Theos-Talk Archives (May 1997 Message tl00385)

Tom wrote that a person's finances are a rough measure of
society's debt to him/her.  I'd say the opposite: the wealthy
are those who have the greatest debt to society.  Many of them
recognize this, which is the whole point of foundations.

As to the question of why not to charge: this is something that
you either "get" or you don't, it seems.  But JRC approaches
the key issue, which is that everything that one has received
for free in life obliges one to pass that on for free. Having
never been charged by anyone for learning Theosophy, I feel
morally obliged to pass on anything I have learned without
charge.

There is a whole class of New Age commercialists who charge
fees for a panoply of services.  I won't judge them, but also
refuse to imitate them or take my chances on getting into the
same karmic situation.  For example, I do astrology, have done
charts for dozens of people, and would die before charging for it.
Why?  When you charge money, you are saying in effect: "This is
valuable, this is reliable, I guarantee it."  When you do it
for free, you are saying, "I hope this helps, but want you to
take it with a large grain of salt."