Ruminations on Alchemy of Sir Isaac Newton

Newton's Translation of the Emerald Tablet

It is true without lying, certain and most true. That which is Below is like that which is Above and that which is Above is like that which is Below to do the miracles of the Only Thing. And as all things have been and arose from One by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father; the Moon its mother; the Wind hath carried it in its belly; the Earth is its nurse. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into Earth. Separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from the gross, sweetly with great industry. It ascends from the Earth to the Heavens and again it descends to the Earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. So was the world created. From this are and do come admirable adaptations, whereof the process is here in this. Hence am I called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended.

Don't you think it odd that given the times that while contribution from Sir Isaac Newton lead the way in terms of Optics and Gravitation that one could have been so mislead as to the study of an ancient enterprise.

The Alchemists attempted to perfect the One Thing of Hermes, what they called the First Matter, by using specific physical, psychological, and spiritual techniques that they describe in chemical terms and demonstrated in laboratory experiements. However, while the alchemists spoke in terms of chemcials, furaces , flasks, and beakers, they were really talking about the changes taking place within their own bodies, minds, and souls.2The Emerald Tablet, Dennis William Hauck, Chapter 10, Page 151

It is not to far a leap to see that intelligence could have been made up of other attributes that we might say Emotional Intelligence is worth a look. How would this compare to Silica Garden Illustrating Mineral "Vegetation" but to see it as growth in one form but analogically attributed to one owns neurological process inside? While this is matter constitution raised it has very fluid attributes to a intelligence system?

As a man I cannot say I can have ever overcome my emotions but I can be more aware of what is going on inside. How my views of the world can be circumspect, from a much higher realization.

How much more important my emotions play then in staying to the high road of decency and respect. How my emotions may be elevated to be inspired by others. How childish I can become by loosing my awareness of my responses.

The language of Alchemy is learning to see as if you are a POlymath about your life. It does not mean you do not suffer the emotional turmoils just that you realize it is okay to feel. To feel deeply.

What matter based realization can exist as we conjure up the mind to the responses we have experienced that we do not see the mixtures of the elements that go on inside? Shall all our responses be matter based in distinction, based on the lower realization of what can arise in human beings? The baser emotions of an ancient human being primal in nature while evolution shall see the rise of the machine?

So by definition and understanding of the Ruminations how is it a defeated man could have excelled so boldly as to have found "no hero" in front of him? No hero, but his determination to be  but "goal oriented." Not to have been overcome by this negative state, so as to loose his self in his understanding of life and his quest to be better?

People have had it wrong for a long time now, and hopefully this sheds a new light on one of our forefathers who gave us more then his science to consider. He was still a scientist in face of the problems he may of encountered psychologically.  He entered the cave and saw the shadows, but he knew there was so much more to his confinement of perspective that pushed himself to excel.

Rumination is usually defined as repetitively focusing on the symptoms of distress, and on its possible causes and consequences.^[1]. Extensive research on the effects of rumination, or the tendency to self-reflect, shows that the negative form of rumination interferes with people’s abilities to focus on problem-solving and results in dwelling on negative thoughts about past failures.^[2] Evidence from previous studies suggest that the negative implications of rumination are due to cognitive biases, such as memory and attentional biases, which predispose ruminators to selectively devote attention to negative stimuli ^[3] However, three forms of rumination were proposed by Mikulincer (1996): state rumination, action rumination, and task-irrelevant rumination. State Rumination involves dwelling on the consequences and feelings associated with the failure. Action rumination consists of task-oriented thought processes focused on goal-achievement and correction of mistakes. Task-irrelevant rumination utilizes events or people unassociated with the blocked goal to distract a person from the failure.^[4]

It is of great consequence that we can see the reasons why being in such a negative world does more harm by our engaging what may have been the realities of those who have seen  and experienced a Hell on Earth.  Soldiers who return home, Peace Officers who have no way to deal with the tragedies, or Fireman who saw the outcome of death by Fire?

What about you as an individual? How great the wall that can be set up that the view cannot let us see what is on the other side? It is of consequence that each of us will experience these things. The question is  will you accept that the emotions do exist within you that they have to be made aware of. That we cannot gloss over what is real inside to have have it accumulate?

So maybe in those times of Sir Isaac Newton they did not have psychology people to help you surmise the matter states of our convictions and realization as stepping off  points to the future?

The Flammarion woodcut. Flammarion's caption translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet..." "We all are of the citizens of the Sky" Camille Flammarion

The Melting Pot?


On the question of our societies then what value can be seen when it is not seen as part of the individual  developmental graces in conjuring up the humanistic values of our decency and respect of others?

	"Plato made clear that merit and not heredity defined the gold man and that gold could be found in all parts of society."

Plato prove that justice does not depend upon a chance, convention or upon external force. It is the right condition of the human soul by the very nature of man when seen in the fullness of his environment. It is in this way that Plato condemned the position taken by Glaucon that justice is something which is external. According to Plato, it is internal as it resides in the human soul. "It is now regarded as an inward grace and its understanding is shown to involve a study of the inner man." It is, therefore, natural and no artificial. It is therefore, not born of fear of the weak but of the longing of the human soul to do a duty according to its nature.

A just society must be governed by men of reason.Inventing a new social myth to replace the old. Socrates calls those who rule for the benefit of the whole society and not to it's detriment golden men: in his myth they rightfully govern the men of silver and bronze. This is the myth of metals(415a ff.) the centrepiece of a second accusation that has dogged Plato through the centuries. Plato made clear that merit and not heredity defined the gold man and that gold could be found in all parts of society. Nonetheless, Plato has never escaped the charge that he imposes upon society an elitist and authoritarian rule. The charge is pressed even though in Book IV Plato makes justice in the individual the condition of justice in society.--Pg 16, Para 2 and 3, of Plato the Republic Introduction by Richard W. Sterling and William C. Scott.

“ Man is the most composite of all creatures.... Well, as in the old burning of the Temple at Corinth, by the melting and intermixture of silver and gold and other metals a new compound more precious than any, called Corinthian brass, was formed; so in this continent,--asylum of all nations,--the energy of Irish, Germans, Swedes, Poles, and Cossacks, and all the European tribes,--of the Africans, and of the Polynesians,--will construct a new race, a new religion, a new state, a new literature, which will be as vigorous as the new Europe which came out of the smelting-pot of the Dark Ages, or that which earlier emerged from the Pelasgic and Etruscan barbarism.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, describing American Culture as a melting pot in a journal entry, 1845

Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable . We must trust the perfection of the creation so far, as to believe that whatever curiosity the order of things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can satisfy. Every man's condition is a solution in hieroglyphic to those inquiries he would put. He acts it as life, before he apprehends it as truth. In like manner, nature is already, in its forms and tendencies, describing its own design. Let us interrogate the great apparition, that shines so peacefully around us. Let us inquire, to what end is nature? See: Nature by Emerson

In response to the trivial statements of what you might have heard and repeat without looking.Here's some support for the limited view you may share of the subject that carry's some weight. Of course even given the perspective of a scientist he did not have a full understanding of the subject?

The Errors & Animadversions of Honest Isaac Newton by Sheldon Lee Glashow ABSTRACT: Isaac Newton was my childhood hero. Along with Albert Einstein, he one of the greatest scientists ever, but Newton was no saint. He used his position to defame his competitors and rarely credited his colleagues.His arguments were sometimes false and contrived, his data were often fudged, and he exaggerated the accuracy of his calculations. Furthermore, his many religious works (mostly unpublished) were nonsensical or mystical, revealing him to be a creationist at heart. My talk offers a sampling of Newton’s many transgressions, social, scientific and religious.

The new book I am reading Gravity by Brian Clegg currently sheds more light on Newton youth and the life he lead.