I'm glad that everything was taken in a good spirit. There is sometimes a fine line between humor and mockery in sarcasm.
And by the way, this science has not been left for dead and many people have been, and still are, working on this. With success.
There are a lot of studies on this. Here one short article.
This is not quite alchemy, but it is certainly going some way towards the goal of transmutation of lead into gold. But if it could ever happen on a mass scale, then surely the economic system of the world would radically change.
Alchemy, as opposed to chemistry, takes a more holistic approach which includes elements of spirituality, specifically hermeticism, but also includes philosophy, mythology, chemistry of course, using elements of technology. The etymology of the word is taken from the Arabic al-kīmiyā, which in turn was taken from the Greek chēmia, which literally means at its root the old Egyptian name for Egypt itself, kēme. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy#Etymology )
I cannot say whether or not the old alchemical processes could turn lead into gold, procure the philosopher's stone, or distill the elixir of life. I can say that I believe it is possible, however, as I have personally witnessed and taken part of other types of physical transmutations.
The language of old alchemical texts is
highly obscured with symbolic coding. This was done for different reasons. In part, it was to protect themselves from heretical prosecution by the church, but it was also meant to throw off materialistic 'get rich quick' schemers of their own time. There have been a number of very penetrating analyses, decoding the spiritual symbolism of the old alchemists, by modern discerning minds. I would highly recommend reading the work of Carl Jung and Manley Hall on this subject. These authors show how alchemy is actually a transmutation of the self, and that following their instructions provides a quite thorough course on personal enlightenment. It is believed that once this inner transmutation is made, an outer transmutation may be effected. (As above, so below.)
But again, these systems are somewhat outmoded, and speak in an archaic model not conducive to the modern practitioner's environment or understanding. It would take a highly specialized Seeker, putting themselves in the mindset of a medieval thinker, to be able to even come close to a successful reproduction of the older alchemists experiments. But believe it or not, there are still some
very few Seekers who do just this, banging their heads against these old texts, and even building their own personalized laboratories for the process, and there have been reports of moderate successes.
In the end, we realize that All is One. Every type of energy and matter may be (and has been) transmuted into every other type. Understanding the rapid processes of this transmutation is alchemy, and is possible. (Familiarizing oneself with the science of harmonics may allow one to get a clearer picture here.) And this was the goal of the old alchemists. And just perhaps... it should be a goal of ours today as well, with some updating in theory and language...
Topic: Alchemy :) (Read 8055 times)