Scholarly record

ALCHEMY OF THE RENAISSANCE TODAY: TRADITIONAL APPROACH FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF TOPOLOGY

Vladimir Vinokurov, M. Vorontsova

Abstract

Alchemy is oriented towards ‘tradition’, and the latter can be understood very widely, including myths, superstitions, legends, parables. Any tradition at a certain level of development, in order to take the next step, turns to the study of itself, realizing the reflection of its sources, bases, concepts and methods. This approach is denoted by the word ‘traditional’. For the present study this group of materials, on the one hand, acts as sources, on the other hand, as research, that is, the study of esoteric teachings is undertaken in them with the aim of continuing the tradition, often through interpretation and reinterpretation of their concepts and principles. The research side, of course, is not present in all works, yet it already occurs with ancient and medieval thinkers. The scientific and educational approach cut alchemy, separating the chemical component from it, discarding the rest. Quite unexpectedly, Jung conducted a different section of alchemy, singling out the deep-psychological content of the phenomenon, discarding the chemical content. From the point of view of topology, the phenomenon of alchemy has a very strange configuration, which involves two closed curves to obtain a section of its surface. The most important symbol of the elixir of immortality – Uroboros (a snake biting its tail) – is a graphic illustration of the geometric figure of the torus.

Publication Impact Profile

No metrics available.

PLUMX see details

DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocialF2018/2.3/S19.011

Publication details

Back to publication list