As Above, So Below
Truth, Alchemy & Harmony
The search for truth is universal. Thousands of years ago, humans searched for answers by observing the heavens, by wondering about the beauty (and destructive power) of nature, by comparing ourselves to other life on our planet, and by interpreting their dreams and visions. As you might imagine, individuals and groups came up with quite different versions of truth, although there were many similarities as well. These attempts at discerning truth all began with a hypothesis - imagine a theoretical model, a picture if you will, of reality, and then see if the observed facts fit that picture.
Some of our pictures are of gods and goddesses, of warfare in the heavens, of powers both visible and invisible, of tiny electrical charges orbiting a nucleus, or of even tinier particles that wink in and out of existence thousands or millions of times a second. Our pictures change from time to time as we learn more about reality and we then may abandon our old models of truth.
The two predominate classes of truth models that humans tend to use today are religion and science. Those people that prefer one of these classes tend to think of the other is inferior, incomplete, or less “true”. Sometimes they even violently disagree about fundamental ideas of truth.
The medieval and renaissance alchemists, however, did not see a conflict between religion - the metaphysical world - and the physical world. By transforming fundamental elements of nature, they sought to discover the fundamental truths about the universe, and by doing so become more powerful, wealthy, and perhaps even immortal.
The philosopher Carl Jung discovered that many of the same symbols and pictures used by the alchemists still appear in the dreams and visions of people today. Jung concluded that the alchemists were not only, or perhaps not even predominately, concerned with the material world, but were attempting to bring the material and metaphysical worlds together and into harmony. By understanding alchemy Jung believed we also can bring our conscious and unconscious into harmony, and thus gain more power over our own lives.
Sheryl- Alchemical Jung is a great topic for me to read this morning. I appreciate you sharing this. Hope you're well this week? Cheers, -Thalia