Perhaps this has happened to you…You search the web for a site on spirituality or a particular flavour of it and begin peeking at the results. You read through the front page, click on the links, it seems like something you agree with or find curious. You read on and let your mind wander as breadcrumbs of someone or some group’s wisdom illuminates your own life path. You click a little more and the enlightenment you were seeking finally comes to a climax. The wheels screech…
The light you find is not trying to illuminate your mind, perhaps at least not at first; it was a beam of light aimed at your wallet. The website you just wasted a few minutes or more of your time was nothing but an infomercial! A teaser, like a movie trailer showing you the best parts of an upcoming film that tempts you to take that afternoon or evening to go see. Likewise, perhaps you buy in to the website; purchase that e-book or weekly class sent to your e-mail’s inbox only to conclude, like a movie trailer, the best parts were only in the teasing trailer. Caveat Emptor!
In spite of being an austere atheist, I find the urge to quote a bit from the bible about “rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is God’s.” Although the internet is hardly a temple that quote’s context is set in; it does steer towards a similar point in regard to what should be free from the enterprising way of society. What is legitimately a product for sale and what should be deemed sacred for the proverbial temple?
This issue is compounded by our easy to exchange information age that has prompted debate and legislation that takes on copyright and idea ownership to new levels. Whilst that endeavour has come short of copyrighting the very letters of the alphabet; our pursuit for profit is the steam that drives the issue. Copyright in itself could be for another post but the relevant concept here is what should we profit from?
In a discussion I had recently on paying for “wisdom,” I was confronted with a challenge to answer for compensating for hours of work and preparation. I blurted out “stewardship.” Wisdom should be given as it should be received; freely. That can only be done in the caring domain of stewardship. Money is an unfortunate discrepancy in our society, its consequences have caused vast inequalities in the social order for sure; however, to each rich or poor we are equal parts in this mystery we call being. Money should not be a toll or tool to bridge the mind with any spiritual truth or insight about existence and our place in it.
This blog happens to be another incarnation of my own attempt to share my own wisdom; I have never stepped into any of the endeavours related to it enticed by monetary gain. For me this is a matter of giving back to the universe what it has given me. The universe never charged me to look at the stars, a fee to awe at a sunset or a bill to contemplate them both and my place in it. Spirituality is a subject of the utmost personal and subjective affair. It may even have the same source, but, for every one that it is received, spiritual wisdoms becomes something distinct and the value for it will also be unique. Spirituality therefore has a value after it is received and as a consequence it can’t be something that has a price tag prior to purchase.
Am I naïve to the need for financial support in sustaining a person or group’s existence? No. I understand too well because of the way the world works money may or will have to be an issue even in stewardship. Here again, stewardship can be applied as a reciprocal gift but never obligated; to give in return freely and per the sum one can afford. To do anything else, to allow for anything else would require some bureaucratic method; have we not structured the world enough? The universe is free to look at and so should sharing what we hear from it.
Journey in Unison
