Ethics

[Starman]

In the U.S. religious and spiritual organizations can get a tax exemption if they register as a 501(c)3, which gives them a nonprofit organization status, but that does not mean that an organization registered as “nonprofit” can not make a profit. It just means they are a service or charitable organization. But I don’t know if that tax exemption applies to the people who work at those organizations.

I also do free spiritual work as a volunteer; I teach meditation classes to veterans and family members effected by war, I facilitate a discussion group on death with a national organization called “Death Café.” Spirituality is a focus in both of these groups and I get no income from them. Of course, I do get other things from doing this, just like I get a non-monetary return sharing, consoling, and advising here on Spiritual Forums.

While I agree that God is the only teacher, as green1 has stated, lots of people who come to spirituality may have a religious background but no conscious spiritual connection. A lot of people start with an external teacher and then they move to their internal teacher. Some will stay with an external teacher lifelong. Spiritual teachers are human and therefore they are fallible; many are operating in this world from a place of duality.

In essence, I feel like every person on Earth is both a teacher and a student, because a good teacher has to be a good student. I am a former college professor, and yes I was paid very well for teaching college classes, but also my students were asked to submit Teacher Evaluations to my Dean on me every semester. Although I could not let my students evaluating me interfere with how I graded them. That in my opinion would also be unethical.

People do have the right to leave a spiritual teacher if they feel they are not getting their needs met with that teacher, regardless whether they are paying that teacher money or not.

[DaneA]

Gifts of money aside, I see money as a buffer between your life's labours and what you need to survive at what level of comfort you desire.
A worker offering services is giving their labour in exchange for the a portion of the payer's labours.
Whether the exchange is worthwhile is a different question. There are many scams about and many gullible who fall for them.

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ Starman & Green1 ~ valid points.

God alone is, the all there is, so all are teachers, life is a teacher. However, this recognition, is it lived, as in realised, breath by breath by the entity (us) so affirming? In the ultimate sense, we can always fall back on the specious argument that each soul is in their journey which we must respect* (*Buddha’s words on another thread, Q&A with Buddha in the channeling section) but to simplify, God’s energy is love and love is not a trade. Hence, in my view, any form of exploitation, emotional or financial, is ego-driven, not spirit-driven.

[Starman]

Unseeking Seeker, I embrace what you have said, but I also firmly believe in karma, or you reap what you sow. If I am going to scam someone, in my belief, the probability is great that my behavior will be returned to me in kind. We get from life, for the most part, what we put out into life, in my opinion.

Money has no value in an of itself; money is just paper which governments develop for its people to use for goods and services. But it has no intrinsic value. For a long time people used to barter for goods and services, trading this for that. Then gold, silver, and jewels, became the preferred currency. Today it is paper money. Paper money is also used to buy gold and silver.

In my opinion there are too many people who believe that their self worth depends on how much money they have. Howard Hughes was once considered the world’s richest person, and he was just a millionaire; today there is a tie for the world’s richest person between Elon Musk of Space-X, etc., and Jeff Bezos of Amazon; and they both have some one hundred billion dollars or more.

Soon the world’s richest person will be a trillionire. But in my opinion the only true wealth is spiritual wealth. When asked if they should pay taxes, Jesus replied “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” I feel it is unfortunate that this world does not have a better economic system then money; money creates have’s and have not’s.

But I will not say it is the root of all evil because good things can be done with money under our current system. Having money is better than not having it, but is your money controlling you or are you controlling it? There are so many Americans who are in debt, and the so-called “cost of living” keeps rising around the world. In my opinion there is a big difference between what we want and what we need.

God’s Speed

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ Starman ~ ah yes, karma. Inescapable, to spherically experience what ego or identity (feeling separate from source) sets into motion. When ego dissolves, karma ends.

Money is needed, no doubt about it. It should not be mixed up with sharing benedictions from God received with fellow souls, that’s what we are all saying here actually.