Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult ArtsSilberer, Herbert
Religion
Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts
Silberer, Herbert
Alchemy; Society of Rosicrucians; Symbolism (Psychology)
In the preceding section the symbolism and the psychology of the progress
of the mystic work has been developed more or less, but certainly not to
the end. Regeneration is evidently the beginning of a new development, the
nature of which we have not yet closely examined. Nothing has yet been
said definitely about the later phases of the work and about its goal. I
am afraid that this section, although it is devoted chiefly to the goal of
the work, cannot elucidate it with anything like the clearness that would
be desirable. To be sure the final outcome of the work can be summed up in
the three words: Union with God. Yet we cannot possibly rest satisfied
with a statement that is for our psychological needs so vague; we must
endeavor to comprehend the intimate nature of the spiritual experiences
that we have on the journey into the unsearchable; although I must at the
outset point out that at every step by which the symbolism of the mystics
leads us towards regeneration, we run the risk of wandering away from
psychology, and that in the following we shall all too soon experience
these deviations. We shall have to transplant ourselves uncritically at
times, into the perceptual world of the hermetics, which is, of course, a
mere fiction, for in order to do it rightly we should have to have a
mystical development behind us [whatever this may be]; one would have to
be himself a “twice born.” One thing can be accepted as true, that a
series of symbols that occur with striking agreement among all mystics of
all times and nations is related to a variety of experiences which
evidently are common to all mystics in different degrees of their
development, but are foreign to the non-mystics (or more exactly to all
men, even mystics, who have not attained the given level).
With this premise I will take up the question of the goal of alchemy
(mysticism). In this I follow in general the train of thought of
Hitchcock, without adhering closely to his exposition. (I cite H. A. =
Hitchcock, Remarks upon Alchemy.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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