1. The supreme energy resides in the Buddhi: latent when wedded to Atman alone; active and irresistible when galvanized by the essence of Manas. 2. Healing requires perfect benevolence, untainted even by latent selfishness. 3. The unreformed Western mind cannot grasp the essence of Buddhistic exegesis. The twin faces of Avalokiteshvara. The blind and guilty Rhys Davids leads the blind and innocent Lillie into the ditch. 4. God Geometrises. 5. Only the unshackled Spirit shall see the things of the Spirit without a veil.

Is there a universal consciousness in whose consciousness we live, move, and have our being? The exploration of consciousness is the final frontier in the exploration of life and the mysteries of existence - its origin, its on-going presence - as well as for answering questions that intellectual analysis cannot answer because it is based on the speculations of the five senses. Consider then that within every human being there are simultaneous states of existence that are active - predating human life, during human life, and beyond human life. Participate in this world of illusions but always retain the light of universal awareness, wherever your soul's purpose path may lead you. - Dr. Paul Leon Masters

"The Masters of Wisdom" is the last book to have been published during the John Bennett's lifetime, and is probably the most unusual, having little in common with his previously published works, except in serving a number of discrete objectives. Originally planned to be incorporated into a single volume to be entitled "Gurdjieff and the Masters of Wisdom" this work was separated from what became "Gurdjieff: Making a New World" which eventually was published a year earlier in 1973. In the last years of Bennett's life, he had been deeply affected by his close association with the Turkish mystic, Hasan Lutfi Shushud, and originally a contract was drawn up with a London publishing house for the combined work, in which both men were signed as joint authors. However, before anything was written, Shushud abruptly withdrew his support for the project, ostensibly on the grounds of a disagreement with the publishers. Only after Bennett's death in 1974, Shushud indicated privately that he found Gurdjieff's teaching and methods offensive. There is however some overlap between the two books, and "The Masters of Wisdom" draws on Gurdjieff's resources as well as material provided by Hasan Shushud. "The Masters of Wisdom" is unlike Bennett's other books not only in the way it is constructed, which appears to be somewhat out of balance, but also in the content. The first three chapters provide an overview of material presented 8 years earlier in the fourth volume of "The Dramatic Universe", of the Earth as single intelligent whole, in which humanity plays an increasingly active role and - must accept greater responsibility. These chapters provide an introduction to Chapter 4 which presents an account of the Christ Event not to be found anywhere else, and by Bennett's own account, arising out of insights vouchsafed to him privately by Gurdjieff. The next chapter serves as a bridge to the second major detailed message Bennett shares, which concerns the extraordinary period spanning at least 350 years, when a group of men within a single unbroken tradition played a pivotal and benign role in otherwise catastrophic events. It is not clear why Bennett devotes an entire chapter to Genghis Khan in a book entitled "The Masters of Wisdom" except that he appears to have been an exceptionally gifted individual whom Bennett apparently admired for his great self-control, and his willingness to accept guidance from a spiritual director. The researches Bennett completed in his last years led him to certain conclusions which may not have been fully expressed in this account. Unlike Bennett's other books, "The Masters of Wisdom" contains hidden messages, and also occult elements which are accessible to those able to access them. "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" and "The Dramatic Universe" showed the transformative power of books, but like "Meetings with Remarkable Men" this book imparts information which remains hidden except from those readers who find the key. The book is also unlike any of Bennett's other books in containing secret "magic" elements, opening mystical channels. Since the text was left unfinished when Bennett died, it is not possible to know for certain whether the message of the book is complete or would have included other material such as the very detailed accounts that Bennett gave to his student in the last months - the "esoteric phase" - of the Third Basic Course. Overall the message is of the planet we inhabit seen as a single indivisible whole, of which we human beings are an important element, but which is subordinate to the Cosmic forces.

The cis-Himalayan Mahatmas are Great Souls and Masters of Wisdom; their higher individuality is en rapport with the Universal Soul. Through occult training in successive births, the hold of lower Manas weakens until the whole Manas identifies with the Universal Soul, which runs through humanity at large, and lo and behold! a new Saviour of Mankind is born. Only a pure and unexpecting soul, whose brotherly love has uplifted his Manas above the fog of separateness, can ever hope to approach the majesty of a Mahatma. Manasic perception is enlightened belief without intellectual understanding. That is the real meaning of faith, not the blind belief implied by the religious meaning of faith. The adept is the rare efflorescence of a generation of enquirers. Their three higher aspects are merged into One. A Planetary Spirit can roam the interstellar spaces in full consciousness, while continue living on earth in his original body. That is highest form of adeptship man can hope for on our planet. Only an Occultist, by analysing and experiencing sentient life in all its phases, whether on earth or beyond, whether mineral, vegetable, animal, or spiritual life, can figure out the Great Problem of Consciousness. Spirit and Matter are co-existent, inseparable, interdependent, and convertible to each other. This androgynous Force is Mind and Soul. Since motion is all-pervading and absolute rest inconceivable, under whatever form or mask may appear, whether as light, heat, magnetism, chemical affinity or elec-tricity — all these must be phases of One and the same universal omnipotent Force. Consciousness is not only transformable into other aspects or phases of the all-pervading Force, but that it can be infused into, and animate, an artificial man. The three extant centres of Occult Brotherhood, though widely separated geographically, and as widely exoterically, promulgate the same esoteric doctrine. Self is a passing guest, whose concerns are all like a mirage of the great desert. It is upon the serene and placid surface of the unruffled mind that the visions gathered from the invisible find a representation in the visible world. Nature has linked all parts of her Empire together by subtle threads of magnetic sympathy. By subduing the lower Manas and thus identifying with his higher counterpart, man can become master and ruler over blind molecular motion.

In Esotericism there are two Avalokiteshvaras, First and Second Logos, or Father and Son. Avalokiteshvara is both the unmanifested Father and the manifested Son, the latter proceeding from, and identical with, the other; namely, the Parabrahm and Jivatman, the Universal and the individualized seventh Principle in man, the Passive and the Active. Rhys Davids is like the Cape Settlers who lived over diamond mines without suspecting it. He was an atheist and a materialist.