This posting written by Barbara Brodsky was part of our 2024 Year End Fundraising campaign, it bears repeating. A beautiful insight into the beginnings of Deep Spring Center:

This morning, I was reflecting back to 1989, to the first few months that six of us friends met twice a week with Aaron, each gathering focused on either meditation or spiritual inquiry.

We were asking, “who are we and why are we here on earth in these human bodies?”

With Aaron’s guidance, we were deepening in meditation to help us find the answers to these perennial questions within ourselves.

The group decided to hang a simple flyer in a local, small bookstore, “An invitation to spend an evening with Aaron.”

In the next weeks our group grew from 6 to 12 to 15 and beyond, as people started to come and to return each week. I remember one young man who came in the door looking uncertain and wary. At the evening’s end, as everyone was preparing to leave, he came to me with tears in his eyes and said, “I’ve come home.”

This is what we’ve endeavored to be for people, a safe home where each can explore their own spiritual essence and truth; and to discover and hone the tools to go deeper into that truth.

Those first years I handled everything in addition to channeling Aaron and teaching meditation: making sure the house was clean on our class nights, finding larger spaces to rent for meditation days, buying the tea, coffee and snacks we enjoyed during breaks, keeping the mailing lists, maintaining financial information, writing and assembling a monthly newsletter, caring for the transcripts from Aaron and putting his books together, and more.

In addition, I was still raising three children and attempting to earn my half of a living for our family though my sculpture, spending hours each week in my studio.

I was exhausted.

A few people who came every week approached me saying they wished to create a non-profit organization and board of directors, and several committees to take all the non-teaching work off my shoulders.

Was I open to that?

I accepted with great joy and relief.

With much work from these people, Deep Spring Center as a non-profit 501c3 organization was born. Now we had a paid managing director for the first time. We needed income to pay that salary.

With the board and growing sangha, we were having in three retreats a year. We needed people to serve on committees. Increasing numbers of people were coming; we needed a larger meeting space. Yes, clearly, we were serving a need.

We’re still serving that need; now our sangha spans almost every continent; Aaron’s books have been translated into many languages.

Our two amazing paid staff hold it all together. Board and volunteers make our outreach possible and help our programs come to life.

It amazes and awes me that after 36 years we’re still here, offering more and more of this beautiful Dharma of awakening wisdom and compassion.

You, all of you, are the ground for this work, these offerings. I know from your letters how meaningful it is to you.

The staff and technology take money. I’m actually sitting in the same office chair as 36 years ago, but I can no longer type out transcripts and mail them out via the Postal Service.

Maintaining our website takes expertise that’s far beyond my skills. We rent retreat centers; we work with book translators and publishers; and our loving volunteers continue to transcribe, to organize our modernized archives, which will be released in early 2025.

It takes our staff, technical support team and volunteers to do all the necessary work to keep Aaron’s teachings available and accessible

Please join us in these efforts.

Your dollars are vital to us and help pay the bills. Your volunteer energy is so important; we couldn’t possibly hire out everything.

And your love and spiritual work are the energy and dynamic that keeps this Deep Spring energy of compassion and wisdom flowing out into the world; so, we need that from you too.

Let’s celebrate 36 years of bringing Deep Spring Center and Aaron into the world and look forward to 40 years and 50 and beyond.

With love and gratitude to all of you,
Barbara