Donation

Greetings all,

I have to rant about this topic of Donation. I was in a meetup group and the guy was running a meditation group and he advertised in other places. Typically with meetups, I think the site is geared more for socializing but some people use it to promote their own services, which I am okay with to some degree.

I think meditation groups should be free and if you run them, it should be by pure donation. Most people who run a group, there is a monthly fee and usually some charge a small fee and the rest goes to charity.

Now I have been to one of his concerts as he had meetups for sound meditation and he is a musician as well and occasionally performs. For the meetups and for the concert, they write 'a suggested donation of $10'. For a meetup he just writes on the site the suggested donation. I think $10 is much too much for a meditation group. It's not so bad for an hour concert. Usually people charge a toonie every few events. As well, I feel if I am meditating in a group, I as a meditator am helping the people in the group because I have read that when you meditate in a group, we essentially are helping each other out because some of us are clearer then others in certain areas and I may be blocked in one area and for another, that area might be clear so by being in a group with them, it helps me and vice versa. I feel it is a very personal and co-operative experience. I understand there may be costs but sometimes I think the cost is a little too much

Anyways, the point is making a donation is a free deed and you should not tell people how much they should be donated, because then it no longer becomes a donation. You are telling me what to pay and acting like a retailer!

I've been reading a book called Predictably Irrational and the writer/economist had some interesting concepts. One that I enjoyed learning about was that people would rather do something for free then to do it on a reduced fee. If I wasn't told how much money I should be donating, maybe I'd offer more and maybe they'd collect more.

I feel guilty on some degree since I wind up not paying the suggested donation and it is a turn off and demotivates me. The guy hasn't had any meetups lately but I haven't wanted to go simply because I don't like the idea of being told how much I should pay as a donation.

Suggested Donation is an illusory term!