towards a “spiritual and free way of life; another grouping favouring intellectual unfoldment; and a third group showing a ‘potent trend towards material living and aggression’”. Our problem now is that this still holds true — materialism is rampant and augmented by the intellectual classes tending to gravitate towards the materialistic, broadly speaking. “The war between the pairs of opposites — materialism and spirituality — is raging fiercely. …” (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, A.A.Bailey)
As Benjamin Creme and his Master have said: ‘commercialization has humanity by the throat’. Maitreya described commercialization as being insidious and “more destructive than any nuclear bomb”. This is the latest form of a destructive energy older than our current civilization; it works through flawed personalities with narcissistic traits; egomaniacs susceptible to being used by such forces. We are all vulnerable but it acts particularly in and through flawed personalities. It has its anchor in a number of cliques around the world. …
Granted, the following passage by the Master DK was written soon after World War II but its warnings and lessons are still relevant — perhaps now more than ever.
“Humanity has been passing through the tests…; they have been hard and cruel and are not yet entirely over. … In the coming crisis, true vision and a new freedom, plus a wider spiritual horizon may be attained. The crisis, if rightly handled, need not again reach the ultimate horror.” …
“Humanity must (as must all disciples) be left entirely free to settle its own destiny. Humanity has not yet learned the difficult lesson which all disciples have to master: the lesson of the dual life of the man whose soul is functioning and whose physical brain is constantly aware of this fact.” (The Rays and the Initiations, Alice Bailey)
It is in that last sentence the Master DK gives us the answer to questions raised by our moral crisis: we need to learn to live as souls in incarnation. If we did we could not permit genocide or shrug off ecocide; we could not be complacent. It is that complacency which makes us complicit.
One solution therefore must lie in taking action and a moral stand, protesting and demonstrating in every way possible against all that works against “the Plan” — the Laws of the Universe, the Rule of Law. Our Human Rights Laws, international treaties and agreements, the laws governing our daily lives are a faint reflection of the Plan and of the Laws of the Universe. They are an attempt to ensure that we live in right relationship as far as we are able. We are clearly not in right relationship — within ourselves or with Life itself.
“The way to justice and peace is easily solved. It requires only the acceptance of sharing. Share and know the future. Refuse to share and there will be no future for man. …
Learn, My friends, to live simply and to love one another truly.” (From a message from Maitreya, received by Benjamin Creme, 26 October 2008, published in Share International, December 2008)
See also Share International November 2023, December, 2023; January/February 2024 and March 2024 for Benjamin Creme’s comments and explanations.
Guilt, fear and innocence
“Only through fair and open trial before the world can the guilt or innocence of men be known. Only by acceptance of some responsibility for the conditions which drive men to these barbarous acts can they be overcome. Men who have nothing to lose put little value on the lives of others or their own.” (Benjamin Creme’s Master, “Turning the tide of hate”, Share International, November 2001)
While we cannot confirm or indicate if a Master was involved in the events described in the following letter, the experience may be such that it ‘speaks for itself’ in providing hope, inspiration and comfort. We present such letters for your consideration.
On 15 February 2024, I came across an uplifting message in a rather peculiar manner. I’ll start by explaining that two days prior, while staring at pictures of Sai Baba and Maitreya (Nairobi, 1988), I was asking our divine mentors for spiritual strength. I had been slowly recovering from a throat infection, and at the same time I was also feeling disconnected inwardly. You might say I needed a little ‘pick-me-up’ beyond the physical level.
Although I have inwardly said many times to Maitreya over the years that I don’t really need a physical sign, I’m always open to such happenings. They can only help to reinforce our hopeful information of the Masters’ public emergence. At this moment of time, I suppose, I was subtly asking for a sign without fervently expecting anything of an obvious nature.
My workday had just ended. As I walked through the parking lot and approached my car, I stared at my customized license plate holder. It has two lines of text, one above and one below the plate: “Peace Requires Sharing” and “S.O.P. — Save Our Planet!” This text is fairly small and doesn’t stand out, but I sometimes feel self-conscious at my workplace and wonder how many people have noticed it. What would they think about the word “sharing”? Does anyone misinterpret this as radical socialism?
On reaching for my car door handle, I found a brightly colored sticky note attached to the driver-side window. Immediately, I recognized this as a Biblical verse and assumed a fundamentalist Christian had posted similar notes on other cars. But as I glanced around the parking lot, there were no other notes in sight. Then I read the entire message with attention. Normally, the Old Testament is the last place I’d turn to for inspiration, but whoever passed this along knew just what words to offer and exactly how to present them:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you: He will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
While I cannot prove a Master of Wisdom or one of their associates was behind this gesture, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a ‘normal’ person would have placed such a timely and perfectly crafted note in the way it appeared. This is really a message for us all. The Lord of Love “goes with you”.
We present here phenomena which, to the editors, are “signs of hope” and “signs of the time”, but which have not been confirmed by Benjamin Creme’s Master.
We present them for your consideration only, since we cannot now make use of the confirmation and additional information which in the past was always provided by BC’s Master.
This ‘UFO-Star’ is always there, low in the evening sky, stationary, but slowly moving from south to west along with the starry heavens as the earth rotates. Of course, in reality and seen through the lens, these images, taken shortly after each other around midnight, aren’t stills but a most dynamic light show by an enormously powerful source of light outside Earth’s atmosphere. It takes a clear sky and, in this case, a super zoom compact camera on a tripod. I always feel a confirmation in my heart chakra, a connection, a stream of love energy, when I look up and realize we are being helped by more evolved, civilized, and technologically advanced beings, our brothers and sisters from space.
C.Q., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 12 February, 2024
We present a selection of quotations about Maitreya, The World Teacher, His presence in the world and His inspiring impact on our lives. This selection is taken from Maitreya (Messages from Maitreya the Christ), Benjamin Creme’s Master (A Master Speaks Volume Two) and Benjamin Creme’s writings.
All of this is part of the Plan of God. God’s Plan is not a set of rules that you have to obey, but ideas which in themselves have an inner beauty, an inner relevance because they are at the very heart of the spiritual basis of our lives. When we aim at right relationship, we automatically create structures — political, economic, and social — which allow that to take place. (Benjamin Creme, The Great Approach)
BC: Essentially, the Plan issues from the Logos of our planet, the Heavenly Man who is ensouling the planet. He reflects Himself as the Lord of the World on a very high etheric centre in the Gobi Desert, called Shamballa. The Plan of God issues from Shamballa. It is brought from Shamballa to the Masters of our Spiritual Hierarchy by the Buddha. The Masters seek to carry out the Plan through humanity. They give aspects of the Plan to their various initiates and disciples — men and women in the world — to carry out; and so the transformations take place, the Plan works out. The Masters are also the custodians of the spiritual energies entering the planet. They release them in such a way as to further the Plan. Humanity responds to these energies, even though they do not know that they exist. These energies are embodied by certain great ideas which become our ideals. As we put the ideals into effect, the plan of evolution works out, age after age, cycle after cycle. (Benjamin Creme, The Ageless Wisdom Teaching)
When Maitreya speaks openly, therefore, He will show that unity in diversity is the key to future harmony. That all the nations have a destiny, unique and sacred. He will point the way to achieve this blessed state and encourage men to open their hearts to a wiser understanding of the Plan. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘Unity in diversity’)
Marc-André Selosse is a microbiologist, ecologist and teacher. A professor at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris and at the universities of Gdansk, Poland and Kunming, China, his research focuses on the ecology and evolution of mutually beneficial associations (symbiosis).
In his books L’origine du monde and Petites histoires naturelles, as well as his YouTube videos, Marc-André Selosse explains the role of soil, which is teeming with life, how humans mistreat it and how soil can worsen or help control climate change. This first article deals with the composition of the soil and the life that inhabits it. A second article will look at humanity’s impact on soil and the impact of soil on climate change.
Formation of soil
Soil is that thin layer between the earth’s rock (radius of the earth, 6371 km) and the atmosphere (thickness 100 kilometers). It can be between a few tenths of a millimeter and 10 meters deep. The most fertile soils, such as chernozem, are generally one to two meters deep in the fertile plains soils of temperate climate countries. It’s the thin layer that sustains life; the meeting point of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms that enables large mammals and the Fourth Kingdom, the human kingdom, to live. It supports their steps and provides their food. …
Movements in the soil
The soil may appear solid and unchanging to us, as we have been building our homes on it for eons, but it is also subject to numerous movements.
First of all, there is horizontal movement, when the wind carries particles which are not glued together by plant humus and not protected by the upper parts of plants, to other soil; or when run-off water carries it to muddy-looking rivers, where it fertilizes the coastline and feeds fish. (Coastal waters are much richer in fish than deep waters, where organic matter sinks into the seabed.)
The soil also experiences vertical movements, which are facilitated by the pores in the soil and the vertical wells dug by its many inhabitants, such as earthworms, nematodes, amoebas, bacteria. It’s consolidated by their discharge of organic matter. …
Earthworms eat 20 times their weight of soil every day. The entire soil of fertile plains passes through earthworms every three to five years! (This means the one or two meters deep fertile layer of the ground.) In its droppings, the earthworm forms a close and very stable marriage between organic matter and clay: the famous clay-humus complex, which makes a major contribution to soil fertility through its physical and chemical properties and stabilizes the soil.
Ants and termites move one to 50 tons of soil per hectare per year, aerating the soil and transporting organic matter downwards and mineral matter upwards in a constant process of mixing. They, too, stabilize the galleries with their mucus.
All these movements and complex chemical processes of living organisms are incredibly more fertilizing and long-lasting than ploughing and plant protection products.
“All in all, this whole marriage between rock, organic matter and atmosphere is choreographed by life, which moves things around (earthworms, amoebas, roots, fungal filaments, etc.). The soil is a sort of whipped cream. And all this life in the soil creates holes in the soil; holes in which the gases and water that sustain life circulate.” …
Modern psychology has divided humanity into two main types: the contemplative, and the man (or woman) of action; the introvert and the extrovert personality. Esoteric psychology also recognizes these differences in people’s approach to life, but characteristically, since it aims at synthesis rather than analysis, it sees their eventual integration.
Introvert or extrovert?
To the esotericist, the introvert is one whose attention is focused inwards to the soul, who has good and easy contact with that aspect of himself, for whom formal meditation is attractive as a more scientific and organized means of deepening that contact, but whose contact with the outside world is relatively fragmentary and limited, leading to difficulties of expression and functioning on the physical plane.
The extrovert, on the other hand, is one whose contact with the outer world is strong and vivid, who has little difficulty in relating to people and situations, but whose contact with the soul is limited and largely unconscious; his attention is directed outwards. Life after life, our souls create vehicles, our personalities, through which both modes can be developed and perfected. The evolutionary aim is their ultimate integration: an uninterrupted, direct contact and at-onement with the soul; and, at will, a free-flowing rapport with the outer world of people and events. This is the ideal; its achievement marks the Initiate.
Twin ways
The twin ways of the path to this integration are meditation and service. Through meditation, contact with the soul is deepened and strengthened, gradually bringing about the infusion of the personality by the soul. The energies and attributes of the soul, Spiritual Will, Love and Intelligence manifest more and more through the personality until such time as the fusion of the two is complete.
Through service, the purpose of the soul is carried out. The nature of the soul is to serve; it knows only altruistic service; all that it is of Will, Love and Intelligence it seeks to put at the service of the Plan — the Plan of the Logos of which it is a reflection.
In Palestine, the Christ revealed the fact of the soul and instituted the Path of Service as the way par excellence to God-realization. This is no less true today. The great illusion of our personality life is the sense of being at the centre of the Universe. We are all of major interest and importance to ourselves.
Nothing is so effective in decentralizing ourselves as service. Nothing so helps us to gain perspective and to grow spiritually. As we serve, we identify more and more with “the other”, that which we serve, and gradually shift the focus of our attention from our little separate selves. We gain a broader, more inclusive vision of the world and so come into a more correct relationship with the Whole of which we are a part.
Many today, especially those working in the Eastern tradition, under the influence of one or other of the many Gurus now teaching in the West, see meditation as an end in itself. They see no need for service or outer action to change society for the better; see no outer change being possible without an inner change of heart. Many also believe that simply by meditation alone they are doing more good for the world than otherwise they could. No doubt, if they were God-realized Masters that might well be so, but even the Masters work unstintingly in service to the world; none more than they. Through meditation, one draws on the energies and inspiration of the soul which give life and meaning to the personality expression. Where these are denied their correct outlet in service, a “damming up” takes place in the personality vehicles, mental, emotional and physical, with unfortunate results. Many of the neuroses and other illnesses of aspirants and disciples stem from this non-use of soul energy and denial of soul purpose.
Meditation remains the royal way to contact the soul, but once this is achieved, the way forward for the true aspirant to discipleship is through the acceptance, also, of the life of service. The inner and the outer focus must be balanced, and a start made on the Infinite Way, the way of service, which calls all true Sons of God from the lowliest disciple up to, and beyond, the Christ Himself. It is the same need to serve which impels the Logos into manifestation and gives us life.
