I got my first challenging Comment just now – on YouTube – where I happen to be enjoying a bit of momentum.
A number of unsolicited new Subscribers are signing up to my Channel…daily (thank you very much!).
It’s kind of cool – a sign that people are noticing me – and surprise, surprise: how quickly the haters glom on!
You can’t have fun without someone trying to “yuck your yum!”
It’s not important which of my videos this Comment was posted to. What matters is where it’s coming from, in terms of what it’s trying to say. Which is a more universal criticism, that I think merits address.
I’m responding to it – not just, or even for this particular detractor – but for all the other viewers, who I think deserve an answer to his query (and might be facing similar pushback).
I assume this came from a man (notice, I referenced “his” query)…and read this Blog all the way through…because in the end, we make a wonderful peace with one another!
Here’s what was said:

Studied geology. You have no idea what you are talking about. There is no science to back this up. Crystals do not have healing powers, this is all placebo.

My response (a bit testy, defensive, I admit…though I tried to contain myself):
Your Comment is simply put. I welcome it, so thank you. And congratulations!
Yours is my very first “negative” comment. It’s been years I’ve been posting videos without any such disrespect.
It is my channel, fortunately. I have the power to approve or delete any Comment. So if I keep it, I think it’s meaningful to address (which is a nod to you!). 
I did notice a few other trolling comments from you (on other videos of mine), which will not see the light of day. But I’ll repost the recommended video you shared. I enjoyed watching it…others might too.
In your post, you gloat that “James Randi debunks Crystal Power and Applied Kinesiology.” Here’s the link for those who’d like to see how: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=RApN8veicPI&t=0s. In the video – the show host lures England’s foremost Crystal proponent into an embarrassing revelation that she cannot tell the difference between her positive-energy crystal-in-a-pouch, and the other five randomly packed pouches – which happen to contain rat poison instead.
Plenty of folks pile on through the Comments, trashing Crystal lovers, using various levels of vitriol.
Fortunately (my friend) – you were “merely” dismissive – I can handle that better (for some reason).
For starters, I don’t think James Randi “destroys” my belief system any more than you do. Simply asserting that I “don’t know what I’m talking about” doesn’t make it so. It’s funny though, coming from an anonymous stranger, who doesn’t even know me.
I’ve been working with Crystals for 30 years. You think I’m gonna let you rock my boat that easy? Not so fast!
Your assumptions says more about you than they do about me. I would never presume to chime in on someone else’s Channel, disregarding their life’s work (whatever their field). It just ain’t right. It just ain’t respectful.
Nothing good can come out of dishonoring another. All that being said, I don’t take you any more seriously because you “studied geology.” I know many geologists, and generally they’re focussed on one particular are of expertise, and it certainly doesn’t mean they “know everything.”
Are you a geologist professionally or did you take it in High School? I took Earth Sciences…six of one, half a dozen of another. Next!
I’ve bought and sold Crystals for 30 years. I have a huge collection, dwarfed by the many more specimens I’ve got For Sale. I’ve viewed, chosen, and passed along literally thousands of rocks. That, plus my higher inspirations (we won’t even get into) are my qualifying credentials. Add to that a few decades of working with people in a wellness and educational capacity. I’d like to think I’m no slouch or poser in the field.
Credentials don’t necessarily impress me – your Commentary is worth addressing regardless of yours, on its own “merits” – so here goes…
You say: “There is no Science to back this up.” Did I make any claim otherwise, that there IS science backing this up? I did not.
I don’t need Science to validate my own experience or belief systems. I’m not building a highway or a medical system for general use. What I’m offering is of interest to a niche group of very interested seekers. I know what I know, and others enjoy traveling with me on this path. Who are you to try to take it away from us?
The Crystal lady in the video you reference expects – wrongly – that her Crystal will remain identifiable in a “double blind” test (while hidden in its pouch among toxic imposters). I could have told her – and she should have known – that was not going to go well. I would never subject myself to such a silly debunking experiment.
I will not go toe to toe with a lab coat. That’s like a swimmer asserting his strokes in the water can be tested successfully by a mountain climber. Why compete as a fish out of water?
Stick to your knitting, your field of expertise, run in your own field instead of crawling in another’s.
Science does require that results be duplicated every time, in controlled experiments (and understandably so!). Working with Crystals is not Science. The rules, results and expectations are very different. I’ve never claimed it to be Scientific – nor even what some would call a “pseudoscience” – as some others might call it (because some Crystal maven do assert that it’s all – somehow – science based).
Your assertion that belief in Crystals is not Scientific takes zero wind out of my sails, since that’s not even something I even endorse or represent them as being.
You (and my other readers) may enjoy my own video “Are Crystals Mumbo Jumbo?” which is linked right here: https://youtu.be/0qRE1twnjKg…have a look, if you can.
In my video, I concord that indeed Crystals are Mumbo Jumbo! But what is Mumbo Jumbo, you might ask. It’s a mainstream denigration of real belief systems which are integral to certain cultures, like Voodoo is (in Haiti). I think it’s hypocritical to trash “minority” belief systems when all the world religions seek comparably to grapple with the intangible.
No faith can be proven or disproven by Science. The Unknown, the “other side” – even the Subconscious – all continue to mystify even the most lettered among us. Big Life events like birth, death and marriage – why don’t you see Scientists being invited to officiate at those happenings? Why would they even want to? Would you ask a mathematician to provide bedside comfort and inspiration to a hospice patient?
There’s a reason we separate so many fields. Matters of Spirit and Etheric Energy are really not the domain of the secular rationalist! It’s apples and oranges, or apples and computer parts to try to judge the metaphysical through the lens of the strictly scientific method. 
Nuff said!
If it’s not your cup of tea, I can respect that. Different strokes for different folks. But please don’t come onto my turf and tell me what is and isn’t so.
Rituals, Gods, Saints, and Angels (from the major religions) ALL have comparable deliverables as Crystals and various other New Age modalities. I don’t think it’s fair to single one out as less valid, simply because it’s not mainstream. Your grandparents and their grandparents lived by plenty of credos – generally accepted and embraced – that don’t hold muster today. We have to have the flexibility to judge each system according to its own merits (and by the value and credence its adherents attribute to it).
The Occult and esoteric world views evolve and take different form over time, but they will never go away.
People have always had a healthy respect for The Great Spirit in the Sky, the Universe, or whatever you may want to call the Supernatural Mover. Anyone will tell you (in case it isn’t obvious): “Spirit moves in mysterious ways.” I will tell you that the Spirit – just like our own human (and even animal) personality traits, or lightning (for example) – never strikes twice in exactly the same way. Therefore, matters of Spirit are necessarily a challenge to quantify or nail down.
You have to be deft, adaptive, listening, and responsive when it comes to matters of Spirit. It’s not rigid, inflexible, reproducible, or even predictable. 
As for your final claim: “this is all just placebo” – placebos aren’t irrelevant – even if something patently is one. I quote from Harvard Medical School’s ‘Harvard Health Letter:’ “Rather than dismiss it, we should try to understand the Placebo Effect, and harness it when we can.” Makes for some very good reading, here’s the link to that article.
I Searched Google for a definition of Placebo Effect, and this is what I found:
I type it again:
The “Placebo Effect” or outcome, is “a beneficial effect, produced by a placebo drug or treatment, that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment.”
How powerful our minds and Spirit can be! That doesn’t really sound bad to me. To think that a person’s beliefs can be strong enough to match, replace, or even be stronger than a drug is something to marvel at, be impressed by…not something to poop on.
So what if Crystals induce a Placebo Effect? More power to them! Isn’t it great that we can have something help us, for which we don’t have to pay an insurance company or hospital? I’ll take that alternative any day!
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And so I wrapped up my initial response – to which a Reply came that got me talking again – here’s what I said:
You said I was”more rational than most crystal healers I’ve talked to.” Flattery will get you everywhere! I do pride myself in adhering to some level of logic. So thanks for saying so. It appears you have some experience bucking up against some others, of us “nut-heads.” I’ll definitely take that as a complement, and will share your comment as a badge of honor.
I don’t think it’s a problem for the placebo effect to “only provide comfort” (as you say)…what better thing could it do? I also embrace your statement “I guess this kind of stuff is good for anxiety and confidence building.” Indeed it is, you’re’ starting to “see the light!”
And I agree that “To present it as anything else is wrong.”
Your next 2 tangents on Religion and “a fantasy club” I’ll skip, but I do have something to say about your demand: “you should be clear that if people are seeking real fixes to their problems, they should probably look elsewhere first.”
Spiritual / energy issues often underlie “real problems” – so they’re not irrelevant, even to the most serious of illnesses – but I get your point.
A broader inquiry into my belief system will reveal that I do not endorse ignoring traditional (or modern) Medicine.
I believe each modality excels in addressing particular issues. You should certainly resist trying to strap a bandaid on a burst water pipe…won’t work! Similarly, if you have Cancer (which I did, twice)…I’d be a fool to turn away surgery when that could buy me a whole lot of time (like decades, thank you very much).
Singing “om” in a corner does not extricate a tumor like a scalpel! Though there are those who’ll argue that it can. And I’ve heard of several who’ve died trying. Doesn’t mean there aren’t also plenty of miracle stories about people who’ve willed away disease. A healthy respect for G8D will teach you that it could honestly go either way, and that it’s not entirely up to you.
I realize that I may continue to be somewhat of an enigma to you. Despite my sense of logic and functioning in “the real world,” I strongly believe that Crystal (and other) energy is part of our (and certainly MY) spectrum of daily experience. If this were about eyesight, it’s like I see more colors – infrared, ultraviolet, etc. than does the “normal” eye. Trying to explain that to someone who has neither seen the findings nor even knows about the devices capable of reading those higher frequencies, is tough (indeed, well nigh impossible). Your best bet for appreciating people like me is to accept the possibility that I (and others) may be sensitive and receptive to – even capable of assimilating – energies that you’re completely impervious to.
One last thing I will give you is that I disagree vehemently with the “prescriptive” approach to Crystals where people DO make explicit claims about how this-or-that will cure the other (or the third) symptom. That feels too simplistic and fantastic to believe in. Those folks may better deserve your ire, though the more politely and professionally you can approach them – and with some degree of emotional sensitivity – the better the outcome will be for all.
I believe the Crystals contain and represent certain natural energies. Romantic love and money making are exclusively human constructs, and do not show up as such in Nature. That’s why it frustrates me when people request a Crystal that will make them rich or bring them Love. Related concepts (or vibrations) like resonance, harmony, health, and vitality ARE naturally occurring, and worth reaching out to in our mineral world. “We’ve got an App for that!” There ARE Crystals for THOSE sorts of things. You have to know what you’re looking for – and where to seek them – in order to have any hope of finding them. But I digress!
Such-and-such a stone clearing up boils or dislodging kidney stones automatically? That seems like a stretch!
So I guess we have more in common than you might have thought at first.
Thanks for engaging constructively…
AND FINALLY (my commenter’s last Reply, where equilibrium is achieved):
“You know, while I disagree with the idea of spiritual energy coming from crystals – or even the idea of spiritual energy at all – I can truly say there is not much harm in your belief.”
“Thank you for taking the time to explain yourself to an anonymous troll!”
“Also even if we disagree on the functionality of crystals, it’s also good that you are developing people’s interest in them. The world needs more geologists, and talking about crystals could inspire that. So I can also say there is benefit to your belief.”
“I apologize for assuming you prescribed crystals to people and then sold them to hopeful people.”
“Have a good day, and may the quartz be with you.”

LOL (me again): AND ALSO WITH YOU!!!

Kyle Russell
www.CrystalConcentrics.com
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