Modern Alchemy

An alchemist is someone who transforms things for the better. An alchemist, alchemists believed that they could turn metal, like lead into actual gold, that they could cure disease and that life could be prolonged to the process of transmutation, meaning changing something for the better. It’s an ancient practice that combines science and philosophy and mysticism. Alchemists who practiced alchemy believed that they could transform ordinary minerals into gold and create what they called a philosopher’s stone that could grant immortality and discovered secret to eternal life. Now, while they didn’t necessarily succeed in those goals, experiments laid the groundwork for we know today as modern chemistry, so today, Alchemy is mostly seen as a blend of early science and spiritual beliefs with its most famous idea, again, being the transformation of one substance or one thing into another, so changing things for the better, taking bad, making it good, or taking something that’s sort of average or common and making it extraordinary. So that’s pretty cool. Is that a cool idea? We’ve all heard about alchemy, but don’t necessarily know that much about it. I know that that was me, but I’m sort of sort of interested in I’m definitely interested in it. Maybe fascinated by it, probably not fascinating enough to dig into the ancient practice of alchemy, necessarily, but I do think that there are a fair amount of modern applications that are definitely a value and the idea of transmutation, taking bad common, changing it to extraordinary, extremely uncommon, that certainly piques my interest, and it’s something that I think, that we all do almost on a daily basis. And it could be another human superpower that we don’t tap into enough that we ignore, that we don’t think enough about. So a brief exploration. Some of the earliest known alchemists came from ancient Egypt, Greece and China, and they have some incredible names, and I’m not really going to to do them justice and probably cause them to roll over in their graves or wherever their final resting spot may be, but from ancient Egypt comes Hermes Trismegistus. He’s considered a legendary figure. He’s associated with the Egyptian God of Thoth and the Greek god Hermes. He’s credited with writing many of the texts around alchemy, including the famous Emerald Tablet, which contains the phrase as above, so below, that’s a good one, right there, another ancient Egyptian zasimos of panopolis. He was an early Egyptian Alchemist who wrote about some he just wrote some of the oldest texts. He described the process of turning metals into gold, and believed that alchemy could purify both matter and the soul as above so below, not only the physical world, but also spiritual world, or your soul, however you want to think about that, Mary, the Jewish from ancient Egypt, also known as Maria, prophetessa, is considered one of the founding figure figures. She invented several important alchemical apparatuses, such as the Bane Marie, a double boiler used for gentle healing from ancient China. Why? Boyang, he was one of the earliest Chinese alchemists, known for writing about the creation of elixir of a more of immortality in the process of turning base metals into gold from from ancient Persia, modern day, Iraq. Jabir Ibn Hayyan is considered the father of Islamic alchemy. He wrote extensively on alchemy, chemistry and medicine, and he worked to lay the foundation for later development. So lots of great names and lots of great thinking, and obviously here we are talking about these folks who lived a really, really, really long time ago. We’re talking about in the first century, for goodness sakes, and even in ancient Greece and 300 ad so a really long time ago. So their work, whether or not they actually ever succeeded in actually turning lead into gold for. Or as above so below, however that took shape. I think that there’s a lot to be learned. So are there any examples of modern day alchemists? So just thinking about taking something or making something out of nothing, or taking something that is common and making it extraordinary. Does anybody come to mind for you? I think that we’re in a time where we’re celebrating a lot of entrepreneurs. So certainly, Steve Jobs probably be, could easily be considered a modern day Alchemist. Created a lot of the technologies and the experiences that we’re having iPhone, obviously. And we have Elon Musk, who may prove to be one of the greatest alchemists, actually making electric cars commercially viable with Tesla and making space trial travel commonplace, almost at some point, SpaceX, neurolink and whatever else Elon Musk is is up to. I’m sure that there’s a lot going on there. Ben Franklin, I think, without question, be considered an alchemist. Alchemist invented so many different things. Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, the list goes on and on. But what about what about other fields, not just inventors or entrepreneurs? What about an artist? You think that Michelangelo certainly taking a block of stone or a block of marble, one block and creating some of the most wonderful and exquisite, extraordinary works of art the world has ever seen like the Pieta. Oh, my goodness, if you’re not familiar with the Pieta, pop that into your favorite internet machine and check it out for one block of stone he created that in the Sistine Chapel. That list goes on and on. And your favorite musicians, what about them in so many ways, isn’t Adele and Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, aren’t they? Alchemists? What about your favorite writer? Your favorite filmmakers? It’s Steven Spielberg, George Lucas. Are these alchemists? Stephen King? So many examples of people that from something common, piece of paper and a pen, paintbrush, block of marble or stone, ability to see things, not necessarily as they are, but what they can be, the ability to see things and not necessarily just as they are, but what they could be, what they can be, so recognizing the potential. So a mentor, when you think about that, a mentor, it could obviously be some kind of an alchemist, that somebody that sees something in you that you don’t see in yourself, and they help you to bring it out a parent, we human beings are alchemists. We’re creating new human life, doing it every day. We’re shaping children, shaping the future generations. So I think that that’s a form of alchemy. So there’s so many different ways that we can change something for the better. Transmutation, take something to make it better. Maybe in a lot of ways, that’s the one of the cornerstones, the key features of the human experience. And the more I think about it, I think that it’s 100% of superpower that we have to take something to make it better. And a lot of ways, I think that is the animating force behind what it really means to be a human being, is to look at ourselves and to change it for the better, the constant pursuit of of achieving or realizing our potential, and that at the expense of of other things, not saying progress, just for the sake of progress, saying healthy, sustainable growth, improvement, lifelong learning, all that kind of stuff. So I think that when you go down that path of looking at the human experience as a form of alchemy. It resonates with me. You think about what you’re doing when you are imagining your own future. So what do I want my life to look like? And you can sit down, pour yourself your favorite coffee or tea or glass of wine or whatever you’re into delicious glass of milk, perhaps, and think about the future that you want. What I want my life to look like today? What plans do I have for today? What about this week? What about this quarter year? What about the next five years? What do I want the next 10 years to look like? For the next 20 years be the best years of my life? I

think that the answer is certainly yes. Because when you make believe, it’s kind of what we’re doing when we’re looking into the futures. We’re playing pretend, and we’re making believe we desire the lives we want. And then we actually take the next step, and we create plans for bringing that desired future into our current reality. So to make that desired future our reality, and then we execute on those plans. I don’t see any other way than to think about that as a form of alchemy. What we’re doing, we’re changing something for the better. We’re looking at our current situation, and we’re being grateful for everything that we have. See. You know what? I could probably, probably be a little stronger, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and probably have a little bit better relationship, and I desire better relationship with my loved ones. Or, you know what I could probably, I could probably benefit from improving my financial situation. Probably, if I could focus on my career a little bit more, that would get me what I wanted, but really focused, I could become a real dynamite pickleball player, whatever it is that you’re interested in. So that’s a form of alchemy, and I think that fundamentally we’re in the pursuit, then that gets us closer to and narrows our focus, which will then allow us to explore, look for the highest and best uses of our most valuable resources. I think that that’s a big part of what this whole thing is all about. This whole thing being our life and our existence is, how do we figure out what it is that we want and then figure out how best to allocate our resources in a way that is going to move us closer to what it is that we want? So happy with what I have, but opportunities abound for improvement, for alchemy, for transmutation. So how do we actually do that? How do we make believe? How do we put this form of alchemy to work in our lives? I think first and foremost, it’s figuring out what it is that you want your life to look like. I’m very fond of saying the only way to live how you want is to know how you want to live. And we call that goal setting, even though I think the world sort of we all have goal fatigue, and value fatigue. If you’re listening to me, you probably do, for sure. So just quick reframe and just think about what what it is that you want your life to look like, and then take small steps toward that make small manageable goals, checkpoints that are realistic and that are attainable, and then they’ll want you to be kind to yourself. I know that I have a tendency to be really, really tough on myself, to engage in pretty vicious self talk, and then sometimes that goes to the other people that are in my life, and that’s that’s not a good thing either, but be kind in how you talk to yourself and how you treat yourself. It’s important to recognize and celebrate the successes that we’re having along the way, and to acknowledge all the achievements that that we’ve made in the past and that we’re continuing to make, no matter how small they are, that reinforcement and important to learn from our failures, because we’re going to have those, I guess, first and foremost, to not let bumps in the road or failures sidetrack us, or get us to have a stop doing what it is that that that we set out and doing because that’s going to happen to shifting that from, you know, woes is me, and I’m going to quit up this whole I’m going to give up this whole thing to just an opportunity for me to grow and to get better, to avoid this next time. And then I think it’s really important to surround yourself with supportive people and get the help that you need. I know that over the course of my life, have been guilty of not looking for, not reaching out, not accepting help from other people, and that’s a function of ego. It’s a function of pride, both of which are not super helpful when it comes to living a great life. So surround yourself with supportive people. Ask for accept help. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. We can all benefit from it. And then what happens when you try something and it actually works? How does that feel? What happens? Feels awesome. It’s amazing. Like, holy cow. I thought about this thing that I wanted to do, I actually tried to do it, and it happened. It worked. Makes you want to do it more. Confidence grows. You get good at it. You do. Develop your confidence, you create change in your life, and then this virtuous cycle of success and of achievement takes hold. We’re way too often or commonly stuck in vicious cycles where we can’t get out of our own way. We can’t catch a break. World’s out to get us. That’s not a good feeling at all. All been there too. So how about we practice little alchemy, change that vicious cycle to a virtuous cycle. It’s within our that’s within our abilities, and to a degree, it’s within our control. Could set the attention you can know where it is you want to get to. You can execute on your plan, and then you let chips fall within. May. I think today could be my best day, yet it could be yours as well. This could be your best year. But in a greater context, I bet the next 20 years, if you could make the next 20 years your next 20 years, your best 20 years, that’d be a very worthwhile and wise thing to be focused on. So why not do that? Why not make this next 20 years, this next 10 years, be your best. You’re fully capable of it. You deserve it, but none of us are entitled to it, so we need to get to work as always, do your part by doing your best. You.

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.