Sat at my computer looking at the forum, I decided to attempt to reply on a thread. There are many great threads on this finely woven tapestry that is Alchemy Forums. Although as a beginner in life, and in the field of Alchemy. I struggled to find somewhere I felt I could add value. So I decided to stick to my own threads, until I feel I can.
Two quotes then came to mind:
Quote:
Plato - Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.
Quote:
Shakespeare - A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
Knowing myself a fool, I had to say something. But what to write? I thought to myself, “What is Alchemy?”. I realised that I had an idea of what I thought it was, but had never really attempted to put it into words.
The simplest definition I could come up with was:
Alchemy: To find/know a way to, using will, create beneficial change in some thing.
But what is it that an Alchemist looks to create change in?
In my opinion? … Everything! And as all things known to the individual begin and end in the mind, that is where I like to start. It is my opinion that an Alchemists first goal to closely study his self, to learn self control, and then to be able to consistently create change in his/her self. As a beginner this is the most interesting part for me. So as a starting point for memories sake I begin Internal Alchemy with the ‘I AM’ concept and build from there.
But the concept of self is so much more complex than that, our surroundings affect our self, therefore our surroundings must be part of our self, 'As Above, So Below'. This is where Physical Alchemy comes into play. So, yet again, for the sake of memory I must have a starting point. But to explain further I shall take a sideways step to talk about my opinions on Alchemy’s origins.
Definitions of Alchemy are many, and subjectively individual. I was inspired to write this post by Dev’s thread A Brief History of Alchemy. As I carefully read the diverse definitions of Alchemy from posts on Dev’s thread I was intrigued by people intent to trace Alchemy to an origin.
Personally, based on my above definition of Alchemy. I think we could say that Alchemy originates from the first person to make fire and teach the process to their fellows. So to me a cave man was the first Alchemist. He willed fire into existence, and whatever was burnt transmuted to ash. And so I personally feel the above leaves the human origin of Alchemy a bit of a moot point.
But what it we go even further back than this? What about the Stars? The original Alchemists! the great creators and maintainers of life! In my opinion this is a great place to start Physical Alchemy. Start with the Big Bang and attempt to learn all the Chemistry and Physics that happened since. A great way to study this kind of history is the Big History Project. I have personally viewed all their material once over, and I am hoping to do so again in the near future. Personally I feel they explain this timeline much more clearly than I ever could so I will not continue down this train of thought.
To conclude, I feel that Alchemy is the discipline* of learning the knowledge of all things, so as to be able to wilfully create change in any thing one wishes. The Alchemical discipline being broken down into two major disciplines of Internal; beginning with ‘I AM’, and External; beginning with the ‘Big Bang’.
Finally, I would like to explain what I would like this thread to be about. I wondered if it might be enjoyable if people posted an explanation of what Alchemy is to them, and their personal definition of Alchemy. In my opinion, as far as this thread goes, there are no wrong answers, as I am sure we all agree that Alchemy is closely linked to art and so in defining it we should have artistic licence.
*Anyone ever noticed how discipline really looks like disciple-line? :D