Alchemy is the process in which an average metal is transformed into gold. August Strindberg, the great Swedish playwright, spent many years at great expense to his health and sanity to prove that certain metals could achieve the feat. He was determined to receive a Noble Prize in either chemistry or literature. His contemporary, Henrik Ibsen, called him “a madman,” but still had a picture of the writer over his desk because he respected his quest for honest answers to life’s great questions.
Strindberg, like all great alchemists, believed there was a single element inherent in all metals that can transform the metal. Some call this the “Philosopher’s Stone.” Many consider Strindberg’s alchemy as his personal scientific quest for the Holy Grail.
Many writers have answered the call over the centuries in applying the concept of alchemy in unique ways. Psychologically speaking, the alchemical process of healing is all around us. World renowned psychologist Dr. Carl Jung dealt with that idea of alchemy significantly in his work, as it relates to the mind. The nobility of this task cannot be underestimated, as theorists like James Hillman would continue to use the blueprints Jung left behind.
Here’s the formulae as I see it. Care in the presence of hope points to an alchemical presence of love. The care you give to yourself and others offers something transformative. It can elevate your life and inspire an inflection that can serve you and the world in greater ways.
Dr. Jim Finley is a psychologist who deals with trauma patients. He tells the story about one of his patients in his book, “The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation.”
One of his patients wasn’t sexually abused or physically abused by her parents, but they had horrible fights, which undermined the child’s mental health in significant ways. The parents were so angry at one another that they couldn’t even see the pain they were inflicting on their daughter and “she felt strangely invisible.”
During one of their arguments, she sneaked outside and climbed the low branches of a tree. Sitting on the branch of the tree, she could hear her parents yelling at each other inside the house. She closed one eye and she lined up a small twig from one of the branches with a star. The star was on one side of the twig, and she prayed to God, “God, if you are there move the star to the other side of the twig to show me that you’re there for me.” As Finley tells it, “She waited and waited and waited.” The patient told him “God didn’t move the star.” She said, “But there’s something about the remembrance of myself sitting alone in the dark, waiting for God to move the star that consoles me.”
Jim replied, “It’s true God didn’t move the star. But it’s also true that years later in sharing the story you were moved.” He said, “Thank you for telling me that story because I was moved. Let’s make a deal…. Anytime we’re at a point in therapy where we’re stuck, let’s think about you and me in the low branches of that tree; leaning into it together, staying open together to guide us on the path.” Finley said, “This is the power of depth intimacy level in healing work.”
The above story says it all to me. We are here for one another and the work is ours. Our presence in the lives of others changes us and them. Our open hearts, our willingness to journey, our willingness to care offers hope and this is an act of love.
I used to attend Jim’s meditations at St. Monica’s church in Santa Monica, California on the third Thursday of every month. He would spend 20 minutes talking about a mystic and then we would meditate together. Something alchemical happened in those spaces there in the stillness. People gathering together in a common quest for oneness changes a room – even more so when it is done in quiet with loving sincerity. The payment for these sessions? A donation to the poor.
The goal is always the same in life, the attainment of love. How can I learn to love? And how can me being an instrument offer that to every soul I encounter? Sure, there’ll be times where we fail. Fear always creeps into situations, but being mindful of the presence of love creates a shift in perception that creates new opportunities to unfold. Therein lies the alchemy.
The time we spend giving of ourselves to others in service of this goal is critical. The intentional giving of self to one another and goodness is the great healer of souls that turns the precious metal of our being into gold.
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