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Frequently Asked Questions
 

Why do you call yourself Joyouschee and Abundantlee?

The idea came from my co-founder, Abundantlee. His name is actually Lee but he added “Abundant” as an affirmation. I like the idea very much and so I adopted the word “Joyous” as my deepest intention in life is to find my own joy.

Why have you started Cosmic Lighthouse?

We started the magazine when Maitreya (channeled by Margaret McElroy) gave me the suggestion to start an online magazine with Lee in April 2007. We did not do it just because an ascended master said so, but because we recognize the need for such a magazine both in Singapore and worldwide. If you notice, most magazines do not carry channelings. Channeled materials are often on par, if not better.

I would also like to add that Maitreya had only mentioned one sentence about starting the magazine to me and we could have easily ignored it. Initially, we thought we would just do it for fun but somehow it just took off and became the highly regarded magazine it is today. It also gave me a meaningful purpose to my life and I have grown a lot from doing it.

How did you come up with the "Cosmic Lighthouse" name and logo?

I first came up with the name "Lighthouse" because I feel that the magazine's role is like a lighthouse - not telling people what to do on their journeys but to act as a beacon to guide them to their choice of destination safely. Lee later came up with the word "Cosmic" and I think it is brilliant because we are really about being one and interconnected with all that is.

Someone made an excellent observation when he saw that the initials of Cosmic Lighthouse is 'C' and 'L' which stands for our names, Chee and Lee respectively. Talking about synchronicity, we did not realise that ourselves in the beginning.

The logo is simply a graphical representation of a lighthouse and I thought it looks like an angel spreading its wings after I designed it. In a sense, that represents you and me - the human angels.

What is metaphysics and channelings?

Due to popular requests by our readers, we have created a simple and concise guide to explain the most common terms and concepts. Please see our guide at Metaphysics 101.

How do you know you are publishing truthful materials? What if the channelings are just imaginary rambling from the ego of the channelers?

I would like to quote Aaron, a spiritual entity channeled by Barbara Brodsky who is a dear friend and contributor to Cosmic Lighthouse:

If you find a book on the street with its cover torn off and you begin to read it, and it’s filled with wisdom and delight, will you throw it away because it has no cover and no known author? If you pick up that book on the street, there’s a famous author’s name written on the front page, you begin to read it, and it just does not resonate with your own truth, will you hold on to it because the author was famous? You throw it away. It’s not useful to you. So release concern of whether I’m real and who I am…

It is with this attitude that we select all our materials. We publish materials that we resonate with and enjoy ourselves, not because a writer is famous or simply because the channeler claims to channel Jesus or an Archangel or a very high source.

Once in a while, we may choose to publish something which we may not agree with entirely, but there could be parts which we feel are beneficial for our readers. So, having said all these, all readers are advised to exercise their own discretion. Decide for yourself because you are your own master. I would like to quote the following by Gautama Buddha:

Do not believe anything
because it is said by an authority,
or if it is said to come from angels,
or from Gods,
or from an inspired source.

Believe it only if you have explored it
in your own heart
and mind and body
and found it to be true.

Work out your own path,
through diligence.

Are you trying to save the world?

No. Contrary to what many people think, it is not our intention to create a magazine that contains only the highest truth. We do not take it upon ourselves to ensure that only the highest truth is published. We also believe that truth is relative to each person. What is my highest truth may not be yours. What is most important is that we are true to ourselves.

Where do you find the articles and get to know the contributors?

I am a very avid reader of metaphysics and I follow and read a lot of materials each day. If I resonate with a certain author or channeler, we will write to ask for permission to reproduce their existing materials or collaborate on developing new and original materials such as interviews or articles on various topics.

As we grow and become more widely known, authors also started to submit articles for our consideration. Some of the contributors are also our friends and contacts we made over the years. Many are referred by others and we literally bumped into a few of them. In short, we co-create with the universe and the universe brings us many potentials. I then do the human action of following up on the leads.

As a magazine, we also try to produce original content as well as selecting the best from existing articles. At this point of writing, we are proud to say that up to 2/3 of our content are original materials.

Why should I read Cosmic Lighthouse when there is so much information available out there?

I feel Cosmic Lighthouse’s greatest value is in our selection of the articles and the relevant topics we address. While we produce many original materials and obviously you can only read them here, we also reproduce a number of existing materials. Understand that we read many, many articles just to pick that one reproduced article. With an overwhelming number of articles and channelings released every day, some people want to find a one-stop place where they can trust and grow and we are providing this invaluable service.

Sometimes, we do not publish certain articles because they are so famous and widely distributed such as Kryon, Tobias and The Group. What we do is to link to them in our channelings forum instead. Many do not realise that there are a lot of gems in our forums!

We also lay out our articles professionally with relevant images that add another dimension to the text and make reading a pleasure. Not forgetting that we also have online videos and audios that bring life to the articles.

There will be avid readers or awakening individuals who want more, and by all means, we encourage them to explore the variety out there. It is not our aim to replace others or create any competition but to become a useful and complementary tool in one's unique journey to discover his or her own divinity and mastery. Perhaps it will be a great day when we are no longer relevant or useful - a day when we can all see the god in one another.

Are you funded by Margaret and Alan McElroy?

It is interesting that some people actually think so. Margaret and Alan are wonderful teachers who have helped us in many ways and they are also people who teach by their own examples. One such example they have set was when they had most generously donated their entire proceedings to Cosmic Lighthouse during one of their teaching tours to Singapore. Margaret also contributes a regular column called "Ask Maitreya" and we are thankful for that. But they do not otherwise sponsor us or interfere in what we do.

Who funds the magazine then?

My co-founder, Lee, is the one who has pumped in tens of thousands of his own money into this operation unconditionally. He is really the unsung hero who has made Cosmic Lighthouse possible for so many people. His financial support has enabled me to work on Cosmic Lighthouse on a full-time basis to maintain its quality and operations. Countless hours have been put in to make the magazine into what it is today and all these require much funding and efforts. Many people also do not know that we used to pay some of our contributors with our own money to develop the articles they read.

Personally, I have also left my better-paying business to commit myself fully to the magazine. The workload of the magazine has also required me to do it full-time. To give an example, I have to read an entire book in order to identify the best excerpt for the magazine or to research for interview questions. Readers also probably did not realize that I am doing almost everything from editorial, design, website development and maintenance, transcriptions to answering emails.

Why are you asking for donations?

For personal reasons, Lee is no longer able to support the magazine financially nor is it fair to ask him to support it forever. We have to be self-sufficient and at the present moment, advertising is not sufficient to cover our expenses. In our first year of operations, advertising revenue has only covered 10% of our expenditure. It will take time for us to grow further to depend on advertising effectively but we do not have the luxury of waiting as funds are running low.

I am trying my best to improve our revenue from advertising but we hope our readers will generously make donations to help us sustain our operations for now. Perhaps you can treat it as a form of energy exchange for reading the magazine

I also hope there will be kind sponsors coming forward who can contribute financially to Cosmic Lighthouse on a long-term basis. Frankly, I really don’t know why anyone would want to do so but I choose to believe that there are wonderful souls who do want to help unconditionally and wish to see a successful Cosmic Lighthouse.

Why is Spirit not helping you financially?

There is a saying that goes "When you ask God for patience, God gives you opportunities to learn patience." In a similar manner, Spirit does not hand us the money literally but show us ways of earning it. We are trying our best to make advertising work but it will take time for advertising revenue to grow sufficiently to sustain our operations. We are also working on other ways to generate income and hoping for donations and sponsorships.

Having said that, if you feel a nudge towards sponsoring or donating to Cosmic Lighthouse, maybe that is one of Spirit's ways of helping us.

I wish to help Cosmic Lighthouse but my finances do not allow me to donate.

First of all, know that small donations are just as welcome as they serve as encouragements and acknowledgements to our work. You allow us to know that our work is worth something.

You can also help greatly by linking back to us if you have a website or blog or social network page. You can also inform and tell your friends about us. Or get your neighbourhood new age store or appropriate organisation to print and put up our poster. All these measures help greatly in assisting Cosmic Lighthouse to reach out to more people and enable them to benefit from our wonderful articles. Last but not least, you can always give us a testimonial. You can learn more about the various ways of spreading the love here.

Why should I advertise with Cosmic Lighthouse?

In our best month, we reach out to 20,000 visits and 350,000 page views. This means that each visitor visited an average of 17.5 pages. Your ad will easily get up to 80,000 impressions for the very affordable price you are paying. Our hits exceed one million counts each month but hits are not too useful so we do not usually quote that.

You are also reaching out to a focused audience who are interested in metaphysics, spirituality and the new age movement. These are people who are willing to spend on products, services or attend workshops that appeal to them. Besides, we offer very competitive rates - possibly the lowest you can find in any magazine. Advertising in Cosmic Lighthouse also makes you part of the wonderful energy that many readers have commented on.

Does your advertising conflict with the selection of articles?

We always make it clear to our advertisers that advertising does not guarantee selection of their articles. We believe our advertisers are understanding and know that their submissions of articles and advertising are separated matters.

Sometimes, you would see an article and an advertisement from the same person but that is because their articles have been selected on their own merits and they wanted to use advertising to bolster their publicity. We do not see anything wrong with that.

Why are you an online magazine only? Why not have a printed version?

We do not discount the possibility of going into a printed version. However, as we are an international magazine, it is quite impractical and we also get to save some trees. Our current financial considerations also mean we do not have the manpower to produce a printed version. We will keep this option in view though.

 

If you have another question, please feel free to ask us and we will either respond to you personally or add to this FAQ.

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