Sabina Qureshi - Share International

Why don't we pull back a little bit and talk about Benjamin Creme, because listeners may not know who this person is.

I got out Wikipedia, my reliable source of background information.

Born in 1922, he's a Scottish artist.

He was very much taken by Rembrandt's paintings, and Rembrandt, of course, a very elevated kind of painter known around the world, began studying when he was 13, eventually got to be very much involved with the art world, got to know a lot of major contemporary artists.

His own paintings have been exhibited around the world.

They're described as abstract representation.

married, had children, and was as interested in this whole area of esoteric spirituality as he was in art.

It was a parallel pattern in his life.

And as you say, he had an experience in which a presence came into his consciousness, which you described as a master, which stayed with him.

The interesting thing I read was that this happened about 14 years before he actually told anybody about it.

So it was kind of a long time gestating as opposed to he took a long time to gain a sense of stability about these ideas in his own mind.

And he just died in 2016 at the age of 93.

So what...

What did he say or who did he say Maitreya was? Because that's the sort of spiritual leader, if you like, of the group called what you call the Masters of Wisdom.

Well, he used the term the world teacher for humanity.

And so... what he meant was, or my understanding of what he meant is, that Maitreya is here for all of us, those of us in a religion, those of us not in a religion, and that Maitreya hasn't come to start a new religion, but rather to teach the art of self-realization.

And the very simple teachings that Maitreya has given us are three, honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit, and detachment.

And That's all.

I mean, that's very, very simple.

In his messages, he talks a lot about how every man is a lighthouse.

You know, we're here to shine our light and to help each other, that humanity is one, and we are all brothers and sisters of one family, and that the bounty of the earth belongs to everybody equally, and that we are meant to share that bounty With everybody.

I mean, there's not one group who has more of a right to the Earth's riches or goods than any other.

These are concepts that my interest in sort of religious teachings over all sorts of them, because of lots of people I've got to know in my own interests... is that that basic principle, which I mentioned in my introductory remarks, that we're all on the same plane, if you like.

We're all dealing with the same realities and that our differences are minor, but our shared reality is essential to who we are.

It's part of the teaching of all spiritual traditions, even indigenous teaching, is that everything in the natural world, the world of creation, is sacred.