When I was a kid (teenager) in central Queensland in the 1970s and as a young adult in the 80s, I was fortunate to come across a book exchange that had some fantastic books on psychic and spiritual matters, and also to come across others of, to use an old phrase, “like mind” - people who shared my interest in spirituality and the use of psychic abilities for spiritual purposes.
One such person was a member of what was then called “the Brotherhood of Light” (BoL), now known as “the Church of Light” (CoL). He had some specific information that I wanted, which was a breathing exercise to aid in conscious astral travelling (or, given the descriptions, possibly conscious etheric travel), but would only share that with me if I joined the BoL.
I was OK with that in principle, but they wanted me to literally tithe - donate 10% of my income to them.
I couldn’t afford to do that, but, even if I had been able to, I was annoyed at the avarice it showed, and said “no” (just “no”, not “no thanks”).
(The CoL, I understand, no longer insists on that, so perhaps others also objected and they realised they were harming themselves. Their information is more accessible, but the group seems to be outmoded - e.g., binary polarities.)
The main thing is: it was my first example of money being a barrier to accessing knowledge - of any sort, let alone spiritual/psychic.
I studied a few years later at a group in Melbourne in the 80s - and I did indeed learn and grow a great deal, but they also charged a great deal for their lessons, and that had a long term adverse impact on my life - to the extent that I think I should have left earlier.
Leaving was definitely the right thing to do, as:
(a) they made no bones about the fact that I was viewed as cannon fodder, and
(b) they were transphobic.
In the early 2000s I had another major psychic/religious learning experience - one which, I am relieved to say, did not involve money as a barrier, but did require membership and some payment for access to knowledge.
Later, a spin off from that group removed the financial barrier to knowledge entirely.
Looking back at that life experience, I have concluded that:
- money as a barrier to knowledge is a great and unrequited evil.
This is why I have run workshops at basically break even costs, and put so much of what I know up on my blogs. I often tell people I am under a geas not to charge for healing and other spiritual services, but the simple truth is I consider most of the charges people impose to be spiritually wrong.
When the prices are high enough to stop poor people accessing that knowledge, they are immoral and contribute to inequity/inequality in society, and, in my opinion, possibly even perpetuate the evil of poverty; - traditional tests before acceptance were about
(i) good - from a spiritual point of view - character (i.e., ethical, and so unlikely to misuse/abuse knowledge), and
(ii) trustworthiness - which, in eras when many practices were illegal (punishable by death, in some eras), was necessary for everyone’s safety.
A lot of the arrogant hoity toity attitudes today about secrecy reflect, IMO:
(1) those PAST eras of danger to life (although that still exists in some parts of the world), and
(2) current arrogance / desire to lord it over others / addiction to being a drama queen - all of which is, spiritually, utterly contemptible.
The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (based on the hermetic tradition precedent, not the right wing political rat bags in Greece who have misappropriated another spiritual term for their perversions) had a much healthier attitude towards this, with their material acknowledge that the need for secrecy in view of discriminatory laws no longer existed. (It is a pity that group ended, IMO.)
There is some knowledge which is potentially dangerous - or inappropriate for some levels of development, but the appropriate control of that must be based on character and ability, NOT how rich one is.
So ... I suggest that, if your life becomes more fortunate in some way, you take care to remember what it was like before that, and have sympathy and compassion - and take practical actions to help - those who are still less fortunate.
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
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Finally, remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, and to mind our Mӕgan.
