Getting Out of the Way

There are moments when we all share bits of ourselves with others in a strong enough way that it’s felt deep inside. For some people, those moments are short and elusive. For Britney @ Miracle Of Mind (or net TV show), those moments happen on a regular basis. It’s like coming across an actress that is able to reproduce the emotions or a scene in line with the actions written in the script, Britney finds moments when the ego steps aside to let the inner knowing out. These moments are powerful and she’s made the effort to record the moments on film – so you can enjoy them too!

Not too long ago, when surfing to experience open souls, I came across a short video of Britney talking up some subject, but what caught my eye were her actions – rather than words. It’s like when you hear someone emotionally sing a song rather than technically sing the song – you feel the performance. When you feel it, you experience what’s going on rather than simply hearing it.

The experience is key here. Regardless of the words, what we can learn from Britney is that doing (lol) is exactly what she shows with each of her videos. She’s made a conscious choice to be open. Not only does she make that choice, but she shows how it’s done.

It’s not a talent, but a conscious choice. Her willingness to capture these moments on film document how easy it is and, if you pay attention, you’ll find yourself opening up in reflection with her.

Even though she calls this Turn WITHIN, not OUT, I would call it Listen, Learn and Be Love.

Can you imagine turning the camera on yourself like this? Lol….

I guess the key reason why I’m attracted to Britney’s videos is that she gives me confidence in the words – “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them”. In everyday life, it isn’t often that you find that second person to help you open up to your inner Being. When you do, the interactions can be powerful and deep. There is a special energy that is exchanged between two people when the mind gets out of the way and the Being shines through. Well, as it turns out, Britney’s already come to the conversation. She’s transcended time by gathering virtually and being available whenever you need!

I hope you listened between her words and didn’t get caught up in the technicalities for if you open your heart and just listen, you’ll feel her through space and time. If you don’t get it the first time, watch another one until you find one that resonates with you. At that point, listen & learn how it makes you feel. Pay close attention to that feeling for that is where you learn how she’s doing it.

Once that connection is learned, all that’s really left is to do it too! I don’t mean record yourself giving a sermon via YouTube, but simply opening your heart. Make yourself venerable – but with strength. Do what you know deep down inside is what you want to do. Allow yourself to do it and then, well, simply do it.

So listen, learn and all the while love. It’s easy and fun! You don’t even have to go looking for anyone for Britney is already there and waiting.

Good day.

Awakening to the Challenge of the Heart

At a very young age, I learned that what exists in the spiritual world manifests in our physical world for the two are intimately tied together. I was taught basic cause and effect principles and actually put them into practice. To (almost) grossly over simply the situation, Thoughts are Things. But, as you already know, that is a bit of a play on words for if you look up the classic definition of a thing you’ll find something like (thanks to reference.com):

a material object without life or consciousness; an inanimate object.

This definition pretty much limits a thing into the physical realm. But thoughts are innately not things, but rather an action. When you look up ‘thought’ via Wikipedia we find:

Thought” generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual’s subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination.[1]

As you’ve seen in my previous posts, thoughts are energetic representations of things that we’ve experienced (or created). When thinking, Your Being moves energy that vibrates with the resonance of something that we’ve experienced. When you think of an apple, Your Being understands that energy. It can toy with that energy in many different ways. Put simply, you can re-experience the taste, smell or texture as physical sensations. Or, you can visualize what an apple looks like based on what you’ve seen and it can appear as if you’re looking at it. That energy appears real – because it is real.

So, when we experience Thoughts are Things, we see that at the root of the act of thinking, there is energy that Your Being uses to recreate the experience which is, pretty much, a thing but it’s manipulated on a conscious way. In other words –

Your consciousness manipulates energy that affects physical matter

Looking at this slightly differently, one example that I like to use that demonstrates this concept that thoughts affect matter – cause and effect – can be seen when thinking about the thoughts of sex. If your current state of mind is one of simply reading this blog post, sex is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Yet, if you where to take a few seconds to think of/visualize erotic sexual images, sounds and actions, you’ll probably notice that your body responds within seconds of the thoughts! The energy of the root chakra is quick to respond to your thoughts. Standing up, moving, and other physical activities fall into a similar category, but they are almost unconscious actions so people don’t pay much attention. The thing to note is that thoughts directly react on the body.

Now, why is this important to me today?

Well, for some time now, I’ve known that a spinal condition that I have where a disc is slightly out of alignment directly between my shoulder blades is related to my experiences of love. When I was younger, I went to a chiropractor for quite a while getting adjustments but it never seemed to really make a difference. A couple years ago, I thought about going to a chiropractor again, but I have reservations and I started yoga instead. The Yoga has been wonderful and I added massage therapy (which I really love). I can say that the area between my shoulder blades is stronger and more flexible. But it’s still not healed. To me, love is still mostly an intellectual thing – it doesn’t flow freely.

So, what triggered this writing today was the thought (intuitive knowing) that I received while investigating a relatively famous internet yoga instructor. I somehow ended up reading through the schedule of yoga workshops for the Whistler Yoga Conference and found the following posted by Dashama.

In this magical exploration of life’s greatest gift: LOVE. The “back” of the heart is where we store many of our earlier emotional tension from childhood, relationships and unmet expectations from life. Explore how working with asanas, breath, visualization, and mantras we learn to release that which is not serving you to become more free to love and be loved, to share compassion, forgiveness, empathy and joy.

When reading this, it was like a light bulb lit up bringing lots of different memories together all at the same time.

I immediately brought the thought home thinking about my out-of-alignment spine. But this time, the point of view for viewing it was not between my shoulder blades but rather behind my heart! This is the first time that I’ve ever thought about this physical condition from this point of view. I believe it opened my eyes to new healing energies.

The follow up thoughts flowed through like a flood of rushing memories. I remembered a number of comments that I’ve heard people tell me like – “you’re the most discipline man I’ve ever met”, or “you need to relax and go with the flow” or “you’re so hard on yourself” or “you’re so hard on yourself (emotionally).

But more importantly, my own thoughts about how I view myself over time. When I was younger, for some reason, I never gained the ability to love myself. With the help of TV, I learned to idolize an emotionless character (Mr. Spock from Star Trek) which I did my best to imitate. These actions helped to take me further away from the joy of emotions and more particularly – away from the actions that go along with the emotions of love. When I would greet someone, it would be a hand shake rather than a hug. Rather than feeling how the other people felt, I would logically analyze the situation exploring the cause and effect and offer guidance, but I would keep my distance regarding feeling the other person.

Memories of relationships came up. Knowing the principle of what you give out you get back I look at relationships that I’ve developed over the years and they have been mostly based on intellectual qualities like – trust, honesty, respect and loyalty. The characteristic that’s missing is love.

Then the classic why doesn’t anyone love me statement ran through my thoughts not in a pity me type of way, but rather as a – you get back what you give out – type way. This fed into the realization that my friendships are strong, but built upon characteristics that are less venerable than love – because I don’t project that emotion as I believe I should be.

This then linked into the unmet expectations from life written in that same yoga class statement above where I feel that I’ve undermined myself. I’ve always known that I’m here on Earth to learn love, but I have a very strong fear of failure.

Armed with this ‘new light’ and a few extra minutes to surf the web, I Googled up information about the Heart Chakra and found the following from HowToOpenChakras.com:

The 4th Chakra

The Heart Chakra is the 4th Chakra, located near a person’s heart in the center of their body. It rules the heart, circulatory and respiratory systems, plus a person’s arms, shoulders, hands, diaphragm, ribs/breasts and thymus gland.

It’s where the emotion of love comes from and is also related to some of the other positive emotions such as joy, happiness, integrity, respect, compassion, understanding and generosity. Through the Heart Chakra a person is able to connect with other humans and show love or affection. It is also the symbol of spiritual security and healing.

Symptoms of Blocked Heart Chakra

There are many bad occurrences if someone’s heart chakra is blocked. … It is also where emotions such as guilt, rejection, and not being able to love oneself occur. You will also feel symptoms of guilt, hatred, self-pity and paranoia and your emotions will rule your every move. You will be a cold and unfeeling individual unable to love anyone, not even yourself.

In extreme cases a blocked Heart Chakra can lead to diseases such as heart problems, asthma, lung and breast cancers, pneumonia, and upper back and shoulder issues.

Symptoms of a Balanced Heart Chakra

If your Heart Chakra is balanced you will be a compassionate and generous human being. You will honor feelings such as respect, honesty and happiness and will be considerate to the needs of others. You will also be able to feel love for the people around you. You will be able to have good relationships and will have self respect for yourself and others.

In the last section, the How To Open Chakras site states that if the heart chakra is balanced, you have a bunch of positive traits. Well, when I think about my way of life, I mostly honor these characteristics. Which makes me believe that I’m generally balanced, but not up to my full potential.

The bold italics above in the second paragraph really caught my eye. I think that I can connect to other humans, but the memories that passed through my head when I read the Yoga Class description led me to believe that I really might not be connecting to others with love and affection – but rather with the other listed characteristics!

Putting this all together, it appears to me that my fear of failure has manifested itself physically – behind my heart, in my body. The thoughts that I have created manifested as a miss-aligned disc in my spine. The defenses that I’ve built around myself intellectually has ‘hardened’ the center of my chest.

Ultimately, the reason why I have this condition is because I created it! Through my thoughts and actions, I created the energy patterns that manifested themselves as this physical condition. The reason why I’ve never seen any progress towards resolving this particular issue is because I continue to maintain the same thought patterns and resulting actions.

That’s now going to change!

A long time ago I blogged that I realized that “I’d been doing it all wrong”. Because I understand the truth of cause and effect, the fact that I was physically and emotionally exhausted, I understood that my actions had led me into that state of being. Well, this epiphany is similar to that previous one.  The difference is that with the previous situation there were so many physical and emotional issues that a general overall change was needed. In this case, it’s a specific physical manifestation. There is a specific thought pattern (or action) that needs to be replaced.

I am excited for this change in my life! I’m still unsure how it’s going to unfold, but I have a feeling that it will involve breaking down resistive barriers and allowing myself to be venerable. I know that I have the strength to accomplish this personal challenge. I know I have the understanding. I can picture myself behaving different than today – which is a huge change!

It’s now time to act.

Next time you give someone a hug, think of the words that I’ve written here. Allow yourself to be venerable and know that you’ll be safe.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll perform another back bend – my least favorite and most venerable yoga move…. Now I believe I understand the reason why.

Serving the Spirit of the Mountain

Every once in a while I stumble across a video from Lilou (of Juicy Living) where she’s interviewing someone regarding what they do as part of her life’s journey. This time, I came across an interview with Michel Domit the creator and visionary of the El Santurario near Mexico City. His words and spirit touched me through this video, which is a good enough reason to share.

Event thought it’s more than seventy minutes long (and has slow parts) there is a genuine truthfulness that is shared in the conversation. It took me a couple days to get through it, but I’m glad that I did!

Here is the interview:

It wasn’t until the video was nearly over that I realized why I felt compelled to watch. Just after sixty minutes into the interview Michel shares tips regarding “what is your mission in life”. For, he states, everyone has a mission in life. And that’s where I started to listen a little closer for the feeling that I have with my own life is that my true mission in life is just now starting to take root and grow. The time spent at my job has been great at providing for raising a family, but it does nothing to grow the soul.

I think it was the very last story in the interview is where things came together for me. That story starts just over 65 minutes into the interview. This is where Michel talks about how the stain glass room came into being. The video cuts to showing the ceiling of the great room and it made me think of what I’d been meditating on creating. It was at that point that the feeling in my meditations came to surface. The woodwork, glass work and openness of the environment all fits with what I’ve been visualizing. Just like Michel sees the location as a sanctuary for the soul, so to have I been envisioning a place where I can live and work that matches the location that he’s developed. The spirit of his intent seems to match my visions.

But I have no desire to run a hotel or resort on that type of scale. There is a difference between working and living or doing something because you get paid verses doing something because you love doing it. I don’t mind hard work as long as it’s something that I enjoy doing. The key part is it has to be something that I’m passionate about and that it fits into the life mission part of things.

When Michel talks about having an open heart, or analyzing the virtues of your heroes for in that is the seed of your mission in life, or don’t wait – start practicing now or perform little acts of compassion on a regular basis, well, these are all things that I have passion for. There is much more to life than keeping the corporate wheel turning.

People blossom when the soul is allowed to shine through. We get a glimpse of that in this interview between Lilou and Michel. That can happen between anyone anywhere when you are committed to having an open heart and allowing the spirit to shine through.

Either I’ve got a trip coming my way, or the vision that I’ve put forth is starting to manifest in more physical terms.

Enjoy the video (if you have time) and perform acts of kindness on a regular basis!

What makes a good yoga instructor?

A long time ago I drafted a list of characteristics that I believe every good yoga instructor should have. This list was not from the point of view of a teacher, but from the point of view of the student. That is, if the instructor performs these actions, the class, and the resulting energy, always feels more uplifting than awkward.

Well, it’s time for me to revisit that original article. It’s been a long time since that article was posted and I’ve now come to understand a little bit more regarding this art. That is, I still don’t have any ‘formal’ training, but what I experience is, well, what I experience and get to share!

In the original list of items, I left out describing one thing that I now know to be critical with regards to what separates a yoga instructor from one that people stand in line to go see. That trait is:

Share within your personal space as if you’re hugging your students

Understanding your personal space is one thing, but opening yourself up and using that energy in your instruction makes for a great yoga instructor. The instructors that are not afraid to let students into their personal space when they are open and venerable allow for the yoga experience to go beyond the physical and into the emotional aspects of the practice.

This is different than simply approaching a student and making corrections in their posture. Any instructor can suggest a longer stance, or a lengthening, or some other alignment while still protecting their own personal space. But when this is done when the instructor’s personal space engulfs the student, the experience is felt in a very deep way.

What I’m talking about is probably more closely aligned with giving someone a hug. When you hug someone, the intent is to consciously open your personal space. When you do, who you are in the inside flows though and is felt in the emotional level of the receiver.

During yoga, when the physical body is pushed to the limit, the barriers, that people build in order to isolate themselves from the emotional effects of others, are softened. This is the exact time when emotional energies have the greatest impact. This is where a really good instructor can enhance a student’s yoga experience by consciously using the personal space to help release emotional blockages or enhance the flow of emotional energy.

To really make this effective, the instructor must be open at the time of merging. In other words, it is of no use to enter someone’s personal space if you’re going to keep the standard blocks up and active. Picture Mr. Spock approaching a student to make a correction. Sure, you can technically do this, but the experience is far from satisfying.

Thus, one trait of a really good yoga instructor is someone that makes themselves just a venerable as the students – yet knows that when they enter the student’s personal space they will be enhancing the student’s yoga experience in non-physical ways.

So, now, if you look back on my previous article, you’ll see that I’ve added this trait to the list. It’s so important, that I’ve placed it on the top of the list.

Hopefully the words that I’ve written make sense to you. They have helped me realize that it’s not so much the technical aspect of the workout that needs to be perfected, but rather The Being finds its way to the surface when the art of yoga shines through.

What is The Philosopher’s Stone?

I would love to be able to truthfully tell you – exactly – what The Philosopher’s Stone is, but, the simple fact is that you would be hard pressed to find anyone that could tell you. At least, if I’ve run into someone that has experienced The Philosopher’s Stone, they didn’t share that fact with me. When you really think about it, you’d have to ask yourself – why would they? What would they have to gain from telling anyone? Or, probably more importantly, would they stand to lose anything? The later seems more probable. Yet, there still may be clues that we can follow that will help us understand.

As many of you know, I came across The Book of Aquarius a few months back and mentioned that I would keep you informed regarding my observations in the forum. If you haven’t read the book, I highly encourage you to give it a few hours. It’s a free download and an easy read. Also, visit the forum if you have questions and, or, if you’re like me, you’ll visit the forum in order to get a better understanding with regards to what people are thinking.

Of all the questions that people mention in the forum, the thing that surprises me the most is that there are a lot of questions that seem to indicated that the readers have not picked up a basic understanding of what The Philosopher’s Stone is. But can you blame them? The information that can be found on the net is pretty vague. The definitions describe that it can do, but do not really describe what it is.

Let’s look at what it can do and then see if we can get some hints about its true nature from its actions.

As much as people hate Wikipedia, I love the fact that it’s a data source created by multiple people. It may or may not be the absolute truth, but it should give us the general concept (if nothing else) from which we can continue our search. So, here is a bit from Wikipedia’s Philosopher’s Stone section.

The philosopher’s stone (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals (lead, for example) into gold (chrysopoeia) or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. The philosopher’s stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher’s stone were known as the Magnum Opus.[1]

To help us come to a better understanding regarding this substance/item, I’m going to track some key points so that we can review them later. When looking at the above paragraph, I find, 1) It can turn base metals into gold (or silver), 2) it is useful for rejuvenation, 3) it may help someone achieve immortality, 4) It is believed to be an elixir of life. We’ll keep this list and add to it as we come across other definitions.

From the same Wikipedia link above, let’s read more about its properties.

The philosopher’s stone has been attributed with many mystical and magical properties. The most commonly mentioned properties are the ability to transmute base metals into gold or silver, and the ability to heal all forms of illness and prolong the life of any person who consumes a small part of the philosopher’s stone.[12] Other mentioned properties include: creation of perpetually burning lamps,[12] transmutation of common crystals into precious stones and diamonds,[12] reviving of dead plants,[12] creation of flexible or malleable glass,[13] or the creation of a clone or golem.[14]

Let’s add to our list 5) creation of perpetually burning lamps, 6) transmutation of common crystals into precious stones, 7) reviving dead plants, 8) creation of flexible glass, 9) creation of a clone.

The appearance, from what I read at the same link, is pretty specific.

Descriptions of the Philosopher’s Stone are numerous and various.[18] According to alchemical texts, the philosopher’s stone came in two varieties, prepared by an almost identical method: white (for the purpose of making silver), and red (for the purpose of making gold), the white stone being a less matured version of the red stone.[19] Some ancient and medieval alchemical texts leave clues to the supposed physical appearance of the philosopher’s stone, specifically the red stone. It is often said to be orange (saffron colored) or red when ground to powder. Or in a solid form, an intermediate between red and purple, transparent and glass-like.[20] The weight is spoken of as being heavier than gold,[21] and it is said to be soluble in any liquid, yet incombustible in fire.[22]

We can add to its attributes that it is 10) White, or 11) Red. 12) It is prepared, rather than found. 13) It is glass like and can be ground into a powder. 14) It is heavier than gold. 15) It is soluble in any liquid. 16) It is incombustible in fire.

So far, it doesn’t seem like there is anything specific that contradicts the other attributes. That physical description seems pretty believable. It’s almost as if someone’s seen The Philosopher’s Stone and actually ground it into a powder!

Let’s dig around and see what else we can find.

The Crystalinks website has an interesting page about The Philosopher’s Stone. What surprises me is that it mirrors much of the data found on Wikipedia. I couldn’t tell you which location would be the source. There is also a nice page of links to other alchemy related pages. You’ll have to be careful surfing through these links for you might be there for days!

On the little more bazaar side of things, I found a channeling of Atun-Re by Kevin Ryerson.

The philosopher’s stone that was sought so long by the alchemists of Egypt, Atlantis, Babylon, and amongst the kings in the farthermost reaches of the East and West, is your own consciousness. Yes, my children, the philosopher’s stone is your own consciousness.

I’m open minded with regards to people channeling stuff, but I’m always finding myself looking to validate this type of information. I’m going to add this attribute to the list unless we can find something that is conflicts with. For now 17) it is your own consciousness.

The next quote is a blurb from AlchemyLab.com. This one is a little more personal for it is the stone according to the Sufis (a Muslim ascetic and mystic) point of view. Here we find:

The stone according to the Sufis, is the dhat, the essence, which is so powerful that it can transform whatever comes into contact with it.  It is the essence of man, which partakes of what people call the divine.  It is “sunshine,” capable of uplifting humanity to the next stage….

This Philosopher’s Stone or Universal Elixir was an alchemical preparation made from the mineral kingdom. The Medieval philoso­phers claimed that when properly prepared the mineral stone could transmute base metals into gold; in minute dilutions it could end sickness and retard aging indefinitely, transmuting the human organism into an immortal being.[1][31]

In what indicates a continuity of traditions, like the Hindu and Chinese alchemists’ sacred elixir of immortality, the adepts claimed that when taken in a minute dose, this substance would cause the inbiber’s hair and teeth to fall out, later new hair and teeth grow in and the successful alchemist became immortal.

To these mystics, it is 18) ‘the essence’ that can transform whatever come into contact with it. It is also 19) the essence of man, which partakes of what people call the divine. And 20) it is “sunshine” capable of uplifting humanity.

The interesting thing about these mystics is that they put a little more thought into describing what it is rather than simply what it does, for with these additions to the list we get both a description of what it is along with its action.

Oh, and, 21) it will make your hair and teeth fall out as they will be replaced.

Stepping outside the world of words, we can also find audio clips. A few days ago, The Book of Aquarius was mentioned on the Coast to Coast show with Jay Weidner. It’s pretty clear that Jay hasn’t created The Philosopher’s Stone, but he has put time into studying its properties. If you’ve got time, the first 15 minutes are so of the show is where it’s discussed.

If you’re looking for the condensed version, Jay sees it as concentrated Chi. It is the life force Prana that many different philosophies talk about.  Here is a link that might give you a better idea of what Chi is: The Buddha Garden.

Jay might be onto something, so I’m going to add that to our list: 22) It is concentrated Chi energy.

And then, of course, there is the definition in The Book of Aquarius which reads (Page 11, first addition. Start of chapter 4.)

The Philosopher’s Stone is energy, concentrated and purified to a massively high degree. This is the same energy that you are taking in when you breathe, and when you eat and drink. It is the energy that powers all forms of life, and so I will call it life-energy (since I have to call is something and “life-energy” is self-explanatory.)

This definition seems to fit what Jay’s figured out. What I find fascinating in this definition is that there are no physical characteristics described; no color, no mass, no texture. It’s just purified energy.

After poking around a bit more, I found another website that has a pretty good write up regarding The Stone. It’s on MonTalk under The Philosopher’s Stone page. Here, it’s not specifically about The Philosopher’s Stone, but rather general about Alchemy.

Alchemical achievements require successful gathering, concentrating, and multiplying of etheric energy. When this energy reaches a critical threshold, it overpowers the normal laws of physics and allows seemingly miraculous processes to take place.

Alchemy does not violate the laws of physics, nor does it always follow them, rather it bends them as needed. It operates upon the quantum foundation from which these laws arise in the first place, via etheric energy affecting the probability of quantum events.

The idea here is that The Philosopher’s Stone is a product of Alchemy which is the act of concentrating (etheric) energy. This implies that The Philosopher’s Stone is concentrated etheric energy. I’m not sure how to differentiate that from Chi, so I’m going to keep this in the same category.

You can search around the web and find a lot more examples, but they all seem to come to the same basic description and characteristics. Now is probably a good time to list what we’ve discovered.

What it can do:

  • It can turn base metals into gold (or silver)
  • It is useful for rejuvenation
  • It may help someone achieve immortality
  • Creation of perpetually burning lamps
  • Transmutation of common crystals into precious stones
  • Reviving dead plants
  • Creation of flexible glass
  • Creation of a clone
  • It will make your hair and teeth fall out as they will be replaced

What it’s described as:

  • It is believed to be an elixir of life
  • It is White
  • It is Red
  • It is prepared, rather than found
  • It is glass like and can be ground into a powder
  • It is heavier than gold
  • It is soluble in any liquid
  • It is incombustible in fire
  • It is your own consciousness
  • It is concentrated Chi energy

What is it and does together

  • It is ‘the essence’ that can transform whatever come into contact with it
  • It is the essence of man, which partakes of what people call the divine
  • It is “sunshine” capable of uplifting humanity

As I promised above, it’s now time to look to see if we can get a better picture of what it is based upon what The Philosopher’s Stone can do. But first, let’s make some assumptions based on the actual descriptions that have been recorded over time.

It is pretty clear that The Stone has physical characteristics. It has color, mass and texture. Unlike conceptual things like awareness, which can’t be seen or touched, The Stone is an actual object which can be touched. It is also described as an elixir, in its simplest terms, is a potion.

Where things get a little fuzzy is when it’s described as consciousness, Chi and life. Yeah, I might have stretched that last point just a little, but what really is an ‘elixir of life’? Forever, The Stone has been called ‘an elixir of life’. When you think about that statement, the typical response is that it’s a magic potion that gives you more life. Well, how can it give you more life if it is not life itself?

It makes me think of The Stone as a magic potion that is life. At the same time, it makes you wonder what life is also. When we look life up in the Wikipedia we see that others ponder this thought too:

It is still a challenge for scientists and philosophers to define life in unequivocal terms.[12][13][14]

And, why is it a challenging exercise? Well, as I see it, life is a concept rather than an object. Life is like awareness. Awareness is not a thing, but an action. Life seems to be in that same type of category. It is what is done. We live life. All things live life.

So, in this sense, when The Philosopher’s Stone is through of as ‘an elixir of life’, I would guess that it could be thought of as a potion that gives you more of what you do – you live your life.  

How does that align with the other descriptions? Well, Chi (Qi) is generally thought of as:

In traditional Chinese culture, (also chi or ch’i) is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as “lifeforce” or “energy flow”, and is comparable to the Hindu yogic science of prana, meaning “life force” in Sanskrit.

And Prana is:

In Vedantic philosophy, prana is the notion of a vital, life-sustaining force of living beings and vital energy, comparable to the Chinese notion of Qi. Prana is a central concept in Ayurveda and Yoga, where it is believed to flow through a network of fine subtle channels called nadis. Its most subtle material form is the breath, but it is also to be found in the blood, and its most concentrated form is semen in men and vaginal fluid in women.[1]

So when thought of as ‘an elixir of life’, I translate this statement into something like – it is a concentrated form of the vital energy that living entities need and use at all times.

Now, how does all this relate to what The Philosopher’s Stone is known to do?

Well, this should seem obvious when we look at rejuvenation, immortality, reviving dead plants and creating clones. When you think about reviving a plant, you can’t help but think that you’ve got to give it ‘life’. If The Stone is life, then you would give it some of the stone and, well, you’d probably see the plant come back to life. Regarding rejuvenation, if someone gets to the point where the Chi doesn’t flow through them very well, in Chinese medicine, they would be considered sick. Many sicknesses have been linked to poorly flowing Chi or very low levels of vitality. If that’s what The Stone is, it would make total sense that the poorly flowing Chi would now become super amplified – or more present throughout the body – thus leading to rejuvenation (health). The immortality issue seems a little strange, but natural at the same time. If death is the lack of life and the elixir is life, one would thing that you’d never run out of life. Finally, regarding making a clone, well, that’s just weird! The only thing I have to say about that is in order to create a living thing; you’ve got to give it life. If The Stone can do this, it must be life itself.

Now what about transmuting metals and crystals? Well, this would imply that the metals and crystals are living entities – at least, at one time there were living. It might be similar to working with wood. When the wood is in the form of a tree, it is living. It’s only after processing it into standard lumber that it’s considered dead and stable. This could very well be the same for metals. When you think about crystals, they form in geodes given the proper conditions. Scientists tend to think of these conditions as heat, pressure and purity. They don’t think of one of the conditions as being – living. My guess would be that when the stone is added to these elements, they are brought back to life and they continue to grow towards their final destination. Who would have thought that metals where once alive?

What is interesting about transmuting different substances is that there is not just one substance that it works on! The Stone is said to work on humans as well as plants and now it works on different metals and crystals. This might just imply that the vital life energy can be imprinted (or seeded) with some specific type of life form. That might imply that if you want to grow emeralds, you would have to concentrate this vital life force energy and imprint it with the ‘essence’ of emeralds. The Alchemical texts talk about a fermenting process that needs to be done before The Stone will make more of itself. It would seem that this might be a simple, doable, operation.

Lastly, it is considered the ‘essence.’ If you look up a common definition of essence, you will find that it is “A property or group of properties of something without which it would not exist or be what it is.” (See Google’s Define: essence functionality.) One of the attributes that I included above mention that it is the divine essence of man. In other words, man would not be what he is if this vital life force energy was not present.

In a fairly quick overview, it seems that the mystery of The Philosopher’s Stone is not all that much of a mystery. It is both an object and a concept at the same time. It is something that can be understood and, hopefully, concentrated. I am excited that there are people that are actively participating in the quest for The Philosopher’s Stone. It seems like such a private quest, yet to those in The Book of Aquarius forum, it is public for the entire world to see!

So, if you find yourself wondering what exactly is The Philosopher’s Stone, the first thing that I would do is to think of it as concentrated life sustaining energy like Chi (or Prana). When thinking about how it might be used, you would administer it to objects that you want to give more life too. When you think about how it might affect a person in the forms of ‘an elixir of life’ you would think that it would super-saturate the human body with Chi. If sickness is related to poor Chi, sickness would no longer be an issue.

Make sense?

Now, the next step is making The Philosopher’s Stone.  …