Hello Friends at Glorian,
Hope God is keeping all happy and healthy! I do not feel that my heart is in the right place when I give money to Glorian. This is not to say that it should not be done, but rather that the effects of the tithe will be better used if I do it correctly, with the correct psychological state.
I am aware of the information on https://glorian.org/give/donate. It really shook me up, when I recently re-read it. And the beautiful artwork on that background of the page has actually made the biggest difference in supplementing my sincerity, but I do not know where to go from here.
Really, I have not "donated" because the money that we (my family) has saved from buying a Berkey Water Filter, as opposed to bottled water, as casually recommended in the lecture https://glorian.org/learn/courses-and-lectures/healthy-spirituality/water, is actually more than or about the same as we have given to Glorian. Fellow students reading this post, I strongly recommend listening to that lecture. This is not an advertisement.
Also, I have a, let's say, "genetic predisposition" to issues with tithing.
We are currently giving more money to Glorian, but it feels like I am just throwing money at you to satisfy my conscience. That may sound harsh, but it is the only way that I know how say it.
The only other thing that comes to mind is a line from Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, with Sir Ben Kingsley, "India has many men with too much wealth. And it is their privilege to nourish the effort of the few who can raise India from servitude and apathy." I am not sure how that exactly applies, but it feels relevant and relatable.
I feel numb and cold-hearted when donating over the past few days. If you could help me out with this issue, I would much appreciate it. Be well.
Sincerely,
Adam
Hope God is keeping all happy and healthy! I do not feel that my heart is in the right place when I give money to Glorian. This is not to say that it should not be done, but rather that the effects of the tithe will be better used if I do it correctly, with the correct psychological state.
I am aware of the information on https://glorian.org/give/donate. It really shook me up, when I recently re-read it. And the beautiful artwork on that background of the page has actually made the biggest difference in supplementing my sincerity, but I do not know where to go from here.
Really, I have not "donated" because the money that we (my family) has saved from buying a Berkey Water Filter, as opposed to bottled water, as casually recommended in the lecture https://glorian.org/learn/courses-and-lectures/healthy-spirituality/water, is actually more than or about the same as we have given to Glorian. Fellow students reading this post, I strongly recommend listening to that lecture. This is not an advertisement.
Also, I have a, let's say, "genetic predisposition" to issues with tithing.
We are currently giving more money to Glorian, but it feels like I am just throwing money at you to satisfy my conscience. That may sound harsh, but it is the only way that I know how say it.
The only other thing that comes to mind is a line from Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, with Sir Ben Kingsley, "India has many men with too much wealth. And it is their privilege to nourish the effort of the few who can raise India from servitude and apathy." I am not sure how that exactly applies, but it feels relevant and relatable.
I feel numb and cold-hearted when donating over the past few days. If you could help me out with this issue, I would much appreciate it. Be well.
Sincerely,
Adam
Accepted Answer
There are many ways to give, but the best is with gratitude, comprehension, and conscious love.
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little of the much which they have—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.
It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.
You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.
And you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.
—Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet: On Giving
For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought. -Bayazid al-Bastami
Accepted Answer
There are many ways to give, but the best is with gratitude, comprehension, and conscious love.
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little of the much which they have—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.
It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.
You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.
And you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.
—Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet: On Giving
For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought. -Bayazid al-Bastami
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