In one of his books of Manly P. Hall, there are these lines:

"Lu Tzu wrote: "I must diligently sow my own field. It is there that the spiritual germ is found, which may live for a thousand years. Its flower is like yellow gold. Its bud is small, but its seed is round and like a flawless gem. Its growth depends on the soil of the central palace, but it must be watered from the highest fountain. After nine years of cultivation, it can be transplanted permanently to the heaven of the highest spirits."

Although Johnson, quoted here, thinks that this statement defies rational interpretation, it actually reveals the whole secret. The field is the physical body of the alchemist; the golden germ is the seed of the soul; the central palace is the heart, and the soil is the quality of virtue; the highest fountain is the Tao, or true spirit; nine years symbolize the stages or degrees of esoteric discipline, and the heaven of spirits is the state of illumination. The whole story should be clear to the student of yoga."

This beautiful passage reveals the meaning that, on the one hand, according to the alchemists, every man is the bearer of a golden germ or seed of the soul, which begins to grow when the physical body of man is pure, the heart is filled with Knowledge, and the mind with virtue.

On the other hand, Knowledge can be interpreted as the inner contemplation of the mystical interaction of the developed Soul with the Spirit, and thus, the process of spiritualization of human life through the development of high morality. It is through morality that the Soul acquires the necessary volume and consonance with the subtlest impulses of the Divine principle in man. This Principle the alchemists called the "Golden Germ".

Purification through the Knowledge of one's own Soul, separation from it of base inclinations or "gross metals" in the language of alchemy and transformation of the Soul into pure Gold through the revelation in the Soul of the necessary qualities for the knowledge of the True Eternal Divine nature of man, which is also called "Spirit" - this is the process of obtaining gold from base metals.

Here is another interesting excerpt from the same book.

"They alone (the alchemical sages) understood that the creation of an ideal government or a happy human society depends on the same formulas that they used in the transmutation of metal."

A noble government, an ideal state and a happy human society are the result of not the external, but the internal work of the creators of such a government, the builders of the state and the members of human society. The transformation of external life is always a consequence of deep internal changes and the internal transformation of man. By cleansing one's personality from filth, ennobling the Soul with virtue and restoring the connection with one's Spirit, a person transforms everything around him, since he stands at the center of the transformation of the external world and its evolutionary development.

To build a good state, it is necessary to resort to the same laws of the universe that help a person develop his inner strength and reveal the most noble impulses in himself. A happy human society and a good government are not a dream on the horizon, but the fruits of the Golden Seed in a person, which grows thanks to the Divine combination of the health of the body, the nobility of the Soul, Wisdom, virtue and daily painstaking work in the name of the Good and all of humanity.

Wherever a person is, whenever he is and with whomever he is. Now and until his last breath.

That is why alchemists and magicians say: "The heart is in God, and the hands are in labor."