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Jung, C G - Religious Ideas in Alchemy
Identifier
029139
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Jung, C G - Religious Ideas in Alchemy
Only as a secondary consideration does [the alchemist] hope that some benefit may accrue to himself from the transformed substance as the panacea, just as it may to the imperfect bodies, the base or sick metals. His attention is not directed to his own salvation through God’s grace, but to the liberation of God from the darkness of matter.
By applying himself to this miraculous work he benefits from its salutary effect, but only incidentally. He may approach the work as one in need of salvation, but he knows that his salvation depends on the success of the work, on whether he can free the divine [immortal] soul………………..
What comes out of the transformation is not Christ but an ineffable material being named ‘the stone’, which displays the most paradoxical qualities apart from possessing corpus, anima, spiritus and supernatural powers.