Zbigniew Szydło's book about the alchemical times of Michał Sędziwoj (1566-1636), known across Europe by his Latinised name, Sendivogius, requires a re-read in light of developments in science and philosophy since its publication, as well as my own evolved understanding of how we describe reality. How is alchemy perceived today? How does it fare when viewed from a perspective of panpsychism, dual-aspect monism and the stagnation in fundamental physics?
Author Zbigniew Szydło is better known to the English-speaking world as Andrew Szydło, famous for his (literally) explosive chemistry demonstrations at numerous Royal Institution lectures. His 1994 book looks at the life and works of one of Europe's greatest alchemists, he asks whether Sendivogius discovered oxygen in the practical sense – the heating of potassium nitrate is thought to have provided the oxygen need to keep rowers alive as they propelled the first documented submarine down the Thames in 1621.
When I first read the book in the mid 1990s, my worldview tended towards the physicalist and the rational; I paid scant regard to the metaphysical. At the time, I read Dr Szydło's book primarily as a narrative intended to overturn the myth that mediaeval alchemists were mere charlatans who claimed that they could turn base metals into gold. Instead, Dr Szydło presents a stage in the history human thought before the development the scientific method during the Enlightenment. Alchemy was an entire philosophical system attempting to describe reality in a hermetic, arcane language known only to adepts. Sendivogius's works were studied by both Antoine Lavoisier and Isaac Newton. "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" – indeed.
Today I am re-reading the book in the context of Philosophy of Mind, of the increasingly held view that consciousness is fundamental, placing the thoughts of Sendivogius alongside those of philosophers and scientists such as David Chalmers, Philip Goff, Bernardo Kastrup and Rupert Sheldrake. But more on that in my next post. I am also re-reading the book in the age of AI and Wikipedia, which allow instant dives down rabbit-holes for greater detail and wider context.
The book goes into much detail about the importance of salt to alchemy. Today, every school pupil knows that salt is NaCl; one atom of sodium bonded to one atom of chlorine. A highly reactive metal that burns in air and a poisonous gas; combine the two and you get something that's indispensable to life. To a modern chemist, a salt is something more; it's "an ionic compound formed by neutralising an acid with a base". But to Sendivogius and his contemporaries, salt was one of the three fundamental pillars of reality (tria prima), along with sulphur and mercury. When the alchemists considered salt, they were looking at the processes of fixation and crystallisation – grounding spirit into form.
Another salt is worthy of note in terms of how it was viewed by Sendivogius: gunpowder. Saltpetre (potassium nitrate or nitre), when mixed with sulphur and charcoal, has explosive properties. The sudden release of violent energy has its analogy in the heavens; thunder and lightning must be caused by similar processes. Hence the concept of 'aerial nitre'; heavenly gunpowder.
Reading about the theories of alchemists as they attempted to define reality in their terms of makes me think that science today is somewhat arrogant, believing that it's so close to grasping reality on one neat theory of everything, an equation you can wear on a t-shirt.
[Lagrangian of the Standard Model of particle physics – this equation sums up our current understanding of fundamental particles and forces. It represents the Standard Model of particle physics. The top line describes the forces: electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces. The second line describes how these forces act on the fundamental particles of matter – quarks and leptons. The last two lines describe the Higgs boson and the mechanism by which particles acquire their mass – from the CERN merch shop.]
As the language of myths and legends gave way to the language of alchemy, which in turn gave way to the language of science as the way humans describe reality, so the language of science will inevitably evolve and move on. Does not string theory and quantum gravity – attempts to frame a theory of everything in a mathematical framework – not hold something of the arcane language of alchemy? I am certain that humans in four centuries' time will look back at the beliefs that science holds true today with the same patronising smirk that is on our faces as we read about the alchemists.
[Co]incidentally, my youngest kitten, fifth-born of the fifth-born, is named Kwintesensja ('Quintessence'). Or Kwincia for short. Dr Szydło points out that "Aristotle introduced the idea of a fifth element – the quinta essentia – from which the heavens were made. The quintessence was linked to ideas of perfection and eternal life. It became the basis of the idea of a universal spirit or ether, or 'world soul', which was to play an important part in alchemical theory."
More in the next post.
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