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Mindstates
Freedom is Detachment: World Teacher Maitreya
by John McNab
One reason the world teacher Maitreya is here now is to give all of us a new-to-humanity experience of freedom. Maitreya, who left his Himalayan retreat and moved to London in 1977, is the head of a group called the Masters of Wisdom. The Masters of Wisdom are the teachers, guides, and custodians of the evolutionary plan for humanity. Other names for this group are Spiritual Hierarchy, the Kingdom of Souls, or the Spiritual Kingdom. Some would call them Masters of Light. The latter name provides a clue as to how this new experience of freedom is being brought about.
Freedom today is described in personality terms. The personality is made up of the physical body, emotional/desire/astral body and the thinking mind. Most people identify with and respond primarily from one of these centers. For these people, freedom is seen as the ability to express through whichever center dominates. The physically centered person wants freedom of physical expression. The emotionally centered person wants to be free to pursue desires and passions. Mentalists seek to be free by having their thoughts manifest through the force of will.
As a country, we have experienced two recent eras which illustrate the dominance of one of these types of freedom. The “hippie” era’s emphasis on sex and drugs is an example of freedom based on emotional desires. The backlash, centered in the rise of right-wing politics and corporatism, saw freedom based on a judgmental, belief-oriented mental approach that used the force of will to dominate.
From the mentalist perspective, the ideas of Maitreya may seem non-practical and far too idealistic—which might be true if the thinking mind held the ultimate key to freedom. Yet recently, everyday people have begun to feel that the definition of freedom held by those willfully controlling our societal direction falls short of the goal.
Maitreya’s perspective on freedom is based in the understanding that a person ultimately is not his or her personality. To know true freedom, we must be detached from the conditioning or control of the personality centers through which we express. The Self is something entirely different. Maitreya teaches that “when you experience the Self within and come to know you are an immortal entity, completely separate from mind, spirit and body, you learn to use these temples of the Lord creatively, with awareness.” Maitreya teaches that this state is achieved through honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit and detachment. To Maitreya, detachment is freedom.
To find Self, Maitreya says everyone needs their ‘inner space,’ where there is no direction and no one telling you where to go and what to do. No one can lead you. You are born to be aware of yourself, to know the Master in yourself. Your inner space is sacred. It is where all things and all problems dissolve. It is where you go when you tell others you are tired, frightened and ‘fed up,’ and when you want to be left alone to find your own space.
According to Maitreya, “You have been given that space so that the confusion and chaos around you will dissolve. You must never surrender that space to anyone, except your true Self. Meditation is really a journey back to that space to find peace and happiness.”
“Remain open-minded,” Maitreya says. Enjoy life. Imagine you are sitting on the beach looking at the vast ocean. At that moment you experience serenity, tranquility, and detachment within. You do not think of your bank account at that moment. Nobody lectures you at that moment. The gift of life flowers within you. Experience this and you will realize you are a unique person. You are unique in this creation.
Maitreya teaches that detachment enables a person to discover who they are—a soul in incarnation. Benjamin Creme, who is the primary spokesperson for information about Maitreya, says that the way the soul expresses itself is through service. As one comes into contact with his or her soul, the natural course is to move from seeking personal gratification to finding ways to help others and the planet. Through this path of service, the individual grows in awareness of his or her true nature.
Within their realm of expanded awareness, the Masters experience the fact that we are all interconnected and interdependent. They experience how the ills and pains of one, affect everyone else. For that reason, Maitreya teaches that the way to freedom is through sharing. Sharing builds the foundation of trust and the atmosphere needed for us to move from the destructive path of competition toward the divine practice of cooperation.
“Sharing,” Maitreya says, “is divine. When you share, you recognize God in your brother. Without sharing there can never be justice in the world. If there is no justice there can never be peace. If there is no peace then there is no world, because now we can destroy the planet and every life-stream on it.”
Ultimately to know freedom in the outer world, then, we must help create the conditions under which all humanity can be free, through sharing the world’s resources and the gifts of Self. Then we can not only sustain life on this planet, but also experience a depth of beauty and creativity that comes when all humanity is free to share the gifts unique to their being with the rest of the world.
Benjamin Creme will provide detailed information about Maitreya in Los Angeles on August 2 and San Francisco on August 10. For lecture info:
www.share-international.org.