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Benjamin Creme

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Benjamin Creme

Benjamin Creme at New York, 2008
NationalityScottish
Benjamin Creme (born 5 December 1922 Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish artist, author, esotericist, and editor of Share International magazine, a monthly non-profit magazine and website.[1]
He asserts that the second coming prophesied by many religions will come in the form of Maitreya the World Teacher. Maitreya is the name Buddhists use for the future Buddha, but Creme claims that Maitreya is the teacher that all religions point towards and hope for. Other names for him, according to Creme, are the Christ, the Imam Mahdi, Krishna, and the Messiah. Creme says Maitreya is the "Avatar for the Aquarian Age" and is currently living in London since 19 July 1977.[2][3][4]

Contents

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[edit] Early life

At the age of fourteen, Benjamin Creme says he became interested in the occult when he read With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet by Alexandra David-Neel. From 1957 to 1959, Creme was the Vice-President of the Aetherius Society, a UFO religion based largely on Theosophy.[5][6][7] In 1958 he personally met George Adamski and Creme says he can personally vouch for the authenticity of Adamski's UFO contacts.[8]

[edit] Assigned his mission by his Master

Creme says he was first contacted telepathically by his Master in January 1959, who asked him to make tape recordings of his messages to Creme.[9] He first began to speak publicly of his mission on 30 May 1975, at the Friends Meeting House on Euston Road in London, England.[10] His central message announced the emergence of a group of enlightened spiritual teachers who could guide humanity forward into the new Aquarian Age of peace and brotherhood based on the principles of love and sharing. At the head of this group was would be a great Avatar, Maitreya, the World Teacher, expected by all the major religions at this time as their "Awaited One"—the Christ to the Christians, the Imam Mahdi to the Muslims, the Messiah for Jews, and the 5th Buddha (Maitreya) for Buddhists.

[edit] Benjamin Creme's claims regarding Maitreya

Main article: Maitreya (Theosophy)
Further background information: Alice Bailey#Teachings regarding Maitreya
This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (September 2012)
Creme is a follower of Alice A. Bailey who claimed, beginning in 1959, to have been contacted telepathically by one of the Masters (he was told not reveal which one, but Creme's Master is usually assumed to be one of the two unnamed "English Masters" mentioned by Alice A. Bailey) and prepared for his mission, which Creme said he was told was to receive messages from Maitreya. Beginning in 1975 (the same year the crop circles[citation needed] began to appear), Creme says he started to actually telepathically channel Maitreya. Creme stated that Maitreya telepathically communicated to him that he had decided to return to Earth earlier than the post-2025 date given by Alice A. Bailey. On 6 September 1977, Creme said that he began receiving messages from Maitreya regarding the process of his forthcoming emergence. These revelations are compiled in the book Messages from Maitreya.[11] According to Creme, Maitreya informed him that he materialized a physical body for himself in early 1977 in the Himalayas and then on Friday, 8 July 1977 he booked an airplane flight from Pakistan to London, just as had been prophesied in 1946 by Alice A. Bailey.[12] When Maitreya landed in London, this was according to Creme the esoteric Second Coming of Christ (since Maitreya had not yet revealed himself to the world). Creme said that Maitreya then took up residence in secret in the Brick Lane neighborhood of that city. According to Creme, Maitreya does not need to eat because he is capable of living off prana (thus he is a breatharian); however, he can eat if offered food. Maitreya has no navel and is 6 feet 3 inches tall.[13] In an interview with Bill Mayhar Creme stated that he can command Maitreya to speak through him, and also that an image of Maitreya's hand appeared on a mirror in a bathroom in Barcelona.
Creme put advertisements in many of the world’s major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982 (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere), at which time Christ (Maitreya) would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television. When this failed to occur, Crème’s organization regrouped as Share International to prepare for the near-future Emergence of Maitreya, when, it is believed, the Day of Declaration to inaugurate the Age of Aquarius will occur.
Creme asserts that the energies of the Anti-Christ worked through Adolf Hitler and his defeat in World War II made possible the return of Maitreya.[14] According to Creme, the Age of Aquarius will be the "Age in which the love nature of God, [originally] revealed by Christ in Jesus, becomes manifest on a world scale".[15]
Creme states that Maitreya manifests in visions to various people—an average of 26 different people per day.[16] Maitreya, claims Creme, miraculously appears physically before gatherings of between a few dozen and several hundred people of various religious groups an average of about three times a month.[17][18] Sometimes when Benjamin Creme is lecturing, he says he allows Maitreya to briefly overshadow him, and when this happens, some of Creme's followers report seeing Creme surrounded by a golden aura.
Maitreya's main mission during the Age of Aquarius according to Creme will be to promulgate the Principle of Sharing, such that the technologically advanced nations share their wealth with the poorer nations so that everyone will have adequate sustenance. It is believed by the followers of Creme that Maitreya has vast superhuman powers and also that he is in regular telepathic contact with the space brothers in their flying saucers;[19] it has been asserted by Benjamin Crème that Maitreya is physically invulnerable and is capable of teleporting anywhere in the solar system.[20] Creme's followers believe that Maitreya, in collusion with the flying saucers of the space brothers, are the cause of the crop circles (the modern manifestation of which began to appear in 1975, the year that Creme claims that Maitreya began to telepathically contact him); more crop circles appear in England than any other country, it is asserted, because Maitreya spends a large percentage of his time in London.[21][better source needed]

[edit] 1982 prediction

In the spring of 1982 Creme placed advertisements in newspapers around the world saying, "The Christ is now here". According to Creme the "Christ", whom he also called "Maitreya", would announce his existence on world wide television broadcasts. Creme stated in these newspaper advertisements that the Second Coming of Christ would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982 (the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere).[citation needed] On 14 May 1982 Benjamin Creme held a press conference in Los Angeles, USA. Over 90 members of the media attended and heard Creme announce that Maitreya was living within the Asian community, in the Brick Lane area of East London. Creme stated in this press conference when asked "what if someone tried to kill him?" that Maitreya could not be killed because he is invulnerable. He presented the journalists with a challenge: if media made a serious attempt to seek Maitreya in London, he would reveal himself to them.
Creme has stated that when the "Day of Declaration" occurs, "The Christ will come on the world's television channels, linked together by satellite. All those with access to television will see... [His face]. He will establish a telepathic rapport with all humanity simultaneously". While the Christ is speaking... [everyone will feel far more love than they've ever felt before, that massive outpouring of love will cause] hundreds of thousands of 'miracle' cures [to] take place simultaneously."[22]

[edit] After 1982


Share International Cover, featuring one of Benjamin Creme's artworks
Since Maitreya's failure to appear in 1982, Creme has made a number of additional predictions and announcement of the imminent appearance of Maitreya based on his claims of receiving telepathic messages from a Master of Wisdom.
In 1997 Creme made similar predictions that Maitreya would appear on television and be interviewed around the world. This time there was far less media interest.[23]
On 14 January 2010 Benjamin Creme announced that Maitreya had given his first television interview on US television. Soon afterwards several people in the USA, working from Creme's predictions, concluded that British-American journalist and author Raj Patel was Maitreya. After newspaper articles around the world wrote about this story, Benjamin Creme responded that Raj Patel was not the coming World Teacher in an article in The Guardian newspaper called "Raj Patel is not Maitreya, but the World Teacher is here—and needed."[24]
Creme, who claims that time is now very near for Maitreya's emergence, does not receive any money for this work or royalties from his 14 books, and has for over 30 years given lectures around the world by invitation only. A worldwide network of volunteers works with Benjamin Creme to give his views out to the public.[25]

[edit] Crop circles and UFOs

During an interview in 2006, Creme confirmed his views on the importance of crop circles: "The UFOs have an enormous part to play in the security of this planet at the ecological level. [The crop circles are part of] a new science that will give us energy directly from the sun. Oil will become a thing of the past. No one will be able to sell energy in the future."[26]
Creme has explained how crop circles are made by UFOs in his magazine: "The crop circles are there to draw attention to the fact that the Space Brothers are there. They are amazing constructions. They are made in seconds by the 'ships' of the Space Brothers. They are complex and beautiful constructions which cannot be made in any other way. They appear all over the world but the majority are in the south of England. Why? Because Maitreya is in London."[3]

[edit] Creme's predictions—criticism and reply

Creme made a case for the imminent appearance of Maitreya based on his claims of receiving telepathic messages from a Master of Wisdom. Skeptics have ridiculed the story presented by Benjamin Creme, or have taken issue with the possibility that his predictions might have come true.[27][28][29] Others have treated Creme’s story with serious interest and are waiting to see what happens.[30][31]
Between 1989-91, Share International magazine published a series of forecasts given to two journalists[who?] by an associate of Maitreya, which Share claims came about with uncanny accuracy. These forecasts were purported to included the fall of the Berlin Wall, the ending of Communist rule in the Soviet Union, the release of Nelson Mandela and the ending of Apartheid in South Africa, the release of kidnapped prisoner Terry Waite, the premature resignation of Margaret Thatcher, and many more.[32][33][34] These predictions were distributed as press releases and were included in a book published by Share International Foundation called Maitreya’s Teachings—the Laws of Life.

[edit] Criticism by Christians

Some Christian Evangelical sources and other detractors have accused Benjamin Creme of being part of a satanic conspiracy and place him amongst a larger list of “antichrist potentials”.[35]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Creme, Benjamin. The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Tara Press, 1980.
  • Creme, Benjamin (ed.). Messages from Maitreya the Christ. (Share International Foundation), 1981, 1986.
  • Creme, Benjamin. Transmission: A Meditation for the New Age. Tara Center, 1983.
  • Creme, Benjamin (ed.). A Master Speaks. Share International Foundation, 1985.
  • Creme, Benjamin. Maitreya's Mission. 3 vols. Share International Foundation, 1986, 1993, 1997.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The Ageless Wisdom Teaching: An introduction to humanity's spiritual legacy. Share International Foundation, 1996.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The Great Approach: New Light and Life for Humanity. Share International Foundation, 2001.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The Art of Co-Operation. Share International Foundation, 2002.
  • Creme, Benjamin (ed.). Maitreya's Teachings—The Laws of Life. Share International Foundation, 2005.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The Art of Living: Living within the Laws of Life. Share International Foundation, 2006.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The World Teacher for All Humanity. Share International Foundation, 2007.
  • Creme, Benjamin. The Awakening of Humanity. Share International Foundation, 2008.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Share International
  2. ^ Share International index
  3. ^ a b Share International magazine, July / August 2009
  4. ^ Niebuhr, Gustav. "New Millennium, Great Expectations." The New York Times, 20 July 1996
  5. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of the Wisdom London: 1980 Tara Press Page 11
  6. ^ Barrett, David V. The New Believers 2001 ISBN 0-304-35592-5, page 347-349
  7. ^ Encyclopedia of Esoteric Groups--Aetherius Society:
  8. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of the Wisdom London:1980 Tara Press Page 13
  9. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of the Wisdom London:1980 Tara Press Page 14
  10. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of the Wisdom London:1980 Tara Press Page 19
  11. ^ Creme, Benjamin (ed.). Messages from Maitreya the Christ. Amsterdam:1981 Share International Foundation
  12. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission Amsterdam:1986 (Second Edition) Share International Foundation Page 46
  13. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Great Approach Amsterdam:2001 Share International Foundation Page 38
  14. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission—Volume III Amsterdam:1997 Share International Foundation Page 416
  15. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission—Volume II Amsterdam: 1993 Share International Foundation Page 335
  16. ^ Creme, Benjamin The Great Approach Amsterdam:2001 Share International Foundation Page 65
  17. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission—Volume III Amsterdam: 1997 Share International Foundation Pages 306–317—List of appearances of Maitreya between 1988 and 1997
  18. ^ Share International website (Benjamin Crème’s teachings)—the picture of Maitreya is claimed to be a photograph of him taken when he appeared in Kenya in 1988:
  19. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission—Volume II Amsterdam:1997 Share International Foundation Page 217
  20. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission—Volume III Amsterdam:1997 Share International Foundation Page 72
  21. ^ LETTER TO MR. BENJAMIN CRÈME FROM ALLAMA MUHAMMAD YOUSUF GABRIEL Mr. Benjamin Crème, God’s Blessings and His Boundless Mercy. Accept my heartfelt sympathy for your remorse due to your failure in discovering the New Christ, Lord Maitreya, though you were not amiss in your prediction. The object of your prediction, however, was not among the Pakistani Community in Bricklane, of East London, England, but it was among Pakistani community in Nawababad, Wah Cantt, Distt. Rawalpindi, Pakistan. You failed to make sure beforehand of the presence of the New Christ in Bricklane, Because in that case you would have been obliged to abandon your prediction., yet the providence desired the declaration of your prediction to be made. I was the object of your prediction. Every clause of your prediction was applicable to me in truth. Since long before your advertisement I had desired to be in London, but the lack of means had prevented my journey, indeed for good. In case you had spotted me in Bricklane, the whole affair would have been regarded by the world as a pre-planned scheme. Also my appearance as the Christ would have started a worldwide controversy-not to speak of the Non-Christians, even the Christians would not have agreed on the claim of the Christ. The resultant disturbance would have marred my mission, which you have very accurately pointed out to the jeering crowd in Kings Cross in London, to be the annulment of the possibility of the Third World War that is the Nuclear Ruin of the world. Again, if your satellite had led you to the place where I then was in Pakistan, just as the star of the Wisemen of the East had led them to where the Child Christ lay in Bethlehem and you had declared me as Mehdi, your act would have proved to be as Judas Kiss for me, for I would have forthwith been killed, and the affair would have been published as a deep conspiracy of the anti-Islamic lobby of the West to cause factious disturbances among the countries of the Islamic World. The mysterious hand of providence deluded you in your search of the object of your prediction in order to save the situation. Your advertisement, however, proved beyond any doubt that none at present was in this world to claim the Title of Christ. If you refer to your advertisement, you will find that there is not a condition which is not applicable to me, and for which I do not qualify myself. Space would not allow me to explain all, that. But there is one point therein which I will not apply to myself, namely the Title of the Christ. I will say NO to that. Instead of involving myself in Nomenclative controversy, which might ruin the prospect of my mission that is the annulment of the possibility of Nuclear Ruin of the World, I will insist on that light and guidance which is in my six volumes of extinguishing the atomic hell series, and eight miscellaneous volumes on the same topic, that leads to a world, free from Nuclear Danger. No alternative now is left for this mankind but either to perish under the atomic bombs and atomic radiations, or to follow the guidance in these volumes and be saved from the atomic doom. It is God’s special mercy on a world that has deserved the painful atomic ruin. On a mankind on whose Nuclear Destruction no heavens would cry. It was in 1942, my 25th year, and the year in which the great Italian Physicist Enrico Fermi had succeeded in opening the gate of atomic fire on this world by his successful realization of Uranium Fission Chain Reaction in Chichago, that I was in Mussayyib, a place in IRAQ recommended in a vision by the Green Turbaned Saint Al-Khedhr to Abraham for the Abrahamic mission of warning this world against the atomic hell. I was shown in that vision unusually great signs of God. In the same period and in the same place I was shown the crucifix in a vision. I at that time had negligible knowledge and meager education. But thereafter like a prepossessed man I commenced studies, and learned languages, literatures, philosophies, sciences and scriptures. Indeed without a school or a teacher and obliged always to work for my subsistence, till in 1961 I discovered the theme of my mission, and in 1972, I set to writing, till in 1982 I completed my work in the form of a series of six volumes and eight miscellaneous volumes, all in English and all unpublished. No-anti-nuclear-movement or revival of religion in the world could succeed without adopting the guidelines given in these volumes. This work may be regarded as Noah’s Ark for this deluge of atomic fire. No John Bunyan can find a heart to narrate the afflictions of my forty year long intellectual pilgrimage. Nor there is a Freud to find a method to subject the method of my intellectual attainment to a psycho-analysis. My life-long engrossment in a materially unprofitable pursuit did neither leave mind nor time to attend to my worldly side, and hence I find myself now without a home, wealth, property or anything. If these manuscripts are eaten away by white ants, it is not merely the leaves of paper that they eat away but it is the destiny of a race that they destroy. London now is my place and cannot go there to explain my case before the scientists and philosophers. I sent an Article to fifteen of the leading atomists of the world, including Edward Teller, the maker of the Hydrogen Bomb, in 1982, and none replied. I sent letters to fourteen of the Heads of States including His Holiness Pope John Paul-II in May, 1982, and none hitherto has sent a reply. Let these manuscripts at least be preserved in some Museum that perhaps some future generation in distress may avail their light to emerge from the atomic pit. If you find it interesting, and this could vindicate your honour, the honour of a real benefactor of mankind, then communicate with me. And if you will so desire, I will send to you my declaration, as well as my opening speech in type and if you will wish, also taped in my own voice. Time is short and I am on last leg. Sorrow, suffering and affliction have been and still in my lot. With best regards, Yours Sincerely, (ALLAMA MUHAMMAD YOUSUF GABRIEL) KHALID CHAPPAL STORES, NAWABABADWAH CANTT DISTT RAWALPINDI PAKISTNA DATED: 21-6-1982[self-published source]
  22. ^ Creme, Benjamin Maitreya's Mission I 1986 Page 23
  23. ^ "British Futurist Says 'World Teacher' Will Be Seen On TV Within Four Weeks". Canada NewsWire. 2 December 1997. "British futurist Benjamin Creme states that Maitreya—'World Teacher' for the coming age—will be interviewed on a major American network before the end of the year. This will be followed by appearances on other networks around the world and, within months, will lead to a global satellite hook-up where Maitreya can speak to all people simultaneously—in their own language."
  24. ^ Benjamin Creme (30 November 2006). "Raj Patel is not Maitreya, but the World Teacher is here – and needed". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/20/raj-patel-maitreya-world-teacher.
  25. ^ The Tara Press (3 June 1982). "Advertisement". The Times. p. 6.
  26. ^ R.V. Scheide (30 November 2006). "Signs of the times: Crop circles, weeping Madonnas and the strange esoteric world of Benjamin Creme". Sacramento News & Review.
  27. ^ "Francis Wheen's Diary". The Independent. 27 January 1991. "Alas and alack, on the great issue of the day poor Mr Maitreya seems to have stubbed his toe rather badly. After Saddam sent his tanks across the border last August, Maitreya suggested that a mystical power and force in nature will make Iraq withdraw totally and unconditionally from Kuwait. In November, his message was unequivocal: The Gulf Crisis: Maitreya has made it clear from the beginning that there will be no war."
  28. ^ "Kiwis prove to Aussies they're not that gullible". The Evening Post. 4 December 1995. "But it's not just the eruptions at issue. Benjamin Creme, based in London and a five-time visitor to New Zealand as ambassador for Maitreya, the saviour he claims is awaited by all religions, has extended the connection. John O'Donnell of the New Zealand Transmission Meditation Network said Mr Creme had told him the 5.9 South Island quake on Friday, November 24 had been caused by the fourth French atomic test two days before. Nobody has yet predicted plagues of locusts, frogs, flies, rivers of blood or other disasters for the fifth and subsequent tests."
  29. ^ Ron Rosenbaum (15 August 2005). "Voices in Our Head: Where Is Good Old American Weirdness?", New York Observer
  30. ^ Video interview with Dennis Wholey on "America!", 1997
  31. ^ Video interview with Max Allen on "Ideas on Camera", October 1992
  32. ^ http://www.share-international.org/magazine/old_issues/2007/s2606_30%20years_small.pdf
  33. ^ http://www.share-international.org/background/miracles/mi_main.htm
  34. ^ http://www.share-international.org/magazine/old_issues/2005/bc_2005.pdf
  35. ^ David V. Barrett, The New Believers, 2001 ISBN 0-304-35592-5, page 349

[edit] Further reading

This article's further reading may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive, less relevant or many publications with the same point of view; or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (August 2010)
  • Bailey, Alice A. The Reappearance of the Christ. Lucis Publishing, 1948.
  • Bailey, Alice A. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy. Lucis Publishing, 1957.
  • Bistrich, Andrea. Maitreya: "I Come to Change All Things". Eine moderne Heilserwartung im interkulturellen Vergleich. (Münchener Ethnologische Abhandlugen 17) Akademischer Verlag München, 1996.
  • Brown, Mick. "Messiah is alive and well and in London." The Sunday Times, 23 October 1988, p. A15.
  • Brown, Mick. The Spiritual Tourist. Bloomsbury publishing, 1998.
  • Carey, Howard Ray. The Joy of Christ's Coming: From Traditional Religion to Ageless Wisdom. Share International Foundation, 1988.
  • Cumbey, Constance E. The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow. Huntington House, 1983.
  • MacDonald-Bayne, Murdo. Beyond the Himalayas. L. N. Fowler, 1954.
  • Muto, Nyaga wa, and Ben Mitukaa. "Did Jesus Visit Kawangware?" [Kenya] Sunday Times, 26 June 1988, pp. 12, 17.
  • Mutungi, Job. "Did Jesus Christ Come to the City?" Kenya Times, Wednesday, 22 June 1988, pp. 16–17.
  • Peterson, Wayne S. Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Beings. Hampton Roads Publishing, 2003
  • Spalding, Baird T. Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East. 5 vols. De Vorss & Co., 1924-55.
  • Stammer, Larry B. "Years After Apparition Claims Fizzled, Creme Keeps the Faith." Los Angeles Times, Saturday, 3 July 1993, p. B10.

[edit] External links

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