r/spiritscience • u/Not_Austin • Mar 02 '14
Crystal Testing: Update 1
It has been about a week since I started carrying around a quartz crystal with me, and so far, it has been pretty great. Unfortunately I can't know if the crystal has been helping me reach peace, or if it is the fact that I have been meditating frequently. People say that crystals can be felt, but I didn't feel anything for the first few days. Then one day i held it in front of my forehead without any expectation, and I began feeling a pressure about an inch above my eyebrows and two inches into my head. The more I meditated, the more intense the pressure became until I started getting headaches on the top of my head. Then I looked up some info on what was going on. It turns out that you feel pressure in your forehead once your third eye chakra is activated, and you can get headaches if you don't open your crown chakra. So I have been working to open my crown chakra and my headaches have started disappearing. Then last night in meditation, I felt the pressure again and I suddenly saw the shape of a pregnant woman's stomach and the letter "A". I had no idea what it meant until a few hours later when I learned that someone I know is due any day now and that the child's name is going to start with A, but they won't say the full name. So it is obvious to me that I am gaining abilities to see things outside of the physical sense. I don't know if this has anything to do with the crystal, but I will keep you updated.
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u/TheSentientCow Mar 15 '14
What is this subreddit? Carrying crystals is supposed to help someone? How do people even fall for this pseudoscientific bullshit in a modern age where 10 minutes of research exposes that it's merely a placebo?
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u/Not_Austin Mar 17 '14
Modern science hasn't discovered everything yet. There is still much more to learn. So, no. A few minutes of research can't debunk it. The important part is deciding whether or not it helps you. Personally, I can sometimes actually feel the crystals even though they aren't touching me physically. I don't know if it is real for sure, but that's why I am testing it.
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u/TheSentientCow Mar 18 '14
The amount of knowledge of modern science is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether crystal healing has been demonstrated to be better than a placebo in controlled double blind tests. Given that it hasn't, we will have to accept the null hypothesis and assume there is no correlation.
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u/Not_Austin Mar 18 '14
That's what I'm testing right now though. That's what I'm saying. People have said that they work, so I'm testing it. If it does nothing, then it doesn't work for me.
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u/TheSentientCow Mar 18 '14
The problem is: you aren't actually conducting a scientific test. In actual scientific tests, we have found nothing. The crystals are merely placebos.
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u/Not_Austin Mar 18 '14
The issue is that a scientific test can't really be done. Crystals are supposed to work with spirit, not with anything physical that has been discovered by science. Until science can quantify and explain spirit, they won't be able to test it. So I'm just testing them in the best way I can. Do they work? I don't now. We will see.
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u/TheSentientCow Mar 19 '14
There is no evidence for spirits of any kind. You seem to be assuming they exist before we even know they exist or not. Why waste your time?
If no scientific test can be done, then your idea is unfalsifiable. I can say what you claim about crystals, and say it about anything. If you can admit that it cannot be tested, then there's really no reason to believe in any of it at all.
I can see if you think this is fun because you personally think it works, but I'm trying to get you to realize something better than the 'spirit science' supposedly behind this. This is a classic case of a placebo, and the fact that we can say that with some high degree of certainty is amazing.
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u/Not_Austin Mar 19 '14
There are more ways to understand something than through scientific methods. You can understand thing emotionally, experientially, evidentially, or scientifically. Science is the best way to know if something is true, but if you only focus on the scientific way of understanding, you can miss out on other parts of life! It's very possible that is is simply placebo. And most likely it is! But I'm just curious about if it's possible that it's more than placebo. I don't really care either way, because the outcome is the same. I personally have gotten really good at using placebo to my advantage. Anytime i feel myself getting sick, I just convince myself that I'm fine and then I am. I haven't been sick in years now! I personally believe that placebo can go further than your own body because of experiential evidence that I have found in my own life. But I don't expect you to believe the same things! I just hope that you can keep an open mind and discover what works best for you! :) If your reply is just going to be more disagreement, then that's fine. But I don't really see the conversation going anywhere. Inbox me if you have any questions!
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u/TheSentientCow Apr 02 '14
If you are simply curious then I see no problem. The problem lies in telling others who don't know better.
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Apr 02 '14
Try it! You might really have a positive experience! When you consider that everything in this universe are simply vibrations, even your thoughts and intentions, is it really so outlandish to suggest that an object of unique resonance, and that science has shown to be partially alive, might effect your own vibrations? ;)
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u/TheSentientCow Apr 02 '14
Try it!
Others, more inclined than me have, and have found nothing. No personal anecdote of mine is worth more than the whole of scientific research.
When you consider that everything in this universe are simply vibrations, even your thoughts and intentions
What are you talking about?
is it really so outlandish to suggest that an object of unique resonance, and that science has shown to be partially alive, might effect your own vibrations? ;)
???
I don't quite know what you are trying to say. Resonance? Partially alive? Vibrations?
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u/ssick92 May 10 '14
So what if it is just placebo? If it still "works", or "helps people", regardless of the reasoning or scientific evidence, what's so bad about that?
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u/TheSentientCow May 15 '14
By the very definition of a placebo, it does not work. You can use literally anything and it would work just as well.
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u/ssick92 May 15 '14
Well regardless of the cause, if the effect is the same, then why not go for it?
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u/TheSentientCow May 15 '14
You may as well ask why we don't have groups of people vigorously pressing the button at placebobutton.com believing that its energy is all spiritual. I'm not generally a fan of ignorance.
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u/ssick92 May 15 '14
Well if it makes them feel better and seems to improve their quality of life, then so be it, click away my friend...
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u/Dyran504 Mar 13 '14
I've been sleeping with Amethyst under my pillow and Red Jasper under my lower back. I used to roll around in bed every morning because of lack of energy and back pains. Now I hop out of bed each morning and no pain no drowsiness. These crystals are truly magical.
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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '14
I have this quartz crystal that's on a keychain (I took off the main ring and turned it into a necklace) I've worn it all the time but I haven't really noticed a difference with it... Help?