Wrong Crystallization, Part II

  

Wrong crystallization has numerous features that can be identified in an individual, and those who have not wrongly crystallized in the Gurdjieff work have a duty to study such individuals and understand them better, because many of them are able to disguise themselves, even within the Work itself, and use cunning, subterfuge, deception, and outright lies in order to sabotage the efforts of others. They do not do this voluntarily, but because they are hasnamusses; they must hate that which is not themselves. This core feature of selfishness, which they disguise by any means necessary, is the magnetic center around which all of their other features polarize and are organized. Above all, in regards to the Gurdjieff work, they harbor a secret hatred for it, and most especially the hatred towards the idea that the Gurdjieff work is meant to bring human beings back into alignment with God. It is lawful that the Work have individuals like this in it, because they act as the Satans in its own microcosmology; every cosmos must have Satans in it or there are no opponents, and without opponents, frictions don’t arise, and energies do not develop. 

Wrong crystallization produces individuals of remarkably clever nature; and they employ arguments of a wide variety in order to twist the work, which was originally (and its origins pre-date Gurdjieff by many thousands of years) a work meant to bring man back into proper alignment with the cosmological forces on the ray of creation that put him in a right relationship with God. If this can be achieved — and it is by no means a done deal by any measure and in any way, for anyone —  then a man or woman by their very nature crystallizes in such a way that they actually do have compassion, love for others, and love for God. These properties become real organic things in them, due to the rearrangement of the molecular order of their quanta, atoms, and molecules; and that is what’s meant when we say a property, such as sensation, becomes organic. 

Due to the immense complexity of the Microcosmos from which we are formed, it’s a Sisyphean task to rearrange things so that these qualities truly become organic; but the crystallization of the inner structures of humanity have an interesting property in this regard: if enough substances can be formed that are correctly aligned, they are self-propagating. That is to say, once the inner Microcosmos is sufficiently organized, it can begin to undertake this work on its own; and Gurdjieff alluded to that in a number of passages. [See Beelzebub’s Tales, pp 1107-08 (first edition) or pp 1106-07 (second edition.)] 

In this way we can understand that elements of right crystallization, if properly developed, acquire the properties of prions, molecules with the uniquely special agency of being able to recruit molecules around them and reconfigure them to adopt their own structure. This is a good thing; but as with prions (which in human biology produce Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome, aka mad cow disease) what ought to worry us about this is that if these inner molecules form wrongly, they also have the ability to recruit fellow molecules to conform to their wrong shape, and thus reform the inner life of an individual in the wrong way, and with bad intentions, yielding bad results. Jeanne de Salzmann warned Bennett about this when he was pressing himself through extraordinarily strenuous yoga exercises. (See Idiots in Paris.)

Because of the molecular nature of this transformation, the individual psyche who undergoes it may have little or no idea that it is taking place, and be absolutely convinced that everything that’s taking place in them is according to a right order. There is ample evidence to show that this takes place even within the ordinary affairs of mankind, as well as in spiritual practice. Since ordinary affairs exactly reflect the inner spiritual condition of mankind, of course this does indeed happen.

One of the signature characteristics of wrong crystallization is that the individual who undergoes it is quite certain that what they think, believe, and engaging is correct, and that it is others who are wrong. Proceeding from this premise, we see that the majority of we human beings are the victims, already, of wrong crystallizations. The first thing that esoteric practice is supposed to do is to “break the mold” so that this kind of thing stops happening. Compassion, love, kindness, and all of the other properties of right development can’t manifest if there is wrong crystallization at their root. 

This alone is why it’s so important for us to recognize the results of wrong crystallization in us, to surrender everything that we know, question everything we believe, and above all discover within ourselves an organic capacity for the absolute certainty that we are flawed and broken creatures, and need — as Alcoholics Anonymous advises its membership –to turn our lives over to a higher power. Wrong crystallization leads us to be drunk on our owner ideas, our own being, our own wishes and desires; and the only way to a cure is to swear all of those off. Any inkling of the idea that one is superior to others, that one has better ideas than others, that one knows more than others or is more perfect than others, and so on, must go straight into the dustbin. 

Of course we’ll have these thoughts. Wrong crystallization maybe collective, but it takes place in a localized manner throughout any being; and in the course of development, the reservoirs that  produce these wrong attitudes, wrong thoughts, and unloving conditions are remarkably persistent. They linger in every crevice they can find, attempting to propagate themselves and retake lost territory. Eventually, over the course of a lifetime, as more of the organism – God willing – regenerates itself in a right order relative to love, kindness, compassion, and God, these reservoirs of ego go into hiding to preserve themselves. They continue to ambush us in the course of our ordinary lives when we’re least prepared. One must remain on one’s guard against this, because these little demons of the soul can’t be eliminated. They’re part of the DNA, and it would be too much for us to expect that all of them can be completely eliminated in a lifetime.

We should be on our guard, within our lives, and try to identify those, both within and without, who would undermine and destroy good work and right work. With sufficient sensitivity, one can identify those with good hearts, and distinguish between them and those who hide from crystallization behind a façade of congeniality, intelligence, and well-ordered behavior. Those who compete to show you they are better; those who wish to bend others to their will; be wary of them. Many are they who are not of God and in fact secretly—or publicly, since it is now very fashionable—want no God, but still wear a mask with God painted on it. 

If you look carefully, you’ll see that the painting is always one of themselves—dressed as God.

with warm regards,

Lee