I remember when I was a preteen that I had many altercations with my elder sister. When those events occurred within ear-shot of my Cherokee grandmother and she got wind of our physical and verbal mutual disrespect, she would always caution us against being “ugly.” When this type of behaviour is seen in that light, it is clearly in the interest of the combatants to desist, so that the dignity of both parties is both preserved and encouraged.
Learning from that teaching over the years I came to see that men and women are very complex creations. We all share a basic foundation, however. It is from this ubiquitous base that we become more refined and individuated. In my opinion, it was intended to be thus. At the high-frequency range of our psychological make-up, lies a realm that we dub the “spiritual.”
Like a constantly fluctuating river, life works with the twin tools of time and movement to deposit layers of various sediments. These sediments harden to different degrees, due to varied heat and pressure. Conglomerates form and as these in their turn wear away, the differing components erode at individually specific rates of speed.
The softest part of a rock is that which was formed most recently and not yet subjected to extreme heat or pressure. That material, of course, wears away first. Enduring far longer, are crystalline compounds and hard rock that was formed in response to extremes of heat and pressure. At this juncture, I would like to point out that human beings are analogous to rocks in very many ways.
Our deepest human convictions endure, as the softer parts of our personality wear away quickly and are easily moulded by the forces that be. The greater the percentage of a personality formed under the application of heat and pressure, the longer that portion of a personality will endure, be it beneficial or destructive.
There are those who perfectly understand this correlation between men and minerals. Among this group are those actively engaged in human prospecting and in the mining of and refining of men and women. With an uncanny eye for promising ore, they constantly stake their claims among our population. These people come in two main flavours. Self-serving social architects (darkitects) and healing alchemists (healchemists).
Like wood-peckers, they chip away at the softer parts of their fellow humans and by using their unparalleled knowledge of psychological solvents, they are able to accelerate the process of refinement beyond what is natural. That which is left in their crucibles or on their screen meshes at the end of the process is always something quite different than what they began tampering with.
If challenged, both types of soul miners will adamantly exclaim that they are doing good. It is true. Darkitects are doing good for themselves and all above them in man-made hierarchical social constructs. Healchemists are doing good for the species and our planet. What used to be the best and worst attributes of their fellow men and women, darkitects will use as Lego pieces to construct whatever they desire. If asked to share, they are unlikely to part with any of their toys, especially after the sting of paying the devil’s share. The healchemists, in contrast, expend ki in the process of helping individuals remove acquired dross and pollution and the beautiful refined human is itself payment for the service. Thus, only those who know how to replenish their energy can follow the path of the healchemist. Darkitects solicit by whispering that there are hidden benefits to those who ask. Healchemists are guided by clear spiritual sight and never fooled by appearances.
Darkitects argue that a chunk of iron ore is worthless when compared to a stainless steel damascened sword blade. I ask them, who will wield the finished sword? Some soul miners crow a worn out motto to do with “making bad men good and good men better.” I point out to them that when a person submits to another person in order “to be made,” the finished product will always be employed as a tool. Men have never gone mining for the fun of it. People engaged in darkitectural spiritual and psychological mining are like walking wet-belt sanders. They crush, wash, cook, abrade, dissolve, sift, smelt, hammer and mould all of those who will allow it. Healchemists use the slow sure power of water in a way that does not shock the patient nor consume the healer.
In the mundane physical realm, it is our lower faculties which react initially to the approach of a soul miner. It is because their cloaked threat or blessing engages our most ancient cerebral structures where our best natural cognitive defenses are seated. Call it intuition, call it a gut feeling but do not fail to heed it.
I personally believe that it is noble for any person to employ the techniques of healchemy upon themselves, their own offspring or upon a person actively seeking such treatment. I find the practitioners of darkitecture to be aggressive, intrusive, disruptive, despicable and infinitely loathsome, due to the time honoured cloak of goodwill with which they cover ugliness and the viscous mantras by which they mesmerize their intended subjects.
The greatest irony is that life itself, the unavoidable passage of time and our incessant movement, is already performing the process of human refinement; but in a natural way, at a natural pace. Since we must constantly choose between many things, we are the unwitting co-authors of our own refinement via the pressures, stress and challenges that we are subjected to. The finished products of our being are supposed to be unique sovereign creatures; not bricks in another mortal man or woman’s wall, not a jewel in their crown, nor a sword in their hands. Thus, beware of all middle-men, for other men always stand in the shadows behind them.
Any person alive can be broken down, by a wide variety of well documented techniques, into their “good” and “bad” components, regardless of age, sex, race, religion or education. The total package, before dissolution and separation is rightly called a complete person. No complete person, however, has to be “ugly.” That, Grasshopper, is a choice and those who choose the road of ugliness must walk on it.
fin