In March 1959, Scottish artist, author, and esoteric philosopher, Benjamin Crème, had a vision of Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher, Who gave him an important message. He said, very simply, He said: “I Myself am coming, sooner than anyone thinks possible. It will be in about 20 years.” In the event, it was 18 years. He said, “And you will have a role to play in My coming, if you accept it.”
Creme: Maitreya and the Christ are one and the same individual, and He worked through Jesus by overshadowing Jesus 2,000 years ago in Palestine. His consciousness entered into that of Jesus at the Baptism, and from the Baptism to the Crucifixion, Jesus was the Christ. And that’s the most usual form for the manifestation of the Teacher, the Avatar. Just as the Buddha before Him worked through the vehicle, the Prince Gautama, from about the age of 19, manifesting Himself as one of the Avatars for the previous age.
This time the Christ Himself, the Lord Maitreya Himself, has come into the world. He appears to people in the thought-form they have of the one they are awaiting. Christians are awaiting the Christ, so they see Him as the Christ. Hindus await Him as Krishna; they see Him as their idea of Krishna. Buddhists await Him as Maitreya Buddha.
The World Teacher. The Teacher for all groups – religious and non-religious alike.
More than three decades ago, in 1990, a Scottish artist, author and esoteric philosopher named Benjamin Creme, during an interview with the press, made bold statements about the coming of Maitreya, the World Teacher in our current period, Who will unite all religions.
Long before this interview, Mr. Creme had devoted himself to preparing the way for the most extraordinary event in history – the emergence of Maitreya, identified in the Ageless Wisdom Teachings as the Christ, the Head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of planet Earth, and the Master of all Masters.
For more than four decades, Benjamin Creme received information on Maitreya’s emergence through telepathic contact with his Master, a senior member of the Spiritual Hierarchy, as well as through direct transmitted messages from Maitreya Himself.
Mr. Creme traveled around the world to speak on this anticipated emergence. He also gave radio and television interviews, authored numerous books, and published regular articles in Share International, the monthly magazine he founded. Through these activities, he brought hope and joy to millions who were inspired by the Maitreya’s impending emergence and the consequent transformation of the world by the creation of justice and peace through love and sharing.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 5, 1922, Benjamin Creme was the second of three children of a Russian Jewish father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. At an early age, he had the unusual ability to perceive the etheric planes of matter. Reflecting on this early childhood experience, he wrote: “As a child of four or five, one of my favorite pastimes was to sit at the window and watch the wind; not the effect of the wind on the trees or leaves, but the wind itself. I would watch the movements of the air and try to guess whether it was a north, south, east, or west wind blowing. When I went to school, I learned that the air was invisible, the wind likewise, and forgot, I do not remember whether gradually or suddenly, my ability to see what of course was some level of the etheric planes of matter.”
During his teenage years, Benjamin Creme developed a deep interest in both art and esoteric philosophy. Later, he established himself as a Modernist painter, and his works have been exhibited in prestigious institutions around the world, including the Carnegie International in 1952, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1979, the British Museum in 1990, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2017.
His study of esotericism began at the age of 14 when he encountered Alexandra David-Néel’s book “With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet.” This remarkable French explorer, writer, and Buddhist practitioner travelled through Tibet in the early 20th century, reaching Lhasa in 1924, at a time when the city was closed to foreigners. Her work introduced Mr. Creme to Tibetan practices, including Tumo, a technique for generating internal heat in cold conditions.
In the early 1950s, he began meditating and studying various aspects of esoteric philosophy, in particular the Ageless Wisdom Teachings first introduced in the late 19th century through Helena Blavatsky (vegetarian) and the Theosophical Society, which was further developed in the 20th century through Alice Bailey. He was also interested in the Agni Yoga teachings, developed between 1924 and 1939 through Helena Roerich (vegetarian). These works led Mr. Creme to believe in the existence of the Masters of Wisdom – a group of perfected individuals regarded as the custodians of the Divine Plan for the evolution of humanity on Earth.
A turning point came in January 1959, when Benjamin Creme was contacted telepathically by one of the Masters of Wisdom. He received his first clear inside instruction, a directive to attend a specific meeting in London. This event marked the beginning of a sustained flow of telepathic communications between Creme and his own Master. Three months later, Mr. Creme had an unusual inner vision that he described in a 1998 interview:
Creme: And then one night in March 1959, He [Creme’s Master] said, “Now switch off the machine and kneel down.” He said, “Our Master, Maitreya Himself, has something important to tell you.” Then I had the most extraordinary experience of my life; something which… you know, it was so different from anything I’d experienced.
A tremendous energy poured down through the top of my head, right through, and I began to shake. And this energy just filled my whole being and heart with the Love of Maitreya. It’s a lot of Love. And I sort of fell in love with the world; you know, it was everything in it. I was in total identification with everything living in the world.
And at the same time, He gave me a vision of how the Masters see reality, outside time. The way the Masters see time is as an everlasting Now, and they see all the past and all the future simultaneously in the Now.
And that’s what I was given. I was in like a huge sphere of light, standing in a city, I don’t know, but I was inside it. And on what I must say was the right-hand side – there were no sides, you know, but it felt like over there on the right – I could see in color all the events of the past, back and back and back…
And then, if I had turned my attention here, to what would be the left-hand side, I saw all the events of the future, likewise in color. I could see myself, I could see thousands of people; I could see Maitreya; I could see the crowds and Maitreya, Maitreya; I was talking to them, explaining. The whole thing was laid out before me like back and back, into the future like that, but all simultaneously.
That is how the Masters can make predictions, because they already see it taking place. (It’s not a prediction.) It’s already happened on the higher spheres, and then gradually comes down through the planes until it precipitates onto the physical plane, if we take the action to make it precipitate. (Yep.)
And that lasted for some time. I don’t know how long. (You were out of time.) I was out of time. And I heard His words exactly like I heard my own Master’s words before, and He said, very simply, He said: “I Myself am coming, sooner than anyone thinks possible. It will be in about 20 years.” In the event, it was 18 years. He said, “And you will have a role to play in My coming, if you accept it.”
That’s all He said, and it was a complete feeling of free will. There was no pressure of any kind. It was as simple as stating the fact. “You will have a role to play if you accept it.” And so I had accepted it.
It was not until 17 years later that Mr. Creme started to receive intense spiritual training under the close guidance of his Master. This process prepared Mr. Creme for his task of transmitting the messages from Maitreya and announcing to the world His imminent emergence. Describing the first time he transmitted a Message, he wrote:
“On September 6, 1977, the first public Message was given at Friends House, Euston Road, London, experimentally, to find out how I stood up to this kind of mental overshadowing and spiritual telepathy in public, a very different thing from the privacy of one’s own group.
‘The Messages are relayed by me to the audience. No trance or mediumship is involved, and the voice is mine, strengthened in power and altered in pitch by the overshadowing energy of Maitreya. They are transmitted simultaneously on all the astral and mental planes, while I supply the basic etheric-physical vibration for this to take place. From these subtle levels, the Messages impress the minds and hearts of countless people who are gradually made aware of the thoughts and the Presence of the Christ.’”
The following is the first message from Maitreya that Mr. Creme relayed to the audience at that time:
“My dear friends, it will not be long until you see My face. When that time comes, I shall take your hands in mine and lead you to Him Whom we serve together. My Manifestation is complete and accomplished. I am, verily, in the world. Soon you shall know Me, perhaps follow Me and love Me. My Love flows ever through you all. And that Love, which I hold for all mankind, has brought Me here. My brothers and sisters, My Return to the world is a signal that the New Age, as you call it, has commenced. In this coming time, I shall show you beauties and wonders beyond your imaginings, but which are your birthright as sons of GOD. My children, My friends, I have come more quickly, perhaps, than you expected. But there is much to do, much that needs changing in the world. Many hunger and die, many suffer needlessly.
I come to change all that; to show you the way forward — into a simpler, saner, happier life — together. No longer man against man, nation against nation, but together, as brothers, shall we go forth into the New Country. And those who are ready shall see the Father’s face. May the Divine Love and Light and Power of the One GOD be now manifest within your hearts and minds. May this Light and Love and Power lead you to seek That which dwells always in your heart’s centre. Find That, and make It manifest.”
This was the first of the 140 messages that Mr. Creme received and relayed to the public in a span of five years. We’ll continue to explore the prophetic and insightful messages from Maitreya, the World Teacher, transmitted by Benjamin Creme in the next few episodes.
