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The Art of Living  
Today we have the last in our series of Benjamin Creme’s book reviews. This one is sourced from the July/August 2013 double issue of Share International magazine. The review is titled “Meaning and equilibrium” by Marc Gregory of the book The Art of Living: Living within the Laws of Life, by Benjamin Creme. It begins…

“Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life,” wrote Oscar Wilde.
Well, maybe. But the relationship between the two is perhaps more symbiotic and reciprocal than we have imagined up until now. In his 12th book, The Art of Living, Benjamin Creme points out that living correctly is indeed an art, and that life, like the arts, is subject to certain immutable laws.

This volume is in three sections and, like Mr Creme’s other books, offers a great wealth and depth of information presented in a lucid, highly readable manner. It thus forms an apt counterpart to its two companion volumes, The Great Approach and The Art of Co-operation.

In section one, ‘The Art of Living’, the author makes use of the arts of painting and music as points of entry into a discussion of the spiritual meaning and purpose of life on Earth. “An art, whether painting, music or some other art, has to obey certain laws and rules. If you want to be a painter or composer, you have to learn the laws by which the art is formed; the methods too, but more profoundly the laws governing the qualities of art, like proportion, like revelation. The magic of art is stored in the obedience to these laws.”

What the artist finally seeks to express in a piece of work is a certain equilibrium, bringing together by intuition a balance of colour, tone, structure and proportion that is not only pleasing but, in the best of examples, a revelatory expression of meaning as well. When one thinks of a late string quartet by Beethoven or a portrait by Rembrandt, one not only recalls a work of great beauty, but a piece of art that retains over successive generations its revelatory power, its on-going ability to move people to a greater sensing and understanding of beauty and meaning in life.

Recommended reading for more information:
The Art of Living  
The Art of Co-operation
The Great Approach
Transmission: A Meditation for the New Age

2026 Podcasts:
The Art of Living
The Art of Co-operation
The Great Approach & Transmission Meditation
The Gathering of the Forces of Light
Maitreya’s Mission Three & The Ageless Wisdom
Maitreya’s Mission Volumes One & Two
The Reappearance of the Christ & the Masters of Wisdom
Historical Milestones in Humanity’s Evolution
The UFO Phenomena (Part 2)

2025 Podcasts:
The UFO Phenomena (Part 1)
The Reality & Work of the Space Brothers
The Next Voice You Hear
Angels, Miracles and Healings
God put a new song in my mouth
An Interview with Swami Premananda
Homeopathy in US Healthcare
Saint Charbel – Man of Miracles
Swami Nirliptananda Talk
The Emergence and The Media
Climate Change – The Holistic View
Practical Psychology – An Esoteric Perspective

2024 Podcasts:
The Story of the Emergence
Love and Trust
Ecology and Spirituality
Let There Be Light (Part 2)
Let There Be Light (Part 1)
Initiation: An Evolutionary Journey
Transmission Meditation
Insights of the World Teacher
Avatars Down the Ages
A Major Opportunity
Goodwill
Competition versus Co-operation
Unity in Diversity

Recommended books:
The World Teacher for All Humanity
The Awakening of Humanity

More information:  Share International