The ancient Greeks produced countless stories that could be categorized under Campbell’s “Receiving Supernatural Aid” stage – most of them tragedies. Often, when the characters have gotten themselves into complex and dangerous situations that cannot be satisfactorily resolved, the writers introduce a god, who swoops down from on high to help them out of their jam. Aristotle coined the phrase “deus ex machina” – or god from a machine – for this literary device, referring to the mechanical crane used to lower the actors playing gods onto the stage. An example often cited is Euripides’ tragedy Medea, where a chariot is sent by the sun god to convey his granddaughter Medea, who has just committed murder and infanticide, away from her husband Jason to the safety of Athens.
A New Story for Humanity
A New Story for Humanity
by Cher Gilmore
For as long as humans have been talking to each other, stories and myths have been important ways for us to understand and explain the world around us. Why would that be? Joseph Campbell, best known for his work in comparative mythology and religion, believed that all humanity is united psychically, and that behind the phenomenal world is an eternal source animating every human experience. He posited that the only way to speak of that great invisible force is through the metaphors found in myths. Indeed, he felt that all myths could in actuality be reduced to one overarching story – what he calls The Hero’s Journey: a tale of a man or woman who, through great suffering, achieves an experience of the eternal source and returns with knowledge and gifts that can free others.
Campbell divided the stages of the Hero’s Journey into several parts: Call to Adventure, Receiving Supernatural Aid, Meeting with the Goddess/Atonement with the Father, and Return. Some myths focus only on a part of the journey, and they all vary with the social structures and environmental challenges in different cultures. In nearly all cases, though, they are used as metaphors for spiritual truths that cannot easily be put into words.
The effect of the “deus ex machina” on Greek audiences was an immediate emotional response of wonder and astonishment, which would often add to the moral effect of the drama. The Bible is also full of stories of divine aid. Consider Noah, who was warned by God that there was going to be a flood, and that he should build an ark in preparation, filling it with two of every species of animal and fowl. The flood came, of course, and Noah and his charges were saved. And then there was Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale when he tried to escape doing God’s will and was ultimately thrown up onto dry land and given another chance to serve. In another story, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three Hebrew men in Babylon who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, were punished by being thrown into a fiery furnace. When they were protected by God and walked out completely untouched by the flames, the king decreed that anyone speaking against their god would be destroyed.
When the Hebrews, who had been enslaved in Egypt, were released by their Pharaoh after God visited devastating plagues upon Egypt, the Pharaoh changed his mind about freeing his slave labor and sent his chariots and army in pursuit. The Hebrews, trapped between mountains on one side and the Red Sea in front, were terrified, but an angel in a pillar of cloud came between them and the army, confusing and slowing them down. Then God caused a wind to blow that parted the sea so they could walk across. When they reached the other side safely with the army again charging after them, God commanded Moses to lift his arm, and the sea rushed back in, covering the chariots, horses and army.
Other religions include stories of divine assistance, too. Hindu myths include the ocean allowing a floating bridge to be built on its surface to let the armies of Lord Rama cross; another tells of many averted attempts to kill the child Prahlada—an ardent devotee of Vishnu—by fire, trampling by elephants, etc. According to Hindu belief, Vishnu has incarnated on Earth at least nine times to destroy evil and restore justice in the world, and the tenth incarnation, as Kalki avatar, is expected in the future.
Aztec mythology tells us that Quetzalcoatl was the son of the earth goddess Coatlicue, and that he and three brother gods created the sun, the heavens, and the earth. But he alone created humans, and helped them in many ways. He taught them astronomy, calendar making, various crafts, and the cultivation of maize, which became the staple food in Mexico. Therefore, he was the bringer of not only life, but civilization.
So what is the significance of all these stories? Should they be taken as actual facts, or merely as metaphors? Well, that depends. My theory is that in ancient times, when humans were less evolved and relatively uneducated, the stories served as metaphors to illustrate the spiritual realities behind them, or as lessons in how to correctly relate to the divine. Some, perhaps many, may have had a basis in fact.
In recent times, however – beginning with Helena Blavatsky’s books about her experiences living with the Masters of Wisdom in the Himalayas, and Alice A. Bailey’s transcribed volumes from the Master D.K. on the nature of reality – a more evolved humanity has been educated about the unseen world and how it operates. Therefore, we can now be told directly things that could only be understood through myths and legends in past centuries.
The Greeks wisely understood that the divine comes to help when things get really tough for humanity and wrote plays about it, but they didn’t know any of the back story. We, however, know through the Ageless Wisdom teachings that a group of advanced beings – not gods, but perfected agents of what we could call God – oversee the evolution of our planet and all life on it. At certain prescribed times, and when humanity finds itself in crisis beyond its ability to cope, one or more of these perfected beings enters the everyday world to offer new teachings and assistance. That is where we are today.
As in the Greek tragedies, we are gradually awakening to the realization that our civilization has backed itself into a corner we can’t easily get out of and that we really need a “deus ex machina.” Fortunately for us, that precise help has come.
A number of these perfected beings, or Masters of Wisdom as they are called, are even now entering our world. At their head is the Master of all the Masters, whose personal name is Maitreya. His coming was foretold by the Buddha: 2,500 years ago, Gautama Buddha made a prophecy that at this time would come another great Teacher, a Buddha like himself, Maitreya by name, who would inspire humanity to create a new and brilliant, golden civilization based on righteousness and truth.
Maitreya has come to bring the new teaching for the Age of Aquarius – right human relations – and to show us how to apply it in every human endeavor, from politics, to education, to economics. Equitable sharing of the world’s food and resources will be the centerpiece of Maitreya’s curriculum. With his guidance and the assistance of other Masters who have come with him, we will transform every aspect of human life so that there is no more hunger, or war, or homelessness, and every person is recognized and treated as an equal spark of the divine.
Who exactly are these Masters? In The Ageless Wisdom Teaching, British author Benjamin Creme describes their relationship to us: “They are our elder brothers. They have gone ahead of us, and having finished the evolution on which we are still engaged, have taken upon themselves the responsibility of overseeing our evolution. They know the way, the hazards, the possibilities. They know the steps which are the best to take, because there are many blind alleys, many pitfalls on the path, and they teach the correct way. The correct way is the way of selflessness, lack of ego. This is the hard way. It is slow because we are all so egotistical.”
According to Mr. Creme, all humanity will experience Maitreya when he is invited to appear on television via a worldwide satellite hookup on the “Day of Declaration.”
On that day, his face will appear on our television screens, but his lips will not move. He will speak telepathically to everyone above the age of 14, his words dropping silently into the minds of each in their own language. Even those not watching television will hear Maitreya’s voice, thoughts and ideas inwardly. In his book The World Teacher for All Humanity, Creme writes, “This miracle is a repetition, only now on a world scale, of the true happenings of Pentecost 2,000 years ago. Also in this way Maitreya will foreshadow the future ability of all people to communicate mentally, telepathically at will over any distance.
“Maitreya will give a short history of the long history of the world, and show the height from which humanity has fallen into the materialism of today. He will introduce the fact of his group, the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters. He will show the future, and outline some of the extraordinary scientific marvels that will open up new life for humanity. He will make his appeal for justice, for sharing as the only way to justice, and so to peace in the world.”
How will humanity respond to Maitreya’s appearance and message? In articles from Share International magazine and republished in A Master Speaks, Benjamin Creme’s Master says, “The future holds for man unbelievable promise. From the Day of Declaration will begin a process which will transform the world, and take men to the highest level of achievement.
“Never before will men have heard the call to their divinity, the challenge to their presence here on Earth. Each, singly, and solemnly alone, will know for that time the purpose and meaning of their lives, will experience anew the grace of childhood, the purity of aspiration cleansed of self. …
“Many will know for the first time that they count, that they matter in the scheme of things. An unfamiliar sense of self-esteem will replace their present hopelessness. ... Soon, however, men will realize that the changes needed in the world are vast, manifold, requiring patience and dedication, imagination and trust. Before long, men everywhere will engage themselves in the work of reconstruction, the rehabilitation of the world.
“Changes, unequalled in extent, will engage men’s minds and hearts; naught but the finest of the past will prevail against the onslaught of the new. ... A new world will be constructed in the blazing light of day. All will, in their way, participate; each will add his vision and contribute to the whole.”
So we are going to have our “deus ex machina,” but we will have to choose which future we want – business as usual, which will lead only to destruction, or sharing and justice, which will propel us into a completely new, advanced civilization. Maitreya will make our two options very clear, and if we decide to take his advice, he will provide the blueprints and guidance we will need to restore the planet and transform our institutions. However, he will only advise. It will be up to us to lay every brick of the new edifice.
Will we do it? Will we choose correctly and salvage our world? Maitreya has said that he knows our choice already, because he can see the heart of humanity and finds it sound. Still, we must make the choice consciously. And unlike centuries past, this unprecedented time will be our opportunity not just to be saved by a “god from a machine,” but to work creatively with our modern “gods” – Maitreya and his group of Masters – to write an entirely new story for humanity and complete our collective Hero’s Journey.
