Jakesully
Jedi
Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I think this one is useful to demonstrate the pitfall of "phenomenon chasing", as has recently been made so painfully clear to myself.
To anyone considering the use of crystals in order to augment your results from the Work itself, remember that there are no shortcuts in the Work, and the use of crystals in this manner can become a crutch that would ultimately limit the possibility of growth, much in a similar way to the idea that narcotics can instantly give one access to higher dimensions and ways of seeing things, at the expense of permanently damaging or inhibiting the workings of the machine.
Not that crystals will have such damaging effects (in most cases - it's possible to screw anything up royally so that you break something or injure yourself, just ask the Marines), but really, the Work of the Fourth Way is meant to be conducted in the environment of daily life. And crystals are something that can definitely alter your environment in ways you cannot hope to understand if you don't first understand your machine: through self-observation and taking mental snapshots of yourself, to eventually self-remember, understand your Chief Feature, and through right exercise (necessarily involving Eiriu Eolas and the Prayer of the Soul meditation), diet and detox, as well as networking with critical, hard-working people here on the forum to tell you when you're on or off track, to eventually achieve access to will.
And as anart has said, there's a danger of treating use of crystals as a dogmatic ritual, which only serves to make you think you're growing spiritually, when in truth it's only your ego that's growing.
Crystals may or may not be useful as a tool in the context of daily life, health, and well being, It always depends on the context. But for the purpose of observing and doing battle with the mind of the predator, it's first important to do everything that necessary even to arrive at the Work in the first place, to put yourself in a position to do the Work. If that means using crystals properly to "balance" the energy of your house or wherever you live, then that's fine, but always remember that your primary objective should be arriving at the Work and then doing the Work.
To anyone considering the use of crystals in order to augment your results from the Work itself, remember that there are no shortcuts in the Work, and the use of crystals in this manner can become a crutch that would ultimately limit the possibility of growth, much in a similar way to the idea that narcotics can instantly give one access to higher dimensions and ways of seeing things, at the expense of permanently damaging or inhibiting the workings of the machine.
Not that crystals will have such damaging effects (in most cases - it's possible to screw anything up royally so that you break something or injure yourself, just ask the Marines), but really, the Work of the Fourth Way is meant to be conducted in the environment of daily life. And crystals are something that can definitely alter your environment in ways you cannot hope to understand if you don't first understand your machine: through self-observation and taking mental snapshots of yourself, to eventually self-remember, understand your Chief Feature, and through right exercise (necessarily involving Eiriu Eolas and the Prayer of the Soul meditation), diet and detox, as well as networking with critical, hard-working people here on the forum to tell you when you're on or off track, to eventually achieve access to will.
And as anart has said, there's a danger of treating use of crystals as a dogmatic ritual, which only serves to make you think you're growing spiritually, when in truth it's only your ego that's growing.
Crystals may or may not be useful as a tool in the context of daily life, health, and well being, It always depends on the context. But for the purpose of observing and doing battle with the mind of the predator, it's first important to do everything that necessary even to arrive at the Work in the first place, to put yourself in a position to do the Work. If that means using crystals properly to "balance" the energy of your house or wherever you live, then that's fine, but always remember that your primary objective should be arriving at the Work and then doing the Work.
