Welcome!! I think I’ll begin the “journey” posts with an intro I posted on ETSY in 2012 when I opened my first shop with them.
But first a note about the photo of the first card of the tarot, “The Fool.” It represents the beginning of the journey, a step into the unknown. At least it was that for me.
So, here is a somewhat redacted version of my 2012 ETSY intro. post:
I’m known as Bennett, my given name, and as Gyanarthi, a spiritual name given to me by Osho. Osho was an enlightened master from India who was known for a long time as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
GyanarthiBooks features items from the brick and mortar bookshops that I’ve had, gem/mineral shows that I’ve worked in, jewelry that I’ve made, and things I’ve collected over the years.
Unlike many sellers, I’m not looking to get a start in life, create a brand, or expand into a larger operation. I think that’s really fine, and I remember being excited about the future when I was starting my first bookshop – but it was a long time ago – 1968 actually. But things are different now.
I’ve been in the retail business now for over 50 years. I’ve learned to appreciate the notion of “small is beautiful.”
Actually, I think I was born to that notion. I wasn’t very old when I realized I had no place in the world I grew up in. Middle class values never made sense to me. I didn’t want a big car or house or a lot of money. So, sometime around my 24th year, I left all that and took to wandering. I turned on, tuned in, dropped out – and began a life-long process of breaking the chains of resistance to becoming my Self. I began learning to act from my heart and how to intuit my inner voice and follow it. It’s been a long and fruitful journey. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I wandered for a bit and wound up in San Francisco in 1966… no idea why I went there… But I soon found a little neighborhood called Haight Ashbury, soon to be the birthplace of the “hippies.” The way we described it was – “Haight is Love”… and so it was…
In 1968, I returned to my birth home and opened one of the first of the new wave of metaphysical bookshops on the East Coast, the Aquarian Age Bookstore… slow going at first, then the musical, “Hair,” happened on Broadway… “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius” was on everyone’s lips… and we were off and running…
The shop closed in 1980. I wandered for a bit, and went to Oregon to be with my teacher, Osho.
I’ve had a couple other bookstores in my day – New World Trading Co. in Ventura, California, one in Florida, and sold books via the Tom Folio book co-op online.
My interests have always been wide ranging, and my life would revolve around them. My interest in books, for instance, was more about sharing the information that can help us wake up to our greater reality. The world of commerce – buying and selling – by itself, doesn’t interest me at all.
The last real-world shop I had was called The White Cloud, Gainesville Florida – it offered books, gems, minerals and collectibles. It closed in 1992 when I accepted a job counseling in a community drug treatment center.
I never thought I would use my M.A. in Psychology, but it ultimately led to 12 years working in the state prison system. I started as a therapist, and then moved to administration and program management. Mental health and substance abuse treatment in the prisons (and in the community) suffered tremendous cutbacks in the late 90’s and onward, and my position was no exception.
I retired in 2003. In my head I was retired, but in the real world I was just unemployed –and, as I soon found out, unemployable. Too old and too ornery, I guess. Unfortunately, none of my work experiences netted much money… and Social Security didn’t cut it… So, when a friend told me about the ETSY community, the peddler in me surfaced to save the day.
Etsy as a community was wonderful for many years, but it’s become an impersonal marketplace like Amazon or Ebay… and, for me, not so good.
