A plain person's guide to Cremism

Cremism, a mixture of esotericism and socialism, is an offshoot from the Alice Bailey offshoot from Theosophy.

Its beliefs may be summarised thus:

1) There are spiritual beings who collectively influence the evolution of humanity:

a) They "blend and program" in a "highly scientific" way the energies streaming to earth from the sun and the planets to bring about change for the benefit of humanity;

b) They are, individually, occasionally in incarnation and so teach the rest of humanity directly.

2) This so-called Spiritual Hierarchy includes many famous names. Among them is Jesus of Nazareth, a human being who was "overshadowed" by a spiritual being called the Christ or the Maitreya. Jesus, however, seems to have acquired spirituality in his own right and after being incarnated as, among others, Apollonius (first century), a teacher of American Indians (sixth century), and a teacher of Polynesians (seventh century), he is now present in a 200 year-old Assyrian body and has been living in Rome for the last three years.

3) All world religions posit a further revelation by a great teacher. For Christianity it involves the return of Christ, while Judaism awaits the Messiah, Islam the Iman Mahdi, Buddhism the Maitreya, and Hinduism a reincarnated Krishna.

4) The Maitreya is the World Teacher these religions have been waiting for. ("He appears to Jews as their idea of the Messiah, to Mohemmedans as the Mahdi, to Christians as the Christ" Creme, hopefully, claims.) He had been living in the mountains of Pakistan before traveling by jet aircraft to London in 1977. He has built up a following within the Asian community in the East End.

5) The Maitreya's message is "share and save the world", Each country is to make an inventory of its needs and assets, and make over any excess in trust to a UN agency. The entrusted assets will be transferred to countries with a deficit. Creme did not enlarge upon this idea, but it was clear the U.S. (which he seems to particularly dislike) "will have to make sacrifices—-it wastes most of the food of the world". The Maitreya believes consensus is the way of the future, and of the Aquarian age. (It would certainly appear to be essential for this UN scheme.)

6) The Maitreya has to be accepted as the World Teacher if his message is to be realised. At the same time this acceptance has to be freely given. This is the reason why he currently prefers obscurity. Eventually, the Day of Declaration will come when the Maitreya will communicate with (i.e. "overshadow") all of humanity telepathically at the same time as he makes a worldwide non-speaking television appearance. (The development of TV satellite links has been going on so to make this possible.) The television appearance is only a control so that people can see the feeling they get is connected with the Maitreya's person. (People, like myself, who eschew TV will presumably be left in the dark.) Whether this overshadowing is a violation of the individual's free will was not discussed.

7) By joining a transmission group you can, through "a very potent form of meditation", help the process of breaking down the extraterrestrial energies for the benefit of humanity. The groups function somewhat like electrical substations. Joining one enables you to help yourself and the world. Their real significance appears to be that they provide a means of active participation in Cremism.

It would be nice to think Cremism is a reaction to the meism of much of the New Age. Yet, if the material welfare of the world's poor is a genuine concern Cremists seem to be doing nothing practical or tangible about it right now. Cremism is such a monstrous hodge-podge of occultism (the astrological and reincarnation components are much greater than indicated in the above summary) the humanitarian message seems like an afterthought. One wonders why Christians should follow a, if I remember rightly, 400-year old Pakistani rather than a 200-year old Assyrian, and why indeed they should follow either when their scriptures warn them not to. Despite all the learned references, Cremism, as presented at the meeting, seems to be on the same intellectual level as the Aetherius Society's UFO cult. However, I could listen to any amount of nonsense delivered in a Scottish accent. May Creme come yet again.