Spiritual alchemy

We have often heard about the Hermetic principle: “As above so below”. This phrase has a very special meaning to the student of mysticism, with an understanding of the duality of man. On the one side man is seen as an essential being with a deep inner life experience and on the other side man has an existential presence in the material world.  A complete life experience requires from man to experience his existential self as well as to rise in his consciousness to be open to the impressions from his essential being. In gaining knowledge man must imagine the Eternal Source of All and observe how it manifest in his existential world through meditation. Equally important is that man must also contemplate on his inner world and apply what he observes to develop a generalised understanding of the Eternal Source. Experience is the light that shines on the inner world and gives it a dimension of life while meditation on the Eternal Source provides another dimension to life. Spiritual alchemy in its practical form is a constructivistic approach of uniting these to view points to gain a true understanding of phenomena experience in this life. In this manner the mystic endeavours to unite science and spirituality on the one side and art and philosophy on the other side.  From the Eternal Source we receive the influx of life force and in the existential world we experience the impressions of spirit, the material world. Both Life Force and Spirit is required to acquire the wisdom that will see that the All is in all and the all is in All. When that observation becomes apparent then the maxim: “What is above is below” reaches a new level of meaning for the student of mysticism, with many practical applications.

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