The alchemical perspective lends its adherents the incredible power of self-definition. It grants the tools necessary to face inevitable obstacles with courage. External circumstances are not viewed as unique experiences that build but destructive experiences that indicate the potential for psychosis. The therapy industry promotes stagnation by interfering with the dynamic thrust forward that pain allows. The alchemical perspective, on the other hand, tells us that life itself is a creative or artistic endeavor and the human spirit is our medium.
Life is a project of burning and stripping, with subsequent coagulating or rebuilding.
The spirit is a thing to be cooked and worked on. Certainly, the alchemical perspective implies a greater obligation, hence more work, on the part of the individual. But the benefit is that there are no mistakes, phobias, symptoms or psychosis in the alchemical perspective. Human foibles, weaknesses, and fears, when understood from the perspective of the adept, are catalysts in the process of becoming golden rather than pathological. Alchemy facilitates a personal empowerment that diminishes a need for the psychiatric industry and its loathsome life-numbing drugs that encourage people to avoid the pain of existence rather than embrace it as an experience that offers strength.