The Philosophers of Fire by Elio Occhipinti
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The Philosophers of Fire For a feeble epistemology of Alchemy
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If Alchemy is knowledge, what kind of knowledge is it? Can it be ascribed to logical-rational schemes or does it need open-mindedness to uncommon meanings and views? Why is Alchemy so mysterious? Why many people feel lost when dealing with the language of Alchemy? Finally, is Alchemy still relevant in this hyper-technological and hyper-scientific world? The book, The Philosofers of Fire, intends to answer these questions and more starting with the epistemological instrument; it has the purpose of outlining which kind of knowledge Alchemy is based on and what view of the world it spreads. This essay is suitable for everyone; for those who are approaching this Art for the first time and for those who are familiar with it. In other words, it suits those men-alchemists keen to know which unusual yet efficient method Alchemy offers for the knowledge of themselves and the world, to allow them to step forward, act by the laws of Nature and turn simple technical knowledge into the ability to live.
Transcript of The Philosophers of Fire by Elio Occhipinti
The Philosophers of FireFor a feeble epistemology of Alchemy
The Philosofers of Fire
Alchemy is knowledge of nature achieved with manual operations, and in its results there is its criterion of truth.
Alchemy has always put as a basic point of its journey of research the discovery/identification of the links between macrocosm and microcosm, between world and man, between divine/energetic and material substance.
The Philosofers of Fire
Alchemy is philosophy founded on experientia and it aims at speculation as well as effective and concrete operations.
The Philosofers of Fire
The original thought behind such operations is that mineral substances are born, grow and live in the Earth, precisely like the embryos of living beings. Thus the metallurgist takes an obstetrical role, since by intervening in the development of such underground embryology he interferes with the growth of minerals, accelerating the process of maturation through fire and repeated purifications.
The Philosofers of Fire
Being alchemist-philosopher doesn’t only consists of the acquisition of knowledge or know-how, but also and especially a Sophia, aimed at questioning oneself starting from the pressing and intimate feeling of not being what one should be. It is the certainty, neither theoretical nor abstract, of choices, decisions, knowledge and life know-how.
The Philosofers of Fire
Central and founding element of the alchemic claims is that a vital spark exists in all things; it doesn’t matter if it takes a religious or naturalistic sense, a quality at all abstract or extraneous to life and existence.
The Philosofers of Fire
The alchemist, by working on the matter, discovers the presence of this spark and, by studying its manifestations he tries to grasp the laws that work in the living processes of change and development.
The Philosofers of Fire
In alchemy the universe appears as a dynamic and inseparable whole that involves and includes the observer.
The alchemist, then, knows that the occurring of certain processes is determined by his observation and participation to them.
The Philosofers of Fire
• How do we do knowledge of alchemy?
• Also, which kind of consciousness do we need to approach alchemy?
The Philosofers of Fire
The ‘sapiential ways’ use of contradicting textual elements of an imagery language and a practice considered necessary without supplying clear guidelines.
The Philosofers of Fire
These elements, in fact, could be propaedeutic moments not aimed at the discovery of a ‘recipe’ hidden in the text to build the Philosopher’s Stone, but a system aimed at pushing the apprentice’s conscience to break regular logical-rational schemes and open up to new possibilities of knowledge, expanding his vision of reality and the cosmos.
The Philosofers of Fire
The faculty of the human mind to think without strict and fixed rules and to freely associate the data of experience is what we call imagination.
The strongpoint of imagination is to build relations not allowed by the logical-discursive thought and therefore to facilitate the emerging of new unusual aspects that would otherwise remain hidden.
The Philosofers of Fire
Active imagination has therefore the faculty to transmute sensible data, to ‘dematerialise’ them, to see through a veil what they symbolise, or to transform them in a mirror where it is possible to see the energetic/spiritual weave that joins the psyche of the alchemist to the matter he works on.
The Philosofers of Fire
Let’s not forget that according to alchemists action is mutual; the matter mashed and pulverised, stimulated by fire, transformed in its state by fusion, makes the physical forces that formed it visible and it can cause in the alchemist the activation of psychic energies that were until then neglected or blocked by the logical mind and habits, reawakening active imagination.
The Philosofers of Fire
The alchemic language is a typical example of imaginal language; we cannot hope to understand symbols and myths until we acknowledge this.
The Philosofers of Fire
As a science that requires the dissolution of subject and object meant as separate and opposed realities and their reintegration at a higher level, Alchemy could still have a great value for man’s education; it could help him distance himself from the tyranny of exact sciences, which, as we well know and it has been proved, are all but exact.
The Philosofers of Fire
Elio Occhipinti has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy. He works in Milan as a psycho-therapist and he leads training classes on the symbolic imaginary world. His works cover Psychology and Chinese culture and medicine. He is also a lecturer of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychology of Communication.
www.occhipintielio.it
e-book is available on Amazon
