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. These were intended to be published not only at the time they were written, but also whenever appropriate according to world circumstances.
When a man shares he grows. Little attention has been given until now to this simple truth. For many, sharing comes naturally, as a matter of course. For others, however, the concept is alien and fraught with suspicion and pain. To these, what is theirs is theirs, almost by divine right, while to share is foreign and absurd. How then can the world move in the direction of sharing and redistribution, prerequisites for world peace?
Wherever men look today they see the results of their inability to share. Across the planet, millions starve and die. Countless others survive in misery and hopeless poverty, condemned to suffer from birth to early grave.
Change will come when men comprehend the reasons for their presence on Earth; when they realize that they are part of a vast evolutionary experiment whose purpose is hidden, to all but a few. When they recognize themselves as souls, parts of the One Oversoul, and grasp the identity of each with the other; when men understand that sharing is the natural order, that selfishness and greed are deviants from the norm, when to share is seen as an opportunity to grow, then will men embrace sharing as an end to their sorrows and their separation.
That time is now upon us. The pressures of inner forces and outer events are making themselves felt on a worldwide scale and are causing a reassessment of man’s position and prospects. No longer is it certain that the planet can sustain life indefinitely, subject to its ruthless exploitation by man. Nuclear annihilation is an ever-present threat, while economic competition and financial disarray pose problems which afflict the daily lives of countless millions.
Not for nothing is it now a commonplace for nations to meet to discuss these problems. Such meetings are a sign that man is becoming aware of his responsibilities as steward of the planet, and is ready to take decisions to improve his situation. Foremost among these decisions must be the readiness to share. When the world’s goods are shared more equitably, half of man’s problems will vanish overnight. Already, there are indications that many realize this, and the call for sharing is rising on every hand. The wise foresee the need for sharing as the only basis of lasting peace, and the heroes of the young lend, too, their popular voice.
This augurs well for the future, for it shows that mankind at last is aware of the choice before it — to share or die — and is ready to act in the spirit of brotherhood and love. No longer are men content to leave their destiny in the hands of others — to governments formed of blind and ageing men — but see the need for direct participation to safeguard their future and their world. Many still are fearful, but the light of the New Time grows brighter by the hour. Many await the dawn of a New Age with hope and anticipation, aware of the opportunity to serve and grow. They know that they stand not alone but surrounded by others who share their vision and likewise long for brotherhood and peace.
Through sharing alone will that vision be realized. Through sharing alone will that peace be won. That is the message for the present time: share and grow into the reflection of divinity. Share and inaugurate the era of peace and love.
(Share International, October 1985)
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.
If we want a future in line with the Divine Plan, a future in which all can flourish and the health of our planet is guaranteed, then surely it is time to change everything and ditch the false values of our highly commercialized way of living and all its destructive effects.
We are asked to choose: to stay mired in gross and divisive materialism or work towards solutions to accommodate all fairly. In making that vital choice, the aim should be to choose for Oneness, for Unity — not to choose ‘sides’. To ensure peace, it is essential that we embrace the reality of diversity and look for ways to cooperate and negotiate.
History, logic and common sense all indicate that we urgently need to put the survival of the planet and all species, including ourselves, first and that war must come to an end. Negotiation is the only way to lasting peace.
We hope that the contents of this issue and the general aim and tone of Share International over its 42 year existence may play a part in helping inspire such awe for Life, such love of our planet, of our fellow human beings, such love of and gratitude to Maitreya, the Masters and the fact of Divine Providence that we begin to choose unity and embrace diversity.
As Benjamin Creme’s Master expresses it in the article above:
“The wise foresee the need for sharing as the only basis of lasting peace, and the heroes of the young lend, too, their popular voice.”
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.
We present a sample letter describing an experience of Maitreya in 1983, partly as a look back at the development of Benjamin Creme’s work as it grew around the world and partly as a source of inspiration now.
I was fortunate enough to hear Benjamin Creme’s lecture on the reappearance of the World Teacher — the Messiah or Krishna or the Mahdi — whom he refers to as Maitreya the Christ. No one who has come into the presence of such a being can ever forget it, and I would like your readers to know of my experience.
I was trained as a philosopher at Bedford College, London. This training makes one tough-minded at the very least. No talks there of avatars, teachers or divine beings! Further, I was born and raised in Colombia, South America, an intensely Catholic country, but my family is Jewish and no one in my environment, whether Catholic or Jew, ever took the possibility of living messiahs or avatars seriously. Somehow everything of importance in this respect had happened centuries ago and a wall composed of rationalism, scepticism and materialism separated us from great beings such as Krishna, Jesus, Buddha or Mohammed, not to mention Moses.
Over the years and independently of my studies in Western philosophy, I became acquainted with the work of great Jewish and Christian mystics, as well as Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic thought, and some Chinese and Japanese philosophers. This extensive reading resulted, mysteriously and unexpectedly, in a deep sense of kinship with all these traditions and peoples. Secretly I felt at one with all and began to see through surface sectarianism to the great unifying ideas: the love and the wisdom of God and the brotherhood of man. Through a study of Kabbalah and Sufism I came to understand that the Messiah is an ‘office’ not an individual, and that, according to spiritual Law, a realized master fulfils that office at the beginning of each astrologically marked alignment (a cycle of some two and a half thousand years). Sometimes he comes in the flesh, sometimes he manifests through a disciple. Thus now, at the beginning of the Aquarian Age, a Messiah awaits recognition. It is one thing to study theory, another to experience. I was inexplicably (or perhaps by the grace of God) drawn to Mr Creme’s announcement of the reappearance of the World Teacher, and together with my husband attended one of his lectures in April of last year.
You can imagine my amazement when I heard a Master speak deeply moving words through Mr Creme. He said: “I come to you as an elder brother, a lover of humanity” and urged us not to forsake the poor and needy, to build with him a better world. Mr Creme is Scottish, and through this Scottish voice I heard unmistakable ‘Indian’ accents. Nothing in my background had ever prepared me for the manifestation of the Messiah of the Age as an Asian! Further, Mr Creme’s rosy-cheeked face disappeared and in its place, surrounded by a brilliant blaze of white light, there appeared a magnificent, unforgettable visage: smooth, golden-brown skin, large dark almond-shaped eyes set widely apart, a classic medium-sized nose and mouth and high cheekbones. I had the additional impression that this was a tall, slim man in his mid-forties.
What was very striking was the effect which this event had on me; as he looked at me, I felt, literally, a stream of energy from his eyes pouring towards me and activating the top of my head, the area between my eyebrows, and then my heart felt as if it were on fire. This energy had a quality: it was the purest love. The sweetness of the gaze of this great Master is not to be found even in the face of a newborn babe. Once encountered, who can forget it? May my words fill you with hope, joy and love for all mankind, and if I am asked, is this great Master of all Masters, “The teacher alike of angels and of men” in London, I can only say, “Yes! Dare to search for him! Waste no time!”
(Reprinted from the Asian Times, 24 June 1983, and published in Share International, September 1983)
We present here phenomena which, to the editors, are “signs of hope” and “signs of the time”, although they are not confirmed by Benjamin Creme’s Master. We strive to be as thorough as possible in our investigation of each ‘miracle’ or ‘sign’, but 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 Mr Creme’s Master. Further details, when available, are given in the captions to the photographs.
We present a selection of quotations on the theme of The Three major Spiritual Festivals. The quotations are taken from Benjamin Creme’s Master (A Master Speaks Volumes One and Two) and Benjamin Creme’s writings.
This time of heightened activity We call a Spiritual Push, and during this period all spiritual activity will be potentized many-fold. Spiritual action of all kinds, stemming from whatever tradition or belief, will find enhancement during these months, and much can be achieved if full use is made of this opportunity. It behoves all those who desire to serve and to better the world to contact and use these forces and so make them manifest in their lives.
We seek to establish among men a new sense of shared responsibility. We seek to awaken in them a taste for concerted action. We endeavour to create the conditions in which these two can manifest together and thus lead to change. All is energy; energy alone exists. Through the impact of these higher energies on the Centre, humanity, We seek to engender a new atmosphere in the world. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘A major opportunity’)
A: Because at the time of the full moon the energies are more available. There is opened an energetic conduit which makes them more potent and more available — it is not a question that the energies are only potent at those times, but for mankind it is the time of greatest assimilation. Mankind finds the time of the full moon easier to tune into, align itself with, and assimilate these energies.
The Master Djwhal Khul has said that it is as if a door is opened between the sun and the moon which makes events of a spiritual nature possible. The moon is always there, but when the moon is full in relation to earth then this conduit is most open, which relates humanity to the Hierarchy more easily than at other times. (Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom)
A: The Wesak Festival takes place (on the etheric level) in a Himalayan valley, and it is a most extraordinary event. There is a large stone in this valley on which a large crystal bowl filled with water is placed. The members of the Spiritual Hierarchy, in all Their various ranks — the three Great Lords, Chohans, Masters and Initiates, perform intricate patterns of ritual movements. Then as the moon rises above the horizon, the Buddha comes from Shamballa (etheric centre in the Gobi desert), hovers over the crystal vessel and charges the water. The Buddha releases the energy of the Shamballa Force to the three Great Lords — the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan. This is the powerful first ray energy, the energy of Will and Purpose. It circulates among the three Great Lords Who store it and gradually release it into the world for the rest of the year. This is the time at which the Buddha comes as close as He can to the everyday world. He is very closely connected with the advent of Maitreya. He and Maitreya are brothers and have been prepared from the dawn of time for Their missions in the world. (Share International, June 1990)
A: The full moon in Gemini — the Festival of the Christ: this is a festival to celebrate the approach of humanity to God. In the New World Religion there will be a great unified approach to Deity, at all the full moons, especially at the Three Major Spiritual Festivals of April, May and June — Aries, Taurus and Gemini. Throughout the world these festivals will be held simultaneously. …
The Festival in June, the Festival of Gemini, will be above all the festival of Humanity. It is called the Christ Festival today because it is the Festival of the Christ as the Eldest in a great family of brothers; not only the Christ of Hierarchy, but the Christ as the Representative of Humanity. It will be, above all, the Festival of Goodwill; the shared Will-to-good of humanity, which we express as Goodwill. (Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom)
A new report from the US Energy Information Administration forecasts that, in 2024, renewable energy will rise to over a quarter of the country’s energy generation for the first time. Coal and gas will both decline. This is good news, but it presents a new environmental conundrum.
The problem: Lithium
Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the US, and with generous incentives in recently-passed legislation to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) — additional good news — the demand for lithium could increase significantly, and very quickly, according to research by the University of California Davis Environmental and Climate Justice Hub. …
It turns out that with ambitious public transit, city density and recycling policies, lithium demand would be 92 per cent lower. Limiting the size of EV batteries alone could cut demand by up to 42 per cent by 2050. So, a cultural shift to smaller EVs and more public transport in denser cities can make a huge difference in our resource demands. …
Putting nature in the economic picture
Another positive development in the US is a recent effort to “put nature on the national balance sheet”, as John Kerry, the Biden administration’s special envoy for climate change, describes it. In the past, natural assets of obvious value (forests, rivers, wetlands, etc) have not been accounted for by traditional measures of economic activity. The new effort would expand the current gross domestic product (GDP) statistics to take into account nature’s economic contributions, both tangible and intangible, when standards are fully developed and phased in.
Natural capital accounting is not a new idea, and other countries such as Britain have already moved ahead with it. The United Nations has developed a framework for it, and most of the world’s central banks use some of the techniques for assessing systemic risk in the financial system. While this type of accounting would not cover every aspect of nature’s value or address environmental justice issues, it’s a big step in the right direction.
Shocking incidents jolt people into eco-activism. The March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill near my Alaskan birthplace reinforced my own commitment. By then my parents had moved to northern Idaho and joined the Kootenai Environmental Alliance to protect nearby lakes, and I was traveling between Colorado and Canada. Nevertheless, the news that 11 million gallons of crude oil had fouled the pristine waters of Prince William Sound battered my heart, so I vowed to continue researching clean-energy inventions that work in harmony with nature.
I had already learned, from frontier scientists, that a primal source of power — the universe’s background energy — could make oil-burning and nuclear power plants obsolete. Yet inventors of fuel-less electric generators usually lacked funding for further development of their prototypes.
As a journalist, I could spread public awareness of their work. Avery Publishing Group of New York published my first book, The Coming Energy Revolution, and a later co-authored book Breakthrough Power won an Independent Publishers Book Awards medal for “most likely to save the environment.”
When students attending new-energy conferences in Europe told me they were there because they had read foreign editions of my books, I knew my decades of interviewing scientists and inventors made at least a small difference. Another validation was an invitation to speak to 300 women from 25 countries at the 2017 International Women’s Forum for Future Energy in Kazakhstan. Since then, a new book I co-authored, Hidden Energy, sparked the interest of students in the Global Breakthrough Energy Movement.
I take heart from the rise of activism globally. Youths are planting trees and community gardens, and restoring urban creeks. They act locally while thinking globally, and connect online. Where I live in Canada, young people from three indigenous nations came together in person for a Youth Salmon Warriors Gathering. Excerpted from their statement): “We have come to the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River. … We are here as salmon’s witness. Our sacred relative has been gone from these waters for too long, … and we will never stop fighting for their right to come home.”
In her lifetime, Rachel Carson (1907–1964) had her own reasons for passionate defense of nature.
Carson was a biologist who revered the myriad expressions of life in the natural world. She informed the public about the chemical industry’s unregulated pesticides — products such as DDT that damage the web of life. As a result, use of DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a synthetic insecticide that disorganizes nervous systems) began to be restricted and in the 1970s many countries banned it.
Rachel Carson valued nature so much that neither the anger of the chemical industry nor her fight with breast cancer could stop her from publishing her landmark book Silent Spring, in 1962. She succumbed to her illness eighteen months later, yet the book became a bestseller. It inspires Earth stewards today.
What would she say to youth who fear their future? I believe Carson would have compassion for young people who face daunting issues of pollution, disturbed climate, the rising threat of nuclear war, and shattered economies. And they confront the same forces of greed that caused Carson to describe her century as “…an era dominated by industry, in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged.”
Destruction also results from a century of materialistic, reductionistic science that largely ignores nature’s wisdom. Rachel Carson, on the other hand, saw intelligence as well as beauty in the workings of the natural world.
March 2023
Full contents of the printed edition
- The Master —: Sharing for peace
- Robert C.Hinkley: Good news! We can bend the corporations to our will
- Alexander Douwes Dekker: Synthesis and Brotherhood — An esoteric approach to history and psychology (Part Two)
- Aart Jurriaanse: Meditation (1)
- Cher Gilmore: US environmental progress and challenges
- Half a million went on strike on 1 February 2023 in the UK
- Océane Blavot, Rodolfo Bejarano and Mae Buenaventura: Down with Public-Private partnerships — up with a future that is public
- Signs of the time: Masterful help
- The three major Spiritual Festivals — a compilation
- Jeane Manning: Rachel Carson inspires today‘s frontier science researchers
- Jason Francis: “Pulling back the veil on shared death experiences” (Part Two) — Interview with William Peters
- Letters to the editor
- Benjamin Creme: Questions and answers
