Hope and Action: Antidotes to Despair
By Lynne Girdlestone
For more than two years the world has been dealing with a host of negative effects from an incredibly destructive “agent of change”: the coronavirus. For over two months another crisis — the war in Ukraine — has grabbed the headlines and our hearts. Horrific things happen every day on this planet, but they usually affect other people elsewhere. COVID-19, however, has reached anyone, anywhere, upending our lives in a multitude of ways. The war is taking the greatest toll on the people of Ukraine, but there are also consequences to other countries and new tensions that worry everyone. All of this occupies our thoughts and emotions daily.
For some, the crises are merely an inconvenient interruption in their “business as usual.” For others they have created new ways to profit handsomely at the expense of others. But for most people, combined with a host of other crises like the climate emergency, they are becoming a survival issue.
We’ve been told by both science and religion that nothing happens by chance: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” and “As you sow, so shall you reap.” That means: what is happening today has its roots in everything that has gone before. When dysfunction reaches a tipping point, something extraordinary happens to get our attention. Both the pandemic and the war are surely saying “STOP… NOW … look at the world you’ve created … untold suffering amidst obscene excess … all life forms and the planet itself in mortal danger!” And the slowing and relative isolation are giving us a unique opportunity to consider these issues deeply and emerge with a better Plan B.
That so many people are getting the message is an incredibly hopeful sign. The pandemic is seeing neighbors helping each other more; service organizations expanding their roles and methods; scientific organizations around the world sharing their research findings on new treatments and vaccines. The war has stimulated untold prayers to our Higher Power, and extraordinary acts of support for the refugees have been offered across Europe and elsewhere. What would happen if this behavior were to continue? Could it lead to treating a recovering planet as a global village and its citizens as the one human family it is? It would take time, but we can start by demanding of our “leaders” that we all push the reset button and begin to move in that direction!
Fortunately, at this very time, a little-known cosmic event is also taking place. As we move into the Aquarian age, characterized by energies of synthesis, unity and cooperation, the spiritual custodians of human evolution — the Masters of Wisdom — have once again sent one of their great ones into the world to act as a teacher for the coming time. Some of the past teachers we know as Confucius, Krishna, Buddha, the Christ and Mohammed. Major world religions all expect another great teacher at some future time, and his imminent appearance has been foreseen by some writers since the late 1800s.
For more than 40 years, British esotericist and lecturer Benjamin Creme informed the world of a coming change — of the collapse of our old structures to make way for the new. He served as a herald for the World Teacher for this age, Maitreya — the one expected by many and longed for by millions (consciously or not). Along with a large group of the Masters of Wisdom, Maitreya has come now to guide us through this perilous time and into a cleansed and transformed new world.
These great spiritual teachers have stood behind and guided humanity for millennia. They’ve been with us through thick and thin, nudging us toward co-operation and sharing as the absolute requirements for a lasting civilization, always nurturing our own innate, emerging divinity. And they’re still with us now, closer than ever before — working tirelessly behind the scenes to help us make the right choices in this grave time. At the very moment enough people — of their own free will — can be counted on to respond to a new way of life, they will step forward and work openly at our side.
We may very well need to actually look into the abyss before we collectively realize the need to change our ways. Allowing us to see the consequences and choose rightly may be an educational strategy familiar to parents! And yet, we have been told by the Masters that the end is known from the beginning; that all will be well. That is an unparalleled basis for hope.
Selfless service is the key — to both global salvation and personal sanity. Every single effort — of any size — sends a message to the Masters that we are now willing partners who can work alongside them in the reconstruction of our world. Since today’s crises encompass virtually every part of our lives, opportunities for service abound. So, as quickly as possible, take action: find the need closest to your heart and give it all you’ve got!
Lynne Girdlestone is a writer who has long worked with Share International.
More information about the emergence of Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom into the everyday world can be found at Share-International.org. For a free monthly e-newsletter see share-international.us/newsletter/archive.
