Alchemical musings...
A single theme or pattern often occurs repeatedly to me in a short period of time. Recently, the subject of alchemy seems to be entering my consciousness.
o I watched Full Metal Alchemist while in the hospital room with Kim. I was familiar with the story and characters, but it was the first episode I ever watched.
o Watching a special on the life of Isaac Newton, finding out that he practiced alchemy in secret.
o Reading Foucault's Pendulum, a small part of which deals with alchemy.
o An article I read at John Granger's site explaining the alchemical tie-ins to the HP series. (While I don't subscribe to all his plot event theories, a very good read nonetheless.)
I once thought alchemy was nothing more than a mystical/occult pseudoscience. Glancing a little closer, I find it's much more. Many early practitioners studied it as a means to get a better understanding of God and the universe.
I often wonder how much ancient wisdom has been lost through the ages. We tend to flippantly discount the knowledge gained by those long ago, thinking we have all the answers we need thanks to our infallible science. Did the wisdom disappear since it no longer applied? Was it abandoned by prideful ignorance? Perhaps some of the knowledge of the ancients is recycled into our tales, our stories, to one day be decrypted into applicable knowledge?
o I watched Full Metal Alchemist while in the hospital room with Kim. I was familiar with the story and characters, but it was the first episode I ever watched.
o Watching a special on the life of Isaac Newton, finding out that he practiced alchemy in secret.
o Reading Foucault's Pendulum, a small part of which deals with alchemy.
o An article I read at John Granger's site explaining the alchemical tie-ins to the HP series. (While I don't subscribe to all his plot event theories, a very good read nonetheless.)
I once thought alchemy was nothing more than a mystical/occult pseudoscience. Glancing a little closer, I find it's much more. Many early practitioners studied it as a means to get a better understanding of God and the universe.
I often wonder how much ancient wisdom has been lost through the ages. We tend to flippantly discount the knowledge gained by those long ago, thinking we have all the answers we need thanks to our infallible science. Did the wisdom disappear since it no longer applied? Was it abandoned by prideful ignorance? Perhaps some of the knowledge of the ancients is recycled into our tales, our stories, to one day be decrypted into applicable knowledge?