I see myself as a "Modern Magician." I've studied many esoteric tomes and learned many practical incantations for making change happen as a A Response to Bill Harris
Bill Harris, founder of Centerpointe and Holosync binaural beat meditation CDs, recently posted a blog on whether meditation and Holosync resolve shadow material.
I responded with this comment, which seemed to anger Mr. Harris, especially my suggestion that there might be a problem with “selling spirituality for high prices with pushy marketing amongst those who are also customers of Centerpointe, Integral Life, Genpo Roshi, etc.” He replied in the same comment, which again you can read here.
Since I’m not sure if he’ll post my next comment in reply to his response (all comments on his blog are moderated), I decided to post it here on my personal blog:
9 months agoBill,
I was not suggesting that there is no way to charge money for things that could accord with spiritual principles, and I was not suggesting anything about your shadow or anyone else’s. This was not a personal attack–sorry if it came off that way to you. My writing seemed to have stirred anger in you, and that was not my intent. I apologize.
What I was suggesting is that personal work–whether meditation, self-help, personal development, etc.–does not necessarily resolve *our* ongoing discussions of culture, economics, and politics–how to live together, whether or not or how much to charge for spiritual products and services, how to structure socio-economic conditions, etc. Meditation and shadow work won’t necessarily resolve issues money any more than of abortion, gay marriage, etc., in my opinion, although they can help to have a more sane and equanimous public debate!
I do have certain opinions about marketing and culture however, and enjoy the ongoing dialogue. I consider your response to my comment part of this public dialogue, and appreciate your opinions. I think selling spirituality is an enormous problem, especially at high prices and for the personal financial benefit of the teacher. I do not see things as black and white, selling for high prices or giving everything away for free. There are many models that walk a middle path with money and do so fairly successfully. S.N. Goenka has proven a dana-based model for retreats, and Insight Meditation Society a fee-based model. Jack Kornfield seems to make a reasonable living from books and psychotherapy clients. I have no objections to any of these models, albeit there is still ongoing public debate even about these organizations and ways of serving. There are other concerns with the sale of spirituality discussed regularly, including selling something that cannot be given to anyone else and the commodification of the sacred, but I won’t get into those issues here.
I think charging for spiritual services is not necessarily more of a problem than in business generally, except that spiritual teachers are seen as role models for enlightened action (but so are CEOs), and therefore amassing enormous personal wealth in particular seems out of place according to my values and what I’d like to see in a harmonious and peaceful society.
I recognize that this view is not shared by all people, obviously, which is why personal growth and meditation won’t resolve the ongoing dialogue on the subject, as it is necessarily collective, cultural, social, and economic. This is my larger point, not to try and convince you of any specific position nor attack you personally for holding a different view than me! :)
You seem to indicate in your reply that debates such as these are a matter of personal shadow material and could be resolved by doing personal shadow work on money. While I think such work is helpful, I disagree that personal work will solve any collective social and economic problems, for the concern is not my personal relationship with money, but *our* *collective* relationship with money and the structures of society. This is an enormous shadow of our individualistic Western culture that tends to be culture-blind as many cultural critics have pointed out.
That said, the opinion of nearly everyone I know who’s had contact with Centerpointe’s marketing has ranged from “they are relentless” to “they are obnoxious” to “they are seriously overpriced.” That was my experience too as a customer of your company, and of other companies that use a similar school of marketing. Just some feedback for you–do with it as you’d like.
Respectfully Yours,
~Duff
