About Bentinho
Who is Bentinho Massaro?
Instead of the usual biographical description of a person and his story, let’s consider instead what he lives for. To what mission or purpose has he devoted his life and to what degree has he become an embodiment of that mission?
In other words: what is he?
This metric is useful for all of us. To what extent are we living arbitrarily; tugged about by our likes and dislikes, fears and excitements, social pressures and desire to fit in? How many of our achievements are motivated by a need to be validated or included? How much of our day-to-day or minute-to-minute life is animated by personal gratification, unexamined habit, and an otherwise low aim for our incarnation? What are you living for?
What do you represent in the world? What example do you set? What principle guides your life? When people understand you, what is it exactly that they understand? What are you?
If you answer honestly, you’ll find that you are a hodgepodge. You are a mix of good intentions, insecurities, ambition, anxiety, self-preservation, generosity, judgment, selfishness, occasional courage, avoidance of whatever you fear, loving thoughts, hateful thoughts, beautiful insights, self-indulgence, and a continuous stream of your own personal ideas, beliefs and opinions.
In this way Bentinho (pronounced ben-TEEN-yo) is different. After years of unrelenting seeking for ultimate truth at a young age, and after exploring the full spectrum of ancient lineages and modern spirituality, from Advaita-Vedanta to Dzogchen Buddhism to The Law of One, he found what he was seeking. For most who make this discovery, it is merely an epiphany that eventually becomes a memory, and for some an identity; a notch on their belt of spiritual credibility. For Bentinho, it became his mission. He made the radical and all-consuming choice to devote his life to this realization; merging his outlook, teachings, personality, leadership, lifestyle, and choices with one singular purpose: for people to realize they are the One Infinite Creator.
Bentinho has dedicated his life to humanity’s awakening. Everything he does—whether or not others understand it at face value—springs from that intention.
What happens when someone accesses such a realization and has the passion and staying power to commit? Not merely to memorize it and teach from a static memory, but to have an ongoing dynamic experience of God and the steadfastness to keep that channel open? Those who know him well see this day after day, in the minutiae, in how he trains his team, in his long term vision and short-term interests, and perhaps most notably, in his willingness to stay the course despite being grossly misunderstood.
Reputation:
At first glance, Bentinho is a contentious and vibrant spiritual teacher with a controversial reputation and an inimitable edge; someone easy to admire or reject. A rock-climbing, golf-playing, weight-lifting Amsterdam native with a sense of humor and tight-knit team; a young, prolific speaker with a sizable following and a distinctly masculine brand. Certainly not your typical guru or sage.
But he is clearly connected to something essential and pristine. Even the staunchest of critics can’t deny the authenticity and refinement of his message. He is hard to pin down, unpredictable, and irreverent, yet indisputably genuine and razor-sharp. Those with some degree of subtle sensitivity have no trouble recognizing Bentinho’s state, even if they don’t like his cigar-smoking or are rattled by his politically incorrect jokes.
His taboo-busting antics and non-dogmatic approach to spirituality are all part of his teaching. He has a knack for exposing and uprooting the unexamined opinions and deeply-held beliefs that limit people’s ability to think freely and grow.
His close friends and teammates don’t just take his word for it—he has earned their trust and loyalty. Over the years they have enjoyed verifying his true constitution by questioning him and persisting in their inquiry until they are satisfied (something Bentinho insists on and appreciates). Those who don’t question him even when they disagree often go through a phase of blaming him for their discomfort or projecting an image of distorted authority onto Bentinho. Once someone takes ownership of their experience, however, and brings their concerns to the table with openness and a willingness to see something they don’t expect, a breakthrough to an even deeper remembrance of their innate freedom (and a recognition of Bentinho’s consistently generous intent) is inevitable.
These misinterpretations about his behavior and ensuing criticism have been a steady feature of Bentinho’s teaching career. At one point he even contemplated manually overriding his guidance and acting in a way that might reduce the chances of triggering people into insecurity and blame. But that choice—no matter how much personal relief it might provide—would lack honor and be inconsistent with his commitment. What he and his team have discovered over the years is that despite intermittent backlash, his contentious reputation has been a ‘net-positive.’ It not only challenges his students to discern quiet wisdom from loud vilification—thereby training them to be trustworthy and discriminating free agents in all their endeavors, it has also invited his team into increasingly higher paradigms of unity and competence. These upgrades have been undeniable. Some might even say it is evidence that indeed, everything Bentinho does comes from (and serves) his intention to ignite global awakening.
Teachings:
Bentinho’s teachings guide seekers into the same recognition of Source and subsequent devotion to service and mission-orientation that Bentinho embodies. Not only does he teach self-realization with unprecedented clarity and efficiency, he also teaches the more confronting work of becoming honorable: purifying your character of all selfish intent and sourcing your life directly from the divine.
His teachings center around three main disciplines: Self-realization, empowerment, and being of service to others.
Self-realization (or enlightenment) is the non-dual recognition of yourself as the source of all that is. Many teachers and lineages offer long, complex and indirect routes to ultimate self-knowledge. Bentinho has painstakingly studied and practiced (and realized) the best of what has been taught before him and produced a precise and accessible map to The Absolute.
Empowerment is the relative work of aligning your life and personal expression with your calling; becoming a pure channel of the true intention for your life. The topic of empowerment contains many subtopics, such as honor, mission-constitution, vibrational intelligence, discipline, and living a life of integrity. Bentinho has also referred to this topic as “ascension”— where enlightenment is the realization of your Self as the One Infinite Creator, ascension is the embodiment of that realization; the gradual balancing and refinement of your personality, mind, lifestyle and focus so that God can move through you—more and more as you.
Service-to-Others describes an orientation toward being generous, loving, and positive, as opposed to selfish, consuming and harmful. The work of purifying your intent and action in service to others is endless and increasingly subtle.
“Looking back on my own past journey as a seeker and remembering the many struggles, the clouded mind, the confounding plethora of spiritual instructions, the many paths to choose from which often seemed to contradict each other, and the general state of confusion that was present in my mental and emotional bodies as a spiritual seeker, I almost wish I could deliver everything that I discovered and distilled today to that younger seeker version of myself.
I say “almost” because I do appreciate the richness which was ultimately extracted from such a complex, struggling journey and I see that it was necessary for my role as a teacher. However, it undoubtedly would have saved me years of misguided seeking and useless practices had I known then what is so clear and complete to me today.
Thus, I empathize with the die-hard spiritual seeker who desires liberation and absolute clarity. On behalf of all those who seek (and don’t we all?), I hope that one day this type of complete clarity reaches all 8 billion human seekers.”
— Bentinho
In addition to his teaching role—and perhaps more impactful—is his hands-on leadership. Not only does he create courses, videos and retreats for individuals to consume and break through at their own pace; he also invests in a growing community and leads a tight-knit team. He said recently—after plenty of trial and error, fallouts and lessons-learned—that the unity, clarity and balance of his current team could be considered one of his greatest accomplishments.
“Bentinho was my guide long before my awakening and still is. I thank his teachings from the bottom of my heart for the clarity with which they allowed me to understand my own truth through all obstacles and struggles.”
— Nadine
Future:
We are entering a climactic time for our species. Disparate cultures on different continents are becoming globalized thanks to modern technology and social media. Profit-driven algorithms polarize us more than ever before, giving fear-mongers and populists disproportionate influence. Genuine truth-telling is a rarity (and less lucrative than sensationalism), which reinforces echo-chambers of every kind.
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is beginning to do more than hint at its awesome and formidable potential, political disputes and bureaucratic conflicts have scarier implications than they used to, the climate might be at some sort of tipping point, and it seems possible the human race will become an interplanetary species.
It’s possible that history is merely repeating itself. Perhaps we’re on the tail end of an enlightenment age—squeezing the last drops of juice out of our expansion before we decline like civilizations before.
But it's also possible that this climactic moment is a unique one; a long awaited transition. It’s possible that this time, humanity will break through the ceiling of a predictable cycle. It’s possible that this time we have the perfect mix—of advanced technology, an exasperated populace, and most importantly: a rise in consciousness—to transcend the pattern and evolve.
If we hope to realize that potential, balanced, competent, high-vibrational leadership will be imperative. Not only those with specialized expertise or political connections—but self-understanding leaders with masterful discernment and the ability to see without bias, unify complex perspectives, uplift, empower, and leave more balanced leaders in their wake.
That’s where people like Bentinho come in. People with a worthwhile vision for humanity and the constitution to see it through.
Bentinho’s unified approach to spirituality—his embodied synthesis of the greatest teachings of all levels—is an example of his capacity to have a macrocosmic view without falling for limited perspectives, dogma, or static principles. The ability to hold many views at once and sift through them for merit without personal attachment is a quality today’s leaders need.
This impending climax is an opportunity.
If we want to seize it, let us challenge ourselves to recognize and support worthy leadership.
For almost 15 years, Bentinho and his team hosted programs, courses, and international retreats guiding hundreds of thousands of individuals on their path of self-discovery. Now his focus has shifted toward the students of Massaro University. By cultivating a dedicated, advanced group of sincere seekers and aspiring leaders, Bentinho aims to foster a network of enlightened leaders who share the mission to ignite global awakening.
If you’d like to get your toes wet and discover your own potential as a free agent and balanced leader during this planet-wide shift in consciousness—join Massaro University.