A crystal, suspended in its growing medium—a liquid solution saturated with more of its own substance—exists in a world perfectly suited to its expansion. The environment fosters growth by its very nature, as the water slowly evaporates, concentrating the solution. This heightened concentration drives the crystal-substance out of the liquid and onto the seed crystal, layer by layer, as if guided by an unseen intent. The crystal grows, not randomly, but in patterns inherent to its nature. Yet, if the growth is forced—if conditions shift too rapidly or excessively—the harmony fractures. "Visitor" crystals emerge, jutting off at new angles, seemingly foreign yet born from the same material.
This material behavior, seemingly unconscious yet profoundly ordered, mirrors the workings of thought-forms in the living mind. We exist within a vast, dynamic sea of thought-forms, a medium teeming with potential ideas. Within this medium, our own thoughts take root, aggregating and growing in patterns aligned with what we "know to be so." Just as the seed crystal attracts compatible elements from its environment, our thoughts draw in ideas that resonate, expanding the body of understanding in structured, harmonious ways.
However, the capacity to absorb change is a factor. New, divergent, "visitor" ideas emerge when the onslaught of change exceeds the capacity to absorb it. That state of "overwhelm" starts as an acceleration of ordered growth and then degenerates into a logjam of chaotic patterns, as in the flaws of grown-too-fast crystals -- or "bugs" in technologies (which are actually mental bugs in businesses).
Divergent, "visitor" ideas may seem foreign, even as they grow in the same environment. These idea offshoots, like the visitor crystals, are not inherently disruptive or foreign; they are the sign of the generativeness of excess. Like adolescents, they disclose or reveal the usual order by contrast with it; the generativeness of excess generates opportunities recognize new angles, new directions of development. It should be recognized, as such, as a resource ("diversity") -- and also as an important indicator of the healthy management of the growth environment.
To cultivate the healthy growth of either crystals or ideas requires intelligent attunement to the conditions at play: What’s in the "growth environment"? How do we tune those conditions to our capacity to absorb from them? How do we recognize, "too much", "too fast"? How do we handle, "too much", "too fast"? What need we learn to integrate change, harmoniously, so we ride the waves of change with our faculties intact and able.
Did you have any trouble understanding that?
You did? Then, try this:
~~ Groucho Marx said that, and he should know.
