A. What we are witnessing is the end of totalitarianism in three different spheres of life. Under the influence of Maitreya we are seeing, firstly, the end of political totalitarianism as in the Soviet Union and China. America is the foremost expression of economic totalitarianism, based on the blind following of market forces, that is imposing its will throughout the world; even the Soviet Union is adopting a market-forces economy. Maitreya calls market forces 'the forces of evil.' Any government which bases its policies on the blind following of market forces, He says, is leading its people to destruction. That is what is happening now. We will see a breakdown of the world's economy, beginning in Japan. The new structure will be based on right relationships: the resources of the world must be shared.

The last totalitarianism to go will be religious totalitarianism. Dogmatic ideologies are imposed on the minds of countless millions by the religious leaders. Religious fundamentalism is at an acme of power at the moment - whether it is Christian, Moslem, Hindu or whatever.

We are coming to the end of totalitarianism, which is the denial of freedom. Maitreya has come that people might be free, in the fullest sense of the word. Ultimately, we can be totally, absolutely free only when we know the Self, when we are the Self and demonstrate a moment-to-moment experience of the Self - that is the true, absolute freedom.

A. It is not the political pressure; it is the economic pressure. The major divisions in the world today are economic. We are witnessing the end of three great totalitarianisms: political, economic, and eventually, religious. We have seen the beginning of the demise of political totalitarianism with the opening of the former Soviet Union by President Gorbachev's programmes of glasnost and perestroika (under, I may say, the inspiration and guidance of the Lord Maitreya). This has created an entirely new situation in the world, and has inspired other groups to try to emulate that gesture towards freedom. This is the beginning of the end of political totalitarianism.

Economic totalitarianism still has the world in its grip. The major exponents of this totalitarianism are the G7, industrialized nations with the United States at their head. The developed countries usurp and greedily waste three-quarters of the world's food and 83 per cent of all other resources. The developing world, the so-called Third World, where almost three-quarters of the world's population lives, must make do with one quarter of the world's food and not more than 17 per cent of the rest of the world's resources. We cannot expect three-quarters of the world's population to put up with that situation for ever. This economic imbalance is leading the world to the verge of economic destruction.

A. Marxism is already a spiritual (not a religious) teaching aiming at the betterment of society. That is not to say it is a perfect blueprint for a truly spiritual society. Such a blueprint does not yet exist. It should not be forgotten that Marx was (and of course is) a disciple of the Master Jesus Who inspired him.

A.  It is a question of where you stand initially: this is the basis of your movement in response to supply and demand. One man will demand 'x' from life and his demand will be met quickly. Another demands 'x' plus other factors, and a greater amount of energy is required to fulfill his needs. People make different demands on the law of supply. Some demand more of life, command greater resources, and if these are met it can only be at the expense of those who demand, or can demand, but little. This is blindness of market forces, which take no account of differences in status (economic, social or other) of those who make the demands. Hence the operation of these forces contain inbuilt inequality they are intrinsically divisive. This is why Maitreya calls them 'satanic'. If everybody started from the same point, there might be some logic to them. But nobody does. You already have rich and poor people, and rich and poor nations.

A. (1) Maitreya will emerge as soon as the ëmeltdown' is global and He will advocate the principle of sharing as the only answer to our economic problems. When we see this, we will put into place the plans for redistribution of resources which already exist, waiting to be implemented. This ëmeltdown' of the markets is indeed now becoming global in extent. (2) It is impossible to give a precise date but everything points to very soon.

A. The guiding principle must be that of sufficiency and not waste. At present the world's economic system is governed by waste. The profligacy of that waste has created our various pollution problems and constitutes a danger to the planet's well-being. This is only half-realized. A sustainable economy is one that supplies the needs of all within the possibilities of the planet's health. At the moment this seems impossible to achieve, but the technology of light will transform the situation for humanity, and give unlimited, ecologically sound energy for all our needs. This will transform the approach of humanity to this problem of supply and demand and therefore market forces.

Already many people are aware of the dangers inherent in the blind following of market forces. More and more commentators are denouncing the greed which lies at the base of today's political thinking. A new consciousness is growing which is seeing greed in a new light. The greed of the present is now being seen for what it is - an aberration - and it will soon be replaced by co-operation.

A. Maitreya has outlined the concept of a new political system which is neither socialism nor capitalism but a fusion of the best of both. He says you should see politics as a kind of cart, which needs two wheels to go. If it has only one wheel - either socialism or capitalism - it won't go. The symbol of this is the unification of Germany, in which we have capitalist West Germany united with communist East Germany. This symbolizes a new type of social democracy or democratic socialism which is becoming the norm in Europe, and which, Maitreya says, will eventually become the norm throughout the world. Maitreya says there is, indeed, a place for individual creativity without which the world would be held back in its development. On the other hand, we must not, with Mrs. Thatcher, say there is no such thing as 'society', only individuals; that is absolutely not true: there is a British society, a French, an American, a Chinese, a Russian society - and so on. All of humanity make up society, and the resources of the world have been distributed most inequitably under both capitalism and socialism for centuries. We have never seen communism, because what Russia had was state capitalism not communism at all.

A. I have found, especially among the young and politically attuned, democratically oriented, young people today, a great resistance to the idea of hierarchy. There is quite a resistance to the idea of the Masters of the Wisdom because of the word hierarchy. Even to the word 'Master'. Of course the word Master, and the word Hierarchy, do not denote any kind of authority, and what the young today resent very much is authority. They are born into the world with the ideas of freedom, equality, and brotherhood. This is right, this is what Hierarchy teaches, and this is what the Christ will teach. But Hierarchy is a fact in nature. It is perfectly possible to believe in, and demonstrate your belief in, equality, brotherhood, and liberty, and at the same time to recognise yourself and all others as being at some point on a ladder of evolution. We are all equal under God. But taking part in a long and apparently endless evolutionary journey, we are all of us at some point on that journey. Some are ahead and some have still very far to go. The Masters have completed the journey. They are at the top of the ladder. They stand at the top and They bend down and hold Their hand out to give the next one a hoist up. And he puts his hand down and gives the one below him a hoist up. And so on, down and down the ladder until you get to the least evolved. From the most primitive members of the human race to the Christ, and beyond, is a Hierarchy. There are always those who are more evolved, more advanced - they are not better, they are simply more advanced on the evolutionary path. They are demonstrating more of their potential, which is divine.

As souls we are all One. On the soul plane there is no such thing really as an individual soul. There is only an individual aspect of one great Oversoul. As that soul incarnates, involves itself in matter, it has started a journey of return to that perfection from which it came. The soul is perfect. It is a reflection of a perfection, a reflection of the Spirit, the spark of God. We on this physical plane are a reflection of our soul. We are really threefold beings. As that soul incarnates, begins its evolutionary journey, it sets in motion a whole series of events. These make up our successive lives, down through the ages. Over and over again, we incarnate and reincarnate, in group formation, and gradually evolve, gradually demonstrate more and more of our true human - which is also divine - nature. Until we become perfect, like the Masters are perfect. Then we stand at the top of the ladder and we are free to go on to the higher worlds, or we can stay behind and help the one below. The Masters Who have stayed behind on the earth are doing this. It is a part of Their service.

Souls have come into incarnation at different times. The Masters of the Wisdom are where They are because They began before us. The advanced units of humanity today are where they are in relation to others because they began before them.

There is inevitably a hierarchy. There is hierarchy in the solar system. The planets themselves are at different stages of evolution. Hierarchy is everywhere in cosmos. There is nothing else, in a sense, but hierarchy. At the same time there is no hierarchy because there is no separation. All is one. It is only in manifestation that hierarchy occurs. Out of manifestation, all is one. In relation to the whole, each one is a part of the whole, and an equal part of the whole.

The acorn has all the potential of the whole tree within it, and every little seedling is equal, but there are great oaks and little oaks. Those who are more advanced, being more advanced, have both the right and the responsibility to serve more. They have the potential to serve more. This is what advancement is about.

When that Hierarchy is seen to be of a genuinely Spiritual nature, people will find that it is not impossible to construct a truly democratic form of government (there is no true democracy today) which, at the same time, partakes somewhat of the Hierarchical mode of relationship.

When men realise the need for guidance on the path of life which leads to perfection, and when man's free-will is not (as it never is by Hierarchy) infringed, they will gladly accept, as normal and right, a degree of Hierarchical guidance based on experience and achievement, which today might appear unlikely.

A. Maitreya will not 'make' anyone do anything. He does not even make those closest to Him announce His presence. There are people around Maitreya who know as well as I do that He is in the world but they do not come out and say so, perhaps because they do not want the publicity, the encroachment on their lives that would follow. It is very disturbing to have the media intruding in your life, which would be the direct result of their making their experience known. If some of the people who are around Him today did speak out, He would be known tomorrow.

Maitreya will show us what is wrong and stimulate us to make the changes; but we have to want these changes. They have to be made gladly by us because we see that that is the only thing to do, not because a superman tells us what to do. Anyone who has that notion of Maitreya is totally wrong. He is a teacher, an adviser; we have to save ourselves through the acceptance of the teachings. And put them into effect.

If we in the developed world are reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary for all people everywhere to live decent, civilized lives, then we will destroy ourselves. Not as punishment, but the direct result of the Law of Cause and Effect. If we do the right thing, we will transform the world; if we continue as we are, and do not see or accept the need for the changes, then they will not happen.

Maitreya says: 'Nothing happens by itself.' We have talked about 'brotherhood' for thousands of years, but it is only a vague ideal, still sitting up there on the astral plane - lovely, beautiful ideas of Love, Brotherhood, Justice. The reality is separation, greed, misery, pain, suffering, by millions of humanity; the vision is real but not until it comes down onto the physical plane and we make it real. 'Man must act and implement his will,' Maitreya says (Message No.31); so it is up to us. Everything is up to us.

A. As I understand it, They will not form a world government. World government will come inevitably as a logical result of the acceptance by humanity that it is One, and that realization will grow from the acceptance of the principle of sharing. Sharing is the basis of all change and progress in this coming time.

The United Nations today forms the nucleus of a future world government. At present it does not have the power which a world government might need, but only because these powers are not given to it by the major nations, America, Russia and China, for instance. The Security Council stands in the way of a true functioning of the UN Assembly, the real basis of a future world government. It should be stressed that world government does not signify a dictatorial, supra-national regime, imposing laws on nations which, willy-nilly, they must obey. It will be the result of a federation of independent states, something like the British Commonwealth or the United States of America. Before the Union, none of the states of America could conceive of giving up autonomy and sovereignty, a condition which is found quite natural now. By the same token, many of the nations today see no possibility of giving up a degree of sovereignty which one day they will accept as perfectly natural to do in the interests of world groupings and world government.

Each country will retain its own language, culture, political system, and so on. It is not the intention of Hierarchy to attempt to create a one-governmental system throughout the world.

A. I would not say that this is occurring, but that it is the ideal towards which we should move. The role of governments is to create conditions in which people can live in peace with enough food, adequate shelter, health care, education, and so on. It is not the role of governments to impose one ideology on the people. That has been the case up to now, whether that ideology was communism, democracy, capitalism, or fascism. That time is past. We are seeing the end of political indoctrination and totalitarianism. The need of people for freedom, self-advancement and self-determination should be worked out on a local level through participation in local government. The only way that people can influence the events of their life on a national scale is through influencing local government. You have to have a level of government in which people actually can be involved.

Most people in so-called democratic countries vote for local and national representatives. But if people are really participating on a local level, their needs can be met locally. The national government should not interfere on the local level. Here the more conservative governments have the answer, in that they do not want to get involved in the day-to-day managing of local affairs, at least theoretically. In practice, the opposite tends to be the case, for political reasons. In the UK, our present (July 1993) Conservative government is the most centralizing we have had, certainly this century; local government is strapped by the central government in almost every aspect of its action. There is almost no local government per se, almost no participation. Without participation, there can be no self-determination. Self-determination, self-expression in determining how one's life will be lived, which is true liberty, does not exist in any real sense anywhere in the world.

A. He believes in government, but we have to realize that what we call 'spiritual' has a much wider connotation than we have given it so far. Until now everything 'spiritual' has to do with religion. The Master DK has written that the greatest triumph for the forces of evil on this planet is that the churches, the religious groups around the world, have been allowed to monopolize the concept of spirituality: whatever is religious is spiritual and everything else is non-spiritual and can be as corrupt as we like. Therefore, we have corrupt political and economic structures, corrupt social structures (and also corrupt religious structures: the churches are corrupt, perhaps less so than others, but still corrupt). We have to enlarge our concept of spirituality and see that we must have spiritually-based political and economic structures. That means sharing and justice - these are spiritual aspects. Maitreya says: 'Sharing is divine. When you share you recognize God in your brother.' This is not just a nice idea, it is a divine idea. It is the nature of divinity. Justice is divine, freedom is divine, and Maitreya comes to show us how to make justice and freedom through sharing. Then we will make spiritually correct political, economic and religious structures. We need government to organize the means of living together in peace and harmony, but He says we should participate - we get the politicians we deserve.

A. To my mind it would have to reflect the inner connectedness of people with one another and with the planet. A sustainable sufficiency would have to replace the present system of over-production, competition and waste. Therefore, interdependence and co-operation, social justice, freedom and sharing would be the keynotes of a viable spiritually-based system. It would also have to take account of, and provide opportunities for, man's individual initiative and creative enterprise but not at the expense of social justice and group good.

This system would not be capitalism or communism, but social democracy or democratic socialism with full participation of all peoples in their own government. Housewives, doctors, artists, teachers, etc., would play their full part in government of the people, for the people, by the people - something never achieved before, East or West.

A. I believe we shall. It is precisely from the non-professional politicians that we will find the leaders of the people. The people have enormous untapped resources but have never been given an opportunity to express this potential. If you create the structures on a local level which are sufficiently open to allow all types - artists, writers, housewives, teachers, engineers, playwrights, and so on - to speak for the people as a whole, the needs of the people will be given expression. In parliamentary government, the political and economic laws laid down will allow the people's needs to be given expression on a national scale. You need two tiers of government, local and national. Both are essential. One should not be seen as more important than the other.

A. Exactly. Maitreya does not come with power. He comes with the power of inspiration and guidance, but not with autocratic power. He says that from now on governments everywhere will be by the people, for the people. We are already witnessing it. Look at what has happened in the former Soviet Union. It is chaos at the moment, but who brought down the Berlin Wall? Who opened up the Soviet Union to glasnost? Mr. Gorbachev was mainly responsible for ending the Cold War and for glasnost in the Soviet Union. Of all the world leaders, he is the one most responsive to the mental impress of the Lord Maitreya.

We are witnessing the galvanizing of humanity, the people of the world, to take upon themselves responsibility for their own lives. Over the last few years, that has been happening all over the world. The dictatorships of the world are going. That is why the Soviet Union broke up - not from the collapse of communism, but from the collapse of political totalitarianism, which is something else.