Omega Institute reviews

There are many. The housing, if you work full-time and are lucky enough not to have to live in a tent, is rustic, old, generally moldy and unhealthy. Staff are treated as if they are children. Largely incompetent "management." Many staff members stuck in permanent indentured servitude as pay is not enough to be able to live outside another work/study or room/board trade situation. It's sad, really, as there are many gifted, empathic, compassionate people there who should be out serving the world at large instead of being infantilized,

I would say, if you are brand new to anything spiritual, this might be an OK place to get a feel for something "other." If you have any type of intensive spiritual practice experience, you'll see right through all the pretend generosity. This sums it up: Everyday we are supposed to bless the food as dining hall staff. Sometimes, the shift coordinator would not want to do it because she is in bad mood. When we did bless the food, roughly 20% of the time there would be a proper blessing. The other times, people would curse or joke about something. Seriously, if you want to partake in meals that are tainted with anger and hatred, go ahead. Departments rarely communicate with each other. There is no real sense of working together as a whole. Some kitchen folks are very territorial and do not like the dining hall staff in the kitchen at all. There is no sense of purpose in the dining hall. Everybody just wants to get out as soon as possible. It's because most of the staff at Omega are treated like slaves. Part-timers don't get paid (the compensation is a tent platform and access to staff classes). Full-timers (40 hrs/week) get paid something like $50 or $75 per week. The extra 10 hours are definitely not worth it!