Looking for cheap recognized Doctor of Metaphysics or Divinity online courses

[Aster Breo]

Some of them have taken metaphysics online education before. One was successful in franchising his spiritual shop in different countries. So I thought by doing what they did I'd have some success in income too.

If that's what you're looking for, maybe you should start by asking those friends where and what they studied.

[Aster Breo]

If you wanted to write about your experiences with Roman deities, then it just might help to have a degree in a historical study of that field. If you don't, then (I have to say) people on these forums might not be supportive of a book based on completely uneducated UPG with no historical or archaeological proof at all

Depends on what kind of book it is. Several TC members have published books based on their personal experiences, and those books have been well received by other members.

...but you will still find readers. Believe me. You will find them somewhere. Readers will find you. They might be naive, or they might be masochistic and overly critical, but somebody will find your book and give you their money.

I don't think this is realistic.

Yes, there are tons of books out there, and anyone can self publish. But that doesn't mean anyone else will buy it. There are a lot of factors besides the content and the author's credentials, including marketing, price point, etc.

[carillion]

Hi Aster Breo,

I'm sorry to hear about your debts and being on disability.

I've seen an acquaintance study with a metaphysics online university for a BA and he has gone on to open outlets of spiritual shops in a few countries already. I guess that was where I thought spiritual study subjects might help with a stable income somehow. But his BA cost about a few thousand dollars from USA.

That sounds more like a buisness and marketing degree. I know people who run successful metaphysical shops with no degree whatsoever but who had capital to establish themselves and they delved into the 'story' behind the merchandice they sell.
Apples<>oranges.

And more often than not people's belief systems and religions are outside of their daily work. Very few of us can earn money doing only the things we love to do unless we are prepared to put in the work (and frequently loss) and hang in their to make something work. But it takes a lot of time and energy.

I would suggest you just sit and think of 1) what you enjoy doing 2)what you have skills for and then look around and decide if there is something you can take further and/or make a living at.

If you don't enjoy something you won't do it well and if you don't do something well you will soon stop enjoying it. The last part is the reason that most people seek further education: to do something well. And there is no 'easy' way for that whether it's music, writing, drawing, researching, engineering , fishing or what ever.

Dreaming is good. But one needs a *practical* plan.

Sometimes what we want to do and what we end up doing meet some where in the middle of 'like' and 'necessity'. And I think that's just life.

And one can do practical things to survive and still dream but only dreaming will get you nowhere and time goes by.

[Valentine]

I don't know what I specifically want to study about but somewhere along the lines of metaphysics, supernatural, parapsychology might be interesting. In these subjects, there are many variations of courses to learn from. I haven't decided which variations I might be very interested in and am still in search of one I would like.

For example, I've seen some BA in spiritual healing and spiritual counselling. Those seem interesting. I've yet to see a doctorate in these 2 subjects yet while searching online.

 
As someone who is currently in a graduate divinity program and networked with many other divinity students, I want to offer you the information that I know of no accredited divinity program where these are studied.  I'm seeing a lot of confusion in your posts about what a Doctor of Divinity actually learns and what the graduate study in the field entails.  You're not finding a Doctor of Divinity program that covers what you want to study because these are not what a Doctorate in Divinity is about.  (Nor are they covered in a Masters of Divinity, the degree I'm currently pursuing.)  

Divinity programs aren't to make you better at being divine, or about studying healing techniques or attaining spiritual perfection.  They mostly cover two sets of professional work, with some overlap: 1. Professional ministry/chaplaincy/congregational leadership work/spiritual guidance and counseling work, and 2. The academic study of religion, particularly in terms of history, literature, and anthropology.  

Like a Masters in Divinity, coursework might include studying the history of a particular sect; learning Scriptural languages; art history within a religious context; appropriate professional techniques for counseling people in crisis situations; systems theory/family systems theory in the context of religious groups; some limited congregational or organizational administrative skills; application of idea systems like postcolonial, feminist, or queer theory to theology; history and literature of various theological movements; anthropology of cultural attitudes on subjects like death and grief; homiletics, or the study of composing and delivering sermons and similar public addresses; comparative history of social movements; field study in chaplaincy work; and the like.  A Doctorate in Divinity would indicate the completion of a peer-reviewed thesis of original research on a subject like this.  It doesn't mean you're spiritually advanced, or even particularly spiritual at all--I know a number of atheists in the academic study of religion at the graduate level (and a few in religious leadership!)  You're not going to find an accredited doctoral program, interfaith or otherwise, that teaches Reiki, for instance, because doctoral programs are not about that kind of practical learning, or in the supernatural, except in a very removed "let's discuss what some people other than us believe about supernatural things, and then write a research paper on it."  There's very little in the way of metaphysics, and mostly it's by the formal philosophy definition of metaphysics, not as in "metaphysical bookstore."  You're looking for a very different kind of degree and accreditation, and a divinity doctorate isn't going to offer you what you seem to be looking for--other than the title "Dr."

[MarsPrincess]

As someone who is currently in a graduate divinity program and networked with many other divinity students, I want to offer you the information that I know of no accredited divinity program where these are studied.  I'm seeing a lot of confusion in your posts about what a Doctor of Divinity actually learns and what the graduate study in the field entails.  You're not finding a Doctor of Divinity program that covers what you want to study because these are not what a Doctorate in Divinity is about.  (Nor are they covered in a Masters of Divinity, the degree I'm currently pursuing.)  

Divinity programs aren't to make you better at being divine, or about studying healing techniques or attaining spiritual perfection.  They mostly cover two sets of professional work, with some overlap: 1. Professional ministry/chaplaincy/congregational leadership work/spiritual guidance and counseling work, and 2. The academic study of religion, particularly in terms of history, literature, and anthropology.  

Like a Masters in Divinity, coursework might include studying the history of a particular sect; learning Scriptural languages; art history within a religious context; appropriate professional techniques for counseling people in crisis situations; systems theory/family systems theory in the context of religious groups; some limited congregational or organizational administrative skills; application of idea systems like postcolonial, feminist, or queer theory to theology; history and literature of various theological movements; anthropology of cultural attitudes on subjects like death and grief; homiletics, or the study of composing and delivering sermons and similar public addresses; comparative history of social movements; field study in chaplaincy work; and the like.  A Doctorate in Divinity would indicate the completion of a peer-reviewed thesis of original research on a subject like this.  It doesn't mean you're spiritually advanced, or even particularly spiritual at all--I know a number of atheists in the academic study of religion at the graduate level (and a few in religious leadership!)  You're not going to find an accredited doctoral program, interfaith or otherwise, that teaches Reiki, for instance, because doctoral programs are not about that kind of practical learning, or in the supernatural, except in a very removed "let's discuss what some people other than us believe about supernatural things, and then write a research paper on it."  There's very little in the way of metaphysics, and mostly it's by the formal philosophy definition of metaphysics, not as in "metaphysical bookstore."  You're looking for a very different kind of degree and accreditation, and a divinity doctorate isn't going to offer you what you seem to be looking for--other than the title "Dr."

 
Hi Valentine,

Thanks for the clarification of what is in a Divinity course. Now I know what it is about.

[SunflowerP]

 
Aster: your quote coding on that came out really messed up. I think I've fixed it, but you should probably look at it and make sure. In particular, the line starting 'Depends on what kind of book it is' - you'd had that bit as if it was Faemon quoting herself, but I parsed it as your reply to the first part of what you quoted from her, and edited accordingly; is that right?

Sunflower

[Aster Breo]

Aster: your quote coding on that came out really messed up. I think I've fixed it, but you should probably look at it and make sure. In particular, the line starting 'Depends on what kind of book it is' - you'd had that bit as if it was Faemon quoting herself, but I parsed it as your reply to the first part of what you quoted from her, and edited accordingly; is that right?

Sunflower

Ummm... To me, it looks exactly like it looked when I originally posted it.  I've been trying to be careful about triple checking before I hit send, then again after it posts, to make sure I haven't screwed up the quote.  When I posted that, it appeared correctly on my screen. It still looks correct to me now, so it doesn't look like anything changed.  From my end, anyway.

I'm sorry it got messed up.  I'm really not sure what happened.

Thank you for fixing it!

[SunflowerP]

I'm sorry it got messed up.  I'm really not sure what happened.

Thank you for fixing it!

 
Oh, no worries - I wouldn't even have mentioned it if I hadn't wanted you to doublecheck it. Probably just Tapatalk being weird.

Sunflower

[Vale]

From my time working in the U.K. I would say it also depends where you work and the type of person you are. The same caveat about booking something using 'Dr'. applies, though. People who did that were more or less considered pretentious fools in the groups I hung out with.
Things seem to be changing a bit ( I was last there a couple of years ago) as the 'snob' appeal is starting get replaced with common sense. It used to be also (and may be still in some places) connected with 'class' . That *really* made me want to speak in the thickest Dagenham accent:)

Going to agree with Jake here. My father has a PhD and has always used his title. There are several other PhDs in the family and they all use their title. The sole exception is the one with the actual medical degree who doesn't!

[catja6]

Going to agree with Jake here. My father has a PhD and has always used his title. There are several other PhDs in the family and they all use their title. The sole exception is the one with the actual medical degree who doesn't!

 
I think it really, really depends a lot on overall cultural norms. Like, I rarely use my title except in a) formal contexts where everyone is addressed by titles, in which case "Dr Catja Lastname" is correct (and Ms. Catja Lastname" is incorrect); and b) in situations where my having a PhD is useful and relevant and will affect how I'm treated (like, when I'm applying for a reader card at a research library, or a museum membership where I might want to get into the archives); or c) at school, where my students address me as "Dr." Insisting on "Dr" in other contexts would be... weird. It comes across as really insecure and special-snowflakey. And also, kind of dodgy--like the person is trying to assert a generic "I have a PhD and am therefore an expert on EVERYTHING, and want you to take my word for whatever it is I'm talking about, even if wildly outside my area of actual expertise." If I see a book where the author's name is splashed on the cover as "John Doe, Ph. D." I'm automatically suspicious: why are you trying so hard to assert your authority? Actual academic texts don't do that; and most texts written by legit academics for the popular market don't do that either. Splashing your PhD around is kind of a red flag for your overall credibility.

But, and this is SUPER-IMPORTANT: I'm an American who studied at American schools, and I now live and work in Canada. Neither the US nor Canada are very formal cultures, and we don't--comparatively speaking--invest a lot of social capital in titles. It's just not the cultural norm here for PhDs/professors to insist on the use of their titles, and among North American academics, it's read as a sign of insecurity; this is backed up by, as I mentioned earlier, the tendency in popular publishing for books where the author is all I HAVE A PHD to not actually be in their area of expertise (i.e, a book on gender roles written by someone with a doctorate in, like, math).

But as Naomi and others have pointed out, the UK and continental Europe have very different norms. It's more formal overall, and more common for people to be addressed by titles. In those contexts, it's absolutely appropriate--and especially for women, ethnic minorities, disabled people, and other marginalized folks--to insist upon their proper titles, because it can make a real difference in how they are treated. I always use my title when doing research in the UK or Europe: if I didn't, it would likely be more difficult to get things done.

Of course, this is just, like, general observation; these norms likely vary not only from country to country, but also at levels of disciplines and subdisciplines, even individual universities.