Discourse on Curious Matters

spirit would be perceived. That this wisdom original: Weisheit—referring here to the deep alchemical understanding of nature cannot be recognized without holy light, much less the glorious spiritual-bodily essence of Heaven and Earth be attained, is all the more evident from its rarity and cautious hiddenness. It is further clear from the confession of other philosophers original: Philosophorum that it is impossible to reach this goal without the divine blessing. This truth is proven by the futile labors of so many otherwise worldly-wise, learned, and sharp-sighted people, as every researcher would experience for themselves. Thus it appears all the more clearly that without divine light and the opening of wisdom, not only is everything in vain, but it is also not within any earthly power of man to grasp this precious jewel through mere effort without God's will; therefore, a person who is deemed worthy of it finds all the more reason to be thankful.

Now, he did not desire to dispute whether Adam brought this knowledge with him out of Paradise? Or whether Hermes Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary figure from antiquity considered the "father" of alchemy (Hermeticism) was the first inventor and father of philosophy original: Philosophiæ—in this context, alchemy was often called the "true philosophy" or the "Hermetic philosophy"? Whether he lived before the Great Flood original: Sündflut, and