The Flawed Crystal
by
Ted Srinathadas Czukor
© 1998

Let's imagine that each human being in the world is a Crystal, capable of reflecting, to a greater or lesser degree, the light of our Divine Source.  This is the true meaning of the Crystal Ball of which alchemists spoke, which they said contained all the secrets of the universe - not a cold mineral object, but a living being imbued with Breath, Mind and Spirit.

 In Nature, one almost never finds a piece of Crystal which is free of flaws.  In fact, it is the imperfections which you see when you hold it up to the light, which tell you that it's real, and not something artificially perfect which was manufactured out of glass.  If something is real and organic, it has flaws.  To be perfect, it would have to remain unchanging for eternity; but Change is the one universal law of organic matter. 

We are no exception to this law; each of us is always changing, and each of us has flaws.  Some of us have flaws which are embarrassingly obvious, cutting right across the center of the Crystal, while others may have our flaws tucked away carefully in a corner; but hold us up to the proper light, turn us to get the right angle of view, and our flaw will pop out at you and look enormous. 

Obviously, it is up to each of us whether to focus on a person's flaws, or on the bigger picture - the pure crystalline structure in which the flaw is only a part.  It is not good to be naive or gullible - we should not ignore the flaw, or pretend it doesn't exist.  We should be well aware of it - both in others and in ourself - but once the flaw is acknowledged, there is so much of value that can be learned from contemplating and appreciating the Crystal.

 The same is true of institutions - governments, churches, fraternal organizations, clubs, charities, etc.  Organizations are only larger manifestations of the human beings who form and support them.  Each organization is a very large Crystal Ball, which must of necessity contain flaws to prove it is living and organic.  Strange doctrinal beliefs, prejudices, bureaucratic red tape, nepotism and political in-fighting are some of the ways in which institutions disappoint people.  Again, we must ask the question:  Which is bigger - the flaw or the Crystal of which it is a part?

 Many of us remember times in our lives when we committed ourselves, totally and without reservation, to a person or organization - blindly refusing to admit the flaws which other people could see so clearly.  The inevitable result of this fanatical attachment, was that someone finally held the flaw up to such a blinding light, that suddenly we couldn't see anything else - we had to acknowledge it!  At this point, we felt betrayed and embarrassed; we couldn't understand how we could have been so stupid for so long.  We withdrew our support of that person.  We left the organization.  And, in so doing, we may have thrown the baby out with the bath water.  

Neither state of mind - blind, uncritical devotion or total condemnation and rejection - is the ideal of spiritual maturity.  Had we understood in the beginning that there are no absolutes in life, that we shouldn't rely on any person to be a perfect example, but we must learn to be our own guide and example, and recognize not only our own shortcomings but the shortcomings of everyone else as well, we could have retained our balance when things got hairy.  When the flaws were exposed, it might not have come as such a surprise to us; and we might have been able to maintain our self-respect and our respect for the person or group in question. 

We could have remained focused on the Crystal, while maintaining our objectivity as to the relative size and importance of the flaw within it.

At that time, we probably had in mind the image of an apple with a rotten core; we thought the rottenness would spread out into the whole fruit, which is, indeed, what happens with an apple.  But in the case of a Crystal, this does not happen.  The flaw is there, to be sure, but the whole is not affected by it.  The parts that were good, are still good - and always will be. 

And isn't this, really, a better metaphor for a human being?  Can any fault or sin really touch the holiness which was imbued in us at our creation, by the One Who created us?  To be sure, our faults may disguise that holiness, and hide it from most eyes.  But how can that which is passing overcome that which is immortal?

In future, it might serve us well to remember the image of the flawed Crystal, rather than that of the rotten apple.