Why is spirituality so expensive?

[carlhungis]

Why is it that if a person wants to learn about Spirituality/Meditation/Yoga..... that they have to be willing to spend hundreds of dollars to find out?

I have been looking into these topics for a while now and aside from free forum's (thank you to all of the contributors on here) and the occasional free ebook here and there, it is very difficult to find anyone who will teach you anything for free, or even low cost for that matter.

It really seems that there is only so much that you can learn from a book.  Learning from someone "hands on" seems needed, and traditionally it has always been the case.  Perhaps I am confused, but I don't remember any Guru's charging an arm and a leg to teach people their yoga back in the day.  Living up in a cave in a mountain, I guess I wonder what they would do with the money.....

I find these organizations in my local area and they all have outrageous fee's attached to them.  I mean really, is that what it is all about?  It just seems so far from the essence of what it is supposed to be about.  It borders on exploitation IMHO.  It is hard for me to see it as anything more than profiting on the hope and dreams of people.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

[Principle]

Well the cost of living is expensive, so anyone who teaches for a living would need to charge an arm and a leg. Although I do not agree to this, It is what it is.

However, Spirituality is a personal journey towards Enlightenment, you don't need anyone you can merely experiement and learn things on your own, and with enough reading material on the subject you'd be fine.

Sure there are benefits to having one on one sessions with 'teachers / masters / gurus' but then they shouldn't charge if they truely have YOU and not themselves in their best intrests.

[Stookie]

There's a possibility that a teacher or class could help speed up the process, but you also do it on your own. What I've found is that once you get the information, you have to put it into practice. There is more than enough free information on the internet alone to enable a person to be able to project on their own.

Learning from someone "hands on" seems needed, and traditionally it has always been the case.

I don't think that's the case anymore. Earlier in history these things were kept secret and you had to join some secret society or monastary to learn it, but now the information is given freely.

Rudolph Stiener wrote tons of books and gave tons of lectures to enable a person to be able to do this on thier own free time without a teacher.

I remember when I would read and read and read, but not get anywhere, so I was constantly on the search for "the book" that would have the secret information I needed to project. After a while I realised I had more than enough info to go on, I just wasn't putting in the dilligence, time, and practice it takes.

[DH]

There's a possibility that a teacher or class could help speed up the process, but you also do it on your own. What I've found is that once you get the information, you have to put it into practice. There is more than enough free information on the internet alone to enable a person to be able to project on their own.
I remember when I would read and read and read, but not get anywhere, so I was constantly on the search for "the book" that would have the secret information I needed to project. After a while I realised I had more than enough info to go on, I just wasn't putting in the dilligence, time, and practice it takes.

This has been my experience as well.  There are only a handful of truly life-changing ideas that pop up from generation to generation and culture to culture. 

If we took one great idea and worked with it for weeks or months (depending on what it is and where we are in our development), we would find spiritual growth by leaps and bounds.  This is something I learned from Joel S. Goldsmith, one of the great mystics and spiritual pioneers of of the 20th century. 

It does take diligence and self-discipline -- something I'm only average at accomplishing -- but when I have, the rewards have been life-changing.

Why is it that if a person wants to learn about Spirituality/Meditation/Yoga..... that they have to be willing to spend hundreds of dollars to find out?
I find these organizations in my local area and they all have outrageous fee's attached to them.  I mean really, is that what it is all about?  It just seems so far from the essence of what it is supposed to be about.  It borders on exploitation IMHO.  It is hard for me to see it as anything more than profiting on the hope and dreams of people.
Am I the only one who feels this way?

As far as the money goes, greed is a basic human malfunction.  Certainly someone who makes a living from teaching should be compensated.  But going beyond what is fair is, unfortunately, common whether it's a New Age guru and his workshops or a fundamentalist Christian preacher peddling books and "anointed hankies for healing."

IMHO, at the center of the Universe is Love -- a love that bids us to give away to bless others.  It's a pretty good deal actually, because whatever we give away comes back at some point to bless us, too.

Many spiritual masters have taught this.  Jesus is one great example: "If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you" (Luke 6:38).

Later he sent out his disciples to teach about the kingdom of God and manifest it through healing, and his instructions in Matthew 10:8 were, "Freely you have received -- freely give." 

Beware of those who would deny you truth simply because you can't pay.  They don't care about you, which would be the case if they were motivated by Divine Love.  They only care about themselves. 

Okay, I'm officially off of my soapbox!   The subject of greedy human leeches masking as spiritual advisers get my blood boiling!      I guess it's time to chill........... 

DH

[James S]

Hi all,

My perspective might seem a little biased here, because I work full time in a spiritual learning institute, but I thought it might be good to put across some views from those of us who are full time professional spiritual practitioners.

The spiritual "industry" is exactly like any other professional industry.

We have our reputable practitioners and we have our money focused charlatans. It's unfortunately the nature of the spiritual industry that these charlatans seem more prolific.

With regards to new age products, because science is still catching up with a lot of the theories and concepts used by spiritual / new-age retailers, there is an unfortunate number of product retailers that prey upon people's gullability, and promote their wares through the use of very flakey pseudoscience. As far as products are concerned, it's still very much a "fringe" industry, so many of the new-age products made are not manufactured through mainstream mass-production industries and their costs are a lot higher.

Where it comes to practitioners, remember that as with any service provider in any industry, you're paying for knowledge - the knowledge the practitioner has gained and the knowledge they impart.

Where this might seem unreasonable is where you end up dealing with a practitioner who is money focused, rather than service focused. Generally the former is working from a place of greed and a belief in the laws of scarcity or lack. Such practitioners will unscrupulously separate people from their money and offer little in the way of valued service.

The latter - service focused practitioners, are the ones that are doing the genuine work, and genuinely helping people find healing and direction in their lives. These practitioners work with the laws of abundance. They will not hesitate to help out a client who's struggling financially, and because they work with the laws of abundance, they know they'll receive compensation for their charity from a universe of infinite resources.

When it comes to a spiritual practitioner charging for their work, remember that they are (at least the genuine ones) trained, skilled and experienced professionals who are capable of providing people with real healing and life changing solutions. A good spiritual healer / counselor can provide far greater benefits than most contemporary counselors & psychiatrists, and usually for much less cost.

My institute offers healing services specially aimed at women who have suffered from abusive relationships. We've a number of clients who after spending about $500 for several spiritual healing sessions here have made far greater progress in regaining their physical, mental and emotional health than they did after spending literally thousands of dollars on contemporary counselors and psychiatrists.

We make most of our money from the spiritual courses we offer such as meditation, mediumship, manifestation, Tarot & Numerology, Reiki, crystal healing, past life regressions, etc.
What we're doing with all of these is imparting knowledge that people then use to either pass on to others, or put to use in their own lives to achieve much higher potentials in all areas of their life.
We've seen many people come through this institute and truly become masters of their lives, achieving love, success and happiness because of the knowledge and direction we've given them.

Bottom line - knowledge is valuable. We place a value on it and so those who come to us to learn also place a value on it.

Blessings,
James.

[carlhungis]

James -

I appreciate where you are coming from and thank you for the reply.  However, to me $500.00 is quite a bit of money.  While I realize that counselors and psychologists also cost a lot of money, the difference is that insurance will pay for counseling and psychiatric help, whereas they will not cover any sort of "spiritual guidance".  So I can visit a Psychiatrist for about 10 dollars, and a visit to you would cost me 500.

If I were to tell my wife that I just spent 500 dollars on spiritual counseling....let's just say it wouldn't go over well.  If I did it on a regular basis, I would probably end up divorced.  On the other hand, I could easily go to a psychiatrist 2 or 3 times a month without her batting an eye, since it would only be 20-30 dollars.

Also considering that the ratio of genuine / corrupt spiritual serivices out there is not very good, it is tough to feel like you know that your large sum of money will not be wasted.  To me, I have a deep rooted fear of being scammed and the thought of paying 500 dollars for something with no guarantee is not something that I am likely to sign up for.

So I guess that leaves me with teaching myself.  Which I realize can be done (Thank you to those that have replied encouraging me to do so), but I am the type of learner that learns better when shown a time or two.  Otherwise I spend a lot of time worried that I am doing things incorrectly.

Again, thank you for the responses.

[gillian]

Well I suppose until insurance companies include spiritual services more (which a few a doing in Australia) people will need to keep using the conventional choices.  Personally I feel good spending money on spiritual information and classes and donating more when I can.  I think its great that some practitioners are able to do full time what is most important to them in life and that I am contributing in my own way to this.  I've known many work colleagues in the past who would spend $150 or more on a night out drinking and do this once a week.  This was their R&R and yet they were reluctant to spend this on personal development or spiritual courses even while saying that these things were very important to them.

Practice comes first in my opinion, but I whenever I purchase an interesting product or attend a course, I always come out with a new angle or perspective.  The influence this has on my practice is sometimes only small, but even this will often affect my practice quite radically over the course of a year or so.  I'm not on a really tight budget, but I'm no Donald Trump either, but I do find that there is always room if I make room for purchases here and there.  Perhaps I need to stop going out for lunch for a while, or perhaps I need to make less mobile phone calls, but I can find a way to save what I need. 

Personally, when it comes down to it, the spiritual knowledge and practice that I've gained and used to enhance my life is priceless beyond compare to any other material items, luxuries or holidays that I have spent countless dollars on. 

[hugo]

Well I suppose until insurance companies include spiritual services more (which a few a doing in Australia) people will need to keep using the conventional choices.  Personally I feel good spending money on spiritual information and classes and donating more when I can.  I think its great that some practitioners are able to do full time what is most important to them in life and that I am contributing in my own way to this.  I've known many work colleagues in the past who would spend $150 or more on a night out drinking and do this once a week.  This was their R&R and yet they were reluctant to spend this on personal development or spiritual courses even while saying that these things were very important to them.

Practice comes first in my opinion, but I whenever I purchase an interesting product or attend a course, I always come out with a new angle or perspective.  The influence this has on my practice is sometimes only small, but even this will often affect my practice quite radically over the course of a year or so.  I'm not on a really tight budget, but I'm no Donald Trump either, but I do find that there is always room if I make room for purchases here and there.  Perhaps I need to stop going out for lunch for a while, or perhaps I need to make less mobile phone calls, but I can find a way to save what I need. 

Personally, when it comes down to it, the spiritual knowledge and practice that I've gained and used to enhance my life is priceless beyond compare to any other material items, luxuries or holidays that I have spent countless dollars on. 

I've probably spent $1000 dollars in my entire life on Spirituality - courses, books etc.  Now there have been years of my life where I bought crappy lunches at work which easily would have amounted to $30 - $60 a week.  That's $1500-3000 a year.  My brother spends that on his car a year, not to mention my wife's phone bill.  When I consider the things that I spend money on that don't really mean that much to me and weigh them up with spirituality - something that means a lot to me...spirituality has come out a bargain. 

I meet people from time to time and find it strange that they believe that spirituality should be free or cheap.  They seem to believe that they should have spiritual teachings and knowledge at their fingertips and that teachers should be begging to teach them.  Considering the amount of people who dabble for a while, don't put in the home practice or dedication and then give it all up I'm not surprised that teachers ask a price for their time.  That's not to say that I don't also respect teachers that do it for free.  I do.  But I also respect teachers who want to be able to do this full time and make a living.  Basically the only thing I have a problem with are the dodgy ones, but you find bad apples in any trade.

As to guru's not charging an arm or a leg to study in their cave:  These gurus from what I hear also were not just teaching Joe Blows off the street.  Getting into their cave supposedly required that they believed that you were extremely dedicated and committed.  Worlds apart from the weekend hobbyists who practice now and again.  Students of these gurus would also become basically servants.  So there was an exchange and it's probably one that many of these "I want it for free" people wouldn't be willing to play a part of.

I've seen the same thing in martial arts.  Students wanting to come, talking up their dedication and wanting to learn all the "secrets" and be the next Neo, the teacher gets them to stand in horse stance 20 minutes a day for a week and we never hear from them again.
     

[Stookie]

In my life, I spent about $100 for Gateway Wave I and have bought about 20 books or so (I use the library mostly), but when it comes down to it, all the progress I've made spiritually I've done on my own. I never took a class, never joined a group - just read books, and over the past 2 or 3 years, used the internet (99% this forum).

Sitting quietly, focusing inward, and silencing thoughts is the most simple, free, & direct way to spiritual knowledge sans a teacher.

Not that a teacher can't be helpful or faster or the real-deal, but it's very possible to progress without one if it can't be afforded. There's an abundance of good, free information available to get a person going.

[DH]

Sitting quietly, focusing inward, and silencing thoughts is the most simple, free, & direct way to spiritual knowledge sans a teacher.

Not that a teacher can't be helpful or faster or the real-deal, but it's very possible to progress without one if it can't be afforded. There's an abundance of good, free information available to get a person going.

Teachers and study materials can be very helpful to "prime the pump" but it's my own belief that the Infinite Mind of the Universe is in each one of us.   I think it is a matter of getting quiet and listening through meditation and being alert to the thoughts that pop up during the course of the day.  I sometimes speak to groups and I've found that my most helpful talks were those that came from trusting what came from within rather than depending mostly on outside sources.  Problem is, it takes time and dedication to learn to listen, and a lot of folks won't make the effort.  Sometimes I get in a hurry and I don't either.

DH

[bronzebow]

I've always been able to manage my own spiritual development to some degree or another, I'm not a member of any groups, but one day I decided to get over myself  and try out some classes that were a little different.    I definitely benefited from the specialized experience that these people had in their particular area and was able to bring this back to my own path.  I still do things my own way, because I'm a stubborn old fella, but I'm very appreciative of other specialists and what they can offer me now and will make it a point to jump in a different pool of knowledge with specialists at least twice a year.  Oh and as to the original topic, I've never seen the money thing as an issue. 

[MW]

People obviously have their costs to cover, as they are running a business just like other people, even if they are not doing it to become rich they still want to stay 'in the black'.  I spent maybe £160 on some remote viewing/remote influencing tapes to listen to and the spiritual boost i got from that was WAY above the money i paid for them, I've had a new sense of calm and energy awareness ever since and paying 10 times that amount would still be great value for money. I did a FREE online course in astral travel which worked -  - and there are loads of free ebooks and forums like this around so I would say that it isnt expensive at all. Go back to pre internet times and it would be a lot harder to get hold of this information so it would cost you more.