Eighty-year-old author Benjamin Creme, known for his credulous acceptance of mystical claims and a long-time student of esoteric philosophy, in particular the notions of the late 1800s taught by Helena Blavatsky and her "Theosophical Society," now believes he has been contacted by one of "The Masters," a group of "perfected individuals" who are the custodians of the Divine Plan for this planet. In 1959, he says, he was told, among other things, that someone named Maitreya, the "Master of all the Masters" would return in about 20 years and that he (Creme) would have a role to play in the event if he chose to accept it. As a result, Creme has become regarded as the principal source of information about the emergence of Maitreya, which seems to be about 20 years late. He describes scientific and technological advancements that he says are soon to be released, such as the discovery of cold fusion; now there's a winner! He talks of profound economic and political changes as well, stating that a group of very advanced men are guiding these changes and helping humanity at this critical time from behind the scenes.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

"Evidence" presented at a recent news conference given by Creme involved a supportive declaration by a "former official of the United States Information Agency." This official, says Creme, holds a top-security government clearance, and says that he has personally met Maitreya. He also says that other officials he worked with in the United States government, and at the highest levels of other governments, and even the Vatican, know that this story is true, because these other officials also say that they have met Maitreya themselves.

Can this be true? Is there a secret group of perfect people out there somewhere who have confided in a top US federal official? Well, the US official exists. The story, perhaps, is fiction. The official is Wayne Peterson, a 32-year career U.S. diplomat who recently retired as a director (for 17 years) of the Fulbright Scholarship Program. Says Peterson:

. . . I was contacted by a representative of this [perfected] group, in a most unusual manner, and offered the chance to meet their leader Maitreya, the World Teacher. That one-hour meeting changed my life forever, and it was so profound that I was reluctant for many years to talk of this and subsequent meetings with members of this remarkable group. Gradually, however, as I began to open up at private meetings and dinner parties in Washington and abroad, I found that my experience was not so unusual. I was able to discuss Maitreya and his ideas with personal friends of the Pope, businessmen close to the U.S. president, foreign government leaders, and a number of influential people both in the U.S. and overseas. Many of them have had special experiences similar to mine.

My understanding is that Maitreya has been preparing not only influential people but a large corps of journalists, and that he will soon begin to appear on a series of major TV interviews and shed his remarkable insights on the means to solve the current world impasse. As one who has had the privilege to be aware of some of the preparations for these broadcasts, I feel that the time is ripe to relate my experience outside of government circles and share the knowledge I have gained. If what I have to say can help dispel the cloud of angst so prevalent now, then coming forward will have been worth it. I can assure you: the future is bright.

How reassuring. To learn what kind of claptrap this "teacher" offers, refer to www.inetport.com/~one/29.html (and 11, 12, and 13) and read these excerpts, which were chosen by his followers, and judge for yourself just how wise he is.

Peterson is fond of parading his credentials. He says he has been a top-ranking member of the U.S. Information Agency, a US diplomat in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, and has "traveled in circles inaccessible to most people, and had contacts at the highest levels of the White House, many foreign governments and the Vatican."

It all started early for Peterson. Not yet four years old, he says, he saw a slipper and a white-clad leg appear on the stair landing of his home, and then a billowing skirt. They belonged to a beautiful lady, dressed all in white with a blue veil, who descended the stairs slowly, never taking her eyes off him. "It was Mary," says Peterson, "the mother of Baby Jesus, looking exactly like the manger figurine I helped my mom arrange a few months earlier as she told me the Christmas story." Well, that proves it. We know, from invented history, that Mary was white-skinned, a distinct exception to her sisters of that era, ethnic background, and geographical location. I'm easy to convince. Just like the manger figurine, you say?

Mary spoke to Peterson, he says, and then disappeared by walking straight into the dining room curtains. Shortly thereafter, he found himself "somewhere over the Gobi desert," and was shown "the past, present and future, and my place in it all." He was told about this group of perfected men, the Masters of Wisdom, who form the inner government of the planet Earth, and watch over the evolution of humankind. Subsequently, he grew accustomed to some of them visiting him in the early hours of the morning, generally when he was asleep, to impart their "teaching on the nature of the Self and life." However, an early such occurrence happened in Waikiki, when Peterson was fully awake, and he found a "luminous young man" standing on the twelfth-floor balcony of his locked hotel. Wow! I believe! I believe!

Peterson is an equal-opportunity accepter of wild claims. He believes in "other great spiritual leaders like the Avatar Sai Baba in India," who we've dealt with a few months back, here in these pages. But please read the web-page entries given above, and decide for yourself just how vapid all this is.

One can only imagine how strange Peterson might be if he were not in the US Intelligence Service.....

A reader, Charlie Cotterman, suggests this exchange, when dealing with a psychic claim:

QUESTION: But, how does (fill in the blank) actually (work, do what you claim, etc)?

ANSWER: It's so complex I can't explain it, you wouldn't understand.

REBUTTAL: That's not correct. If you won't explain it, I won't understand. But if you can't explain it, then you don't understand!

Not bad!

Sylvia Browne has still not responded! And it's now been 52 days — see the Sylvia Clock on our opening page! A reader opines....

My husband explains that the reason Sylvia Browne has not responded is that she can foresee her own failure. Apparently you do not appreciate her true psychic ability.

The philosophical involvements here are too much for me.

We were captivated here in Florida by a news story of a missing man, a chap who had experienced some major vehicle problem out on a main highway, had called for assistance, and then canceled the request when two men, he reported, showed up to help him. Then he vanished without another word. His wife made tearful appeals, and the worst was feared. Photos of the supposedly abducted man, and sketches of the two Good Samaritans, were shown on TV, and a full-scale state-wide manhunt was initiated. Photographs and posters went up everywhere, T-shirts bearing his likeness were issued, and we were asked to contribute anything we could, to finding this man. The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), the state police agency in Florida, sent out a helicopter team to look at local "sugar cane field" areas where they had reason to believe the man might be found.

Then we were stunned — and of course relieved — when the man turned up in California, quite unharmed, having simply run away on a whim. But let's back up a bit here. I forgot to mention that a psychic was called in by the FHP to assist them in the search, and that gifted person had told them that the man's body would be found near a sugar-cane field.

Despite several calls to the FHP, we've been unable to identify this "psychic." Mind you, had the tip been correct, or had any connection whatsoever between "sugar" and the man had been possible, this would have been trumpeted as validation of these powers. As it is, it's just another of the expected failures, and those involved hope that it will go away until their next farce is in place. And the FHP won't have learned a thing, either.

NEWS: The effects of "aromatherapy" may be imaginary, according to a recent study done by a team of Austrian and German academics, who claim that this "New Age" notion has no direct physical effect and that any positive change felt by recipients appears to be only in the mind. Here at the JREF, this came as no shock to our expectations. In the study, psychologists examined how people's reaction times were affected by "essential oils" that aromatherapists claim can "re?energize" them. In the experiments, some of the volunteers had oils such as peppermint, jasmine and ylang?ylang (an aromatic East Indian tree), sprinkled on the face-masks that they wore, while others, in the control group, were given only water. Their reaction times were tested before and after. The researchers found no significant difference between the performances of people given oils and those given only water.

The subjects were also asked to rate how pleasant, strong or stimulating they found each scent. Those who rated the scents highly did show slight improvements in reaction times. "If people thought an oil was stimulating, they got faster," said the psychologist in charge. "The effects of essential oils or their components on basic forms of attentional behavior are mainly psychological."

Sales of essential oils amount to over thirty million dollars a year in Britain alone, and aromatherapy has been endorsed by prominent people such as the Prince of Wales. More than 7,000 registered aromatherapists in the UK make a living out of supposed health benefits ranging from eczema relief to curing migraines.

Said one academic, involved in "Complementary Medicine," "I would like to see evidence for effects beyond a palliative [concealing symptoms] element. It is probably best considered as a pleasant diversion for those who can afford it." The president of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine in the UK, however, was quick to claim that the findings did not discredit aromatherapy. "The power of suggestion is a big factor in all medicine," he said. "The problem with the placebo effect is that it is regarded by most people as a nuisance or a fake. But it isn't. It is a practical and positive effect that acts by catalyzing the self?healing mechanisms within a patient. The placebo effect accounts for about a third of the improvements in any condition with any agent."

The point here is that as long as the subjects of the experiments believed that they were being given the "real thing," they felt they had experienced improvement. Masking symptoms can be deadly, obviously. Aromatherapy claims to cure illness, not merely relieve the symptoms. And there is no evidence that this process "catalyzes" anything.

This last week brought yet another dose of dismay to the "Complimentary Medicine" market. The herb known as St. John's wort has been sold increasingly in recent years as an alternative to regular antidepressants. (The herb, genus Hypericum, is so named because it is gathered on St. John's Eve — night of June 24th — to ward of evil vibrations.) A psychiatrist at Vanderbilt University performed a study involving 200 patients, two-thirds of whom had been suffering from severe depression for two years or more. They were all given 900 mg. of the herb a day, the dose recommended in Britain, and if in four weeks no effect was evident, the dose was increased to 12,000 mg. After eight weeks, some 27 per cent of those on the herb showed some improvement, the team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, against 19 per cent on the placebo. Conclusion: In cases of severe depression, there is no significant effect from St. John's wort, June 24th or any other time. Further tests on mild depression, and using a larger data base, are planned.

Tom Salinsky was first with the two-rows-of-coins puzzle of last week. Simply take the top penny and plunk it down atop the nickel at the intersection of the two rows. Total value of each row = 27¢! Total number of coins in each row = 6!

Reader Cameron Raecke jumped right to the proper way to solve this problem. Wrote Cameron:

All I had to do for this one was to notice that there were three pennies. This required that the two rows share a penny, and the solution immediately follows.

Okay, we've had a few complaints that the puzzles offered here have been highly variable, and that some aren't too tough. This one is a delight, a true "Aha!" by Martin Gardner's definition, and a winner. The diagram makes it clear. What's the angle between the two red lines drawn on this simple cube? You can arrive at an answer by geometrical laboring, if you wish. But there's a simpler, much more elegant solution. Now, no guessing! You must state the angle (in radians or in degrees, your choice) and the reasoning behind your answer. Don't start with the musings on whether I mean the angle on the two-dimensional diagram! I mean the angle on a real cube, which is represented here by this simple two-dimensional drawing.

Lovely problem!