Daily Meditation: Saturday, February 2, 2008

Take a piece of sulphur: it is hard, solid. Now, heat it: …

02/02/2008

Take a piece of sulphur: it is hard, solid. Now, heat it: it becomes soft, almost liquid. But if you continue to heat it, it will harden again. It is exceptional for a chemical substance to become solid again once it has softened, and it is interesting to find the correspondences between this phenomenon and our psychic life. In alchemical science, sulphur and mercury represent the two principles, masculine and feminine, in other words the intellect and heart. So, in sulphur’s transformation through the effects of heat, we see the different phases through which the human intellect passes when confronted with the question of religion and faith. Those whose intellect is undeveloped believe everything they are taught by religion without any discernment; they have what we call ‘blind faith’. But once they become more educated, they develop their critical faculty, and then doubt gradually creeps in, their convictions weaken and they lose their faith. However, if they continue their education and start to think more deeply about things, they will regain their faith, true faith, an unshakeable faith that is based on knowledge.