At that point, the alchemist opens himself fully to feeling and experience. In fact, in many drawings, alchemists are shown burning or tearing up books to demonstrate that alchemy is not static knowledge or dogma but a living, experiential gnosis. During meditative work in our own inner laboratories, we too can actually feel the Emerald Formula working within us and living in our heart of hearts. From the perspective of the Emerald Tablet, the only unforgivable sin is smugness, which is the unwillingness to be alive and open to new experience. Every created thing carries the signature of its creator.
Nature is a book from which the wisdom of the divine can be read.
By recognizing the divine signature of a thing, you can understand the connection between the Above and the Below through which it was manifested. Each thing has its own signature, the archetypal essence that can be identified by its similar expressions. Only in this way can we understand what these objects or forces mean to us and whether they represent threats or assistance. This application of the Doctrine of Correspondences is fundamental, and by ignoring the congruencies between the Above and the Below we are holding back the wisdom of the universe. As alchemists, we must undergo a process of constant Separation in which we work only with the archetypal essences of people, things, and events.