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Chapter 4
In a sense, all things are created by alchemy in that they are created from the simplest to the most complex, by mixing the elements of earth in just the right way. Cooking is a good example of alchemy. In cooking we must mix and blend and condition natural products of the earth to produce a nutritious and appealing meal. When the meal is eaten, digestion and circulation break it down once again into the components most beneficial to our physical bodies. This continuous building up, then breaking-down, is one of the cardinal characteristics of manifested life on earth. The alchemist seeks to understand, and thereby predict and control, these combinations, re-combinations and rest periods. I will not discuss the whole topic of alchemy here because that would take the space of another book, but it is necessary for the purpose of conscious manifestation to understand something of its principles. By developing the alchemist’s view within our perception, it should be clear that our character has been built up in a similar manner, from combinations and re-combinations of different states of consciousness throughout human evolution. On the journey to conscious manifestation, we consciously reconstruct our character using alchemical processes. Mental alchemy is a prime factor in applying the awareness attained through the methods discussed in Chapter Two. Mental alchemy involves using the combination of mental and emotional elements, and mixing them together in a specific manner that will be beneficial to the alchemists in their most harmonious expression. In using knowledge gained through awareness, in combination with mental alchemy described here, it is possible to accomplish conscious manifestation for the benefit and welfare of all, through the right use of spiritual power, by changing our own character. As the metal alchemist or the cook must be familiar with the process of alchemy, so the mental alchemist must have a complete understanding of the processes that govern mental and emotional alchemy. Working with mental alchemy involves the mental and emotional energies that are within our own characters. The elements that are gathered through the awareness process explained in Chapter Two, show us how they correspond to conscious manifestation, making knowledge of the type of system in which the mental elements are formed necessary. However, we need to know more about the system of how mental elements are formed. In this Chapter we will describe the system of the dream body, including its various vibrational qualities. Changing the structures of the dream body will automatically change the structures of the physical body. CHANGE WHAT IS WITHIN, AND THE OUTER WORLD WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF. Understanding how the dream body is made can lead to changing it to benefit the physical body and the outer world. The medium through