Philosipher's Stone

[Xiam]

Thank you to whoever mentioned Nicholas Flamel. I believe he was the guy they were thinking about. Supposedly, the grave of him and his wife's were dug up, and they found animal bones.

The PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (I use CAPS to show off the spelling problem) is given many names. Some listed within an episode of Fullmetal Alchemist, in fact. The Red Tincture, Lapis Philosophorum, The Quintessence, The Fifth Element... Yes, actually, it was sometimes associated with that.

For those who were arguing about the ATOMIC NUMBER of the elements, it does not mean how many ATOMS are in the element, but the amount of PROTONS within the NUCLEUS of their ATOMS. Take Chemistry and pay attention. And HYDROGEN is element number 1, because it has 1 Proton and 1 Electron - and no Neutrons.

I'm sorry to sound irate, but Alchemy is a slight passion of mine, as is its association with modern Chemistry. In fact, my fascination with Alchemy is what got me into Fullmetal Alchemist in the first place.

I have noticed that the Philosopher's Stone carries quite a (please don't laugh at this) philosophical approach. Upon my research, there are MANY bits of symbolism and metaphors in reference to creating the stone, that I have begun to wonder if the Stone itself is not, indeed, a metaphor.

For instance, one of the major things I've seen have been the joining of Sulphur and Mercury together to create it. Now yes, this is dangerous and toxic if you are referring to the actual materials. But when you look deeper, Sulpher refers to the element of Fire. Yang. Masculine. Active. Logical. Mercury refers to the element of Water. Yin. Feminine. Passive. Intuitive.

You may be wondering what I'm getting at. Your brain is divided into two halves, one which works mainly on logic, the other which works on intuition. I'd say which is which, but I never payed attention in Psychology (Yeah, yeah, I need to take my own advice). The idea is, in order to know true wisdom, you must think using both aspects of thought - logic and intuition. Then again, I've seen a third material used to make the Philosopher's Stone - Salt. I'd take that to mean inspiration.

Think about the things the Philosopher's Stone is said to do. Curing diseases. Lengthening your life. Turning lead to gold. Now think what pure wisdom can do. Learning medicine, watching out for what might kill you, and making even the crappiest thing into something valuable - think of oil, a horrid, black substance found in the earth. If used for the right purposes... You can be filthy rich. Not exactly what I meant, but... its usefulness despite its apparent horribleness.

At least for me, the true Philosopher's Stone is no powder, no elixir, or no stone. It is the human mind, and the ability to use it to its fullest potential. But that's just me. There very well could be a stone out there. Who knows?

It's funny... I never got into Ouroboros. I suggest searching that up on Wikipedia, or even Google.

[phantom]

well we were talking about the atomic number and the rite brain controlling the left hand is intuition or creativity and the left side controlling the rite hand is the logic or work side and you cant use both sides and ongly 10% of your brain

[Dr.Ni Jianyi]

That was quit impresive.
But your opinion could be true,but I think the Stone is a mineral made to help poeple or to kill people.

PS.We werent arguin about the ATOMIC NUMBER we were arguin about the ATOMIC BOND of an element.

[phantom]

ya

[Xiam]

well we were talking about the atomic number and the rite brain controlling the left hand is intuition or creativity and the left side controlling the rite hand is the logic or work side and you cant use both sides and ongly 10% of your brain

Why can you not use both sides of the brain? Seriously? And why must it be only 10%? What's stopping us from using both halves? All 100%?

And atomic bond means nothing to me. But yeah, you can't change what an element is unless you go into Quantum Physics. No matter how hard you try.

Unless there was a way to have psycho/telekinesis so finely tuned that you could alter the very organization of atoms, and cause fusion just on a whim.

And I've never seen anything about the Philosopher's Stone being used to TAKE life. They call it the "Elixir of Life" for a reason.

[phantom]

well we dont need to useall of our brains for what we do they dont rilly know what the rest of it does i mean they know subcontence and all of your functions( breathing, internaltings) stuff like that but for the mostpart they dont know a thingabout it

[NoMatter]

Xiam: I was the one who brought up Flamel.
Interesting talk about the Philosopher's Stone, there! Only thing is it is believed all of the alchemists encoded their documents so their secrets wouldn't be discovered. Also, as I recall from high school English lit courses, the fifth element was the "ether," which was only to be found in the heavenly realm. Surely you can see a connection between heaven's fifth element and the Philosopher's Stone?

Xiam, you should get yourself a copy of Foucault's Pendulum. All of the connections drawn by the characters in that book make you start seeing designs and plans and hidden connections in everything!

All I remember of ouroboros is that it is a snake curled in a circle, eating its tail and has something to do with infinity. (That's another occult reference for me to look up...)

On the brain:
I've heard that the "10% of our brains" thing is one of the most misunderstood bites of info of our time. It's apparently 10% at any given time and not 10% of it and the rest just sits there and gathers dust. Good question on why can't use more of our brains at once. Maybe because our brains are a little bit like a computer that has a ton of hard drive space but not a whole lot of RAM and a low processor speed (would depend on the person). I'm getting into sci fi territory here, but as the analogy goes, you'd probably need genetic engineering or scientific enhancements to your brain (à la Ghost in the Shell) to be able to use more of it at a time. Right now we know that the hippocampus is memory, the frontal lobe is advanced/complex thought... darnit I can't remember what the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes are about but you get the idea. We have centers of the brain we use for certain things.

[phantom]

well what about the abdublaoblmangata which controles moter funtions

[Yuna Skylar]

ummm...what?

[NoMatter]

Right, the medulla oblongata, which is connected to your spinal column.

[Xiam]

NoMatter: Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about.

Yes, the Fifth Element is Æther, but I've seen a LOT of Alchemy-based illustrations hilighting the Philosopher's Stone as, well, something very related to God. Which is very interesting, especially if you think to find it in the human mind. Yes, I heard the whole "10% of the brain" was a misunderstanding or a myth, but if it is only 10% at a time, think about if you could use all 100% at once, and not overload. If you could see all of what you've learned and see it at once, take that, then take what you can reason for yourself, and what you simply are going on by instinct, intuition, or impulse, and put that into a simple perfect thought... Or, simply be able to open your mind to the Divine to get inspiration from the Source...

And yes, Ouroboros is the serpent eating its own tail. It involves infinity, the Cycle of Rebirth, as well as a concept very enlightening when you get far into it (And I remember they went through in the Manga of FMA, but I haven't gotten that far in the Anime if they come to the same thing): All is One.

Also, you have underlying themes... The serpent eating itself implies something that can live off itself, much like Plato's whole thing about the perfect being, which would be the Universe, self-sufficient, feeding off itself and needing no outside intervention. Similarly, you have regeneration, the fact that from death comes life - You can see this in our world, with insects feeding off a dead animal so they may survive, or from legend, with the beautiful Phoenix - ANOTHER symbol constant in Alchemy. Something tells me if you look at Ouroboros and the Phoenix, you may get a glimpse of the Philosopher's Stone's true purpose. Or how to find it. Not sure.

And the part of the mind I'm referring to is the Cerebrum, the part that has to do solely with pure thought. The mind, the awareness. The soul.

[Lil' Biki v2.0]

wow. you people are way too smart for me. maybe becuz i'm only a freshman in high school but still. i didn't even know alchemy and the philosopher's stone were real. yeah i read harry potter and the sorcer's stone, but still. i've read almost every book out but #3. but i've seen that movie. that stuff is basically about witchcraft. i had no idea it tied in to all this alchemy stuff. wow. you learn something new every day. and i'm gonna get myself a copy of that one book. i need to find the ties and hidden mess in everything.

[NoMatter]

You have to read Book 3 (Prisoner of Azkaban)! The movie was fun to watch, but it cut out some important character development and plot-related info (about Harry's father and his friends). That was my fave book until Book 5 (Order of the Phoenix) came out.

[Lil' Biki v2.0]

now you make me want to read the book so bad. i really hate when books get turned into movies. they never get all details. but i love book 5 too. i got it for my birthday last year and i've read it about 5 or 6 times since then and my birthday is june 25th. so it's been about a year now. but as soon as that 6th book comes out i am so getting it. it's called harry potter and the half blood prince. it won't say if it's talking bout harry or about voldemort. i so wanna know. i can't wait. and patience is so not my thing. sorry mods about being off topic.

[NinjaStrike]

ok im not sure if anyone will reply to this but here goes i read all the stuff in this forum/article thing topic whatever u want to call it and i heard that somepeople say that the philosiphers stone and alchemy is real but there is no way im goona belive that there is a science that turns lead into gold and that there is a magical stone that makes u live forever on that topic if the stone is called the elixer of life how would it be a stone for an elixer is a liquid also i hear alot about symbols and did anyone think that the stone itself was a symbol representing humans i mean we are alive and if u belive in a afterlife u will find that we already have the power to live forever because alchemy must have been churchy related this could be true as a priest may use it as a symbol back in the olden times to show how we all are stronger and better than we think we are like how st. patrick used a shamrock to symbolise the holy trinity as for the guys u mentioned they may be preists who used the metaphor ( i think someone called it that) or men who actually though it was real and strove to obtain it the stone may be just a fairy tale from the myths of human imagination like the golden fleece the golden apple the spear of destiny the holy grail and so on and so forth but i really doubt that there is a magical stone out there that makes people live forever on this mortal plane or that there is a science of turning lead into gold dont take things so litterally but dont get mad at me because in not trying to dis anyone here because we are all entitaled to out oppinions and this is mine if u think other wise tell me cause i didnt do any reserch on it and im just a 14 year old kid so please respond and tell me what u think thanks

[Lil' Biki v2.0]

i aint done no research on it either but i believe that alchemy is real. it is highly improbable but think about it. how many times throughout history has someone said that something was impossible just to have that something proven to them? many things are improbable but nothing is impossible. except propetual motion. but that's just bcuz they haven't figured out how to get around that whole friction thing. and i'm not dissing you either. i'm just a 14 year old teenager(until tommorrow). i don't know alot but i think half of these people are in college. they know alot more than me. i don't know about you. but i still got alot to learn. we could learn alot from these people right here.