This excerpt by Lord Maitreya is from the New Year’s Class, The Buddhas in Winter, held December 28, 1982, through January 2, 1983 and published in the Pearl of Wisdom^®, Vol. 43, No. 47

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I must tell you that most of you do not know one another as you think you do. Some individuals who are close in the human sense almost take pride in their ability to understand another’s mind or heart or actions and to anticipate their behavior. These are behaviorists, one and all.

Those who are the godless seek to control others by memorizing their human patterns and then by carefully manipulating the same. Yet an individual’s mannerisms and human behavior do not always tell the secret of the soul or the nature of the Inner Christ. Those who have the greatest manifestation of my presence may not be the hail-fellow-well-met—the jolly sort of person whose personality everyone flocks to.

I remember the Gurus who were gruff and growling and angry most of the time. Why were they angry? They were angry at the nations and at the planetary momentums of intrigue. Sometimes the sweetest disciples would speak to them, and they would answer in a growl and a thrust of anger would go through the body like a chill wind. It was intended to do so that the bodies of the disciples might become transmitters of this anger to the world in all of its infamy and evil.

Let this Be a Year when Illusion Drops Away

It is impossible to know God except by his Spirit. You may examine character traits. You may think you know exactly the definition of Christ and Antichrist. You may be certain in your own mind that you will know both on the highway of life, but unless the Holy Spirit, as the Maha Chohan, reveal it to you, you may be wrong nine times out of ten.

I trust that in the future you will have a better score than that, having so often perceived our vibration in these dictations. When all the world is maya and the pinpoints of light are the hearts of the chelas, do you not expect sometimes that even the visages of our best servants should be blurred by the water itself, by the astral plane of illusion, distorting even the most beautiful of countenances?

Then, of course, the burden of karma past and planetary and so many conditions of life may bow down the emergent Christed one. All this put together does not tell the best of tales concerning the best of men.

Therefore, beloved, let this be the year when illusion drops suddenly to the ground, as a cloak too heavy, and the body is light and clear again and no longer encumbered. Let this be a year, then, when you have no illusions, neither of grandeur nor of the miserable sinner that is projected upon you. Let us have no illusions about ourselves or about others and most of all, let us not have illusions about the Ascended Masters, that they may appear as they really are and not as they are imagined to be.

Get Down to the Things that Are Important

I AM Maitreya, a funny sort of fellow. I, too, look for friends who understand me. I hope you will. I hope that in your heart of hearts you can perceive me as I am. To be known and loved for who and what you are and not for who and what you are not is not only your wish but also the wish of every angel in heaven.

So, beloved, let us get down to the things in life that are important:
Work on your threefold flame.
Love your Christ and everyone else’s.
Listen to the words we speak and hear what they really mean.
Treasure every communiqué from our octave.
Love one another as I have loved you and will always love you.
Remember the prophets, their example and their precepts.
Do a good day’s work.
Covet not another’s attainment.
Give freely, but hold fast what thou hast received from God for thine own inner initiation.
Expose the lie, but dwell upon the image of truth.

Remember the mild eye of Pallas Athena and behold the nobility of the visages of the Goddesses of Liberty, of Truth, of Justice, of Mercy, of Love and of Peace.

How great are the countenances of the women of heaven who belong solely to God and are independent in their service to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are grateful that we can count on the ladies of heaven to assist us in the great work of igniting illumination’s flame heart to heart around the planet.

The Christ Child is born. Christmas is over. A new year is upon us. Let us see to it that not one incoming avatar of my heart be lost.