Alchemy originated before the Christian era; a work of either a madman or a dreamer, whichever you can relate to. Alchemists were people who sought the grandiose potion of the conversion of base metals into gold.

Pretty advanced thinking, don’t you think? Metaphorically speaking, it was the discovery of Medieval period’s Internet.

The dream: Prolongation of Life. The secret to unravel: Immortality.

To quote Thom Yorke I sing: nice dream, nice dream, nice dream…

And because alchemy mixed magic and science, it worked along the lines of mysticism and quasireligiousness. It was based on ancient Chinese, Greek and Indian theories on the natural world (probably the 4 elements: earth, air, water, fire), and only when the Arabs started trading with China was this knowledge passed on to Egypt and Europe. (Oh, I love it that I’m from the East…! )

I’m not well-versed or well-read on alchemy, but their pursuit of the philosopher’s stone, or the exilir, which would transmute base metals into gold, cements my reservations on Alchemists and Universal Poetry. Damn it, who would’ve thought that philosophy, chemical technology, mysticism and mystery could blend perfectly into a search for that which is believed to be ungraspable? (forgive my adjective: it’s ungrammatical—yes, there is such a word— but it fits my sentence perfectly)

It baffles me that John Dee and even Isaac Newton were alchemists.

I have nothing but pure respect for alchemists. Other people call them foolish (let’s face it, they weren’t too successful) but I say they were people with dreams, who wanted to uncover mystery, and probably wanted to understand the Universe more. Just like us. Hey, we’re all alchemists. I’m an alchemist. You’re an alchemist, if you choose to be. We all drink and bathe in aqua vitae, we all step on exilirs, and we’re always searching for something to prolong human life, be it in poetry, art, science, mathematics, cooking, traveling, or whatever you think makes you go on. We’re always trying to balance elements. We’re a mix of chemical, philosophical and mystical thoughts.

Hehehe. What the alchemists did discover were natural substances used to make drugs. And oh, alcohol too. Very wise madmen or dreamers, indeed.