The Minor Opus in Words and Pictures Part I. Chapter 1.
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The Minor Opus in Words and Pictures Part I Chapter 1.
The Philosophy of Alchemy
The first question one is faced with and surely must ask oneself as one
start's on this path is, what is alchemy? To many people, alchemy is a
pseudoscience practiced by old men in musty basements. They use ingredients
like eye of newt, bats wing, cat's liver, and the like to try to produce
a universal elixir that prolongs life indefinitely as well as transmutes
base metals to gold.
Alchemy is much more than the pursuit of these frivolous dreams. Alchemy is the search for the QUINTESSENCE! It is all about isolating the vital force of life itself, isolating it so it can be condensed, purified, and manipulated to conform with the artist's will. Alchemy, in short, is the art of evolution! It is in a real sense concerned with the elevating of all organisms to the highest level of perfection they can attain -- as originally mandated by God -- while still on this earth in material form. When speaking of an organism reference is being made to all forms of matter found on this planet, irrespective of the fact of whether they are organic or inorganic, because for the alchemist all matter is alive, or else it could not continue in the form that it occupies and keeps. Of course there are different levels of the vital force in all organisms. Some have enough vital force to keep their form, or so it would seem because their decay is so prolonged, as in the case of a metal rusting. While others have such an abundance of life that they can reproduce or even help to vitalize and stabilize the vital force in other organisms that have become unbalanced.
In order to get a better understanding here of what is meant by alchemy being the art of evolution, we should take a look at the five basic tenets of alchemy, which are:
These five tenets propose there is a system whereby humans can learn about the universe from its subtlest intimations to its grossest manifestations. It says that by knowing the self, one can know the One the All (or as close as the human mind can come to recognizing it) and in fact bring about physical changes and manifestations by a lawful application of the system's rules. These statements are true, although the degree to which they become manifested in any one life depends entirely upon the individual applying them and the amount of diligence with which they approach their task. Yet one must get started somewhere on this road. So let us begin together.