Tag Archives: conscience

Crystals

Context: I asked my grandmother, 75, white, lives in North Idaho, about crystals and her belief around them. All through my childhood they have been around, whether as gifts at Christmas or just around the house. I knew they were spiritual in some way but wanted to know the greater context. My grandmother works as a spiritual life coach, working to bring people’s lives into balance. She is in the herbalist community and learned a lot of what she knows through classes she took. She still operates in that community and shares knowledge with her friends. 

Grandma: “I believe there is, how do I say it? There’s an energy within them. And I don’t know if it’s a… conscious. So out there in the field, scientists are looking at what is conscious, consciousness, consciousness in animals, consciousness in plants, consciousness in rocks, in crystals. So they’re looking at it. So they’re just asking all these questions. So somehow, I believe, there is an energy that I can ask for and draw on. That’s pretty up here because I can’t, I can’t give you the right, the right words to come down for that. Um, But for example, there’s a, there’s a crystal and I’ve forgotten the name of it, and I may have even given your mom one. So it has 2 pointy ends on it. And the idea is that you can hold it and connect with it, and it’s the crystal doing the work, whether you’re channeling through something. It, you know, it’s it’s not me, but but I can take this crystal and I can take a pointy end and I can point that energy at my shoulder or at your shoulder. And with intent, So intention is coming through that. For those for healing, but healing is reminding the cells, what their job is.” 

Analysis: This is definitely non-traditional folk medicine that is going about healing in a different way than Western Medicine, removing all separation between body and soul. Instead relying on soul and on energy to heal people. It’s about a belief in a larger energy that connects us all and figuring out how to channel it. It makes sense that crystals are used for this purpose. Crystallization happens naturally, grows up from nature making it a perfect conduit back into that nature. They are also not as rare and expensive as other jewels are, allowing them to be accessible and cost effective, which might be why they are so commonly used as a conduit to the spiritual. It shows a belief in something bigger, but also doesn’t reject science (though I haven’t researched how true her claims are), just kinda collaborates with it which I think speaks a lot to non-traditional medicine.

Character is what you are in the dark 

Age: 59
Language: English

Text: Character is what you are in the dark 

Context: The participant believes he heard this saying on a show (“Buckaroo Banzai”) while he was in college. In the show, the main antagonist is addressing his followers (who are aliens) in a speech, and recites this phrase while trying to rouse them to work harder so that they can all return to their planet. Despite the fictional context of the show, the participant found great importance in truly considering and adhering to this phrase. It is a phrase he says he uses frequently to hold people responsible for their actions – in arguments, critiques, or even in jest.      

Analysis: This saying refers to one’s actions, and how they are a reflection of their true personality or character. It alludes to how your actions – even when performed in “the dark” or out of public view – are seen as a testament to the kind of person you are. Even though one might say they have good intentions, this categorization is wholly performative; one’s character can only truly be measured by what they do when no one is around to see. This proverb is very similar to others that speak to moral qualities and character such as “Actions speak louder than words”. By grappling with this idea of conscience and character, this saying should be taken as encouraging good behavior and morals even if one is not in public or being rewarded for doing so.