ABSTRACT
This chapter approaches alchemy from a conceptual point of view which highlights its capacity to contain paradox and accommodate opposites, such as spirit and matter or immanence and transcendence. It focuses upon three different discursive fields, namely divergent readings of the bodily dimension and its clinical implications, a quantum discourse ranging from viewpoints originating within physics to its reception by other disciplines, and a discourse on emerging forms of rationality as part of post-postmodern philosophy. Embodied being can be conceived as a capacity acquired in infancy and here Donald Winnicott's developmental theory provides an intricate map. Other developmental approaches tend not to feature being as an accomplishment in its own right, reducing it to an implicit aspect of mind. In addition, the body shall be conceived through the capacity to be which is seen as an important aspect of ego-development and reference is made to Winnicott's developmental theory.
