It must have been about 12 years ago now that I was wandering down to Waterloo one night, when someone stopped me. ‘Did you know that Christ the Lord is alive and well and living in London? Would you like to come to a meeting?’ Well, yes I did, but in usual London fashion I had already declined before I even thought about it. I have always regretted it, so when Becky phoned me last week to say that Benjamin Creme was having a public meeting that evening, I overcame the instinctive negative and headed down to Red Lion Square.
I first started reading articles about Benjamin Creme and the Maitreya twenty-odd years ago; I knew that Jesus was returned and was living in Brick Lane amongst the Asian community, and that his sole publicist was this man Creme. Benjamin Creme is now a white-haired, bright-eyed 60 year old; as far as I can see he remains the sole publicist of the cause. The meeting was free, lasted for about 3 hours and was quite fascinating.
The bulk of that time was spent by Creme outlining the background to his beliefs.
We start with Astrology. The Age of Pisces, which has existed for most of the past 2150 years started to close in 1625, to be replaced by the Age of Aquarius. The new age demands new ideas - those who still live in the old age are conservative, individualistic, closed; those attuned to the new age are for synthesis and unification. This process will accelerate at an ever greater pace so that we will not recognise ourselves in a few centuries time.
The second strand is the emergence of The Perfect, the Master of the Wise. We are in the world of reincarnation now, with people who have been through countless re-incarnations and have emerged at Nirvana. These Masters are responsible for almost everything - Masters include Leonardo De Vinci, Shakespeare, Einstein, Newton, Michelangelo... not to mention Zeroastra, Christ and Mohammed.
All the masters - there are a total of 63 responsible for Earth - have had countless reincarnations. For instance, Jesus was also Appollonius of Diana (buried in northern India), lived with native Americans in the 7th century and in Polynesia in the 11th century. The role of the Masters is to oversee the evolution of we lesser people, to teach and spread understanding. Jesus’ major contribution was the Law of Karma - as you sew, so shall you reap. This law of cause and effect was his fundamental teaching, and one which he repeats today.
The Master of the Masters is the Maitreya, and it is he who lives in Brick Lane, not Jesus as I had thought. The Maitreya is the chief of the 63, and is in charge of the rest of us. He was one of five masters who revealed themselves in 1975, with a further two in 1977. Jesus is, in fact currently revealed and is currently living and working in Rome. Currently there are 15 masters active in the world, and this number will rise to 40 when the time is right.
So what are the Masters trying to teach us? Well, cause and effect; and an excellent philosophy it is. 33 million people are starving to death yet the storehouses of the West are full. There can be no peace without justice, and we can have no justice without sharing. Sharing is the essence of the Maitreya’s saving philosophy, and to achieve this, Creme says that we require the total collapse of the world economic system. This process has already started with the collapse of the Japanese economy - something predicted by the Maitreya ten years ago. More succinctly he equates Market Forces with the Forces of Evil... As a political creed, I can certainly understand and sympathise with it.
So, the elements are slowly moving into place, the philosophy is spelt out, the Day of Declaration is coming. On that day the Maitreya will declare himself and we will all have a choice, a choice between destroying our planet and our people or of giving life back to all. On the Day of Declaration, the Maitreya will address the world on television, starting in the US, but also in China, India and Europe. Already arrangements are in place, for this day is imminent. And it should be impressive because the Maitreya wants to talk to everyone in their own language, so he will only appear on television - his words will be transmitted by telepathy in the language of the hearer...
The meeting actually started with audio tapes of the Maitreya speaking to us all through Creme’s body, a process he called overshadowing. Speaking in a very slow, confident, deep voice the Maitreya spoke a long list of generalities which no-one could argue with. Well, those I could stay awake for anyway, with the lights down low, and this slow, slow, rhythmic speech, I suspected some sort of low-level hypnotism was going on. Those around us treated this section as ‘prayers’, held their hands together, closed their eyes and rocked slowly.
The meeting finished with a wacky question and answer session. What about Clinton? The Democrats feel they have a divine right to office and powerful people have been out to get him since the day he took office. He will not fall. Why do you say Jesus was born in 44BC when scholars prefer 6 BC? Because he told me. What do you think of the Euro? It will be very successful but will destroy the US economy, keep away from it.
Becky bought a few publications and that was it. A rock-solid political stance, and very flaky collection of mythic and religious ideas, a fascinating mix of sensible and ludicrous, serious and laughable. Creme is a very knowledgeable man, steeped in Eastern religion, a meditation teacher and a charismatic personality. Do any of The Masters actually exist outside his brain? I’m quite sure he believes in them, but... Could all the great discoveries be down to these 60-odd space flying perfect? Why are there no women amongst the perfect (Becky’s question) and why does everything about The Masters emanate form Creme?
And a final thought from Benjamin Creme - all of us are divine beings, wrapped in inert matter. Just got to keep reincarnating I guess....