--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 <no_re...@...> wrote:
Really excellent Nabby, thanks for posting this. > > > > We don't need a messiah (and anyway, it isn't me) > Coincidence led to my being hailed as a prince of peace. But change will > come from our own hard work, not a deity > > > > * [Raj Patel] <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rajpatel> > * > * Raj Patel <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rajpatel> > * guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> , Sunday 11 April 2010 > 19.00 BST > * Article history > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/apr/11/religion-peace-social\ > -justice-messiah#history-link-box> > > > Firstborn sons of British Asian families aren't so much raised as feted, > and as a child I became quite comfortable being a little prince. At > seven years old, I wanted the privileges of primogeniture to carry on > forever. When people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I > responded with the full spectrum of acceptable answers: Accountant! > Dentist! Quantity Surveyor! Secretly, though, I wanted to be full-time > royalty. From what I saw of the British monarchy and I have yet to > be disabused of this view it seemed that if you were born in the > right place and time, you could enjoy almost permanent adulation, free > money and long hours of indolence. > > I mention this first because earlier this year a trickle, and then a > flood, of email asked whether I was, in fact a prince. Specifically, > people asked whether I was Maitreya > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitreya> The World Teacher a > prince of peace, the leader of a movement that might be able to save the > planet from itself. Others wrote to ask whether I was the antichrist, > the Prince of Darkness. > > As the Guardian > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/apr/09/patel-not-messiah-naughty-bo\ > y> reported, the deluge began after a number of coincidences seemed to > match me up with the man foretold by followers of a group called Share > International <http://www.share-international.org/> , founded by > Scottish mystic Benjamin Crème. I'd done little to earn the title of > Maitreya, though I admit some parallels between my life and that > described in the prophecy. > > Have I lived in London? Yes. Am I interested in social justice and > sharing the world's resources? Indeed I am. Do I care about feeding the > world? Certainly. Was I on American television soon before Crème > announced the arrival of Maitreya? Sort of. On 12 January, I appeared on > a spoof rightwing talk show called the Colbert Report > <http://fxuk.com/shows/the-colbert-report> . I'd also been on BBC World, > CNN, Democracy Now and al-Jazeera before then, but it seems you can't be > a deity unless you do Comedy Central. > > So what, according to Share International, does Maitreya do? Through a > doctrine of sharing, fraternity, social justice and co-operation, he > (and it does seem to be a he, not a she) brings humanity back from > economic and ecological collapse through new forms of spiritual > community. As it happens, I do think that sharing, fraternity, justice > and co-operation are terrific things. I also think that prioritising the > needs of the poor, hungry and oppressed is a non-negotiable part of a > sustainable future. > > Unfortunately, I think that's where the resemblances end. It frustrates > me only a little less than it might disappoint those looking for > Maitreya that, in fact, I'm just an ordinary bloke. Not that my protests > of not-being-the-messiah have been heeded. I wrote a short piece on my > blog suggesting that, like the hero of Life of Brian > <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079470/> , I was the victim of a case of > mistaken identity, and that "you've got to work it out for yourselves". > This didn't fly. I was reminded by my correspondents that the Maitreya > would deny divinity. And when I suggested that I wasn't the messiah, > "but a very naughty boy", others pointed out that this was exactly what > Lucifer would say. > > Crème himself hasn't been able to help. He was recently interviewed > by Mick Brown, the author of The Spiritual Tourist > <http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Tourist-Personal-Odyssey-Through/dp/158\ > 234034X> , and Crème suggested that I wasn't the messiah but, > instead, more closely resembled "that chap who does the cricket on the > radio" possibly Jonathan Agnew > <http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/tms/6098364.stm> . But that > hasn't stopped the internet from churning out its particular brand of > speculation, and for the media to amplify the frenzy. > > In part, I suspect the reason the story isn't going away the New > York Times > <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/us/09sfmetro.html?partner=rss&emc=rss\ > > just ran a followup is because it fits a narrative in which > we're steeped from birth. From the Bible to Knight Rider to The Matrix, > the story's the same: in crappy times, a single person will emerge to > make all the difference and turn everything around. Although it makes > for great viewing, it makes for a bad society. Ultimately, tales about > messiahs are bedtime stories steeped in power. They're debilitating > soporifics, inducements to be passive as we wait for social change > because, some day, our prince will come. > > Why wait, though? If the world is to transform, faith in politicians > offering hope and change is a recipe for disappointment. Ask almost > anyone who voted for Obama. Change happens through millions of acts of > rebellion and mutual aid, not through faith in one great leader. What's > depressing about this whole Maitreya thing is that it is a sign that > we've given up on ourselves, that we need to depend on The One rather > than finding the means to fix our own problems directly. > > The thing is that there are millions of world teachers already. I've > been lucky enough to report what they're teaching: from former > petrol-pump attendants in South Africa to masked women in Mexico, > leaders are subjecting themselves to democratic control, and messing > with the boundaries of private property so that everyone gets to share > the world's resources. Their vision of the commons looks a lot like what > Maitreya might bring to Earth (and for which Elinor Ostrom > <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1748208/> won the Nobel > prize in economics last year). And the good news is that it has been > here all along. > > This, at least, is the world I'm keen to live in: one without princes > but with billions of world teachers, in which we live under neither God > nor Master. It's a recipe for change that makes for poor storytelling > but great politics. > > The only problem is how to condense it so that someone can chisel it in > stone. >
