Step.  10 Exaltation       "To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance." -Buddha    The heat of the furnace is again raised and, this time, to its highest intensity to purify the material.   This brings about the appearance of the true Philosophers stone, the perfect Red Tincture, Red Exlir, the One. The Alchemist at the stage of exaltation sees all nature from within the soul.  All creation together has value.  There are no partial acceptances. The world is no longer what it once seemed to be.  Suffering and karma still exist, but is experienced differently, from another viewpoint.  All things are now seen as experience and learning.  The lessons are gracefully accepted and the true beauty of nature is seen and felt more clearly and with much less restriction.  The Alchemist wonders why this could not be seen before.             Tenth Key. Around a downward pointing radiant triangle are the words "I am born from Hermogenes. Hyperion elected me. Without Iamsoph I am destined to perish". Inside the vertices of the triangle are the symbols of the Sun on the left, the Moon on the right and Mercury at the bottom. Within the triangle is a double radiant circle inside of which is written some Hebrew letters.         Time and the Flower     He said absolutely nothing and simply held up a flower.    Perhaps my writing on exhalation was shorter than the other categories.  I noticed this myself, and yet could not find a reason to add something else.  The length seemed appropriate for what it is.  Perhaps it is was even long.   I find I can understand why certain books have been written and resolved riddles that I have not been able to understand before.  Have you pondered the flower?  Now I find connections with my own life and what I do.  When I write about the condition of books, when they are "as new," there is a lot I have to describe about their condition.  When they are just as good as new, I need very few words to describe them.  One would do...  Perfect.  It is necessary to use words to describe a book over the net.  To see the book in person would be a much different.  I could just hold the book out and the interested individual could see that it was perfect without the use of words at all.   A flower is beautiful as is all of creation.  The flower and is seen, the lovely scent of it can carry on the wind, and the energy of it can be felt.  The softness of the flower could be felt and has a presence. For the culinary person at heart, a flower may even be tasty.  All these things can happen at once in experience and the words to explain the experience may never really capture the flower itself.  A computer program cannot help you experience the presence of a splendid flower.  And in time, the flower that exists here is gone.  The experience of the flower, in our earthly definition of the word EXPERIENCE, lasts for just a short period of time.    As human beings, we have a lot of rules.  I watch my kitten give his widest yawn.  This yawn is wide enough to look impossible.  It would not be very well mannered for me to yawn in such a way with others around. Yet when my kitten yawns, it looks enjoyable, sweet, and just a very honest to goodness lovely and enjoyable yawn.  Watch a fish in a fishbowl.  The fish glides and darts, never making an awkward move.  Nature is this way.  A hurricane, tornado or cyclone is deadly but it is a sight to see and experience.  Some things in nature we do not see at all but we experience.  A hurricane is invisible.  It's force is seen in the body of the trees it moves them and even blows them away.  Sound is not seen but is heard, as well as smell, and even sometimes taste. The winds blow the trees invisibly as do many things that touch our lives.       If a tree falls, and no one is there does it make a sound?   I listened to the single gong sound vibrate and change with a throbbing quality.  What starts as one sound becomes many over a short time.  Here we have time and sound.  Sound exists and changes as it is experienced over time.  Sound exists before the tree falls and after the tree falls.  Where there is no time and all experience has the potential of being one, the tree makes a sound for all to experience.    Yes the tree makes a sound. Where there is wholeness all experience exists-- past, present and future collapses into oneness.  That is why it is so important to live now in every moment and every thought to be who we are.