1) Alchemy is a philosophical and spiritual way of understanding nature and how it operates. The sun is referred to as the father, the moon as the mother, and the earth is the nurse. Alchemy’s main purpose was to transmute common, cheaper metals into gold. This practice differs from magic and traditional science because alchemy is a combination of chemistry, physics, medicine, metallurgy and spiritualism. Alchemy has some science applied to it while magic is purely about the “supernatural”; ideas that cannot be proven by science or religion. In magic, it may be believed that a person may have the phenomenal power to control the whole world, other people, or something that cannot be explained. Traditional science bases its fundamentals through evidence. Facts can be proven through experiments and rationality.
2) Holistic medicine is an approach to how treatment should be given. The practice tries to relieve the patient of not only their sickness or pain but the body as a whole. If you are free from pain or disease from your body doesn’t necessarily mean that you are healthy. The thoughts, feelings and emotions of the body are also accountable for healthiness. Some practices of holistic medicine are acupuncture and meditation. Most of these practices are placebos. This relates to principle 2 on the emerald tablet because both utilize alternative ways of curing the human body. In essence, both refer to the idea that any path you choose to take, whether it’s taking pills, meditating, acupuncture, it will lead to your body being released of what was bothering you.
3) There is no doubt that today we are still attempting to discover the same two things that Alchemists seek. In medical practice, doctors and scientists are always researching ways to prolong the human lifespan and they have been successful. Eventually, they may end up finding/creating the “elixir of life”. A couple centuries ago, the lifespan of the average human was about 50 years. The current generation or perhaps the next one is predicted to have an average lifespan of about 110-120 years. Much of this is due to the variety of healthy foods available and the advancements in medicine. As for the philosopher’s stone, people are always trying to get “something out of nothing”. For example, bottled water companies are making fortunes from selling something that is free to all of us. Bottled water brands like Smart Water and Fiji charge more than the same water (in my opinion) that Poland Spring provides. While it is cleaner than tap water (or even boiled), I find it interesting that bottled water is becoming more of a ‘necessity’ of life rather than a ‘convenience’.
2 comments:
I agree with your comments on the fact that one can be looking and feeling healty but it doesnt necessarily mean that they are healty..Today also, people tend to substitute one form of healing for another if plan A doesnt work. As for the bottled water, I dont really know whether it's becoming more of a necessity or not but i can definitely agree with you on the fact that Poland spring is proven to be the most purified and is also cheaper than the regular pipe water in bottles that doesnt even contain flouride.
I found your analogy between bottled water and the philopsher's stone to be interesting. Although water itself is a necessity I have to disagree with your comment that bottled water is becoming a necessity. I think bottled water is a luxury, especially as tap water becomes increasingly purified and better to drink. Bottled water is almost a status statement, as you pointed out, with which type of water one drinks.
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