Jake Poller on Benjamin Creme

“By the time of Creme’s death in 2016 the world was still awaiting the Day of Declaration. When pressed by journalists or members of the public about why the Maitreya was holding back, he maintained that the free will of humankind could not be infringed and that we had to meet the Maitreya halfway by promoting peace, justice and equality in the world. And then there was the ongoing struggle with the forces of darkness and the fact that the hierarchy measured time in 2000-year cycles, and so it was unrealistic to expect precise times and exact dates from them...”

“Creme’s telepathic communications with his Master and Maitreya can be seen in the same light as the communications of Blavatsky, Leadbeater and Bailey with various Masters from the hierarchy... Creme’s belief that the Maitreya would manifest on Earth can be found in Besant and Leadbeater; but where the latter held that the Maitreya would overshadow Krishnamurti, Bailey maintained that the Christ would return in his own physical body... For Bailey, the Christ announced his imminent reappearance at the height of the World War of 1914–1945, in order to try to re-establish peace and harmony and to usher in the new Aquarian Age.”

“For Creme, the Maitreya reappeared, albeit incognito, in 1977, when New Age spiritual seekers were promoting the love, peace and brotherhood Bailey had considered a prerequisite for the reappearance of the Christ. Creme’s emphasis on sharing and equality was an apt response to the rise of global capitalism under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Creme maintained that the Maitreya had predicted the global financial crisis in 1988, and in December 2008, three months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Creme claimed to work closely with the space brothers but regarded them in a Theosophical light as part of the Great White Brotherhood, and rejected the disturbing accounts of abductees as being a product of astral imagination. While Creme embraced the work of previous Theosophists, particularly that of Blavatsky and Bailey, he maintained his charismatic authority by dismissing contemporary channellers and attributing their communications with Maitreya and the hierarchy to the glamour of the astral plane.”