On the Secrets of the Adepts

...facing them, "...does not first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has what is required for its completion? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and is unable to finish it, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying: 'This man began to build, but was unable to finish the building.'" original: "non prius confidens computet sumptum..." This is a citation of Luke 14:28-30, used here as a metaphor for the expensive and often ruinous pursuit of alchemy. Luke 14:28.

Truly, I am not unaware that these warnings will be spurned rather than welcomed, especially by those who are loath to demolish the magnificent towers original: "turres magnificas"; this is the root of the idiom "castles in the air," referring to unrealistic plans or fantasies. they have built for themselves in the clouds. Indeed, despite the impossibility for certain men to remove the aforementioned difficulties, they attempt to persuade others that they can teach what they themselves do not yet know. Thus, they choose to persist in deception rather than desist out of a guilty conscience original: "conscientiâ"; here meaning an inner awareness of one's own failings. regarding their own weakness and failure.

Others consider themselves more than sufficient for overcoming any difficulties whatsoever; therefore, it is in vain to dissuade them from this Art Art: (Latin: Artem) The "Sacred Art" or Alchemy, specifically the quest to create the Philosopher's Stone.. Still others, sensing all the difficulties and their own certain inability to cut through them—though they may be free from all fraud and arrogance—are nevertheless driven toward this Art by a certain natural or secret impulse, such that they cannot be kept from it by any argument.