Talk, in order that I may see you.

—Socrates

Friends, I first introduced the Friendship Room a few weeks ago in my post about the gift economy and the additions to this website and what I am offering to the community on ThyMindOMan.com. I have now added some more features to this that I think will make it better.

The Friendship Room is a place where we can meet together virtually, one-on-one, face-to-face, so that we can talk about whatever is on your mind. I am a listening ear, one who has been down the path of faith crises, struggles with religion, difficulties trying to reconcile ideas about God, trying to understand life and reality, and I believe I have had some mystical awakenings that have given me insight into these areas, which is what I write about.

I want to help, to talk with you personally about struggles you may be having with religion, theology, doctrine, practice, or your search for God/Reality. Or maybe you just want to discuss some facet of spirituality, religion, mysticism, life, or some other subject. If you want to talk sports, I’m game, but I may not have much to say about that particular topic. Maybe you can teach me. 😉

The Friendship Room is simply where we can meet virtually online, via video, so that we can have conversations about these things; you can share with me, and I can share my insights with you, and we can grow in community and support one another as we walk down this road of life.

How much does it cost?

Nothing.

I offer all my time and support as a free gift to you as part of a gift economy. I won’t charge anything to talk with you. I don’t want money be a barrier to get to know you better, to discuss any struggles that you may be experiencing in your life, to share ideas with each other about spirituality and religion, or to even talk about the weather. I want to be here for you, and be your friend.

If after we meet you desire to give a gift to me, that is entirely up to you, and it is always what you choose to give. If you don’t feel like giving, that is ok too. Gifts are always a free-will offering, which is what makes them truly a “gift.” See my long-form post about that here.

How does it work?

This Friendship Room works in a similar way as the Meditation Room. You simply visit that page and you enter into the videoconference automatically (the first time your browser will ask you to grant permission to access your camera/mic). Since most conversations will be private, I can password-protect the room once you have entered it, so that we can talk just one-to-one.

Open Room Hours

If you would like to simply stop by and chat, I will be there in the Friendship Room every weekday from 12-1pm ET / 9-10am PT (you can convert to your timezone here). Just drop in and say “hi.” If you see that the room is password-protected, it is probably because I am already talking with someone else, and you may want to come back later, or schedule a time to talk below.

Schedule a time to talk

If you would like to meet with me on a particular day and time, please use the scheduler below:

Talk another way

If you would prefer to not talk via video face-to-face, for whatever reason, that is okay too. We can chat via Facebook Messenger, SMS text messages, instant message or chat, or email. Or if you live near me, we might be able to meet up in person in a coffee shop somewhere. I’m even willing to be your pen pal by “snail mail” postal mail, if you prefer that. Please contact me if you would like to talk in one of these other ways.

Group Discussions

We may also use this room for group discussions, if there are some who would like to get together online to talk about a particular topic. This makes it easy for us to meet up, and we can still password-protect the room if we choose, so only those who are invited may come in. Or we can leave the door open for any and all to join us. Please reach out to me if there is a particular subject that you think would be an interesting group discussion, and we can see about scheduling a time to meet up.

Summary

I hope that this will allow us to get to know each other better, to talk with each other, to become friends. I want to know you. I want to hear what you have to say. I want to hear your struggles. I want to hear your ideas. And I want to give any insight that I may have gleaned along the way that might be able to help you in your journey, in our journeys.

Let’s talk.