The grand Arcanum is a method by which the Philosopher's Stone is made in the science of Alchemy (this is within the anime show "Full Metal Alchemist" I guess this is two pieces of the puzzle). The term "Alchemy" is generally used to describe the process of turning lead into gold. While that is a piece, the theory behind alchemy is basically the breaking down of an element (remember matter cannot be destroyed) and its subsequent recreation as something else.
Alchemy has rules. And as with every science, it is mainly about balance. In essence, "to obtain something of equal value must be lost." That is the first law of alchemy. There is no lion without a gazelle. There is no water without a balance between Hydrogen and Oxygen. For example, you cannot turn a dime into a skyscraper without the necessary matter to do so, sacrificing the necessary effort to balance the equation. However, the Philosopher's stone bypasses those laws so to speak. With the Philosopher's Stone, one does not need a medium(transmutation circle in this case) as a catalyst, one does not need to sacrifice, one does not need balance. Everything you need is already stored in the Stone.
While the show "Full Metal Alchemist" is quite obviously fantasy, there is a metaphor behind it. The Philosopher's Stone is the mind. A tool, if properly created and cultivated, is limitless. A mind can bypass the laws of physics. How a person can walk over hot coals and not get burned? How can a spirit continue to exist without a body? All of this is capable through the mind. With that said, there is a philosopher's stone in all of us. Its just what you are willing to sacrifice to cultivate it, be it hours spent pouring over tomes or time with loved ones, partying, etc.
The Grand Arcanum calls for 10, 000 souls for the creation of a philosophers stone. The pain, the heartbreak, the essence of humanity, is captured in this tiny red stone. Just like your mind. Your mind is partly the sum of your experiences as a human. The schooling, the rearing, the pain, the joy, etc is all trapped in there. The other part is an untapped source of potential energy waiting to be unlocked. The issue is just what you chose to use it for.
This blog is my Grand Arcanum. The sum of all my experiences(my essence: what I am and am to be, if you will) with the hope that I can create a collective philosopher's stone out of the minds of the masses. It is a grandiose undertaking, i know(told you i was a megalomaniac the first post). But if we all band together for the common good we can make a utopia, bypassing the limit of human fallibility and onward back to Eden. Combined our voice, our reason, our being will be a force for change.
Destroy whats is To create what should be
Unite through the power of Synergy
THE FULL METAL...
PEACE!!!
KLIM beats - Slow Snow
3 days ago
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Whoa... that is deep, man.
ReplyDeleteWow. I love it.
ReplyDeleteNice!!
ReplyDeleteim sorry but please watch full metal alchemist fully before writing about it. the grand arcanum is the alchemy used by the ancient elders of a race described in the anime as religious. its their alchemy, not just the method used to make a philosophers stone. it is separate from science alchemy but based on the same principles.
ReplyDeleteso if you are basing you blog and calling it your grand arcanum you might want to do some research before linking it to full metal. otherwise you may find its not your grand arcanum at all, as alchemy does have its limits.
It is the ishbalan way of alchemy...its still alchemy...A granny smith apple looks different from a macintosh but they are still apples...its just called something different. One calls it a science one calls it a religion but its still the same. THATS THE WHOLE POINT...its not alchemy in the since of the way the elrich brothers did it...Look at what Scar was doing. he was doing alchemy and didnt even know it...its symantics...the ishbalans didnt pray over a rock and turn it into something else...they drew transmutation circles like the state alchemists(hence Scar's arm)...they studied texts and the ways of the world like the state alchemists...Ishbal was the religion, hence religious...not the Grand Arcanum...
ReplyDeletefurthermore, i did not say its the ONLY method of creating the philosophers stone. ..."IS A METHOD"...A METHOD not THE method...if you did not see what FMA was trying to get at with the contrast of the ishbalans and the state alchemist then you missed the whole point...as with the whole post...
As always thank you for "reading" Please come again...
sounds satanic if you want my opinion
ReplyDeleteListen to the Sun...
ReplyDeleteThis is well thought and I enjoyed i will take this wisdom and with the concept of the philosophers stone in mind i offer you my thanks in return not equivalent in wisdom but equivalent in power...
ReplyDeletegrand arcanum = secret weapon
ReplyDeleteBrilliant.
ReplyDeleteYou are all a bunch of toad smokers...welcome to the club
ReplyDeleteMatter can be destroy by anti-matter dumass
ReplyDeletecorrect it is a method, one that i shall not use till all others have been exhausted
ReplyDeletePretty well written man. But people have some serious misconceptions about real alchemy. First of all and most important, I don't think I've ever read anything about transmutation circles in real alchemy. And frankly I don't think they exist or produce results. Although there are some similarities to the Pentacles of the key of solomon made by Arib alchemists and Jews.
ReplyDeleteYou know I've never read any instructions on how to make the philosophers stone, but a big start might be striving aftter philosophical mercury, no it's not quite the stone. It's the seed of metals, and if you know how to make that, then the rest of all alchemy will be much simpler. Or you can start with elixers which is probably a more efficiant way of learning.
I won't tell you how to make the mercury, but I'm sure you can find ways. Look up the author Frater Albertus.
Believe me there is a reason alchemy is secretive and very difficult to understand. Most books about alchemy are split up, and you have to have previous knowledge and education to even follow the majority of the lecture and instructions.
Atra - Indigo
Ahh anti matter i see someone has seen "angels and demons"...find me some anit matter first off...then tell me what the light and explosion and subsequent matter and antimatter pairing going to be yes an explosion with happen but even that explosion will cause something else...that is if anti matter actually exists...its just a theory...but hey...
ReplyDeleteIn real Alchemy the Grand Arcanum isn't the process by which the Philosopher's Stone is made. That's the Magnum Opus. The Grand Arcanum is the secret behind the creation of the Philosopher's stone, which I believe isn't actually known.
ReplyDelete