Nonfiction Books

"The coming of Maitreya was foretold 2,600 years ago by Gautama Buddha, Who said that at this time would come another great teacher, a Buddha like Himself by the name Maitreya Who, by dint of His colossal spiritual stature, would galvanize and inspire humanity to create a brilliant golden civilization based, as He put it, on righteousness and truth. Every manifestation of a Teacher that has occurred from the earliest times has been a disciple overshadowed by the Teacher. Historically they are known as Hercules, Hermes, Rama, Mithra, Vyasa, Confucius, Zoroaster, Krishna, Shankaracharya, Gautama, Jesus and Mohammed. These have all been disciples overshadowed by the teacher Himself. Just as the Buddha worked through the Prince Gautama, so in Palestine Maitreya worked through Jesus of Nazareth."

"The Masters are the Custodians of the Plan of evolution that is driving humanity forward and upward, whether we are aware of it or not. They have brought humanity from the stage of early animal man and woman to the point where we are today — guiding, protecting and stimulating the evolutionary advance of all people. Sometimes They have worked more openly, but for the last 98,000 years, with very few exceptions, They have lived in the remote mountain and desert areas"

"Maitreya is the embodiment of what we call the Christ Principle, the energy of Love. Maitreya is so advanced, so pure, He can embody in His own being, and not simply channel, the energy of Love, the second aspect of God. Through Jesus He showed that Love of God in its perfection in a man for the first time, just as through the Prince Gautama, the Buddha showed the Wisdom aspect of God in its perfection in a man for the first time. Now, for the first time in history, the Teacher has come into the world Himself."

"What the world needs now is the removal of fear and the renewal of hope. We are going through one of the greatest periods of tension since the end of the Cold War. This particular phase of tension and crisis began on 11 September 2001... That terrible, dramatic attack took America and the entire world by surprise and shock. The world has been in a state of shock ever since. But I suggest it should not have taken the world so much by surprise..."

"As Maitreya, the World Teacher, stands poised ready to emerge into full public work, we have brought together in this book an overview of the background to this momentous event... The book details the planned return of our planetary Hierarchy and the descent of Maitreya from His Himalayan retreat in July 1977 and of His work in the world, albeit behind the scenes, since then. It speaks too of the enormous changes that His presence has brought about; of His plans and projects, and His priorities and recommendations in the immediate future time. It shows Him as a great and powerful Avatar and, at the same time, as a friend and brother of humanity. (Preface)"

"Maitreya’s advice will bring humanity to a simple choice between two lines of action: to ignore His recommendations and continue in our present mode of life, and so face self destruction; or to accept gladly His counsel to inaugurate a system of sharing and justice which will guarantee a peaceful and prosperous future for humanity, and the creation of a civilization based on the inner divinity of all men. Maitreya is in no doubt of the choice we will make and looks forward to the open continuation of His mission on our behalf (Preface)"

"Until relatively recently, it was thought it would probably be 1,200 or 1,300 years yet before we would be ready to receive men of that kind of spiritual potency into our everyday world. But in June 1945, at the end of the Second World War, Maitreya, the head and leader of that group of perfected men, announced His decision to return at the earliest possible moment into the world, along with a large number of His group."

"Much of what I have to say is already known, or if not known, easily available. Beginning in 1875, some of this information has already been published in books translated into many languages, and is available to anyone who takes the trouble to read them. ...Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, began the dissemination of this information...followed in 1924 by...Helena Roerich, through whom the Agni Yoga teachings were given to the world, and by...Alice A. Bailey, between 1919 and 1949. I have been able to bring these teachings up to date, to show what is actually happening in the process of the return of the Masters to the everyday world."

"Only one thing will create peace and the end of terrorism — the creation of a just world. If there is no justice, there will never be peace. If there is no justice, there is no hope for any of us because everybody in the world will die unless we establish justice in the world. There is only one way to establish justice and that is to share the resources of the world more equitably. p.10"

"Maitreya said that He would come when a measure of peace had been established in the world, when the energy we call goodwill, which the Masters see as the lowest aspect of love, was manifesting and leading to the establishment of correct human relationships, and when the religious and political groups were putting their houses in order. These conditions did not have to be perfectly met, but when our minds were at least moving in these directions, Maitreya said that He would come without fail..."

"My inability to arrive at an understanding seems to have been traceable to the fact that, after four years of apprenticeship, I was still a beginner. It was clear that don Juan's knowledge and his method of conveying it were those of his benefactor; thus my difficulties in understanding his teachings must have been analogous to those he himself had encountered. Don Juan alluded to our similarity as beginners through incidental comments about his incapacity to understand his teacher during his own apprenticeship. p. 6"

"Don Juan believed the states of non-ordinary reality to be the only form of pragmatic learning and the only means of acquiring power. He conveyed the impression that other parts of his teachings were incidental to the acquisition of power. This point of view permeated don Juan's attitude toward everything not directly connected with the states of non-ordinary reality. p. 6"

"In our conversations, don Juan consistently used or referred to the phrase "man of knowledge"... A man of knowledge is one who has followed truthfully the hardships of learning,.. A man who has, without rushing or without faltering, gone as far as he can in unravelling the secrets of power and knowledge. ...He must challenge and defeat his four natural enemies... A man can call himself a man of knowledge only if he is capable of defeating all four of them... anybody who defeats them becomes a man of knowledge... p.34"

"Don Juan disclosed very little about his personal life. All he said was that he had been born in the Southwest in 1891; that he had spent nearly all his life in Mexico; that in 1900 his family was exiled by the Mexican government to central Mexico along with thousands of other Sonoran Indians; and that he had lived in central and southern Mexico until 1940. Thus, as don Juan had traveled a great deal, his knowledge may have been the product of many influences."

"The friend who had introduced me to don Juan explained later that the old man was not a native of Arizona, where we met, but was a Yaqui Indian from Sonora, Mexico... the people with whom he lived believed that he had some sort of "secret knowledge", that he was a "brujo". The Spanish word brujo means, in English, medicine man, curer, witch, sorcerer. It connotes essentially a person who has extraordinary, and usually evil, powers. p. 3"

"Anyone can try to become a man of knowledge; very few men actually succeed, but that is only natural. The enemies a man encounters on the path of learning to become a man of knowledge are truly formidable; most men succumb to them."

"I had known don Juan for a whole year before he took me into his confidence. One day he explained that he possessed a certain knowledge that he had learned from a teacher, a "benefactor" as he called him, who had directed him in a kind of apprenticeship. Don Juan had, in turn, chosen me to serve as his apprentice, but he warned me that I would have to make a very deep commitment and that the training was long and arduous. p. 3"

"He refused to talk about the enemies. He said it would be a long time before the subject would make any sense to me. I tried to keep the topic alive and asked him if he thought I could become a man of knowledge. He said no man could possibly tell that for sure. But I insisted on knowing if there were any clues he could use to determine whether or not I had a chance of becoming a man of knowledge. He said it would depend on my battle against the four enemies - whether I could defeat them or would be defeated by them - but it was impossible to foretell the outcome of that fight."

"How can he defeat his third enemy, don Juan?...He has to defy it, deliberately. He has to come to realize the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his. He must keep himself in line at all times, handling carefully and faithfully all that he has learned. If he can see that clarity and power, without his control over himself, are worse than mistakes, he will reach a point where everything is held in check. He will know then when and how to use his power. And thus he will have defeated his third enemy. p. 36"

"To be a man of knowledge has no permanence. One is never a man of knowledge, not really. Rather, one becomes a man of knowledge for a very brief instant, after defeating the four natural enemies. p. 34"

"If he gives in to fear he will never conquer it, because he will shy away from learning and never try again. But if he tries to learn for years in the midst of his fear, he will eventually conquer it because he will never have really abandoned himself to it. p. 36"

"Off-setting the negative value of one's impermanency was the notion that one had to follow the "path with heart". The path with heart was a metaphorical way of asserting that in spite of being impermanent one still had to proceed and had to be capable of finding satisfaction and personal fulfillment in the act of choosing the most amenable alternative and identifying oneself completely with it. p. 90"

"Renewing the quest implied the gaining and the maintenance of control over oneself. A true man of knowledge was expected to battle each of the four enemies, in succession, until the last moment of his life, in order to keep himself actively engaged in becoming a man of knowledge. Yet, despite the truthful renewal of the quest, the odds were inevitably against man; he would succumb to his last symbolic enemy. This was the idea of impermanency. p. 90"

"Being a man of knowledge was not a condition entailing permanency. There was never the certainty that, by carrying out the predetermined steps of the knowledge being taught, one would become a man of knowledge. It was implicit that the function of the steps was only to show how to become a man of knowledge. Thus, becoming a man of knowledge was a task that could not be fully achieved; rather, it was an unceasing process comprising (1) the idea that one had to renew the quest of becoming a man of knowledge; (2) the idea of one's impermanency; and (3) the idea that one had to follow the path with heart."

"The constant renewal of the quest of becoming a man of knowledge was expressed in the theme of the four symbolic enemies encountered on the path of learning: fear, clarity, power, and old age."

"A man of knowledge needed frugality because the majority of the obligatory acts dealt with instances or with elements that were either outside the boundaries of ordinary everyday life, or were not customary in ordinary activity, and the man who had to act in accordance with them needed an extraordinary effort every time he took action. It was implicit that one could have been capable of such an extraordinary effort only by being frugal with any other activity that did not deal directly with such predetermined actions."

"After having established "man of knowledge" as the first structural unit, it was possible for me to arrange with assurance the following seven concepts as its proper components: (1) to become a man of knowledge was a matter of learning; (2) a man of knowledge had unbending intent; (3) a man of knowledge had clarity of mind; (4) to become a man of knowledge was a matter of strenuous labour; (5) a man of knowledge was a warrior; (6) to become a man of knowledge was an unceasing process; and (7) a man of knowledge had an ally. p. 87"

"Since all acts were predetermined and obligatory, a man of knowledge needed soundness of judgement. This concept did not imply common sense, but did imply the capacity to assess the circumstances surrounding any need to act. p.88"

"The obligatory quality of all the acts performed in such a context, and their being inflexible and predetermined, were no doubt unpleasant to any man, for which reason a modicum of unbending intent was sought as the only covert requirement needed by a prospective apprentice. Unbending intent was composed of (1) frugality, (2) soundness of judgement, and (3) lack of freedom to innovate."

"He talked about the top of my head next and said it was still very large and heavy, and its bulk would prevent my flying. He told me that the way to reduce its size was by winking; with every wink my head would become smaller. He ordered me to wink until the top weight was gone and I could jump freely. Then he told me I had reduced my head to the size of a crow, and that I had to walk around and hop until I had lost my stiffness. There was one last thing I had to change, he said, before I could fly. It was the most difficult change, and to accomplish it I had to be docile and do exactly as he told me. I had to learn to see like a crow. p. 74"

"It must have been towards the end of the session that the singing was greatly accelerated, with everybody singing at once. I perceived that something or somebody outside the house wanted to come in. I couldn't tell whether the singing was done to prevent "it" from bursting in, or to lure it inside. I was the only one who did not have a song. They all seemed to look at me questioningly, especially the young men. I grew embarrassed and closed my eyes. Then I realized I could perceive what was going on much better if I kept my eyes closed. This idea held my undivided attention. I closed my eyes, and saw the men in front of me. I opened my eyes, and the image was unchanged. The surroundings were exactly the same for me, whether my eyes were open or closed. p. 64"

"At a very early stage of my apprenticeship, don Juan made the statement that the goal of his teachings was "to show how to become a man of knowledge". I use that statement as a point of departure. It is obvious that to become a man of knowledge was an operational goal. And it is also obvious that every part of don Juan's orderly teachings was geared to fulfill that goal in one way or another."

"People sell sex to get money. This simple fact is often missed, forgotten, or overlooked. This can be because sex workers are stigmatised to the extent that their motives are pathologised; it becomes inconceivable that people could do something considered so strange and terrible for the same mundane, relatable reasons that govern everybody else's everyday life."

"Like other marginalized groups, LGBTQ people are over-represented in sex work. Discrimination, rejection and abuse - both at home and in wider communities - increase their precarity and vulnerability in a homophobic and transphobic society, leaving prostitution as one of the remaining viable routes out of destitution. Trans women in particular often find that formal employment is out of reach. Increased school drop-out rates, lack of family support, and lack of access to adequate healthcare (including the means to finance gender-affirming treatment) leave them exposed to poverty, illness, and homelessness."

"We live in a culture where it is assumed that to penetrate someone sexually is intrinsically an act of dominance and to be sexually penetrated is to be made subservient. This means that the mistreatment of sex workers begins to seem natural. If we who sell sex are already degraded through penetration, then the further degradation of being written about as garbage cans, flesh holes, sperm receptacles, orifices, or blow-up dolls is seen as fact rather than as actively reproducing and perpetuating misogynist discourse - and all in the name of feminism."

"Sex workers' rights [...] should hinge on workers' rights to safety, not on the purported social value of the work."

"If we are serious about safety for sex workers in a post-Weinstein era, we will extend to them the same faith we give to film stars in their ability to differentiate between sexual touch at work and sexual touch that - even in the workplace - is assault."

"It is very difficult to prevent anyone from selling sex through criminal law. Criminalisation can make it more dangerous, but there is little the state can do to physically curtail a person's capacity to sell or trade sex. Thus, prostitution is an abiding strategy for survival for those who have nothing - no training, qualifications, or equipment. There are almost no prerequisites for heading out to the streets and waiting for a client. Survival sex work may be dangerous, cold, and frightening- but for people whose other options are worse (hunger, homelessness, drug withdrawal) it's there as a last resort: the "safety net" onto which almost any destitute person can fall. This explains the indomitable resilience of sex work."

"Sex, in these discussions, is positioned as something intrinsically too special to be sold - something intimate reserved for meaningful relationships. Implicit in this view is the sense that sex is a volatile substance for women and must be controlledor legitimised by an emotional connection. [...] Yet for many people, sex can indeed be recreational, casual, or in some way "meaningless". The meaning and purpose of sex varies wildly for different people in different contexts or at different times in their lives."

"Sex workers are associated with sex, and to be associated with sex is to be dismissible."

"As sex workers, we sympathise with the wish to over-emphasise pleasure, freedom or power. This narrative may feel much better than being stigmatised as damaged, an animal or a piece of meat. However, there is an obvious conflict of interest between a fantasy persona who loves their job and an activist who demands policy intervention to remedy the abuse of their human rights in the workplace."

"The hatred of sex work is rooted in very old and misogynist ideas about sex."

"A sex worker may describe a bad experience as a labour-rights violation, sexual abuse, or simply a shitty day at work. Regardless, their testimonials are not merely symbols to be interpreted by non-prostitute feminists, especially not as part of rallying for the criminalisation of their income."

"Capitalism is in many ways at its most intense in criminalised markets. This is because in criminalised markets, there can be no regulations, no workers' rights. With commercial sex criminalised, there can be no workers' rights, whereas with commercial sex decriminalised, people who sell sex can access labour law."

"Who are prostitutes? Ideas seem to lurch between contradictory stereotypes, perhaps unsurprisingly for a group more often spoken about than to. Much as immigrants are seen as lazy scroungers while somehow also stealing the jobs of "decent people", sex workers are simultaneously victim and accomplice, sexually voracious yet helpless maidens."

"Sex workers - not journalists, politicians, or the police - are the experts on sex work. We bring our experiences of criminalisation, rape, assault, intimate partner abuse, abortion, mental illness, drug use and epistemic violence with us in our organising and our writing. We bring the knowledge we have developed through our deep immersion in sex worker organising spaces - spaces of mutual aid, spaces that are working towards collective liberation."

"To say that prostitution is work is not to say it is good work, or that we should be uncritical of it. To be better than poverty or a lower paid job is an abysmally low bar, especially for anyone who claims to be part of a movement towards liberation. People who sell or trade sex are among the world's least powerful people, the people often forced to do the worst jobs. But that is precisely why anti-prostitution campaigners should take seriously the fact that sex work is a way people get the resources they need. [...] Few sex workers would object if you sought to abolish the sex industry by ensuring that they got the resources they need without having to sell sex."

"Nobody will give us power: not the police, not our bosses, not our clients. Power is always won. We need to take what's owed to us."

"Sex workers simply want to be asked what they think is best for them, rather than being forcefully rescued from the life they are trying to build for themselves."

"Decriminalisation needs to be implemented in tandem with other vital policies that remedy the precarity of marginalised sex workers. The idea that it would work by itself is a self-serving expression of the interests of privileged sex workers. [...] The sex worker movement [should] be aware that, for poor sex workers, for migrant sex workers, for disabled sex workers, and many more, it is not enough to overturn soliciting laws or brothel-keeping laws."