Episode 6 - Philosopher’s Stone

Talk given at Parklands (Manchester, UK) on 25th May 1986. 

We begin by examining the meaning of 'stone'. Eugene suggests approaching it from the idea of: S means ‘Spirit’, T means ‘fixation’ or ‘crucifixion’, N means both ‘negation’ and ‘intelligence’. The fundamental idea in ‘ST one’ is that all matter is really spirit, self-fixated and when this stone is discovered it will confer immortality on the owner. The word ‘philosopher’ is defined as: lover of ‘soph’, of wisdom. ‘Soph’ reversed is ‘phos’ which means ‘light’. So ‘soph’ actually means the word ‘light’ turned around and back to its source; i.e. reflexive awareness.

We each know lots of things, but can we say that we know that we know them? To be reflexively aware we have to be able to say that we can will, what we feel, what we know. To be reflexive is to be able to say: “I don’t only know it, I know that I know it; I don’t only will it, I will that I will it. That is the highest function of any conscious being; to be reflexive.” 

A transcript is available at www.eugene-halliday.net.