ALCHEMY: THE SCIENCE OF TRANSFORMATION A Few Selected Readings That I Authored For the Kaiser Institute Alembic Program for Healthcare Managers THE ALEMBIC The word alembic is not a term in common parlance. We chose it because it describes so well what we are doing. It is an unusual term for an unusual program. The term alembic comes from the ancient science of alchemy. Although ancient in origin it is futuristic in our application and permits us to go places with your organization that will boggle your imagination. In alchemy an alembic was a piece of laboratory apparatus used by the alchemist for distilling liquids. It consisted of two retorts connected by a tube. It was used to purify, refine and transform solutions. It was a still that drew off the essence of a liquid. We use our alembic is a somewhat similar way. It is a special learning space we have created for advanced management training. It concentrates on skills future managers will need to thrive in our rapidly changing healthcare environment. Our alembic teaches transformational skills available nowhere else. It is designed for managers on the way up in your organization. It is also appropriate for existing managers that plan to be in their jobs for the next decade. Enrolling a manager in our program is a way of saying thanks for what you have done for this organization. We trust you will make even greater contributions in the future. The alembic is designed for managers in medicine, nursing, the allied health professions and general administration. THE MANAGER AS AN ALCHEMIST Alchemy is an ancient art that contributes many valuable insights to the modern healthcare manager. The highest level of management is creation. Alchemy is the science of creation. The alchemical manager creates organizational and community realities with his or her intentions. Alchemy is often defined as the art and science of transformation – changing one form into another form. The highest level skill of management is transformation of undesirable situations into desirable situations.. Alchemy teaches us that the universe has two poles - chaos and order. As an alchemist, the task of the manager is transforming environmental chaos (such as health reform) into organizational order. The “ordering principles” in alchemy come from the consciousness of the manager. The manager asks, What is missing that would transform this situation into something better? The manager then supplies the missing ingredient. Ancient alchemy was reputed to be a process for transforming base metals into gold. Modern alchemy is a process for transforming the baser elements in any situation. Alchemy is the ultimate art of synthesis - how to radically improve healthcare in a community by combining existing organizations and resources.
The alchemical manager works in a different world. He/She can generate alternative realities and parallel futures for the organization and the community. As a futuristic management technology, alchemy is magical. The CEO learns that a subjective change in his or her awareness creates a corresponding change in the organizational and community. Alchemy accelerates the development of all systems. The alchemical manager sees resident seed potential and cultivates it. The alchemical CEO views reality as largely self-generated. For this reason he or she is not willing to simply adapt to unacceptable realities. Rather, these unacceptable realities are converted into acceptable realities alchemical transformations. The alchemical CEO is adept at creating spaces where good things happen of their own accord. Because alchemy views time as an essential variable, the alchemical manager often sees ahead in time and thereby avoids many negative consequences. WHAT IS ALCHEMY? The universe has two poles - primal chaos and ordered cosmos. The alchemist stands balanced between these two poles. He transforms chaos into cosmos. Alchemy is the process of transformation. The body/mind vehicle is the crucible and retort of the alchemist. By standing between the twin pillars of chaos and cosmos and passing the devolutionary and evolutionary energies through his body, the alchemist can destroy in order to create. Consciousness seeks to realize its intentions (a higher level of order) through vehicles in time, space, and matter. Consciousness is always limited in its expression by the limitations of its vehicle. When vehicles are spiritualized, i.e. made more subtle, consciousness can express itself in a greater measure. Alchemy is this process of spiritual transformation. It moves everything up to its next higher level of expression, i.e. less limitation. Therefore alchemy is consciousness raising via change in the vehicles of consciousness. Organizational alchemy is transforming organizational lead into organizational gold. Alchemy is altering your own consciousness, which alters your relationship to the universe which changes your world. Alchemy is magic - a change in the inner world of subjectivity changes the outer world of objectivity. Alchemy is creation - thinking things into existence - converting ideas into 3 rd dimensional realities. Alchemy is helping health care organizations achieve serial immortality via the Philosopher’s Stone, i.e. moving the organization’s essence from o ne organizational body to another organizational body. Alchemy is the pursuit of the Holy Grail - truth - that which is.
An alchemist can change only himself, but the self is the measure of all things in its world. The self is the microcosm that reflects the macrocosm. A change of world view is a change of world viewed (Bruner). An alchemist attempts to resonate with higher order systems which have the ability to downflow into lower order systems and change their operation. An alchemist can accelerate natural evolution - the rate of unfoldment of people and organizations. For the alchemist his body/mind vehicle is the instrument used to transform nature. An alchemist is a worker in both ideas and forms. For the alchemist everything is a seed that has infinite potential for unfoldment. An alchemist allows lower life forms to borrow his energy until they can separate under their own power. The alchemist is a gardener. Alchemy is spiritual chemistry. The effectiveness of the alchemist depends upon the condition of his body/mind vehicle. Two alchemists following the same formula will produce very different results. The alchemist supplies the catalytic agent of transformation which is his consciousness. At subtle levels the traditional scientific method no longer works. You cannot separate the outcome from the operator. A result is public and repeatable only if done by two operators operating at identical levels of realization. It takes only a little pinch of alchemical substance to transform a whole organization into gold. An alchemist must be able to resonate with higher order systems in order to change lower systems. Potential moves from high to low. Alchemy is moving an idea through the various levels of density toward manifestation without introducing distortions in the reflections. Alchemists need subtle matter to embody their images. This is provided by dream substance and is available to the lucid dreamer. Alchemy: The Science of Transformation Basic Concepts Alchemy is an ancient art and science that can contribute many valuable insights to the modern healthcare manager. The highest level of management is creation. Alchemy is the science of creation. The “ordering principles” in alchemy come from the consciousness of the CEO. T he CEO asks, “What is missing that would transform this situation into something better?” Then, the CEO then supplies the missing ingredient. Modern alchemy is a process for transforming the baser elements in any situation.
Alchemy is the science of transformation. Alchemy is spiritual chemistry. It enables you to change one form into another form. Usually you change an inferior form into a superior form – such as lead into gold. This is the primary job of a good manager – to produce something better. Alchemy is a very specialized language system. Alchemy is a multidimensional science that incorporates the full energy spectrum of the universe. In alchemy reality is a probabilistic clustering of moving events and is therefore mutable. Alchemy works with the universe and uses subtle forces to achieve its ends rather than brute strength. The Power of Alchemy Transforming the unmanifest into the manifest Drawing to yourself all that is needed Creating preferred realities Perceiving the subtle energies of the universe Liberating the potential in any form Integrating diversity into unity Transmuting negative energy into positive energy Reshaping your environment Embracing and patterning chaos Exploring the infinite extensibility of everything Changing the inner to change the outer Changing the future in order to alter the present Characteristics of the Alchemist Being fully present and radically open to new possibilities Viewing reality as self-generated Using the power of synthesis
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