Benjamin Creme on Life

"Today, most education, for what it is worth, is education for jobs. People are simply fitted to make their living in the outer commercial world under the whip of competition. p. 252"

"The problem is the commercialization of all aspects of life. We say it in two words — market forces. Market forces are the excuse for everything that we do. Maitreya says commercialization is more dangerous to the world than an atomic bomb."

"We have to learn to deal with karma equably and say: “That’s life; it is, simply, life. C’est la vie.”...What holds us back in evolution is the karma which is always sitting on our shoulders and is not burnt away in the fire of service. Burn up the karma in the fire of service and you will go..."

"He comes as the head of that group of enlightened men known as the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters. The existence of such a group was first made public in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and later Alice A. Bailey, whose book, The Reappearance of the Christ describes the events which are now unfolding."

"Historical perspective... 1986 Maitreya contacts media representatives at the highest level in Britain who agree to make an announcement that a man claiming to be the Christ is indeed living in the Asian community government officials. Under pressure from high religious and government officials, however, this statement was withheld."

"Evolutionary progress is based on the process of rebirth; reincarnation is the method of our evolution of consciousness...The effects from our previous deeds, good and bad, create the conditions of our life today, and the results of our deeds today create the conditions of the next period of life, either now or when we return in our next body."

"Co-operation is harmless. Lack of co-operation, which is competition, is in its very nature harmful. Yet every young American is brought up to believe that competition is the wellspring of life itself. It is not. It is harmful and degrading to the human spirit. It is corrupting and divisive, and the opposite, therefore, of harmless, incurring thereby the Law of Karma. p. 45"

"It is very difficult for one person to change the actions of a government, but for one person to have a strong impact on a group at the local level is not impossible. This is happening all the time. People with something to say, with ideas that the community thinks are good and practical, are changing life in every country in the world. It is happening whether we are aware of it or not."

"Towards the end phase of our evolutionary journey our soul brings us into meditation. In the first life in which this occurs, it may be fleeting, but some contact with meditation is made. In the next life much more is made, until after several lifetimes, meditation becomes a natural activity of the individual in incarnation. This eventually makes the journey inward to the soul automatic."

"Until now, man's attention has been focused on the dense physical plane while the causes of disease are to be found in the misappropriation of the energies flowing through the subtler bodies. Man is on the verge of a great discovery: that disease is the result of imbalance; that correct balance is maintained by correct thought and action and that such correct thought and action involves his brothers and sisters everywhere."

"The sickness at the heart of the present dispensation is selfishness, complacency and fear. Where these three reign, separation and exploitation, handmaidens to ruthless greed, inevitably flourish. Only a rethinking of the meaning and purpose of life will suffice to steer men from the edge of disaster... When man's erstwhile temples, the stock markets of the world, crumble and crash, that key will turn and reveal a new beauty waiting to be born."

"It seems obvious that a true realization of the implications of reincarnation will transform the whole Western approach to reality. The idea that life is not short, brutish and arbitrary; that there is purpose and plan; that we are undergoing a process of gradual perfectionment; above all that the great Law of Cause and Effect governs our existence, must change our viewpoint. The need for right human relationships, for harmlessness, will become abundantly clear."

"At the same time in the developed world, because of its worship at the altar of market forces, commercialization is reaching a point where more and more people are being made unemployed. Competition forces companies to cut their expenditure on everything, beginning with people. In every developed country of the world there is growing unemployment, growing crime, and a declining standard of living — less housing, more and more homeless people, and more poverty in the midst of plenty."

"Many people await the return of the Christ with trepidation and fear. They sense that His appearance will promote great changes in all departments of life. His values, they rightly assume, will necessarily alter their ways of thinking and living and they blanch at such a prospect. Besides, so mystical has been the view of the Christ presented down the centuries by the churches that many fear His judgement and omnipotent power; they await Him as God come to punish the wicked and reward the faithful."

"Today, large numbers of people live deeply unfulfilled lives, dedicated only to "earning a living"... Through no fault of their own they remain passive on-lookers of a life which passes them by... On all sides today can be seen bafflement, confusion and anger... Freed by machines from the burden of unnecessary work, millions will find within themselves a creativity absent up till now, and will contribute their share to the glowing tapestry of joyful living which will become the hallmark of the new age."

"Hope, I would say, is of two kinds: there is the hope which is a wish-fulfilling fantasy... It can go a long way in sustaining the person in difficult circumstances. It is the kind of hope of Mr Micawber, a famous Charles Dickens character. He was always in dire straits, impecunious, but always living in hope, waiting “for something to turn up”. That kind of hope is astral desire, and will take you, as it took him, through a whole book, but will not of itself do other than sustain your ability to live life from day to day."

"Like painting and music or any other art... living requires the understanding of and adherence to the laws and rules under which the art can flourish. This essentially new concept of living relates it to the great Law of Cause and Effect and the connected Law of Rebirth, the basic laws of our planetary existence. The correct understanding and following of these two laws are prerequisites for the creation of harmlessness in every sphere of our lives and thus also for the creation of right human relations, itself the prerequisite for human happiness. Preface"

"Complacency is habit. You in America are born and brought up in a country which is so materialistic in its outlook that complacency is the inevitable result. You are so educated at school and by the media that America becomes the limit of your seeing, your imagination, your sense of the world. It is because America is so big. You have a powerful media service which day after day puts that which is happening in America at the forefront of your consciousness. At school in America you are brought up to salute the flag everyday. This does not happen everywhere. You would not get the national flag saluted by many school children. They would think you were daft. Yet you take it for granted. Also America is so rich compared with many countries that you easily feel in its materialistic atmosphere that you are all right and do not have to think about those abroad. As a young country, you also believe that people have to stand on their own feet and make of life what they can. There is much truth in this but carried to excess it leads to the complacency that threatens world peace."

"Maitreya calls market forces “the forces of evil”. They have inequality built in them, and benefit the few at the expense of the many. Market forces are based on a great deception: that every nation is trading on a ‘level playing field’, that all the nations are starting from the same point. Obviously, they are not. We cannot compare America, the European states, or Japan, with Tanzania, Zaire or any of the Third-World countries. And yet, through the pre-eminence of market forces, Third-World countries are forced to compete in the world’s markets with countries like Japan, America, Germany and France. Maitreya calls commercialization, which is the tool, the agency, of market forces, more dangerous to the world than an atomic bomb... Commercialization — running life as if it were a business, whether in education or health care, for example — will bring this present civilization to the verge of disaster."

"Before long, a great change will take place in our approach to life. Out of the chaos of the present time will emerge a new understanding of the meaning underlying our existence and every effort will be made to express our awareness of that meaning in our daily lives... This will bring about a complete transformation of society: a new livingness will characterize our relationships and institutions; a new freedom and sense of joy will replace the present fear. Above all else, mankind will come to realize that living is an art, based on certain laws, requiring the function of the intuition for correct expression. p. 12"

"One of the great tragedies of our present outlook on existence is our attitude to that recurring event which we call death. We approach it, for the most part, with fear and loathing, seeking by every means to resist its call, prolonging, often beyond its usefulness, the activity of the physical body as a guarantee of ‘‘life.’’ Our dread of death is the dread of the unknown, of complete and utter dissolution, of being ‘‘no more.’’ Despite the vast amount of evidence gathered over the years by the many Spiritualist groups that life of some kind continues after death; despite the intellectual acceptance by many that death is but an awakening into new and freer life; in spite of the growing belief in reincarnation, and notwithstanding the testimony of the wisest Teachers down the ages, we continue to approach that great transition with fear and trepidation.What makes this attitude so tragic is that it is so far from the reality, the source of so much unnecessary suffering. Our fear of death is our fear that our identity will be obliterated. It is this which terrifies. Did we but realize and experience our identity as an immortal Being which cannot die or be obliterated, our fear of death would vanish."