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Master's article:

The Master's pledge

by the Master —, through Benjamin Creme

As the dark clouds of war gather and obscure the sunlit sky of peace, the response of humanity is twofold: mute acceptance and compliance with the will of the warmongers, or active and spirited resistance to their plans and ploys. Today, we see both reactions in equal measure. Half the world is caught up in the glamour of ‘a war against terrorism’ (without recognizing the underlying cause) and in terrorism itself. The other half deplores both terrorism and the lack of understanding of its genesis. They know that changes, on a major scale, alone hold the key to ending this atrocious evil, and call to the leaders of nations to recognize and address the inequalities which so unfairly divide the world. This latter group must grow and increase their resistance to the plans of those, now in power, who so threaten the stability of the world. They must find each other and work together, knowing that they work and speak for the vast but silent majority who share their longing for peace and manifested justice.

Trust
Peace will only come when justice reigns, when sharing has opened men’s hearts and awakened them to trust. Thus men must work and speak loudly for justice and sharing which alone will bring an end to men’s suffering, to terrorism and war. We, your Elder Brothers, are ready to do Our part. We will potentize all actions taken on behalf of the Common Good. We await the opportunity to manifest Our strength; to help to right the wrongs of the past; to show men the uselessness of war. We pledge our support of all who call for an end to war, for the restoration of sanity and balance in the affairs of men, for the creation of justice and freedom for all. Help Us to help you. Help Us to do Our part. We long to act, as always, in the interest of the Common Good, which, in Our understanding, is the best interests of all men. Thus it is that We advocate sharing; thus do We advise justice; thus do We see freedom and peace as the culmination of sharing and justice. Let us work together for the rescue of this world. Let us abandon differences in the interests of the race. Let sanity triumph and bring men to see their mutual need for peace, and the restoration of an ailing world.

Future
Many await the future in dread, fearful that man has lost his way, that it is now too late to find the path to peace. We counsel otherwise. We know that the path to peace is simply found, needing only the creation of justice and trust. We know that sharing alone will engender that trust, and bring men to abandon both terrorism and war. Thus will it be, and thus will men respond to Maitreya’s message of Brotherhood and Justice, free at last from the glamours of fear and mistrust, ready to create the future in deed and in joy.
(Read more articles by the Master)

Questions & Answers:

Q. Maitreya seems to be appearing to people who know His identity and they know that He knows that they know etc — is this an indication that the Emergence has entered a new phase?

A. Yes. Maitreya is certainly appearing more, and more openly, to groups involved in the work of the Reappearance, even in guises already confirmed as being Him. It certainly gives the impression that His outer appearance is near, which I believe is the case.

2004 elections

Q. What is the cause of the epidemics of influenzas and repeating colds which so many people are suffering from today?

A. The year 2003 was a particularly difficult one for the world and many people in it, especially for those of a sensitive nature and concern whose response to the events has been fearful and emotional. The result of the stress invoked has been, among natural disasters, a multitude of epidemics of one kind or another — from the SARS outbreak to influenzas and repeating infections. People do not all have the same infection, or infection pattern or rhythm, even if the underlying cause of all is stress. It is necessary to build up the immune system. Above all, and I recognize that this is easier to say than to do, everyone must become more detached, less emotional and fearful in response to world events, and more certain of the reality of Maitreya’s presence and power. Use His hand.

Q. Is the ‘Peace Now’ movement in Israel responding to Maitreya’s energies? (Their leader said they would protect Arafat against Sharon.)

A. They are responding to their sense of fair play and you could say that comes from Maitreya or you could say these ideas have always been there in people of goodwill. They have the courage to stand up against the general consensus which in Israel is that it is not a question of oppression and domination. Israel thinks it is a necessary act of self-protection; they have to protect themselves. It is a lie, or largely a lie. They claim they are oppressing the Palestinians entirely for self-protection, but it is taken to such a degree. You do not protect yourself by the arbitrary blowing up of several buildings every night in Palestinian areas. It does not matter if people are killed or injured or if they have nowhere to go. It is just making it clear to the Palestinians that “we are strong, we can do whatever we like. We can blow up these 5 buildings tonight; tomorrow night it could be 20, by the end of the week it could be 100. We are powerful, we have arms, ammunition, tanks, planes, helicopters, to bomb and shell whenever we like. We are dominant in this country, we mean to stay — and if it means killing every single Palestinian in the process, so be it. We will not stand suicide bombers coming in. We have the right to self protection”. And, of course, they have the right.

Every country has the right to self protection. That is the only way they see it. But what they will not see is that their domination and oppression are the very causes of the suicide bombing. They cannot stand the suicide bombers, because they never know where they will strike next. The Palestinians have no armour at all except for a few rifles. The Israelis can stand that. They have a far more efficient armoury — the latest and best American armoury. They are given by the Americans $3 billion every year to buy arms — their army is the most powerful in the area, and one of the most powerful in the world. My advice to the Palestinians is to stop the suicide bombing. They do not stop because some people earn money for their families by doing it. And they are fanatics, only fanatics will do it. These young people are trained; they should be untrained, and not be allowed to do it. It frightens the Israelis, and they are armed to the teeth. They will not give in because of it but they get harder and harder and more oppressive because of it. Israel would be much more open to talking, negotiation, but for the suicide bombers. There have been a few Israelis who have refused to go in with tanks and destroy Palestinian property. Some young Israeli pilots are refusing to bomb the Palestinians. They say that this is an illegal warfare — it is not a state protecting itself, it is a state using its power to oppress the Palestinians, which indeed it is. I only wish there were more of them.

Q. (1) Could you say how influential Share International magazine is? (2) Does Maitreya consider it important and useful? And (3) could you say how many countries it goes to?

A. (1) Very. (2) Yes. (3) 73.
 

About Saddam Hussein

Q. The Americans say they have caught Saddam Hussein — how can we be sure that he really is Saddam Hussein?

A. It is clear to us (Share International), that the US has not caught Saddam Hussein. Our information is that Saddam was injured on the first night of the war, 20 March 2003, and died two days later. The man recently captured was one of several stand-ins, a cousin, who resembles Saddam Hussein but has several different features. See our news release of December 2003 on this very point.
 

Q. I have seen reports that confirm your information that Saddam Hussein died shortly after the first bombing. But the mainstream media and leaders around the world seem to be unaware. Is this deliberate ignorance?

A. I believe that mainstream media have private doubts but are obeying US Government policy not to ‘rock the boat’! I am sure some leaders have grave doubts, others may be quite happy not to look too hard for the truth.

Q. Did the American military set the whole thing up: ie assuming the man ‘caught’ was a stand-in for Hussein, did he collaborate with the US to appear to hide and allow himself to be ‘captured’?

A. No. He was exposed by an informer anxious to receive the $25 million reward put up by the US authorities. The military (or rather the CIA officers acting as the army) may well have thought they had captured Saddam Hussein. I do not believe that the government high officials do not know that they have caught a stand-in, whom earlier, on his appearance in Baghdad in April, they had rejected as ‘Saddam Hussein’.

Q. Do the top echelon US authorities know that he is not Saddam Hussein? Is there a small inner circle who know the truth and are feeding propaganda to the media and the world?

A. I believe so, yes.

Q. Approximately how many officials in various governments are aware that the captured man is not Saddam Hussein? Does this group include Tony Blair, George Bush, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and all the other top officials of the US and British Governments?

A. Tony Blair, I believe, is in two minds. He is too intelligent to just accept it, yet does not want to believe it a lie. I believe that Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney all know the truth.

Q. Did the US have a specimen of Saddam Hussein’s DNA before the supposed capture?

A. No. They compared it with the DNA they had of his dead sons, which would be not exact but ‘near enough’ for desperate men to accept. Mr Rumsfeld told journalists it was “about 90 per cent the same, close enough”. That of the captured stand-in, a cousin, would probably be about 70 per cent, and the sons’ 80 per cent, the same.

Q. (1) In light of Share International having said that the putative Saddam Hussein captured was in fact his cousin, what possible motivation could the cousin have had for hiding and then subjecting himself to humiliation, prosecution and perhaps execution in lieu of his cousin? (2) Is this all a plot by the Americans to enable the Bush administration to gain points for the capture?

A. (1) He is sworn in loyalty to Saddam Hussein for as long as necessary to keep up the morale of his supporters, still very numerous in Iraq. Whether he will go all the way — even to execution — remains to be seen. Perhaps that will be the point when the truth of this scam comes out. (2) Of course.
(More questions and answers)

Letters to the editor:

Over a number of years, some of the Masters, in particular Maitreya and the Master Jesus, have appeared, in different guises, to large numbers of people around the world. They also appear at Benjamin Creme's lectures and meditations, giving people in the audience the opportunity to intuitively recognise Them. Some people recount their experiences to Share International magazine. If the encounters are authenticated by Benjamin Creme's Master, the letters are published. These experiences are given to inspire, to guide or teach, often to heal and uplift. Very often, too, the Masters draw attention to, or comment on, in an amusing way, some fixed intolerance (for example against smoking or drinking). Many times They act as saving 'angels' in accidents, during wartime, earthquakes and other disasters. The following letters, previously published in Share International magazine, are examples of this means of communication by the Masters.

Return visit [shortened version]

Dear Editor, On 15 November 2003 nine people were in the Information Centre in Amsterdam when the same man who had been confirmed to be a ‘familiar’ of Maitreya (See ‘Welcome Visitor’ in Share International, December 2003) visited us again. For the purposes of the website we print only His words below; for the full version see Share International magazine January/February 2004.

Maitreya on service activities:

Taking part in fairs is very useful work, but lectures are more important because those who go to fairs may or may not be interested — it’s random. People see the stand, see the information; they may take a folder and read it later. So fairs are extremely useful. With lectures it’s a self-selecting public. Our public is small — those who are directly interested will come to a lecture and they’re already open to our information. So when there’s a lecture they come to hear and to learn. Reading is not so important. Some people just read a lot. Just do the work — just do it.

On the importance of balanced service:

You have both — you inform the public and you transmit the energies - a good balance. Since we live in the world we have to inform people. How do we do that? Well, we must communicate with them — give lectures, talk to them. But man must walk on two legs, so both activities — informing the public and transmitting the energies — are important. Both are necessary.

On Maitreya’s presence in the world:

Now, there are people in these groups who are always asking: “When is He going to come?” “How long must we still wait?” “Why is it taking so long?” But why ask all these questions? One cannot really say that He’s coming, because He is here. He’s already here. Don’t they know it? Don’t they see Him? It is about His Presence in the world — and that is happening. Perhaps it has taken longer than they had hoped. It has taken longer than I had hoped, and perhaps it is working out differently from the way we expected, differently even from what I had expected, but it is working out. He is here. I have no doubt whatsoever that it is working out. It will work out. It is working out. No shadow of a doubt, none whatever. Many people know He’s here, they know it inwardly, intuitively. And many people are open to hearing that Maitreya is here.

On detachment when speaking to the public at information stands:

Just be there. Be there, that’s all. Not everyone is going to be interested. People are involved in their own thoughts. The most important thing is just to be there; those who are ready will respond. It is not for you to hope. You don’t have to hope or want anything. Just do it. Just give the information if they ask. Look, we’re not going to convert people. We’re not here to proselytize. We’re not missionaries. We tell them if they ask. The most important thing is that in essence it’s all here. If you’re open to it, you just know it, you don’t need to think about it. You don’t even need to talk about it if you’re open to it. You know that in essence it is all here. The result shouldn’t concern you. Just do it — don’t want results. Don’t look for results. It’s a Western attitude, a habit of mind, that we always think we have to make something happen. We think we have to do things, make things happen. But it’s not necessary. All change happens slowly. Very gradually. Just think of how many times, how many lives — you know what it’s like yourselves — how many times we fall and stand up again, fall and try again, we fall and stand up again. Life after life. Change takes time.

On the state of the planet, the future, and our inevitable worries:

You may worry as much as you wish but it will not change anything. Worrying will not help, but everything will still work out. What is true is that we will face difficult times. We will go to the edge of the abyss, but we will not fall in. We will skirt it, but we will not fall over the edge. Everything will work out. All will be well. There is nothing to fear. I have no doubt at all! No doubt whatsoever. I have no more authority than anyone else. But it is my belief! I know it. People talk about hope but if you believe it, hope isn’t necessary. “Don’t forget how powerful Maitreya is. People forget how powerful Maitreya is!”
“I thank you heartily.”

He left us in no doubt that “He is here!” and that “All will be well”. Were we correct in thinking that the visitor was Maitreya?
Magazine teams, Information Centre, Amsterdam.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the ‘visitor’ was indeed Maitreya.)

Timely visit

Dear Editor, On 30 November 2003 I was giving a talk in the Amsterdam Information Centre about the Emergence of Maitreya and the Masters when a smartly dressed black gentleman appeared, smiling, on the pavement outside, directly in my view over the heads of the audience. I wondered immediately if he was Maitreya, but also reminded myself that one shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that every unusual or interesting-looking person is Maitreya or a Master. He somehow attracted the attention of some people in the room; a group member went to the door to usher him in. I welcomed him, and later said that I was sorry he had missed an article written by Benjamin Creme’s Master which I had read aloud to start my talk. “No,” he answered calmly and firmly, “I missed nothing.” (An unusual answer, I noted. I must pay attention.)

He had a gentle musical voice and very expressive eyes. He was portly, wore a wonderful hat, half top-hat, half bowler, which had a subtle leopard-skin print on it and which he wore set back on his head. It gave him a slightly comical appearance. He wore rings on almost each finger — of all shapes and types, some quite implausible; I noticed one, and wondered how someone could comfortably wear such a ring. He radiated reassurance; his whole presence expressed: “Everything is fine. All is well.” During the tea-break he remained seated. Some women sitting near him were talking about time — did it exist or not?

He was quietly leafing through The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, and said almost without looking up: “We are time.” (I understood him to mean that since we are in matter, we are caught in time.) “Oh, dear no, sir,” argued one woman from the audience. “What’s that you say? We are time? Absurd!” He gave a gentle little laugh. “Yes; we are conditioned by it. We drink it in with our mother’s milk,” he said nonchalantly, still flicking through the pages of the book. The women continued talking. Then he asked me: “Are you a teacher?” I answered that I was. “That’s nice,” he said. “No, no, this is what’s nice,” I replied, meaning talking about the Emergence. “Do you do this often?” “Yes, quite often. We have talks here every second month.” “Do you also go to fairs, like para-, para-, para...” as if looking for the right word. (Only two weeks before, Maitreya had done exactly this — that is, asked about fairs and then said: “para-, para-, para...” teasingly, while the woman he was speaking to tried to get the word out also tripping over the “para” part of it, wanting to say “paranormal” fairs. I took this not to be a coincidence, and it confirmed my idea that he might be Maitreya.) I answered: “Yes, para-, para-, paranormal fairs!” (which is what New Age fairs are called in Dutch). “That’s good,” he smiled broadly.

Referring to Benjamin Creme’s first book again he asked me: “Are we, is humanity, powerful? You see, I read here,” pointing to the last line of the Great Invocation, which we then proceeded to recite together, “It says: ‘Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on earth.’ Do you think we have power?” I answered that we most certainly do. I thanked him for reminding me, because I’d meant to talk about ‘People Power’ and the need to join demonstrations to demand justice, but I’d forgotten; now I made a mental note to do so immediately after the break. Incidentally, I told the audience about Maitreya’s visit two weeks earlier and passed around the book which Maitreya had returned and which seems charged with His energies. Since he was sitting so close to me I first passed the charged book to the gentleman. He took it, smiled quietly and sat there holding it for quite some time before passing it on.

After the talk he also gave us back the copy of The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, which he had also held for some time. It, too, seems to be charged with energy. Before leaving he came to the kitchen, spoke to me again about teaching, when I repeated even more emphatically that I would rather give a talk about the emergence every day, he smiled and gestured, I think: “All in good time.” He shook my hand, thanked me and left, saying something like: “Well, till we meet again.” He stayed about an hour and forty minutes. His presence spoke volumes of support, but more than just support. I got the same sense of “We are with you; all will be well,” that I had when Maitreya had visited the Information Centre. (1) Was the ‘calm reassuring gentleman’ a Master, and (2) was he indicating through his presence and energy that “all will be well”?
FE, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that (1) the gentleman was the Master Jesus. (2) Yes.)

Role reversal

Dear Editor, On 9 November 2003, the Los Angeles group gave a panel discussion at a local bookstore. These discussions, where four panelists tell a portion of the Reappearance story — background, politics, economics, and miracles — have drawn good crowds and been popular with audiences, especially the Question and Answer section following the presentations. A few minutes before the talks began, I noticed an attractive black man enter the room wearing a very funny T-shirt about the many world religions. I had been hoping someone would sit in the front, since most people were sitting in the rear, and this man sat in the second row from the front — close enough so that the panelists could read this hilarious T-shirt. Sitting to his left was another attractive man resembling a young Marlon Brando, wearing shorts despite the cold weather.

During the part of the presentation on politics, the speaker came to a place where he momentarily held back from saying something forceful about the Bush administration. When our co-worker hesitated, the black man said: “Just say it,” and the man in shorts piped up with: “Fascists.” Our co-worker thanked him for giving voice to what so many are thinking these days. The discussion ended after a couple of hours, and the man with the funny T-shirt came up to me and asked what my last name was (a sore point with me) and then inquired how I came to be in this work. After a while he began to tell me about his childhood, which seemed remarkably similar to my own. About this time I began to notice that he possessed an unusual energy — compassion, tolerance, and love in great magnitude.

After these discussions people often approach the panelists for more information. But after a few minutes with this man, I knew that he was the teacher and I was the student. He spent a lot of time explaining that one has to decide who one is and what one wants. He said that we must own everything about ourselves, and, if we do this, we can get to the root of any problem and get rid of it. He used the example of a traumatic experience he had in his childhood with another child and an adult (the children were doing something in complete innocence and the adult threateningly overreacted). He made it clear that no matter the adult’s role and responsibility in what happened, he had made certain decisions at that time that were still affecting him today. He made the point that other children would have reacted differently to the same stimulus. This being the case, it wasn’t the event itself that affected his personality, but rather what he concluded about himself and the event. As these conclusions could now be changed, there was no reason for him, and others around him, to continue to suffer from the effects of his childhood trauma. One other thing of interest was that he emphasized the importance of holding one’s attention at the ajna center. Again he told me that if one wants this, one has to make the decision and refuse to waver from it. He emphasized that this technique could be used to make almost any personality-change a person wishes. He said that when we decide we want to change something within ourselves, the opposite will often rear up immediately to try and throw us off track. But if we persist and are determined to go that way no matter what, we will succeed.

After 10 minutes of talking to this man I was pretty certain he was Maitreya, and, as I had been struggling with a certain personal problem, I decided to ask for his advice. I told him that there was this “really big thing” I thought I was being confronted with, and he just waved me off saying: “It’s always the biggest thing.” So without my telling him what the problem was, he spent about 20 minutes bringing up on his own my various fears, worries, and doubts and, one by one, showing me that there wasn’t really anything to be troubled by. Concerning this problem, he made it clear that what I thought might be happening was real, and the choice was mine to make. He emphasized that no matter what circumstances might bring to our door, we always have free will and don’t have to ever do anything we don’t want to. At the end, he hugged me long and hard, and I thanked him and told him I loved him. After this lengthy dialogue, I found it very difficult to part from him. Was this man Maitreya?
SC, Los Angeles, CA.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the ‘man in shorts’ was Maitreya and the ‘man wearing the funny T-shirt’ was the Master Jesus.)

Telling it like it is

Dear Editor, After the same panel discussion described above, I thanked the man in shorts, who had said “Fascists”, for coming to the presentation, and we talked for a while. He was very much in agreement with our assessment of the political and economic situation and said he had had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. He was very enthusiastic about the information about the Masters, and said he had other friends he was going to share it with. At the end of our conversation, he put his hands together under his chin (in a prayer position) and bowed slightly to me, and as he walked away he called out: “You’re going to be seeing a lot more of me very soon.” I was struck by how ‘in tune’ he was with our message, by his last comment, and by the prayer motion he made at the end. His manner was very similar to another man who had stopped by a Worldfest booth we had on 29 September 2003. That man had asked if we were meditators, beginning a conversation about auras — in particular the very large auras of teachers like Jesus and Buddha and the effect their energy had on people around them. When he left, he made the same prayer/bowing motion to me. I had the thought at the time that the visitor to the Worldfest booth might be the Master Jesus, and now I wonder if the man in shorts at the panel discussion might also be. Were they?
CG, Los Angeles, CA.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the man in shorts and the man at the Worldfest booth was Maitreya.)

Beautiful treatment

Dear Editor, Around 1994 I was on the phone at work in my beauty salon. When I finished the phone call an elderly Asian woman was sitting at my desk. I turned to walk away when she asked me to sit down because the colour on my face was not good. I did as I was told and she asked for my hand. She told me to take my watch off. What happened next was unbelievable. She was telling me all about myself — I mean things that that no-one else knew. She said I was a very old soul, very generous with people, sometimes too much — she told me I should be more detached in that way. Also she told me that I could heal people and that as I got older I would have trouble with my stomach, which is happening now.

She then asked if I had a room where we could go, so we went to my treatment room. She asked me to lie down and took out some needles and put them in my ankles and turned them. Then she started to rub my stomach and the emotions I felt were unbelievable — I just started to cry and cry like never before. She told me this would happen as I was freeing myself of all the hurt and pain I had been carrying around for many years. When it was over she told me she would check up on me and that she had worked with Mother Teresa — but I never got to know her name. When all was done the feeling I had was of complete calm: my mind, body and soul felt at peace all at once, something I had never felt before. She had also told me if I was ever feeling low to think of her and I would be fine — which I do. I kept the needles as a symbol of what had happened. They meant a lot to me and I carried them in my handbag for many years, until my bag was stolen and I lost them. She did come back like she said. She stood on the stairs of my salon and looked down at me. She said I was looking better and that she was just checking on me, then left quickly. I can still see her very clearly — it was an experience I will never forget. Was my visitor a Master?
SH, London.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the ‘woman’ was, in fact, the Master Jesus.)

Life-guard

Dear Editor, On 26 October 2003 our group from Hamburg had a stand at the fair in Kiel. A young woman came to us and was moved very much to see copies of Maitreya’s hand on the table. “I know this hand, where does it come from?” she asked excitedly. Then she told me about an accident which had taken place on Ibiza this summer, where her parents were on holiday. Her father, who always used to swim far out to sea, was impatiently expected by her mother, who was afraid for him. When he came back on land she dried his back with a towel and could hardly believe what she saw: in the area of the kidneys on both sides of the spine two hands could clearly be seen, lighter than the surrounding skin. The woman quickly took photos because her husband could not believe it! Our ‘hand of Maitreya’ obviously seemed to the daughter to be very similar, so she asked for a copy to show her parents. Have the ‘hands’ anything to do with Maitreya? Could it be possible that Maitreya saved the man when swimming in the sea? Hannelore Malessa, Hamburg, Germany. (A. (1) Yes. (2) Yes. Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the miracle was manifested by Maitreya.)

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE:

Demonstrations disrupt President Bush’s visit

A week of protest caused major disruptions to George W.Bush’s recent London visit: he was unable to move freely in the city, the state procession (usually an obligatory part of any state visit) was cancelled, and he did not address parliament. Benjamin Creme’s Master confirmed the number of demonstrators as 170,000 who marched through London on Thursday 20 November 2003 in one of the biggest workday demonstrations ever. The march was led by disabled Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic and a contingent of American Ex-pats Against Bush, assembled under the banner ‘Proud of my country, ashamed of my president’. Ron Kovic said: “What is happening in Iraq is a mirror image of the nightmare that happened in Vietnam. This is unacceptable and we will not stand for it.” “We stand proud and we speak loudly, shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters around the world who are victims of the policies of Tony Blair and George Bush,” said Anas Altikriti, of the Muslim Association of Britain. In addition to demonstrations in London, the week’s activities included a petition to Tony Blair signed by tens of thousands, and local protests around the UK.
(Source: www.stopwar.org.uk, The Guardian, UK)

Paris European Social Forum

Share International at Paris European Social Forum More than 40,000 people attended the European Social Forum (ESF) held in Paris in mid-November 2003, demonstrating again the growing movement of people power demanding new solutions to pressing world problems. Representatives of NGOs, unions, peace movements and citizen movements from more than 60 countries gathered for the second ESF. Hundreds of workshops, 55 plenary sessions and 250 seminars were held in four venues in and around Paris. After the World Social Forum (WSF) held in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the first ESF in Florence, Italy, in 2002, this was a major demonstration on the part of civil society to express its belief that “another world is possible” — in contrast to what they view as “a process of capitalist globalization for self-serving interests, led by large multinational corporations, governments and international institutions. It is such vested interests which speed up the concentration of wealth in the hands of relatively few, and lead to wars, economic, social and cultural exclusion, the destruction of the environment, and a loss of individual: rights and freedoms”. The purpose, as stated in the Charter of Principles of the WSF, is to create alternatives and formulate concrete proposals for effective action through democratic debate, so that fundamental human rights prevail over financial and commercial interests.

Delegates from Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia, Colombia, Brazil, USA, India, Israel and Palestine attended the Forum, which was impressive in its internationalism and wide range of groups represented. The organization of the event itself mirrored the delegates’ ideals of striving for consensus and shared responsibility, with thousands of volunteers helping to run the event. Conferences, seminars and exhibitions were held in each venue. French Share International volunteers hosted a stand where copies of Share International magazine and information in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Dutch were handed out during the three-day event. Many visitors commented on how pleased they were to read the magazine and many asked questions about the Masters, sharing and so on. The event included a major demonstration on conference themes which saw 100,000 people marching through the streets of Paris.

An Argentinean Radio Netherlands journalist who attended the Forum summed it up: “The Social Forum is an expression of the new forces arising in society. Heterogeneous, sometimes contradictory movements sharing a common, deep dissatisfaction with the present world (dis)order.” The Paris European Social Forum was followed by the World Social Forum which took place in Mumbai, India, from 16 to 21 January 2004. Its Charter states: “The World Social Forum is not an organization, not a united front platform, but … an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centred on the human person.”
(Source: www.wsfindia.org)

SIGNS OF THE TIME:

Golden Miracle

In 2000, Noriko Tani bought a black and white photograph of the Maitreya Buddha statue at the Koryuji Temple, Kyoto. Although the photograph was framed behind glass and hung on her wall, she noticed three years later that gold dust had appeared on it.

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms the gold dust to be a miracle manifested by Maitreya.)

‘Miracle’ baby born in Bethlehem

Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem have been visiting the nearby Aida refugee camp to see an infant many are calling a “miracle baby”. The boy has gained attention for being born with a large birthmark across his cheek that roughly forms in Arabic letters the name of his uncle, Ala, a Hamas militant killed eight months earlier by Israeli troops after he was suspected of having planned a suicide bombing. The family, devout Muslims, called it a divine message of support for the Palestinian people. The baby was born in November 2003 on the 27th day of the holy month of Ramadan, revered as the night the Koran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed. The imam from the camp’s main mosque pronounced the birthmark a “gift from God”. The infant’s grandmother, Aysha Ayyad, said the birthmark was a sign that “the soldiers can kill our sons but not our spirit”. She voiced hope that Israelis and Palestinians would make peace and allow her grandson to grow up free from violence. (Source: Reuters)

(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms this to be a miracle manifested by Maitreya. The child is the uncle reincarnated.)