Sacred Work and Money

We have heard the argument recycled, ad nauseum, that if you do not charge "big bucks" for your work in spirituality, Americans will not value or appreciate it!

But I know hundreds of Americans, and also, people from many other countries, who have proved this airy speculation dead wrong! Some of the most appreciative, and spiritual, people on our planet cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars on their "spiritual health."

Nor has anyone the right to demand that the poor take bread from their children's mouths. This argument about money we have found to be nothing more than a very thin, transparent rationalization to justify greed! So-called "spiritual teachers" are by no means "beyond" greed. Nor are they above resentment, envy, competition, etc. They have come to view spirituality as a "competitive business," and they seethingly resent anyone who does the good public work for free!

But beyond all psychosocial considerations, the real spiritual teacher must consider carefully the pattern of her role-models, the very best: Did Jesus, Patanjali, Kwan Yin, Al Arabi, Solomon, or the Buddha ever set up a "toll-booth" to collect money for their teachings? I don't think so; if they did receive donations, they were just that-- voluntary donations, not elicited fees, charges, or payment for spiritual sharings.

No, these great teachers never acted for money or profit. They acted solely out of Love for the people. To suggest that they should have done otherwise degrades their noble missions and ministries. So, Love Ministries, Inc. has no intention of following the cults, and trying to drain the people out of all the money that the "teachers" can get their grimy little hands on!

This is clearly unspiritual, even antispiritual. In ancient days, the Jewish spiritual people recognized the dangers of too much money, or of "selling" the sacred. So, in their pantheon, they had a "demon of gold." His name was "Mammon," and that is why Jesus said, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon." If the choice is between serving Love, and serving a demon-- and it is-- we will always choose to follow the Lord of Love, in both words and example.

Also, when Jesus threw the money-changers from the temple, the conflict was over this very issue: Is it ever justifiable to charge a "reasonable" price for spiritual treasures? Jesus appeared to be giving a strong, sound "negative."

Not to be fanatics or extremists, we do not condemn those ministries who do charge for their work. But, as far as it is possible (we are poor), we have embraced it as a policy never to charge for our educational spiritual work. This cannot include expensive publishing, but it does include public lectures, personal visits, personal counseling, public seminars, audio-tapes, cd's, telephone-work, email-work, and all the other aspects of our educational ministries. These are all done for solely Love-donations. People donate whatever they can afford, often, nothing at all.