Make a one off donation as you feel inspired to do so, or click the ‘Make this a monthly donation’ and become a Patron supporting me on a regular basis.
For those who get involved at the ‘Patron level’ I hope to offer ‘fringe benefits’ such as early access to new content and live exclusive chat groups.
Another story; once upon a time, in most parts of the world, the role of the spiritual seeker was valued in most societies. The person committed to the spiritual life could take the form of many different roles, the aesthetic, the sadhu in India, the monk or nun, the wandering mendicant, the village shaman etc. Their role was valued, they brought insight and wisdom, giving guidance and support to the people in their communities, when they faced difficult times. In exchange for this, the community around them, would provide the basic necessities, food, clothing, accommodation, etc.. By providing these basic needs, it allowed the ‘holy man’ to go deeper into his own practise and search for self-knowledge, self-mastery, which in turn meant bringing greater clarity and wisdom to their community.
In many ways, this tradition has survived in the religious traditions of today. Priests, Rabbis, Imam’s and Brahmin’s are all performing this role, and being supported by their communities, usually with a paid salary. However, some of the deeper spiritual wisdom has been lost in today’s mainstream religions, and while there can be spiritually developed clergy, often joining a religious ministry is as much a career decision as it is a ‘holy calling’.
Becoming a clergy today, also means to be a states-person for the religion you represent, and to embody their doctrines. If your own spiritual path falls outside of mainstream religion, there is no other expression for this dynamic to work within (the exchange of spiritual work, against support from the community).
There is not much possibility, as there once was, in India for example, for any person to decide to leave the mainstream work-place, commit their life to the inner quest, and be supported in that pursuit by the society around them.
Our sense of ‘value’ to nourish that which is ‘spiritual’ has been consumed by a more individualist and materialistic outlook.
Through this website I hope to recreate a model where people genuinely called to spiritual practice can be supported by a wider community, and in a very capitalist way, the quality control will be determined by the product. If you see the value in the content, then please support it, in whatever way you feel able.
I have been practising meditation since 1995, I am a qualified yoga teacher, and completed courses in transpersonal psychology and Buddhist psychotherapy. For me, my spiritual path, is my life calling, and my practise has now matured to a point where I now feel ready to share, to impart, some of that experience to others. I do not align myself to any particular religion or spiritual tradition, or put another way, I feel in some way aligned to all traditions, so how can I hang my hat on just one. There is no ‘authority’ or lineage for my teachings, I hope this will come from the teachings themselves, their authenticity, and their value to others.
In Buddhism there has always been a tradition that the dharma, the teachings, should be given freely. In that spirit I hope to offer all the teachings on this site for free. This will include video talks, shorter vlogs, dialogue through the site with people interested in the subjects, and written work, which includes my books, ‘Powers of 9’ and ‘Was Abrahan a Brahmin?’, and other books that I haven’t fully completed.
In exchange, I ask that people support me and my family by making donations to the site. The more I receive in donations, the less I will have to work on other projects to bring in money. In turn, the more time I will have to evolve my own inner work, bringing better quality and quantity of content to the site and presence to our interactions.
I also propose one to one work with people, but at this stage I need to keep that in line with my counselling work, where I offer internet conferencing or telephone sessions for reasonable prices (see website www.richgreentherapy.com).
If you like what you see here, please join the community, and support the on-going process! Many thanks 🙂