Originally posted by DresdenCodex
people - I'm not discussing gold as it sits around your neck, or on your finger.
The story of alchemy was meant to endure time as a metaphor that mankind's dogmatic religions couldn't wipe off the face of the earth. It is a symbol of our own divine potential that the 'world of sin' we are born into would have remain hidden.
Yes - you contain ALL that is devine, and ALL that is evil. The potential for both exist inside you.
These message of alchemy is hidden in a 'through the looking glass' window - the reoccurring theme of its message was so important it was meant to endure whatever history could throw at it and it's message remain intact.
All over the world I might add.

please read my original post & I hope you follow my meaning.

even the most hardened rock of a soul can find peace. I'm proof.

I just had to bump this answer, clear and true.

from what I understand of alchemy those who sought to create actual gold were known as "puffers" because they missed the point of real alchemy. Gold is the perfect metal, God is the perfect entity. alchemists believed that all things evolved, minerals into plants, plants into animals and so on. alchemy was a mix of science and religion. by meditating on a non precious metal they used their own energy to evolve it, but you as a person also evolved with it. If you made it to the end result, the perfect metal gold, then you yourself evolve to perfection (enlightenment) Gold was just a byproduct of the process of meditation because once you reach that level you understand that the gold is worthless anyway. whether it was literal or not i do not know, but thats the concept from my understanding

The New Chemical Light, by Michael Sendivogius, 17th Cen.

Many Sages, Scholars, and learned men have in all ages, and (according to Hermes) even so early as the days before the Flood, written much concerning the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone; and if their books could be understood without a knowledge of the living processes of Nature, one might almost say that they are calculated to supersede the study of the real world around us. But though they never departed from the simple ways of Nature, they have something to teach us, which we, in these more sophisticated times, still need to learn, because we have applied ourselves to what are regarded as the more advanced branches of knowledge, and despise the study of so "simple" a thing as natural Generation. Hence we pay more heed to impossible things than to those objects which are broadly exhibited before our very eyes; we excel more in subtle speculations than in a sober study of Nature, and of the meaning of the Sages. It is one of the most remarkable features of human nature that we neglect those things which seem familiar, and are eager for new and strange information. The workman who has attained the highest degree of excellence in his Art, neglects it, and applies himself to something else, or else abuses his knowledge. Our longing for an increase of knowledge urges us ever onward towards some final goal, in which we imagine that we shall find full rest and satisfaction

[...] Nature, then, is one, true, simple, self-contained, created by God and informed with a certain universal spirit. Its end and origin are God. Its unity is also found in God, because God made all things. Nature is the one source of all things: nor is anything in the world outside Nature, or contrary to Nature.

[...] if Art would produce any solid and permanent effect, it must follow in the footsteps of Nature, and be guided by her methods. It must trust itself to the guidance of Nature as far as Nature will lead, and go beyond her by still adhering to her rules.

[...] Now in our Art you should closely imitate these natural processes. There should be the Central Heat, the change of the water into air, the driving upward of the air, its diffusion through the pores of the earth, its reappearance as condensed but volatilized water.

On The Gold Medicine and On The Yellow and The White, by Ko Hung, 4th Cen. (Chinese)

Of the numerous things in the world, the Art and the Tao are the most difficult to comprehend. How then can people of ordinary endowment pass the judgement that there cannot possibly be a way to immortality? If one harbors doubts about the Tao merely because of popular disbelief, then he is assuming the mass to be wise people. How numerous then will the wise ones in this world be! Furthermore, those who understand the Tao and work for its attainment -- are they not the most stupid, even more stupid than the common people? Many fear to attempt to seek for immortality, lest they should fail and expose themselves to ridicule as victims of folly and deception. But supposing that the common people are not infallible and that their idea about the Tao is one mistake they make among ten thousand sound judgements, will not those who have laughed be laughed at by the ones who succeed despite discouragement and ridicule? Even the sun and moon cannot shine on everything; how can the people's mind be so omniscient as to be entirely trustworthy?