Daily Meditation: Thursday, September 23, 2010

Philosopher’s stone - state of consciousness attainable through love and wisdom

09/23/2010

By means of heat, nature brings gold and other metals to maturity. So gold is like the food a cook puts in the oven! But whereas, in nature, gold forms very slowly, since the heat that cooks it is very low, when it comes to our producing spiritual gold, it is possible for us to proceed more rapidly by increasing the heat. However, we should also take care not to burn everything. The trainee alchemist can be compared to the trainee cook, who doesn't yet know how to gauge the heat: they either let the dishes burn, or else the heat is so low they undercook them. In order to carry the 'great work' through to a successful conclusion and form the philosopher's stone within ourselves, we must light the fire of love within and learn how to regulate it. The process is accelerated by love, but love, like heat, also requires great control; otherwise, with that too, we are likely to burn everything. Love is the most terrible fire there is, if you do not know how to master it; this is why it must always be tempered by wisdom. The philosopher's stone is that state of divine consciousness attainable only through love and wisdom.