In closing then, I’m going to explain why I chose the wrath-filled reading from Ezekiel that we started with, that Robert read out for us. The most obvious reason is that it talks about metals being purified, the smelting fires of the Lord refining and moulding us, which is not unlike the Alchemist’s flame which I’ve been speaking about. My primary motivation though was the wrath of God itself. In the Old Testament, the divine is obviously personified in the God of Israel, and we know what the characteristics of this God are; he is described in the Bible as Love, Peace, Perfection, Hope, Gentleness, Truth, etc etc. But also, as Anger, Wrath, Justice, Judging, Divine Fury. And it is our liberal religious impulse of course to minimise the judgy God, and maximise the loving God. The peaceable God. The gentle God. And this whole address about the alchemy of the soul shows us why it may not be that simple. It’s a problematic conflict. A problematic paradox. We wouldn’t want to say that the negative episodes of our life are of God’s making. If our prospects take a sudden turn for the worse, or a loved one dies, or whatever negative thing befalls us, we wouldn’t want to think of that as being of God. But if, in turn, it is these calamities which cause an edification of the soul, then perhaps it is, with the benefit of hindsight, reasonable to see that as God’s doing. It seems both appropriate and inappropriate to say as much. You can’t tell someone that they should view a calamity as spiritually beneficial. In the rawness of the experience such a sentiment is merely callous, though perhaps in time they themselves will see it as such. It does make some sense of God’s wrath in the Bible if you interpret said negative event as the work of God, indeed the wrath of God. And if that wrath purifies our souls, and moves us towards spiritual maturity, then it is of benefit, no? And how can we not say that that which edifies us spiritually is not of God?

In the crap it will be found. And so, within the flame of the Alchemist, we bubble into an impure broth. We have our dark nights of the soul, but in time we transform into a precious substance. A precious soul comes, is brought forth. We are subject to the wrath of God, the calamities of this world, and in turn, we are moulded into something still greater. And so, the drive within us towards spiritual depth is satisfied a little more. We move a step closer within our interior world to that pearl of great price, that philosophers stone, that elixir of immortality.

Amen.