Introduction

This book is an attempt to tell the story of a search for and research into reality and ways of changing it. For over a decade we have been teaching and exploring certain practices loosely called "religious or spiritual" from many cultures and times. Our students, who have also come from many disciplines and vocations, have shared our search for wisdom. Out of this diversity in study and experience we have found a commonality in the way human beings grope with understanding their world.

As the search led from ancient cultures to modern ones and old disciplines to new ones, we began studying ancient alchemy. The Sanskrit terms we had studied in yoga offered us an equivalent "Rosetta Stone" in translating the confusing terminology of the alchemists. Our own educational backgrounds in physics and accounting biased us toward consistency and symbolic language. The first breakthrough came when we linked the alchemical four building blocks of the physical world with a relatively new field in physics called Dimensional Analysis.

As simple but elegant models began to emerge for eight additional elements, we found direct correlation with the majority of the worlds' philosophies and religions, even though they were separated by time and continents. The universality and ubiquity of the thinking led us to search for and find a possible common source in nature itself. Duality/dichotomy was also a universal theme, and tracing how one half of a duality has dominated the human perspective of reality in modern times has given us insights into present day problems.

Once we had a complete model, another surprising discovery was the applicability of its concepts to modern psychological or developmental problems. Further, the model appeared to be internally self consistent and the ordering followed sound principles. Relationships were found between disparate human experiences. As of this writing we are continuing to discover relationships between the elements and seemingly unrelated psychological or physiological phenomena. As we explore the model we appreciate the insights of people, far wiser than we, who originally created the model over years and years of study and searching. The mystery which remains is how this tremendous gift from the past was lost in recent history.

This book is dedicated to those forgotten ancient sages who first framed the philosophical basis upon which modern society has been built and whose memories have been overshadowed by the recorded glories of conquest, wealth and power.

This book is also dedicated to those patient, inspired and willing seekers who have assisted in resurrecting the old wisdom and bringing them to press.

Return to Table of Contents     Purchase Book