Space to BeWrite to John

Dāna / freely given

Giving comes first.

This work is offered in the spirit of dāna, the Pāli word for giving. I offer it freely because I want to protect the work from the ways money can distort how we meet one another.

No fee · No expected amountEnter the main Space to Be experience

What dāna means here

The work is given before anything is returned.

Dāna is often translated as giving or generosity. Here it describes a relationship in which the first six meetings are offered freely and stand complete in themselves.

There is no fee and no expected amount. The six meetings are not an introduction to something you must later buy, and a later gift does not retrospectively purchase the work.

This is not pay what you can, a sliding scale or a delayed invoice. The work is given first. Afterwards, if you choose to give, what you offer is received as a gift.

Why I work this way

To protect how we meet.

Money can shape attention, expectation and power, sometimes before either person has noticed. I want the work to begin somewhere freer.

What you give does not change the care I offer. Giving more does not buy more attention, and giving nothing does not diminish what has already been given.

The invitation comes after our sixth meeting. You can choose whether to give and what to give. If context would help, you can ask what others have given. I do not otherwise present a suggested amount.

Interdependence

A gift can still enter an exchange.

Freely given does not mean separate from relationship. It leaves room for generosity to arise without turning care into a product or obligation.

A gift may help the work continue and reach another person. It can acknowledge value, care and interdependence. Its meaning comes from being freely chosen, not from settling a debt.

How the six meetings work

Receive the work first.

Begin with a twenty-minute conversation. There is no obligation to continue and no financial decision to make before we meet.

Begin with a conversation