By the way, that is not true, that gold is the perfect balance of sulfur and mercury. That is just what alchemy believed. Alchemists also believed that metals, because they were found in veins or root-like structures in the ground, were alive and would ripen into gold. While it is a beautiful concept, it is, of course, not true as well. Such beautiful imagery, though, it made it into the book...
What I like about the ancient alchemists is that they were both scientists and mystics, thus allowing themselves to think about the world in really imaginative and expansive ways. Einstein was certainly this, Gallileo, Newton, etc... basically the greatest thinkers of modern times were all spiritually expansive. Newton spent much of his adult life seeking out the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone. He had elaborate and encoded journals with recipes for various medicines and elixirs. And, of course, everyone wanted to be able to make gold in their lab, a less spiritually expansive aspiration, however, understandable all the same.
Some of the biggest themes and storylines of the book have come to me in dreams. I wake up in the middle of the night and know something new. The alchemy piece was like that for me. It is a strange thing, but I am going with it.
What I like about the ancient alchemists is that they were both scientists and mystics, thus allowing themselves to think about the world in really imaginative and expansive ways. Einstein was certainly this, Gallileo, Newton, etc... basically the greatest thinkers of modern times were all spiritually expansive. Newton spent much of his adult life seeking out the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone. He had elaborate and encoded journals with recipes for various medicines and elixirs. And, of course, everyone wanted to be able to make gold in their lab, a less spiritually expansive aspiration, however, understandable all the same.
Some of the biggest themes and storylines of the book have come to me in dreams. I wake up in the middle of the night and know something new. The alchemy piece was like that for me. It is a strange thing, but I am going with it.
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