Live for Now, Live to Inherit

by Brennan Lagasse

The tradition of alchemy is ancient. While the term itself means different things to different people, I tend to honor it on a theoretical level where, on the one hand, theory can become reality. On the other hand, whether the theory becomes true and lived in this life is moot, so long as the purity of belief remains salient.

Many people think of alchemy as medieval sorcerers with the power to turn base metals into noble metals like gold. That’s one history. There’s also some who view alchemy as a way to live in immortal youth, once a proper elixir has been crafted and ingested. Still others understand alchemy as a way to honor a belief in humanity and the cosmos as one. On a macro level, alchemy is really centered in a belief steeped through a unifying vision between humans and the universe. More specifically, while alchemists have worked in hard scientific realms, there is truly a marriage between our so-called reality and what’s understood as spirituality.

While different practitioners and believers interpret these teachings as they wish, I personally find it most fruitful to honor these traditions for where they have come from and how they have developed, but to also put a more modern and personal twist on them. For example, instead of thinking about the power to turn a non-precious metal into a precious one, what about the power we all have to turn a poor situation into a brilliant one? Or how about the pure reality that our bodies age with time, but when one believes and makes oneself feel like they are “young,” they actually do act and feel young? And taking this even a step further, what might this life look like if we lived for the now, in the present, in such a way that if one were to inherit a life after this one, the life you lived in this reality would be the one you’d inherit through the cosmos when this physical body and reality ceases to be in the manner we know it today?
I’ll share a few examples to illustrate what I mean by purity in belief bestowed on to alchemy.

I’d argue the most well-known belief passed on through alchemy is turning something like lead into gold. I also think this example is the easiest one to bite onto, one that every person can easily engage in if they believe they can.
I think of this friend of mine who, for a very long time, did whatever he could to “live right.” Part of that was somewhat believing in the American Dream, that if he worked hard and made as much money as he could, one day he would be happy and successful. Hopefully you as Vision readers know what a crock that is, but truthfully a vast majority of Americans still don’t.
Now, my buddy works his little butt off for years and years until all of sudden one day he loses his job. Truth be told he wasn’t really all that happy in his line of work, but he tried to make himself feel happy with the belief that this is what he had to do.

There were some tough days that followed after Rick lost his job. But after a few days, he realized that all he could do now was follow his heart. He realized that this was his real opportunity to do what he really wanted to do in his life. That still was not easy, and the financial aspect of losing his job was tough, but in the end he took a really difficult situation—a life he really didn’t want but was making work based on what he thought was necessary—and turned it into the most precious opportunity he’d had in many years. Today he’s as content as can be, thankful, living in a way that would make you think he was more a teenager than a middle-aged man.

Rick’s a good example for the next alchemist example as well since he does happen to be middle-aged, but you’d never think it in the way he acts. There’s a paradox, some argue, to life, where one feels more alive the closer they are to death. In that same token we’ve all heard the saying that you should live as if this is your last day on earth.
From the alchemists’ perspective, an elixir that can produce a result to pass immortality, create life, and possibly live forever in youth is said to exist. Whether the potion is available or not, I beg to question the power to not only turn a poor situation into a grand one, but also to function in this life as if you were always “young.” Whatever that means to you, somewhat universally I’ll argue speaks to living for the moment, in the present, for each and every day.
You know what it’s like to be around youthful energy. We can’t all be “youthful” forever, but of course we can, if that’s how we wish to live. I know 40, 50, and even 60-year-olds (like Rick) that are more active and energetic that 20-somethings. Perhaps it’s the beauty and power found in the mountains of my greater backyard, but then again, just because you get “older” doesn’t mean you have to feel “old.” Just like the power to turn a problem into a blessing, we can all be young if we so choose.

Ultimately, I tend to think of alchemy in a different light from these two strains even though I honor them both in practice and theory. More often, I see alchemy as this ideal vision where dogma ceases to exists and spirituality across diversity becomes one, for all that makes up life as we know it. The greater argument made by alchemists is that humans and the cosmos have a direct relationship, and while there are so many diverse beliefs across humanity related to the cosmos—from there being no higher power at all, to one belief being the supreme fit for all—I find it a beneficial practice to not only honor the spirit of this view into alchemy as a way to look towards a possible bright future, but as a way to live justly and righteously in the now.

 

Many dogmatic traditions have overlaps in their systems of belief. Being kind is one such example found in almost every great religious text of the world. However, it doesn’t take very long to understand that depending on place and culture, these belief systems have vast differences. In fact, one might argue that because of how intense people come to honor their systems of belief, respect and peace for humans in this life is not possible across such concrete diversity. But what if we were to apply the alchemists’ perspective to this? How might reality be lived and play out?

In having a direct link with the cosmos, humanity understands that it doesn’t support anyone being unkind to another. In that light, whether I believe in one thing or you believe in another is fine, if ultimately we both respect where the other is coming from and do not (this is key) pass judgment and belief on another that they are wrong and your belief is right.
I’ve always wondered how dogmatically people of so-called faith pretend to be tolerant, but really only think that they are right in the end—that they are the only ones to have a “real” connection to a higher power, and all who don’t subscribe to their way are not only completely wrong, but should be punished for not believing in what they believe.

If there is a direct connection between humanity and the cosmos, it’s not one group—it’s every “group.” It means we’re all of the same tribe and if we have the power to get physically older but remain mentally young, immortally, and we can take hardships and turn them into stepping stones to greatness, why then can’t we collectively live in such a way that now is everything, and that in living in such a way now translates into the a life might inherit, or hope to inherit in the future?
This idea is born from a belief in the direct connection of humanity in the cosmos, that no matter what you think happens or doesn’t happen when this life as we know it stops, what you create while you’re here is what you live not only now, but then.
This belief challenges all systems of exclusivity. The dogmatic traditions that believe people across the earth are lost until they are “saved” by reading this book—that “eternal bliss” will be found after this life ONLY by those who believe what they do is more than flawed. Some even go so far as to take the life of others in this reality that don’t believe in what they do because “that’s what they’re supposed to do” to get to their eternal bliss in the afterlife.

But what if you lived your life in a way that you were immortal? That this day and these days ahead were every day indefinitely? What would your reality look like? I doubt you’d want to foster any hate towards other people, knowing that would be a reality for others to live, including yourself. Why would you want to pollute your backyard, other people’s backyard? Why would you want to harm wildlife? The truth is, I don’t think anyone really would if they were able to live in such a way where the life they lived and created for themselves was the life that would be played out now and for eternity.
Imagine that. Imagine living in that way. What you sow now is your reality now. What you sow now is the reality you will inherit. Your reality becomes the shared reality of others. In the cosmos being directly connected to humanity, it’s like saying and believing, if I live with love, all there will be is love.

Maybe we take the opportunity of another year, 2012, and live in such a way. We live in such a way, knowing we’re going to slip here and there, that that is how we evolve, adapt and change our ways, but our intention is pure. Maybe in 2012 we will change how we go about our relationships with people, other species, and the planet, as life we not only live now, but will inherit in the future, in the cosmos, with this direction we have between our life and whatever else there is beyond us. It may sound a little “out there,” but honor the thought, meditate on the connection from the alchemists’ point of view, and think about human beings living in such a way. I know it just made me smile, visioning this reality. How about you?

Brennan Lagasse is a writer, teacher, and mountain guide living in Lake Tahoe, CA. Brennan can be reached at brennanlagasse@hotmail.com.