While browsing books at Amazon it was staggering the number of books, teachers and teachings that abound. Some of the prices of the books amazed as well. Tracking down titles and authors to websites was even more astounding. There are so many self-proclaimed conscious and even super conscious teachers. Each of them claiming to represent the true way, the fastest way, the easiest way, the best way. Some offer health while others focus on riches and still others will help you find your soul mate or the love you’ve always wanted. There were even a few who would guide you to higher states of consciousness, for a price. That’s what triggered this essay. Everybody was selling something.

One of my first teachers told me, Teach the truth and the people will take care of you. That was forty years ago. I would amend his advice by exchanging one word for another. I would replace people with Universe. Teach the truth and the Universe will take care of you. To be precise I would also say that if you seek the truth the Universe will take care of you. What does it mean to be taken care of by the Universe? Does it mean you will always be healthy? That you will be wealthy and never want for any material thing? Does it mean you will find someone who loves you as you think you deserve to be loved? That’s not what my teacher meant when he said it. Those things are not what it means to me and it’s not what I mean when I say it.

In forty years I have never sold my services. When I was a student I sold one article to a magazine as well as a few photos. Apart from that I have never set a price on what I do. Not only did my teacher teach me well but I learned well the lesson he shared. It was the truth and that truth has been personally verified over the course of forty years. If it is the truth it will work for anyone who applies it properly. Aye, therein lies the rub. There are genuine Spiritual teachers. There are also a larger number of spiritual whores, just as there have been for thousands of years. Being a whore is a two way street. It wouldn’t be possible if someone wasn’t buying. Why do spiritual whores write books that don’t need to be written, fabricate teachings and plagiarize others? Money and fame, which leads to money.

People in our world need money to live. It’s a fact of life. Mixing money and spiritual matters isn’t a bad thing but it is a thing that is badly done by most. If people were real with themselves the world would be more real to them. Because we are so full of self-emotions we are not real with ourselves and so we are taken in by others who are not real with us. U.S. Treasury agents are trained to spot counterfeit currency. They are not trained with phony money but with the genuine article. They know the real so well they are able to spot the counterfeit more easily. It’s a method based on a spiritual principle. Know the truth and the truth will make you free. Free from what? Free from what is not truth. When people seek the truth they are taken care of by the Universe and they, in turn, take care of the people who teach the truth. Self-seekers end up being little more than spiritual johns for spiritual whores.