There’s an interesting—at least, to me—phrase in L. F. Salzmann’s Mediaeval Byways: “the alchemy of the pen.”* In fact, words do the magic medieval alchemists sought by way of a “philosopher’s stone,” the magic of turning base metals into gold. But there’s more: The pen can also turn “gold” into “base metals,” and that reverse process, never sought by those alchemists, seems today to dominate online and other media alchemy.
Not that there aren’t uplifting and ennobling statements, blogs, performances, treatises and, on the physical side, beneficial chemicals; there are some of those if one looks for them. But most word alchemy seems to be negative, or, at the very least, debasing. Maybe we just have too much time on our hands and too few ennobling thoughts in our heads.
Now, I risk the same negativity and debasement if I write only the base metal side of this modern analysis. I make myself a reverse alchemist, and we have enough reverse purpose in both physical and mental alchemy today. Physical: the use of chemistry to imprison the mind in addiction. Mental: the use of blogs, news, performance, and even daily conversation to debase. Of course, we could argue that such has always been the way of the world and that no people at any time had no mal intent in its alchemy.
The question we might pose to ourselves is whether or not we have become one of those alchemists who has devoted much of his or her efforts to turning “gold” into “base metals.” Look to your laboratory; look in your test tubes; look at your chemistry; and look to your words. Have you produced base metal or gold?
*Salzmann, L. F., F. S. A. Mediaeval Byways. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, p. 6. Online at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42975/42975-h/42975-h.htm#Page_1
Not that there aren’t uplifting and ennobling statements, blogs, performances, treatises and, on the physical side, beneficial chemicals; there are some of those if one looks for them. But most word alchemy seems to be negative, or, at the very least, debasing. Maybe we just have too much time on our hands and too few ennobling thoughts in our heads.
Now, I risk the same negativity and debasement if I write only the base metal side of this modern analysis. I make myself a reverse alchemist, and we have enough reverse purpose in both physical and mental alchemy today. Physical: the use of chemistry to imprison the mind in addiction. Mental: the use of blogs, news, performance, and even daily conversation to debase. Of course, we could argue that such has always been the way of the world and that no people at any time had no mal intent in its alchemy.
The question we might pose to ourselves is whether or not we have become one of those alchemists who has devoted much of his or her efforts to turning “gold” into “base metals.” Look to your laboratory; look in your test tubes; look at your chemistry; and look to your words. Have you produced base metal or gold?
*Salzmann, L. F., F. S. A. Mediaeval Byways. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, p. 6. Online at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42975/42975-h/42975-h.htm#Page_1
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