Theos-Talk Archives (May 1997 Message tl00389)

At 05:46 PM 5/25/97 -0400, K. Paul Johnson wrote:
>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."
>

Let me add my 2 cents worth. Even if I have spent years and a lot of effort
(which can be measured by time x hourly rate) and have found or learnt
something (especially spiritual) which I think can help even a singly human
being, I feel it is my responsibility not to charge anything. May be I am
foolish in this day and age when everything costs money.



...............doss