Crucible as Myself

Crucible is from the Medieval Latin Crucibulum for “melting pot for metals” and “night lamp.” The first part of the word, crus, could also originate from the Middle High German kruse meaning “earthen pot” or from the Latin crux in reference to a cross.

The word crucible has two meanings:

1. As a noun, a crucible is a ceramic, graphite, or metal container that is used for the melting of metals or conducting of chemical reactions at high temperatures.
2. As a verb, a crucible is a severe trial in which things interact and something new is created from it. This meaning of the word began sometime around the 1640s.

A classic chemistry lab uses a crucible to react with magnesium metal with oxygen gas at high temperatures to produce magnesium oxide. Crucibles are also used to melt bronze and other metals for casting bells and statues. If a crucible is ceramic, it can be brittle despite its ability to withstand extreme temperatures.

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible told a fictional account of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692 and 1693. It was an allegory for McCarthyism, a time in the 1950s when people were being accused and persecuted for being a communist. Much like the Salem Witch Trials, most of the accusations were false and were very dangerous to the lives of those accused.

A crucible is also a container, a place for work to be done. Its job is to hold, to be a space. Based on this definition, anything can serve as a crucible: an office, journal, classroom, tennis court, website.

The book Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott spoke of the role of the crucible in the work she does with her coaching clients. She pondered if she could become the crucible for her clients, her family and friends, or herself.

The title of this blog comes from this idea. I have created a space for me to bring my writing, thoughts, and ideas to the world, but I am my own crucible in this process. I contain the reaction or heated metal in me and eventually present that work to the world on this site. This is page is my voice, my practice is finding, developing, and crafting it into something that is authentic to me. What I say here may not be popular, but it is authentic to me and hopefully will resonate with others.

We all have different crucibles that present themselves in life, some of them we choose for ourselves, some are chosen for us. This is a combination of the two. I have felt for awhile that I have something of value and meaning to share. This feeling grew so strong that I felt it was being chosen for me and I had no other option than to choose it back. I don’t know yet if the words you read here is that something or if this is just practice for that something. Only time will determine that.

References

Online Etymology Dictionary. (2020) Crucible. https://www.etymonline.com/word/crucible

Scott, S. (2002). Fierce Conversations (Second Edition). The Berkley Publishing Company.

Sparknotes. (2020). The Crucible. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/