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.
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. The word co-operation appears in the title of four of His articles and frequently in His other articles but, like sharing, it remains a solution we have yet to try.
More and more, men are beginning to understand the severity of the problems which face them today. On all fronts — political, economic and social, these problems multiply and cause much heartache and sad shaking of heads. Add to these the environmental problems which man’s cavalier attitude to nature and its resources has engendered, and the future for mankind looks bleaker still. The realization is dawning that mankind’s life is in crisis and that something radical must be done before it is too late.
What, indeed, can man do to save himself from disaster? What steps can he take even to mitigate the threat to his well-being?
The answer is relatively simple but, it would seem, difficult for men to grasp, caught, as they are, in the net of their own conditioning.
Men must release themselves from the poison of competition, must realize it for the glamour which it is, and, seeing the Oneness of all men, embrace co-operation for the General Good. Only co-operation and justice will save men from a disaster of their own making; co-operation and justice alone will guarantee their future. Considering that this is so, man has little option but to accept co-operation as the key to his salvation.
When men co-operate rather than compete, they will find a magic potion entering their lives. The ease with which long-lasting problems will be solved will astonish, the impossible will yield to the lightest touch, and, through co-operation alone, men will learn the true art of living. Thus will it be, and thus will men learn to appreciate the beauty of relationship which only co-operation can bestow. Through co-operation the new civilization will be built, the new science revealed, the new understanding manifested. Thus will men grow together in the discovery of their divinity. Thus will they know the joy and happiness of such togetherness.
The Masters, your Elder Brothers, are not strangers to co-operation. In all that They do, co-operation plays a central role. It could not be otherwise in the manifested Brotherhood where the canker of competition is unknown.
It is Our earnest desire that men learn the art of co-operation, and to this end shall We act as mentors, teaching through example. So liberating is co-operation it is surprising, is it not, that men have been so tardy in learning its joys.
The era of competition is fast coming to an end. With its demise, violence and war, starvation amid plenty, greed and separation, will likewise fade from the memory. To replace these sorrows will emerge blessed co-operation, to guarantee to men their essential divinity. Thus will it be and thus will men come to understand another facet in the nature of God.
(Share International, September 2000)
Humanity today stands poised for a great leap into the future, a future in which man’s essentially divine nature will demonstrate. Little though he may know this, man has passed and is passing the tests which will allow him, in full adulthood, to become the recipient of knowledge and powers with which to fashion that future.
At present, only to the inner vision of the Guides of the Race may this reality be clear, but such it is, and portends well for the coming time. Wherever men gather, today, can be seen and felt a new urgency, a new sense of commitment to the well-being of the planet and its kingdoms.
Only now, after aeons spent in the struggle for existence and progress can man be said to have reached maturity, a maturity discernible to Us, albeit well hidden from man himself.
The opportunity arises now for a major advance in human progress outstripping by far, in speed and accomplishment, all previous advances. Whereas, until now, a slow and steady progress was desirable, and even preferable, a new, dynamic rhythm is being created whose momentum will sweep humanity into the future on a wave of global change. So great are the tensions in today’s divided world that only a rapid change of direction will prevent catastrophe. This rapid change, there is no doubt, will present problems of adjustment to many, but many more, by far, will welcome these changes as the opportunity for new life.
We, the Toilers behind the scenes, have every confidence that humanity will set in motion this radical transformation of its structures. They no longer serve man’s needs and block the emergence of the new. We watch and guide, overseeing all.
Little by little, a new consciousness is awakening humanity to its inner needs. The old, competitive spirit dies hard, but nevertheless a new spirit of co-operation is likewise to be seen. This augurs well for the future for it is by co-operation alone that mankind will survive; by co-operation alone that the new civilization will be built; by co-operation only that men can know and demonstrate the inner truth of their divinity.
Co-operation is the natural result of right relationship. Right relationship likewise follows wise co-operation. Co-operation holds the key to all successful group effort and is a manifestation of divine goodwill. Without co-operation nothing lasting can be achieved, for co-operation brings into synthesis many diverse points of view.
Co-operation is another word for Unity. Unity and co-operation are the springboards to the future and the guarantee of achievement for all men. Great reservoirs of power lie untapped within humanity waiting for the magic of co-operation to unleash.
Competition strains the natural order; co-operation liberates the goodwill in men. Competition cares only for the self, whereas co-operation works for the highest good of all.
Competition leads to separation, the origin of all sin; co-operation seeks to blend and fuse the many-coloured strands of the one divine life.
Competition has led man to the precipice; co-operation alone will help him find the path.
The old and backward-looking love competition; the new embrace with joy divine co-operation.
The people of the world can be divided into two kinds: those who compete, and those who co-operate.
Cleanse the heart of the stain of competition; open the heart to joyful co-operation.
(Share International, December 1984)
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.
At every lecture he gave around the world, and virtually every day of his life, Benjamin Creme was asked numerous questions covering a vast range of topics. We draw on this large recorded resource and present here a selection of previously unpublished answers provided over the years by Mr Creme and his Master.
Share International has a reserve of unpublished letters which were confirmed by Benjamin Creme and his Master to be genuine encounters with Masters, or with a ‘spokesperson’.
Dear Editor,
In about 1995 I went back to school to California State University, Los Angeles to work on my Masters degree. One day early evening before sunset I was walking across the campus to get my car and go to a Transmission Meditation group. Two boys walked down the campus sidewalk towards me. I looked up just as they approached me and saw a young woman walking right behind them. She looked college-aged with brown shoulder-length hair. She looked at me with a very gentle smile – a Mona Lisa smile – just as she walked past me.
Suddenly I was filled with joy! I felt like my heart was full and like my feet were barely touching the ground – so exhilarating! I immediately thought, “I wish I could make other people that happy just by smiling at them like she did”. I was amazed.
Benjamin Creme said that the Masters never appear without teaching a lesson. One thing I learned is that one of the signs that you may have seen a Master is that, without any apparent reason, you suddenly feel tremendous joy and happiness.
Dear Editor,
I am almost 91 years old and I am renewing my subscription to the Share Nederland magazine (the Dutch version of Share International).
I am delighted with the magazine.
I did the Arcane school correspondence course for seven years, but had to stop because my husband fell ill.
I will continue to subscribe to the magazine for as long as I live.
My sincere and heartfelt thanks to the editors and the team for your work and commitment.
In Light and Love
Dear Editor,
In September 2006, whilst looking at the photograph of Maitreya’s ‘hand’, I asked for Him to help as both my eyes were to be operated on for chronic glaucoma and, given the condition of my optic nerves, I was very stressed. Shortly after that, having gone to bed and closed my eyes, I saw the face of a Mediterranean-looking woman standing near me. She wore small, red bows on either side of her shoulder-length dark hair. Her dark brown eyes came to rest on mine. I had the impression they kept on blinking while staring at me. They were of a great depth. When I woke up the next morning, I was no longer feeling stressed about my eyes or the operation.
May this have been a manifestation of Master Jesus or Maitreya? I look forward to your answer and thank you.
Towards the end of a radio talk show in the USA, on 5 February 2014, a listener called in with the following message to a Share International co-worker who was being interviewed. The following is a transcript of part of that call and the exchange between the caller and the interviewee.
Caller: First of all I’d like to say: ‘All Glory be to God.’ I’ve been looking over Benjamin Creme. And I have also been looking over your life and activities as well. And I look at my life as well. And I see that we have come down from the same spirit. One of the greatest things that I do want to say is that … “we are here, we are here!” And the world, in one way or form or fashion, they must be willing — I’m not saying they have to — but they must be willing to receive the things that we speak because we speak something that is. … The media will make this thing look like what we’re talking is nonsense: how we have built our 2014 society today: the wisdom, and the knowledge, and the power, the energy, the things that we speak, would seem to some as if it. … “Ok. I hear the message and I got the message, but how does this, how is this supposed to function in my everyday life?” Well that’s what we come to tell them. That we’re not trying to teach anybody anything really, because some of these things that we have can’t be taught. You have to have a revelation. You have to receive a revelation from on high.
But it’s a great honour after, you know, you look at Youtube, you look at Facebook, you look at all over the social media, you know the negative and derogatory things they say about you and Benjamin Creme. But what I am here to say, Brother, is that ‘I know one when I know one. And the only reason why I can truly say that I know one when I know one, is because I am one. And just to say, that is to say, ‘Thank you, Brother. Thank you.’ And I want to say that with the most deepest sincerity in my heart, I want to thank you for listening to the voice in you … I love you guys. …
Caller: You guys have a blessed evening, and thank you so much. I’ve been waiting for a long time. … I didn’t know that life would make a way for me to be able to speak to you. I’ve been wanting to for so long, but you know how life is. Sometimes we don’t get a chance to come together, but I think that today it was a move by Life Itself. And then when you spoke about the soul and about being reconnected and united to it, it’s like — that’s the message. That is the message. Because what we have done, we have fallen. Man fell and we have become fallen. And ever since we fell, instead of coming into the spirit and soul part of our being, we came into something else that was full of darkness. And because of that darkness that we came into, we have no idea of how powerful the soul is!!. … We don’t know that the soul can travel while we sleep!
Co-worker: Yes. And it does.
We present here phenomena which, to the editors, are "signs of hope" and "signs of the time". Fortunately, our current stock of phenomena confirmed as real and genuine by Benjamin Creme's Master is fairly large. However, in future we will also present material which has not been confirmed by BC's Master. We undertake to be as thorough as possible in our investigation of each 'miracle' or 'sign' and will 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. Further details, when available, are given in the captions to the photographs.
By now, Share International magazine must have printed thousands of photographs showing what may look like ‘failed photos’ but, thanks to information from Benjamin Creme and his Master, we know that the streaks of light, sometimes a spiral shape, a vortex of energy, sometimes a sweep of rose, gold or white light across an image, may be the physical manifestation or effect of a blessing received from one of the Masters or Maitreya himself.
More light blessing images in the printed magazine.
In recent decades, the idea of bringing municipal politics closer to ordinary people has been gaining strength. There has been a growing realization among those impacted by so-called professional politicians of their need for some kind of control or participation to make their voices heard. This is of paramount importance because, very often, politicians distance themselves from the very people who helped them to power. This distance is particularly damaging to the most vulnerable sectors of society, which end up being forgotten in the so-called “political game” that dominates most of the city councils and city halls. The voice of the people is making itself heard in the corridors of power and effecting direct change. This is a trend and a movement whose time has come and which places the citizen at the hub of the decision-making process.
Participatory budgeting — people power working for change
Among the most recent forms of control and popular participation created in order to bring people closer to the political decisions of their cities is the participatory budget. This idea can work and be implemented in various ways. It involves initiatives and practices that allow people access to the municipal budget of their cities, giving them the power to decide where and for which projects the money should be invested.
Participatory budgeting initiatives around the world are implemented in different ways: such as the portion of the municipal budget that citizens have available to them to invest in the projects they deem most appropriate; the ways in which investment and control decisions are made; and which groups are present in the various decision-making meetings that decide which works and areas will be given priority to receive the budget resources.
A brief history
The first implementation of participatory budgeting took place in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the 1980s. It emerged as an initiative of the Workers’ Party, who won the municipal elections in the city, as part of the wave of re-democratization that the country was going through after getting rid of a military dictatorship that had lasted more than 20 years.
In the 1990s, the participatory budget initiative spread to the rest of Brazil. In 2012, there were already more than 200 municipalities that had implemented it, making it the country with the largest number of popular [i.e.citizens’] budgets in the world. From Brazil, the participatory budget project has spread to other countries in Latin America, such as Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador and the Caribbean. In the 2000s, due to the participation of several countries in the World Social Forum (whose first sessions were held in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre), the idea of participatory budgeting spread to the rest of the world. In Europe in 2010, there were 296 municipalities that implemented it, mainly in France, Spain and Italy. In Africa, also, by 2012, there were 66 to 110 participatory budgets, whose implementation often was achieved with the help of international institutions. In Asia and Oceania there are examples of participatory budgets in New Zealand, South Korea, China and India.
Porto Alegre, Brazil
The seat of the first participatory budgeting, this city had already been the scene of other progressive initiatives in the 1980s, being one of the places in Brazil in which urban movements had most strength. With the re-democratization of the country, participatory budgeting initiatives had already been implemented in some locations in the city, but it was with the coming of the Workers’ Party that the initiative expanded to a municipal scale, having been implemented for three main reasons: to democratize Brazilian society even further, allowing the participation of more excluded and marginalized groups within the political system; to achieve the social objective of reversing priorities in the municipal budget; to allocate to the most marginalized areas and suburbs more municipal funds, thus aiming to eradicate corruption and improve the efficiency of public policies. …
The results have been extremely successful. Initially, it led to greater political participation by traditionally excluded groups, such as low-income people. It also led to a greater participation of women in the political process who over time became the majority in the assemblies, along with young people. The working class also increased its political participation and representation within the entire process. More disadvantaged areas of the city have gained greater investment, with the creation of residential areas for the poorest, health facilities and kindergarten schools. Slum streets have been paved and most houses in more populous neighborhoods have been provided with basic sanitation. …
(Source: https://prefeitura.poa.br/)
Vandana Shiva is a familiar name to many, but an inspiring, intimate and beautifully filmed new documentary, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, reveals the larger picture of her life. It highlights the wide scope of Dr Shiva’s impact on India especially, but also on Africa, Latin America, and global thought regarding environmental policy, agriculture and food. …
Dr Shiva’s weapons of choice against industrial agriculture are education and seed saving. Today there are 127 seed banks in India, supplied by a network of farmers and seed savers who also get training in organic farming. And when Dr Shiva heard of a big push to introduce GMOs in Africa, she went there to support Africa’s farmers and warn them about India’s experience. Now, globalization is threatening Latin American farmers, and she continues to travel to wherever she sees the need.
Recently, Dr Shiva has pivoted slightly to championing soil regeneration, because, she points out, non-sustainable forms of agriculture are responsible for 40 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. Food can be grown in ecologically sustainable and just ways, but a paradigm shift is necessary. If we understand our interconnectedness on the earth, she says, “we can all find a place to ‘be the change’ in the ecological food web.” She recommends that we maintain a constant quest for “What next?” — and she’s a living example of that philosophy.
For more information: vandanashivamovie.com
“If reduced to a simple denominator, this Report deals with peace. War is often thought of in terms of military conflict, or even annihilation. But there is a growing awareness that an equal danger might be chaos as a result of mass hunger, economic disaster, environmental catastrophes, and terrorism. So we should not think only of reducing the traditional threats to peace, but also of the need for change from chaos to order.”
North-South: A Program for Survival (1980), first report of the Brandt Commission
During the World War, Maitreya was invoked by humanity, as people everywhere went through untold hardship and suffering, crying out for succour and liberation, calling on Him as the Messiah, the Christ, the Bodhisattva and the Coming Avatar. Coinciding with this, Hierarchy and certain groups of disciples (for example Alice A. Bailey and her co-workers, using successive versions of the Great Invocation), first invoked the Avatar of Synthesis in 1942, followed by the Spirit of Peace or Equilibrium in June 1945. These great Beings overshadow Maitreya, “and add Their extraordinary cosmic energy to His energy. There has never been an Avatar as equipped as Maitreya now is, because no Avatar has ever had such a task as Maitreya has today” (Benjamin Creme, The Great Approach). The World Teacher stands prepared to come forward, as the Embodiment of Love and manifesting Wisdom and Will, with the aid of His Brother, the Buddha. Both the Avatar of Synthesis and the Spirit of Peace work through Him, gradually transforming humanity into a unity and thereby changing the world.
Humanity seemed to be realizing that a new time had begun after the War, with the formation of the United Nations and the advent of the Atomic age adding to the general sense of urgency and the need for lasting peace. The mood of optimism and hope for the future was perhaps exemplified by the work of the former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. A seasoned champion of women’s rights, the civil rights of people of colour and the rights of refugees, she set out to further the Four Freedoms and the principles formulated in the Atlantic Charter, while chairing the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Her ability to co-operate with the other members of the Commission, (who were from different countries and had differing backgrounds) and her diplomatic steadfastness, helped to formulate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and have it passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
…
The development of nuclear weapons and power plants brought on another key factor of the Externalization of the Hierarchy: the work of the Space Brothers, who are still providing us succour by neutralising most of the harmful effects of nuclear radiation; and through their presence and teachings they gradually remind us of the true nature of our solar system. “All planets are engaged in one Plan, which also involves the Earth. Most people on Earth do not even know that such a Plan exists. It is the Plan of evolution for our solar system, which works as a unit.” (Benjamin Creme, The Gathering of the Forces of Light)
June 2021
Full contents of the printed edition
- The Master —, through Benjamin Creme: The art of co-operation
- The Master —, through Benjamin Creme: Co-operation
- Kenny Stancil: $152 trillion. That’s how much wealthy countries ‘drained’ from the Global South since 1960
- Thiago Staibano Alves: Participatory budgeting: popular participation in the life of cities
- Climate change and modern slavery need to be tackled together
- Alexander Douwes Dekker: Maitreya’s approach to humanity, Part 2
- Movie review by Cher Gilmore: The Seeds of Vandana Shiva
- Signs of the time: Signs around the world
- Sania Farooqui: People’s leader: A Dalit woman becomes the voice of farmers in India
- Compilation: True inwardness
- “We are here!”
- Allison Corkery, Ignacio Saiz, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky: We must fight for economic and social rights and against the shackles of debt
- Letters to the editor: Lesson in joy from a ‘college student’
- Benjamin Creme: Questions and answers
