142 - Monday Musings - the resplendence of impurities

142 - Monday Musings - the resplendence of impurities

While gemology, a science dedicated to the pursuit of study of gems, is a vast geological field of enquiry, the aspect of it which deals with its colors caught my fancy. Of the many ways in which gems are classified as precious or semi precious, and of the many factors on which their relative appeal and price depends upon, color is an important one. This aspect of gemology can teach human beings a thing or two.

An amateur study of precious stones will tell us that in modern usage the precious stones are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, with all other gemstones being semi-precious. Sapphire and Ruby, two of the most popular gems are actually cousins - both are corundum’s i.e. made up of aluminum oxide, but different in the nature of impurities. The impurity chromium gives it a red hue and is called a Ruby, while an impurity of Iron or titanium will give it a blue or green or pink of purple color and it will then be called a Sapphire.

Beryl, chemically beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate is a large joint family. The same culprit chromium there gives it a green color and then its called an emerald, the impurity of iron gives it a golden color. The list is endless and the gem lovers have these impurities a lot to thank for, but what would have been a ruby or a sapphire or an emerald without its color.

An impurity or an imperfection so to speak, is the reason for the value of the stone. Take away its imperfection and it’s just a stone. Human beings treat an imperfection in a very different way. It’s something to be detested, hated, criticized, corrected, feed backed, harped endlessly to the point of being nagging and frustrating, brought up needlessly and tactlessly at most inopportune times. Should it pass our scrutiny that what appears as an imperfection may something only that we do not like, something that only we are not comfortable accepting, or something that is unacceptable to our sensibilities and not something that may be fundamentally or universally unlikable or wrong or bad? Ultimately good and bad may be nothing more than what we as individuals are comfortable with. Our own boundaries cannot and must not decide what is an imperfection in a human being, a right that we defend with passion for ourselves, but something that we may not be willing to lend to others with similar passion. 

Aggression, forthrightness, ambition, result orientation, candor, courage so on and so forth can be virtues with double edges. One man’s food can be another man’s poison, one man’s freedom fighter may be another man’s terrorist, and one man’s imperfection may actually be another man’s virtue. Who knows for better or for worse, how a person might look once you take away what to some appears as an imperfection. Take away the impurity of chromium and a ruby is just another stone. It would be wise before we judge in people what would be an impurity to our eyes, for if he were to get rid of it, he might also rid himself of his greatest strength, the one thing that might his greatest ally in the fight against mediocrity. Not all imperfections need to be eradicated in human beings - mostly it’s not possible, sometimes it’s not desired. 

While dealing with human beings, the big question to ask is, can the impurities or imperfection be valued for what it is, or what it can be, rather than what it is not or what it cannot do – ultimately that is the difference between a gemologist and a stone collector.

Guru