|
Message from Maitreya
On 27 March 2008, Benjamin Creme was interviewed on the
Paris radio station Ici et Maintenant. The programme was seen live around
the world via the internet. At the end of the interview Maitreya gave
a blessing to the audience and a message, via mental telepathy, through
Benjamin Creme.
I am close to you indeed My friends.
I am so near to you that you have but little time to wait to see Me.
Many of you have been very patient, but the timing of My approach to
you and the world is governed by many laws, and I come at the earliest possible
moment.
Look for Me then sooner than you think possible.
Perhaps not tomorrow, or next week, or even next month, but very, very
soon.
My heart is filled with the urge to complete this great endeavour.
This will need the assistance of all who love their fellow men.
Men must save the world which ails badly.
My Masters and I will show the way to do so.
It gladdens Our hearts to see the start already made by the ordinary
people of the world.
It is to them I speak now.
Raise your voices. Tell the world your needs: your need for peace; your
need for justice and freedom; the need for all people to live in harmony,
no matter the religion, the colour, the race.
All men essentially are One.
They are My brothers and I love each one.
My blessing of love flows to you all.
Until soon My friends.
The Master's article for
Share International magazine, May 2008
The cities of tomorrow
by the Master —, through Benjamin Creme, 12 April 2008
If and when a man of Mars lands his spacecraft on Earth and
looks around him, he must surely be amazed by his surroundings. Unless his
mission has taken him to the countryside, he will wonder how the people
of Earth can tolerate the abject monotony and raw ugliness of so many towns
and cities of the world. The teeming squalor of the poorest is matched only
by the brash, arid rawness of the richest. Wherever one looks on Earth,
it would seem, office blocks like gigantic ants’ nests cover the ground,
surrounded by endless rows of near identical cubes in which the exhausted
ants recover in sleep. Of course, our friend from Mars would discover, there
are exceptions to this ubiquitous life-denying mediocrity, but, he will
find, they are all relics of the past, proudly maintained and preserved
as tourists’ pleasure grounds while the local population make do in
silent envy.
The above is, of course, a caricature, but it is not for nothing that among Maitreya’s
priorities is the beautification of our cities. A city is more than just a place
where money can be made and the fruits of the making enjoyed. It is a Centre,
a Magnet which draws groups of people together to heighten and enrich the consciousness
of all. It is a place in which the soul of the country which it graces can manifest
and adorn the achievements of men everywhere. A city, therefore, should be a
place of beauty, of great variety and colour, with many quiet areas for meditation
and rest. It should not be too big; many modern cities repel rather than attract
their citizens. They should be open and welcoming to all, sharing their special
gifts with local and visitor alike.
Centre of energy
A city is a charged centre of energy, each one different
and expressing many different rays or qualities. Together, they fashion
the personality of a country and provide the opportunity for the soul
of the nation to be expressed. When Maitreya and the Masters are working
openly the importance of certain cities will become clearer.
Science of Light
As great centres of population, the coming science of energy
will naturally blossom in cities. The new Science of Light will transform
the outer appearance of all cities in the world. The energy of light,
direct from the sun, will flow into and from containers of various size
while the Power of Shape will determine the nature of the energy needed
and stored.
It will, no doubt, take many years to transform the cities
of today into the places of beauty which they will become. However, men
need to be able to visualize that such cities can and will be built, and
existing cities slowly rebuilt. As the population of Earth decreases,
as it will, cities will reach their ultimate best size and flourish.
(Read more articles by the Master)
Questions & Answers -
a selection
Q. Share International recently
published two letters that seemed to focus on publicity, making your
information known more widely. (1) Why is it so important? (2)
Would it be correct to say that Maitreya is placing a lot of emphasis
now on the need for effective advertising of your information whether
about lectures, books, the magazine and the information itself? (3)
Would it therefore be accurate to say that the groups around the
world could be doing a lot more, and perhaps more effective, advertising?
(4) Should the groups consider keeping their publicity campaigns
local and national, or might it be an idea to consider co-ordinated
worldwide advertising?
A. (1) Our work is to awaken humanity to the fact of Maitreya and the Masters’ return
to outer work; to create the climate of hope and expectation for this event,
and so allow Maitreya and His group to enter our lives without infringing our
freewill. Maitreya is emerging very soon and so there is very little time left
to prepare the way. (2) Yes. (3) Yes. (4) All of these.
Q. Sharing is an admirable aim and also what is needed
in the world, but it is the one thing which people are least likely
to do. Just take a look around. Even otherwise ‘good’ people
just don’t seem to be willing to do that. Selfishness, it seems
to me, is pandemic. I wonder what on earth has to happen to change
this mindset. Being willing to share is very different to being forced
to share. What does Maitreya have up his sleeve to change the mindset
of 6 billion people, other than the Day of Declaration experiences,
which I don’t think will be enough to do it, as many will put
it down to fraud, hallucination, etc?
A. This is a quite common reaction to my information, even
by people who have no difficulty in accepting the fact of the Masters
or Maitreya, or the urgent need for sharing as the only way to justice
and peace. However, I believe it is profoundly mistaken. It is true
that we have fallen into a deep materiality which demonstrates as the
stranglehold which commercialization now has on every aspect of our
lives. Commercialization, Maitreya warns, is more dangerous to humanity
than an atomic bomb.
One of the problems is the difficulty the average person
has in visualizing the means by which sharing will come about, be organized.
People tend to think of sharing in purely personal terms: they imagine
being personally forced to share their income with strangers across
the seas. The principle of sharing, when humanity sees the necessity,
will be organized globally, each nation giving to a central pool only
what it has in excess of its needs. From the common pool the needs
of all will be met.
This will not happen unless and until humanity accepts
the principle of sharing. Our free will is never infringed
by the Masters. In reality, in the really real world (not the commercial
world) we have no option but to share. Every other method has been
tried and has failed and has led to the present sorry state of the
world economic structure (which is teetering on a knife-edge) and which
has brought the ecology of the planet to a dangerous imbalance. Sharing
alone can establish the necessary trust between the nations required
to tackle seriously the many dangerous problems facing humanity. What
has Maitreya ‘up His sleeve’ to coax us to do the right
and only thing to save our planet? His energy of Love which goes right
to the heart and brings out the best in men and women. No one knows
the power of Maitreya.
Q. I would like to serve in any way I can, though
whether I am worthy is another matter. I listened to Benjamin Creme’s
talk in New York on the internet, and wept like a little child both
during and after it. It felt like coming home.
A. There is no one, anywhere, who is unworthy to serve.
It is for that that we have come into the world. If you can “weep
like a little child” on hearing one of my talks then you are
most certainly ready to respond to Maitreya’s call to serve.
Don’t delay!
Q. I have been an observer of Benjamin Creme for
many years and have read his books. I was telling everyone that Maitreya
was coming years ago! So where the heck is He? I am getting really
depressed and losing all hope. The other day I read about a little
girl being tortured by being put in scalding hot water by her father.
If this is karma, then karma is cruel and stupid and who or whatever
initiated it must be sadistic. Yes, I am angry that the so-called
Masters (and I don’t deny that they may exist) must be sitting
by watching the horror we call ‘humanity’ play out in
the torture of children. If we are to have peace in this world, the
only peace the world shall see is the permanent wiping out of human
beings. My view is: we are not up to the task. There is something
inherent in us humans that apparently makes peace impossible unless
the Masters impose peace on us and take over the reins completely.
A. I can understand your frustration and anger but do not
lose hope now. This is nearly the end of a long wait imposed on Maitreya
by us, humanity. At any time in the last 30 years we had the opportunity
to bring Maitreya forward openly to the whole world. It only needed
starting the process of cleaning house, putting our houses in order
and beginning to act as the one humanity. All the pain and suffering
(which rightly appals you and millions more) is the result of humanity
being ‘out of step’ with its true self and opting greedily
for the commercialization of its life. People in large numbers are
dehumanized by greed and gross materialism. The result is the horrors
you read about daily.
Maitreya knows better than any one of us the Laws which
bind Him in relation to our actions. He is the Lord of Love, His Compassion
is limitless and He demonstrates it in millions of ways no one ever
hears about. Hang on just a very little longer and your anger will
disappear in tears of joy. Promise.
(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 at Benjamin Creme’s lectures and Transmission Meditations. They also appear, in different guises, to large numbers of people around the world. Some of these recount their experiences to Share International magazine. If the experiences 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, they draw attention to, or comment on, in an amusing way, some fixed intolerance to, for example, smoking or drinking. Many times the Masters act as saving ‘angels’ in accidents, during wartime, earthquakes and other disasters. They use a ‘familiar’, a thoughtform, who seems totally real, and through whom the Master’s thoughts can be expressed: They can appear as a man, a woman, a child, at will. Occasionally They use the ‘blueprint’ of a real person, but in most cases the ‘familiar’ is an entirely new creation. The following letters are examples of this means of communication by the Masters. Please note: In the absence of any indication to the contrary, the editors will assume that your name may be printed. Unless requested otherwise, some of these letters may be reproduced on the Share-International.org website. Only initials, town and country will be used.
In the April 2008 issue of Share International magazine,
a letter titled ‘Sign of the time’ signalled the first
of a series of letters from co-workers around the world reporting mysterious
help involving the advertising of Maitreya’s emergence. Also
in the same issue, the letter ‘Mistresses of Wisdom’ described
how Maitreya and the Master Jesus, in the guise of two women, spoke
to co-workers at the Share International Information Centre in Amsterdam,
saying: “You must advertise more. These things are important.
People must hear these things….”
Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that Maitreya has recently influenced
our advertising in a very positive way. On going to press we now know
of five incidents where Maitreya has helped significantly; the first
taking place before Benjamin Creme’s lecture in Barcelona in
February 2008.
Coming from Maitreya, we take this as a prompt to increase
greatly our advertising from now on, as Maitreya’s emergence
appears to be very soon.
This brings in the question of funding and we know that
many readers will want to assist with the work. Any and
all donations, which should be marked ‘for advertising’,
would be gratefully received.
Dear Editor,
We saw the letter (‘Sign of the time’) in the April 2008 Share
International where Maitreya was helping groups with ads about
the Reappearance. Then we remembered something that happened with our
ad campaign for Benjamin Creme’s lecture in Barcelona in February
2008.
One of our ads in the campaign was placed in Metro free newspaper,
which has a fairly big distribution. The ad was placed on Thursday
21 February, two days before the event. We have placed ads in this
paper before and they are normally situated in the culture section,
towards the end of the newspaper.
To our amazement, this time our ad appeared on page two – a very
prominent place. Also that page had news about a much-awaited event:
the arrival of the high speed train that connects Barcelona with Madrid
and that had been delayed for years. In recent months the building
work has caused immense chaos to everyone in Barcelona, so we thought
many more people would read our ad there, rather than in the culture
section.Was the ad placed there by chance, or is it possible that there
was some Hierarchical help involved?
H.L., Barcelona, Spain.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that Maitreya did influence the
placing of the advertisement.)
Dear Editor,
For the 2008 Easter season, the San Francisco Bay Area
Transmission Meditation group decided to spend $2,000 to run a series
of 30-second television advertisements on a local television station.
The text of the advertisement read: “If the Christ or Buddha
returned today, would you recognize him? The One awaited by all major
religions has come when we least expect it. He is ready to emerge openly
very soon. Where is He? Why is He here? To find out, call 888-296-1969
to hear an extraordinary recorded message.”
We had worked with this station in the past and the sales
person there knew us. She was sympathetic to our message and said she
would try to get us a few free extra spots. Our contract was for 16
ads to run during the two weeks before Easter. When we received the
log (which shows the exact time and date the ad actually ran) from
the station, the ad in fact had run 30 times, including during the
week after Easter.
There were well over 200 people who called our number and
listened to the four-minute recorded message. Of these, over 40 left
their names and addresses to be sent further information.
We recently read in Share International that Maitreya is prompting
groups to advertise by manifesting several advertisements Himself.
We were wondering whether the original 16 ad-spots had multiplied to
30 with a little divine help?
R.T., San Francisco, USA.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the extra advertisements
were manifested by Maitreya.)
Dear Editor,
I received a phone call from a man at an advertising agency
in Osaka about 6pm in the evening of 11 April 2008. He sounded very
powerful, not like the man we were used to negotiating with. He said
that they had a sudden opening for a full-page ad space on a newspaper
for 26 April and offered us the space at a large discount, though
he knew our event for Benjamin Creme’s lecture would be 3 weeks
after that. When I learnt the area where the paper would be circulated,
I was amazed. It was the northern part of Osaka city where we, the
Kansai group, always focus our advertising effort intensively. And
it was extraordinarily cheap. (Normally, we could never afford a
full-page ad on that paper.)
I had a wonderful rapport with the man and spoke for about
30 minutes. But at the end, I had to regrettably turn down the offer.
He asked me if it was only a matter of price. I said it was a fantastic
opportunity, but we just didn’t have enough budget. When I phoned
him again 30 minutes later, he had negotiated with his supervisor in
the meantime and lowered the price a bit more. In the middle of my
second phone call, my husband took over the negotiation. We negotiated
again the next morning, and they lowered the price even more and we
accepted the offer.
Four days later, I remembered the man I spoke with who
was very powerful and expressed a lot of joy at being able to bring
us such a wonderful offer. I asked my husband about him, but he said
the man he spoke with was an ordinary sounding man.
Was the man I spoke with different from the man my husband
spoke with?
M.U., Kusatsu-shi, Japan.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the two men were different.
The man Midori, the letter-writer, spoke with was Maitreya.)
Dear Editor,
I enclose a cutting from our free, local newspaper The Advertiser. This
photograph and report appeared on two separate pages of the same paper
(20 March 2008) and clearly shows the message about sharing. When I
phoned to thank them for our double exposure I was told that they were ‘baffled’ by
the error.
We also got coverage and a photograph in the Sentinel which
covers the whole of Stoke-on- Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and surrounding
areas. This may just be an error but seeing the letter in the April
edition of Share International (‘Sign of the time’),
I thought it worth mentioning anyway.
M.I., Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the extra photograph and report
were manifested by Maitreya.)
Holy family
Dear Editor,
On the occasion of the Generation 50 Fair in Avignon, France,
in December 2007, a man in his 50s came to our booth on Sunday evening
to look at the information. We ended up talking about Jesus. My husband,
who normally is not involved in my work with fairs, had joined me
and was trying to find out whether what the church says about Jesus’ life
is historically true. That afternoon, I had been doing some research
in Mr Creme’s books for him.
The man then said: “Oh, ‘Jesus’, that’s the
name of my friend! He went to see another stand. He’s waiting
for me at the entrance. Oh, he’s calling me now.” The man
then showed us his mobile phone with the name ‘Jesus’ showing
on the screen. He then left, supposedly to join his friend Jesus. I
thought this was funny, and that his friend was probably Portuguese
as this name is common there, and I forgot about it.
Later, as the fair drew to an end, the man came back with
another man of similar age, a younger woman and a child. He said: “Here
is my friend Jesus, I found him.” While talking they glanced
through the documents on the table and looked at photographs of the
crosses of light. The man whose name was Jesus said: “I have
made many such crosses appear.” At that moment, I suddenly became
aware of the situation. Jesus then talked about the importance of the
symbol of the cross as a link between heaven and earth. I cannot remember
everything he said, as I was thinking all the time “could that
be Him, could that be Him, and could His friend be Maitreya then?”
He also said that we are all Christs, that there are many
Christs and Buddhas, that we can do the same since we have Christ in
us. He also mentioned the overshadowing of Jesus.
Then they looked at the file of miracles and when they
left I gave them the leaflet on the 30th anniversary of the presence
of Maitreya in the world.
Who were these men? And who were the woman and child?
G. G., Bourgoin-Jallieu, France.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the first man was Maitreya. ‘Jesus’ was
the Master Jesus. The woman was a disciple of the Master Jesus, and the child
was a ‘familiar’ manifested by the Master Jesus.)
Soothsayer
Dear Editor,
On 29 March 2008, my birthday, at Benjamin Creme’s lecture in
Paris, my husband and I were working at a stand selling the French
version of Share International magazine (Partage International).
During the break, a woman of about 60, wearing a suit,
came up to us. She leafed through one of the magazines and, pointing
her finger at Maitreya’s photo in Nairobi, asked: “Will
Maitreya appear like that on television?” Answering herself,
she went on: “Nobody knows.” So I told her that, for the
time being, Maitreya was appearing under different guises, creating
thoughtforms according to circumstances. I showed her photos in the
magazines of Maitreya as a flute player, a West Indian man in Hyde
Park and a woman begging in Florence, saying to her that they were
all different appearances of Maitreya in a guise. Pointing to the woman
in Florence, she exclaimed: “There he is a woman! She does look
like me! See how much she looks like me!” I thought she was not
like her at all. But she kept insisting: “Look! Look! Same hair!” She
was white-haired and the beggar woman was black-haired. “Look!
Look! Same mouth!” Afterwards my husband told me that she was
completely toothless, which I did not notice because I was focusing
on her eyes. She wore thick glasses, which made her black eyes seem
bigger. But she kept on insisting as though she wanted us to clearly
understand that she was a female appearance of Maitreya too.
Then, knowing about Chinese astrology, she said: “This is the
year of the Rat; 2009 will be the year of the Bull; and 2010 the year
of the Tiger. The year of the Tiger is always special, but 2010 will
be really a special year – it will be a really extraordinary
year!”
Then, speaking to three interested ladies who had come
closer, she said: “I know how everything will happen. It will
start in the United States where people in the street will demand that
the media make Maitreya’s presence known; then in Japan, people
will demand that too; and then in the rest of the world. Everything
will come from the street. Let’s all go out onto the streets!”
She was speaking so loudly with such a high-pitched voice
that I looked with amusement left and right to see if it was causing
any excitement, but it was not. I felt as if we were apart from the
rest of the gathering (the three women, the toothless lady, my husband
and I), inside a sparkling bubble, a champagne bubble.
Then our attention was totally taken by the three women
and I did not see the woman leaving. This magic moment was over.
If this lady was really Maitreya, then this was a great
birthday gift.
R.G., Etampes, France.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the ‘toothless woman’ was,
indeed, Maitreya.)
Super-cone
Dear Editor,
(1) I enclose a photograph taken in December 2007. Beside
the front door of my flat is a flower stand decorated
with pine cones. I observed them and noticed that, incredibly, one,
then another one, was growing. I wondered if the phenomenon was real
or not so I took a photograph as a testimony and waited a few days:
I could see without doubt that one pine cone was much bigger. Before
taking the photograph, I inwardly wished for a blessing on the image,
as a confirmation of what was happening. When I received the photograph,
there was this sign! I was so joyful. Was it a blessing? Did this
pine cone really grow?
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the pine cone’s miraculous
growth and the blessing were manifested by Maitreya.)
Well-read
(2) During the lecture given by Benjamin Creme in Paris on Saturday
29 March 2008, I was manning the book-stand with some friends when
a man wearing a dark suit, carrying a briefcase, looking radiant and
smiling, came up to me and bought Benjamin Creme’s latest book.
He then asked quite precisely for The Laws of Life which a
co-worker showed him. He insisted on this book, “the purple one”.
He was sure of his choice. My co-worker nudged me. At that moment,
the man looked at both of us in turn while laughing and said: “I
know you.” He paid for the two books with a big note and then
went to his seat.
G.J., Lyon, France.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the man was Maitreya.)
Dear Editor,
On 8 April 2008 I cut a potato in half and found a cross
in it. Was this a miracle?
M.B., Rome, Italy.
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that the cross was manifested by
Maitreya.)
Signs
of the time
Dear Editor,
On 14 February 2008 I went shopping at around 1pm and immediately saw
patterns of light on the walls. They seemed to be appearing on one
building out of three at the beginning of the street, and then on each
building located on my right. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It
was not the first time I’d seen patterns of light in Paris. Recently,
they are appearing more frequently – almost every day. I was
amazed by the sudden and unexpected abundance of patterns. They were
on all buildings, even on the high school walls, and some were also
visible on the pavement. There must have been one hundred of them at
the very least. Their shapes varied from ‘X’ to ‘V’ drawn
within circles; others looked more like chicken leg-bones. I felt a
great joy in my heart and remembered Maitreya’s words that He
was going to “flood the world with signs”.
M-A.A., Paris, France.
Dear Editor,
Since I moved into a new flat in 2005, I started seeing light patterns
on the wall in front of my building in Paris. I knew about the patterns
of light but wasn’t particularly interested in them until a few
weeks ago: when moving my office into my son’s former bedroom
I suddenly found myself face to face with some of them. I was rather
amused by the creativity of these mysterious and often changing forms,
sometimes very luminous; different from the usual pale reflection emanating
from the windows on that wall. Now I contemplate these luminous forms
from my balcony every day, and realize that they bring me joy.
D.G., Paris, France.
Dear Editor,
I started seeing patterns of light four years ago [2004] in the factory
where I worked. At that time, I was going through a hard time and was
afraid of losing my job. Their presence was a great comfort to me and
made me feel that the Masters are with me, that I am not alone to face
my problems, and my burden was somewhat relieved.
D.A., Rueil-Malmaison, Paris, France.
Forces of light
“Important events are taking place in many parts of the world.
People everywhere will be astonished by the reports. These will include,
in unprecedented numbers, of spacecraft from our neighbouring planets,
Mars and Venus in particular.” (Benjamin Creme’s Master, ‘The
gathering of the Forces of Light’, SI March 2007)
UFO sightings
England – Witnesses in the towns of Luton and Houghton
Regis, north of London, reported seeing an unusual red light hovering
in the sky on the night of 27 February 2008. Luton resident Dave Fullbrook
saw the light above the Luton and Dunstable Hospital at about 9pm. “I’ve
never seen anything like it in my life,” he said. “What
it was I’ve got no idea. I’ve looked over there for the last
few nights but I haven’t seen it since then.”
After local newspaper Bedford Today reported the sightings,
the publication received numerous reports from the public of similar
experiences. Nemide Ibrahim, a resident of the nearby town of Eaton Bray,
said she and her partner saw two lights in the sky on the evening of
8 March 2008. “As we were driving out of Eaton Bray we noticed
some very strange bright red lights hovering very low in the sky. There
were distinctively two red lights together. One was a constant red light,
while the other directly next to it flashed continuously red.” She
added that “it definitely did not have any distinctive markings,
sounds, shape or any recognizable features that you would expect to see
on any known aircraft”. The lights disappeared and then reappeared
before heading south. (Source: bedfordtoday.co.uk)
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms this to be an authentic sighting
of a spacecraft from Mars.)
USA: Texas – A man in Corpus Christi saw a glowing white
UFO for about 15 minutes on the night of 22 March 2008, and filmed it
with his cell phone. According to the eyewitness: “It got to the
point that it was close enough that one of my chihuahuas saw it and he
was trying to take care of me and started to bark. When he started to
bark that’s when the light started to do that weird movement.” The
witness anonymously sent the footage to KIII-TV, a local television station,
who broadcast it. According to Katia Uriarte, the reporter who broadcast
the story: “The image looked like a white, glowing spot moving
around.” After comparing it to a film of a recent UFO sighting
in Stephenville, Texas, Uriarte said: “There are some similarities.
Both objects move back and forth and from side to side in the same way.”
After the broadcast, the television station received numerous calls and
emails from other local witnesses, one of whom described the UFO as “a
real bright circle of light.” (Source: KIII-TV, USA)
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms that this was an authentic sighting
of a spacecraft from Mars.)
Florida – Numerous residents of Wesley Chapel, a small town
near Tampa, reported seeing a UFO in the early morning of 14 March 2008. Witnesses
described a rotating triangle of three white-blue lights with a flashing red
light that was stationary. Luis Jiminez, a local resident, filmed the UFO. “I
don’t know what it was” he said, “but they were really, really
bright lights. There were three blue lights at first, and they seemed to be
going clockwise. Then there came the red flashing light, and at some point,
the lights started going counter-clockwise.” He filmed the UFO for about
15 minutes before it moved away at high speed. (Source: myfoxtampabay.com;
heraldtribune.com)
(Benjamin Creme’s Master confirms this as an authentic sighting of
a spacecraft from Mars.)
From
our own correspondents
excerpts from articles and interviews
The impact of social injustice
Excerpts from an interview with Jan Pronk
by Eva Beaujon
Jan Pronk has had a distinguished career, both as a
prominent European politician and as a senior United Nations official.
He has played an important role in promoting sustainable economic and
environmental development and served as the UN Secretary-General’s
Special Envoy for the World Summit on Sustainable Development held
in Johannesburg in 2002. In the 1980s he was Deputy Secretary-General
of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has also
served as the treasurer of the Brandt Commission.
He served three terms as Dutch Minister of Development Co-operation
and one term as Minister for the Environment: Prime Minister Wim Kok
described him as the “minister for the national conscience”.
From mid 2004 until the end of 2006 Pronk lived in Khartoum, as
the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations
in Sudan, where he led the UN peace keeping operation (UNMIS).
Jan Pronk was interviewed for Share International by
Eva Beaujon.
Share International: Reports are showing that the Millennium
Development Goals may not be reached by 2015. You have stated that
it is precisely the success of globalization that is one of the major
causes of increasing inequality between rich and poor, and the increase
in the number of poor.
Jan Pronk: Increasing inequality is a fact. There are numerous indicators
for this. The main problem is that globalization has gone in a direction
where everything revolves around facilitating the world market. This
has resulted in some profiting from that globalization, while others
are disadvantaged. Inequality is growing as globalization speeds up,
with some people getting richer more quickly, while others are getting
poorer at a faster pace. People are increasingly marginalized. They are
the very poor, the people who are continuously driven from their land
to vulnerable areas, which are hardly viable ecologically, because less
and less water is available due to climate change. In our own society, ‘illegal’ immigrants
are not welcomed. As the scarcity of water, energy and fertile land grows,
the struggle for access to those scarce resources increases, and those
with a head start will appropriate the resources and keep others out – another
cause of the rising inequality.
It is no longer a question of the very rich against the very poor, as
was the case in the earlier stages of the capitalist process. A ‘democratization’ of
capitalism has taken place so that we now have a ‘top layer’ plus
the world’s broad ‘middle class’. The very wealthy
and ordinary middle class are doing well. Most inhabitants of Western
countries, with a few exceptions, belong to that group, so there is also
a measure of responsibility for the ordinary citizen of the West who
profits from that process. No one is guilty, but everyone is responsible.
What we also see is that Western social democratic parties, including
my own (Dutch) Labour Party, are no longer dedicated to the welfare of
the weakest members of society as they were in the past when their focus
was to help the working class. The Labour Party has ‘developed’ along
with the erstwhile working class, which has now become part of the middle
class. They have forgotten the poor, the illegal immigrants in our countries
and the poor in the rest of the world. They have also softened their
previously critical attitude towards capitalism, while capitalism itself
has grown in strength through globalization.
SI: The growing gap is not only taking place between
countries, but within those countries – Western and developing
countries alike. You were involved in trying to help resolve the conflict
in Darfur. How does this gap affect a country like Sudan?
JP: Globalization has made it easy to invest around the globe: the new
expanded middle class trades within its ranks throughout the world. Countries
are internally divided; just as there is a wealthy class in Khartoum,
in China and India, for example, there are also hundreds of millions
of people in those countries who are left far behind. The Developing
World is replicating what the industrialized world did to them – the
wealthy of the developing world are now discriminating against their
own poor compatriots.
The government of Sudan does not spend one dinar on providing safe drinking
water or education for Southern Sudan or Darfur, causing a further increase
in inequality. Khartoum is booming: there is oil, a lot of investment
and expanding industrialization. Politically it is a dictatorial system,
where potential revolt by the poor is suppressed by force. The worldwide
middle classhas the means and the power and it decides how much of the
national budget goes to education or healthcare, for instance, and they
tend to want it to be used mostly for their benefit.
SI: One of the greatest challenges of this century
is the climate. The world is warming up faster than was anticipated.
We know what needs be done but implementation is very slow.
JP: Western countries are responsible for most of the CO2 in the
atmosphere today, which is the cause of the rise in temperatures we are
experiencing. Western countries were slow to start taking measures to
combat climate change. It is important that we reach the targets agreed
on in 2001 for the year 2012, otherwise, we lose credibility in our talks
about the next phase with countries like China and India, that did not
have to participate in the first phase. These and other countries are
becoming large polluters and therefore need to participate in the next
phase, but they will only do so if Western countries honour the promises
they made for 2012. [The date set by the Kyoto protocol for the developed
countries to have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions below the individual
levels specified.]…
Jan Pronk explained that there are more situations
in the world where an opponent cannot be defeated because he has his
roots in the population.
He continues: You have Hamas, for instance, and Hezbollah
and in Somalia, the Islamic Courts. Some groups commit human rights
violations, but that is largely due to the conflict becoming increasingly
violent. Ignoring them will make them more violent, making it harder
to talk to them. And it will become harder to justify it to your own
population, because of the violations of human rights they are committing.
Secondly, because these groups are not succeeding politically, the population
in these countries turns away from them and chooses more radical, extreme
positions: from PLO to Hamas, from Hamas to a more violent wing of Hamas,
and from Hamas to Islamic Jihad. You get increasingly farther away from
your objective – lasting peace. By excluding your opponent – you
turned him into an opponent yourself – you are contributing to
the continuation of the conflict and more victims. At some point, you
will have to invite that opponent to the table.
I am all for peace troops and peace interventions for the protection
of civilians, but it must be with the approval of the entire Security
Council or with the approval of all parties concerned. Unilateral intervention,
as happened in Iraq, only leads to more violence and war. Intervention
disguised as peacekeeping, like in Afghanistan, is to the detriment of
all in Afghanistan.
SI: What about the risk of these and other conflicts
spreading?
JP: This happens because people elsewhere give explicit support to one
side in the conflict, because they don’t trust the international
community, the US and the UN. Some factions use that distrust as a pretext
not to have to solve their own conflict.
Another factor is that a number of conflicts are inherently ‘trans-national’,
that is to say, they are not contained within national borders; they
are ethnic, tribal, political, cultural or religious in origin. The conflict
directly impacts communities in other parts of the world, thereby extending
even further. This explains why terrorist activities move to other parts
of the globe.
Before the Iraq invasion, Jan Pronk spoke out and demonstrated
against this war many times and warned that it would be a catastrophe.
He believes it is essential that there be a parliamentary inquiry into
the reasons the Dutch government chose to take part in the coalition.
In an interview in a Dutch newspaper in September 2007 he said: “How
can we trust a Prime Minister who lies about something as fundamental
as the reasons for going to war?” and “The inquiry is not
just for the purpose of looking back. I am worried about the threat
of a war with Iran. And what will the Netherlands do then?”
SI: How could this have happened so easily?
JP: A country may be a so-called democracy but there is a power elite
that can bend the facts to its will and purpose, can manipulate information
and can present its own goals in a perfectly acceptable guise. You
are selling something to your own population. That was very clearly
the case with Iraq. Later, the same lies were sold to the international
community. The invasion of Iraq was based on lies, American official
lies. You ask how this could happen. Maybe there were certain vested
interests in the US that did not want to correctly inform the President
and vice-President. But as President and vice-President, you are also
responsible for not being well informed – that is how democracy
works. Other countries that support America, and continue accepting
the same arguments and peddling them to their own people, share the
responsibility for a breach of the international legal order.
Mr Pronk went on to outline what could be done to counter
such situations.
JP: Strengthening the democratic process is of the utmost importance.
You do it by aiming for as much openness, opposition and counter-intelligence
as possible. Individual citizens must constantly be alert. You need a
free press. There have to be political parties that can take over; that
means leadership that leaves after a few years, so that you get another
government. Let us hope it happens in the US. It was somewhat the case
in England. The problem is that it doesn’t automatically mean that
there will be new and different policies. In the Netherlands, for example,
a new government did not mean that an investigation into the war in Iraq
was allowed to take place.
It goes on and on: governments have a lot of power to manipulate people’s
opinions, through the media and information processes. That worries me.
There is more and more money for these purposes.
On the other hand, fortunately, you have the globalization of information
through the internet as well as the increasing general level of education.
Nevertheless, those in power have a big advantage and if they happen
to be up to no good, they also have access to the military machine.
SI: Does the media play a part in keeping the lie going,
especially if they are very commercialized?
PR: Yes, and in the US the media are totally commercialised. You have
certain independent public media which are interesting, like C-SPAN,
but there aren’t many of them and viewer numbers are small. It
is a very dangerous development when the general means of conveying cultureare
dominated by one value system. Naturally, it virtually guarantees the
chances of the lies remaining intact.
Let’s consider education. Changes in the education system in recent
decades in most Western countries have led to education for the job market.
Courses are shorter, and more job-oriented, including at university level
and a lot of education is financed by business. So, yet another means
of conveying culture becomes vulnerable and is under threat. Of course,
people can found other universities and students can protest. All that
is possible, because there is freedom, but it happens infrequently and
on a small scale. Alternatively, it can lead to a sudden uprising. That
is the case when people don’t feel respected by society. Take,
for example, groups on the margins of society economically, like the
people in the banlieus (suburbs of social housing) in France.
What you get is a violent uprising coming from another value system and
not being understood by the ruling middle class who subsequently suppress
such uprising with force.
I don’t want to paint too black and white a picture, but there
definitely is a process of manipulation going on, and of deliberately
keeping people ignorant…. [End of excerpt]
Voice
of the people
Five years on — global peace marches
Between 15 and 22 March 2008 people gathered in cities
around the globe to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
and to call for a ‘world without war’.
In the US there were more than 1,000 actions in 50 states, in cities
large and small, demonstrating against a conflict which has claimed more
than 4,000 of its soldiers. In San Francisco, around 7,000 people took
part in a night walk organized by the group ANSWER on 19 March, the anniversary
of the war’s start. Chants of “Occupation is a crime, from
Iraq to Palestine”, “No more war” and the “People
united will never be defeated” echoed through the packed Mission
District. Among the speakers at the event was Cindy Sheehan, whose son
Casey was killed in the war.
Around 10,000 people filled the sometimes six-lane boulevards of downtown
Los Angeles on 15 March in a spirited march on a cold, blustery day.
The largely youthful contingent was joined by Roy Kovic, Vietnam war
veteran and author of the book Born on the Fourth of July who
told press: “More than anything, when I see what’s going
on in Iraq I feel determined, determined to fight with everything within
us to stop this madness.” When the march reached the CNN building,
protesters chanted “CNN, can’t you see? Put the peace march
on TV!”
As part of a series of events over a few days in Washington, Iraq Veterans
Against the War organized Winter Soldier, in which US veterans who served
in Iraq and Afghanistan provided powerful accounts of what is really
happening in these countries. Central Washington also saw a rally on
19 March, with protesters angry, not only with their President, but also
with Halliburton and other corporations that have profited from the war. “War
is basically for the war profiteers,” said 23-year-old Jessica
P. who, like many of the students from the participating Student Peace
Action Network, did not want to give her surname. “They [company
executives] are making as much as $3,000 a day.”
“We’re targeting the tax funding to let people know that when you’re
doing your taxes next month, you’re supporting a genocide in another
country.” said Debbie B, 24, who travelled from Colorado to Washington
for the protests. Malcolm Chaddock, who served in the military during the 1980s,
joined the Washington protests after travelling from Portland, Oregon. Speaking
to the crowd Chaddock offered a wish for the future: “My hope is that
from this day forward, more people step up to take this country back.”
Demonstrations took place in London and Glasgow in the UK on 15 March,
with organized coaches bringing people from all over the country. In
Glasgow, representatives from unions and political parties joined ordinary
people in a rally organized by Stop the War Coalition, among the speakers
Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon died in Iraq, and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.
Around 8,000 people marched to Parliament Square in London, where they
laid flowers as a tribute to the dead. Like many of the events the protests
also called for an end to Israel’s siege on Gaza and ‘no’ to
a future attack on Iran. At an opening rally in Trafalgar Square Jenny
Tong, Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, said: “Why,
why, why is it that Israel is allowed to break international law, defy
the Geneva Conventions, abuse the human rights of Palestinians, kill
them on a daily basis, and yet no one takes any notice, the world turns
a blind eye?”
Veteran campaigner Tony Benn reminded the crowd that they were not alone: “As
far away as Puerto Rico, Korea, Iceland and New Zealand and in 11 American
cities people are gathered as we are, and we represent the people of
the world – that is an important thing for us to remember – we
are not a lot of isolated groups protesting.” In an inspiring speech
full of hope, he said, “There, in every human heart from the beginning
of time, have been two flames burning, the flame of anger against injustice
and the flame of hope that you can build a better world. And those two
flames are burning in our hearts today, in the hearts and minds of millions
of people.”
In Europe, around 500 people marched through Stockholm city centre, Sweden,
in freezing rain, carrying banners with messages like, “Five years
of war, one million dead”. “I’m here because I think
it is extremely important to demonstrate against American policy in Iraq,
especially now that the media is focusing less on the tragedy there,” said
Leif Staalhammer, a 67-year-old actor. Around 600 people also demonstrated
in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, while in Norway some
200 people marched through the centre of Oslo to the parliament building.
Demonstrations also took place across Canada, including Toronto, where
1,000 people protested against parliament’s recent decision to
extend Canada’s 2,500-strong deployment to Afghanistan. In Montreal,
there was a demonstration against both Canada’s involvement in
Afghanistan and the Iraq war, while in Ottawa protestors gathered near
the US embassy in a rally organised by the Canadian Peace Alliance. (Sources: The
Guardian, UK; unitedforpeace.org; answerla.org; indymedia.org; stopwarcoalition.co.uk)
Food price protests mount
With food prices rising 40 per cent on average globally
since last summer (2007), food riots are breaking out in poorer countries
around the world. Sir John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian
affairs and the UN’s emergency relief co-ordinator, told a recent
conference in Dubai that escalating prices would trigger protests and
riots in vulnerable nations. He said food scarcity and soaring fuel prices
would compound the damaging effects of global warming. “The security
implications should also not be underestimated as food riots are already
being reported across the globe. Current food price trends are likely
to increase sharply both the incidence and depth of food insecurity”,
he said.
Demonstrations in southern Haiti left four people dead when the crowds,
protesting against the rising costs of food, started blocking roads,
looting shops and shooting at UN peacekeepers in the town of Les Cayes.
Violence also erupted in other parts of Haiti during several days of
protests. When armed protesters broke into the UN compound in Les Cayes
and started shooting at peacekeepers, UN troops fired back, killing a
young man. In the unrest that followed three more people died.
Prices of staple foods in Haiti, such as fruit, rice and beans, have
increased by 50 per cent in one year. Haiti is the poorest country in
the Americas; 80 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
On the continent of Africa, the situation is no better: there have been
food riots in Cameroon since February 2008, while widespread protests
against food price hikes broke out in Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Senegal
and, most recently, in Burkina Faso, where a nationwide strike against
price rises was planned. Since the end of 2007, 37 countries have faced
food crises, and 20 have imposed some sort of food-price controls.
In Egypt, the price of bread has gone up 35 per cent and cooking oil
26 per cent. As a result, the government proposed ending food subsidies
and replacing them with cash payouts to the needy. The move caused so
much public uproar that the government was forced to put the plan on
hold. “A revolution of the hungry is in the offing,” said
Mohammed el-Askalani of Citizens Against the High Cost of Living, a protest
group established to lobby against ending the subsidies.
Although it is a particular and politically complex case, Zimbabwe’s
food prices reflect the general global trend: the country is experiencing
100,000 per cent inflation. Meanwhile, in Morocco, subsidies for essential
commodities have grown fivefold over six years. The cost of rice has
risen by 300 per cent in Sierra Leone; the government announced that
it aims to start producing rice by 2009 and make rice imports illegal.
And in these countries, too, the authorities are nervous about growing
public anger and widespread protest.
“Escalating social unrest as we have seen in Cameroon, Mauritania, Burkina
Faso and in Senegal could spread to other countries” warned Kanayo Nwanza,
vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
To deal with public anger and the growing crisis, the governments of
Cameroon, Senegal and Ivory Coast have stopped levying taxes (value added
tax, VAT) on main staples. Cameroon also increased wages for public workers;
Sudan increased subsidies for some foods; and Egypt suspended rice exports
for six months.
The United Nations predicts global food prices will go up between 20
and 50 per cent by 2016. Price hikes in basic foods hit urban poor the
hardest, since their access to food is precarious and they are forced
to spend a higher percentage of their total income on feeding their families.
(Source: AFP; Associated Press; The Guardian, BBC News, UK)
Freedom
and justice — excerpts from a compilation
We present a selection of quotations on the theme
of freedom and justice – from Maitreya (Messages from
Maitreya the Christ, and Maitreya’s Teachings – The
Laws of Life), Benjamin Creme’s Master (A
Master Speaks), and Benjamin Creme’s writings.
When you see and hear Me you will realize that you have
known for long the Truths which I utter. Within your hearts rests the
Truth of God. These simple Truths, My friends, underlie all existence.
Sharing and Justice, Brotherhood and Freedom are not new concepts.
From the dawn of time mankind has linked his aspiration to these beckoning
stars. Now, My friends, shall we anchor them in the world. (Maitreya,
from Message No.105)
Freedom and justice are divine and that divinity is indivisible.
There can be no freedom without justice, no justice bereft of freedom.
Shortly, men will be offered the opportunity to end for ever this travesty
of truth and so heal the breach between the nations. It requires but
the simple realization that all men are divine and have the same divine
right to share in God’s gifts and plans. Lacking such realization
men would know no peace. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘God’s
Representative’)
The time is fast approaching when political, economic
and religious totalitarianism – denying human freedom, well-being,
liberty and the human right to believe what one desires – will
be over. A new freedom is awaiting humanity just around the corner.
But that new freedom has, above all, the necessity of responsibility.
We have to take upon ourselves the responsibility for each other. Maitreya
puts it very simply: “Take your brother’s need as the
measure for your actions and solve the problems of the world. There
is no other course.” (Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s
Mission Volume Two)
Millions today live in conditions of abject misery and
abuse, exploited by tyrants masquerading as their leaders. Yet the
people, for the most part, suffer in silence, fearful that resistance
will make the unbearable even worse.
Can humanity be persuaded to look on change with a bolder
eye; to accept that the ills of the world must be cured or man will
perish? For how long and how deeply must men suffer before taking action
on their own behalf?
Maitreya’s task will be to show men that their suffering is unnecessary;
that the remedy is in their hands even now; that together they are
invincible. He will show that the only barrier to freedom from fear
is fear itself; that a new world awaits its creation, based on justice
and trust.
When men see this they will support His cause, and set
in motion the changes which will renew the world. Gathered together
in common Brotherhood men will demand the freedom and justice which
is theirs by right. Thus will it be. Thus will the institutions of
the past give way to the new forms, whose nature will allow the expression
of the true divinity of men. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘Fear
of change’)
When I make Myself known, I shall express the hope of
all mankind for a new life, a new start, a readiness to change direction;
to see the construction of a New World in which men can live in peace;
can live free from fear of themselves or their brothers; free to create
from the joy in their hearts; free to be themselves, in simple honesty.
My Task is but beginning, but even now there exists in men’s
hearts a new light, a new hope, a sense of a new beginning; a realisation
that Man is not alone, that the Protector of All has sent His Agent.
It is That which I am. (Maitreya, from Message No.8)
The old barriers to freedom and justice must be discarded;
all must share in the Earth’s bounty; all must learn the language
of trust. Planet Earth, our home, must be nursed back to health, its
air, soil and waters purified, made safe again for man. (Benjamin Creme’s
Master, from ‘The path of Love and Peace)
As a brother among brothers I shall speak for you all,
voice aloud your aspirations and hopes; make known the desire of all
men for a world at peace; for a just and noble readiness to share;
for the creation of a society based on freedom and love. (Maitreya,
from Message No.61)
We are souls in evolution. Therefore all that pertains
in our life which reflects that reality, the soul reality, the creativity
of the soul, is in tune with the best art of living. That which is
known, that which is already defunct, is simply memory, that which
is carried over from the past and is useless but liked, sentimentally
held on to, by millions of people, is detrimental to the right structures
for the art of living.
The art of living will provide the greatest freedom for
the greatest number of people, the greatest opportunities for the greatest
number of people, the greatest degree of justice for the greatest number
of people. That is the art of living. When, in everything that we do – whether
as ordinary individuals or in charge of great enterprises – we
create conditions in which the greatest number of people find good,
the Common Good is exalted, maintained and strengthened. That is what
the art of living is about. (Benjamin Creme, The Art of Living)
What we are witnessing is the destruction of all that
prevents the manifestation of men’s divinity. Freedom and justice
are divine; hence the new-found impulse, demonstrating throughout the
world, to liberate millions from the thralldom of the past. Painful
are these first, urgent steps, but men know in their hearts that the
time for change is nigh. For too long have men exploited men. For too
long have the rich increased their riches at the expense of those bereft
of all. A new realism slowly permeates the thoughts of men as they
contemplate the excesses and failures of the past decade. (Benjamin
Creme’s Master, from ‘We await the Call’)
My Mission is to evoke the Principle of Love in all men,
and for those who are ready, to show a Higher Truth. The means are
simple: Through Justice and Freedom for all, that Love can be expressed.
Through the manifestation of man’s Brotherhood, the Source of
All can be known. May it be that you will quickly see this, understand
the purpose of life and show the way for your brothers. (Maitreya,
from Message No.41)
Why wait for the sight of Me to act, when from yourselves
in trust you can perform much? Take a little in trust, My friends,
and act today as the warriors of old, waiting not for confirmation
but glad to be in the vanguard. Make known to all the fact of My Presence
and come gladly to My side. Make known the need for Sharing and Justice
and strike a note for Freedom. (Maitreya, from Message No.109)
When you see Us you will know that the time to work together
for the safeguarding of the race has arrived: no longer must ‘market-forces’ blight
man’s ascending path. No longer must cruel ambition hold sway
over the lives of the people. Never again must millions starve in the
midst of plenty. No more must the future of the young be sold above
their heads. The future of freedom and justice beckons. Accept it,
accept it. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘The future of
freedom and justice’)
If you do not understand freedom and you preach it, it
will create destruction. First you must understand what it is. Freedom
is not the free play of market forces. Market forces have no ‘eyes’ – they
are blind, therefore satanic. (Maitreya, Maitreya’s Teachings – The
Laws of Life)
Market forces, Maitreya says, are the forces of wickedness,
confusion and chaos, and its children are competition and comparison.
Freedom is not found in the free play of market forces, for market
forces have no ‘eyes’. They are blind and satanic, leading
inevitably to ‘mine’ and ‘more’ – that
is, to possessiveness and greed – without end. Market forces
will bring this civilization as we have known it to the edge of disaster.
(Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s Mission Volume Two)
Trying to live in the past destroys freedom, it does
not confer it. Live in the present and look to the future. Sometimes
we can look through a window and see the past but we cannot claim it.
Freedom cannot be experienced while we are caught in the
conditioning of our mind, spirit and body. Only the Self can experience
freedom. How can you expect a prisoner to enjoy freedom while he is
still in prison? (Maitreya, Maitreya’s Teachings – The
Laws of Life)
Injustice is a denial of man’s divine potential;
it separates man from man and humanity from God. Throughout the world,
many are struggling to free themselves from age-long injustice, exploitation
and tyranny; to set down at last the yoke carried by their forebears.
We, the watching Hierarchy, commend their struggle, for We see it as
the expression of the Divine Spark in all men, yearning for freedom
and justice. We give them Our Hand as We gaze with compassion on their
plight.
There are those who would deny that all men have equal
rights to a share of God’s providence. Those who argue thus have
listened only to the voice of the separated self, forgetting that naught
that they have and hold but comes to them from God. When men take heed
of the voice of God within them they find in sharing and justice the
only answer to man’s ills. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘Justice
is divine’)
Humanity has been given a ridiculous choice: you can
either be free or have justice. If you live in America or Europe, in
the main you opt for freedom. Americans in particular love the idea
of freedom but there is little justice in America and not much more
in Europe. If you lived in the Soviet bloc (which no longer exists
as a bloc but the consciousness is still there), you opted for justice
but had no freedom. This choice is totally absurd. Both freedom and
justice are divine, and divinity is indivisible. You cannot have freedom
without justice, or justice without freedom.
You cannot give humanity a choice and say: “If you vote for me,
I will give you freedom, forget about the justice,” or: “If
you vote for us, we will give you justice, forget about the freedom.” Both
are essential because both are part of the human, and therefore divine,
nature. They come from the soul. If the soul is manifesting through
an individual, that person will want both freedom and justice for everyone.
They are essentially the same. They cannot be separated because spirit
is not separable. Divinity is a whole and needs the wholeness of its
expression. It is about unity, and unity results only from the fusion
of justice and freedom. (Benjamin Creme, The Great Approach)
The old forms of polarized politics will disappear. The
concepts of democracy and capitalism will change. There is no room
for communism for it meant loss of freedom. Democracy allowed limited
freedom, while capitalism meant freedom only for the haves and the
rich. (Maitreya, Maitreya’s Teachings – The Laws of
Life)
Freedom lies in the art of communication. This creates
harmony, equilibrium. This results in true democracy. Referring to
politicians around the world, Maitreya adds: “By sitting within
your four walls you cannot hope for the good, when people have not
got either right food or a decent place to live.” (Maitreya, Maitreya’s
Teachings – The Laws of Life)
Many there are who fear change and who see the breakdown
of the old as a profound loss of much-loved forms. Many reject these
changes as a threat to their privileges and prestige. Many mistake
the legitimate aspirations of peoples for freedom and justice for the
threat of anarchy from within. At the same time, there are those who
would sweep away all that humanity has garnered of the beautiful and
the true. Impatient for the new forms, they fail to see the necessity
of gradual progress and discount much that is of value in the past.
Our problem, as Guardians of the race, is to steer a course
between these two extremes, applying the curb and the spur as We sense
the need. Always, Our aim is the achievement of ordered change with
the minimum of cleavage. Look, therefore, for Our hand in world events
and judge them wisely. Much that takes place is fashioned by Us and
must eventuate in a better world. When you see Us, you will know that
this world is in safe keeping. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, from ‘A
time of change’)
I come to take you with Me into the New Country – the
Country of Love, the Country of Trust, of Beauty and Freedom. I shall
take you there if you can follow Me, accept Me, let Me lead and guide.
And, if this be so, together we shall build a New World: A world in
which men can live without fear, without mistrust, without division;
sharing together the Earth’s bounty, knowing together the Bliss
of Union with our Source. All this can be yours. You have only to take
the first steps and I may lead. Allow Me to help you. Allow Me to show
you the way – forward, into a simpler life where no man lacks;
where no two days are alike; where the Joy of Brotherhood manifests
through all men. (Maitreya, from Message No.3)
Maitreya is about to knock loudly on the doors which
lead to freedom and justice and peace. Listen and recognize His knock
and be prepared to act boldly and wisely under His lead. (Benjamin
Creme’s Master, from ‘The New Millennium begins’)
|