The relationship between the highest and the ordinary state of consciousness
was compared by certain schools of alchemy
to that between the diamond and an ordinary piece of coal.
One cannot imagine a greater contrast,
and yet both consist of the same chemical substance, namely, carbon.
This teaches symbolically the fundamental unity of all substances
and their inherent faculty of transformation.

To the alchemist who was convinced of the profound parallelism
between the material and the immaterial world,
and of the uniformity of natural and spiritual laws,
this faculty of transformation had universal meaning.
It could be applied to inorganic forms of matter
as well as organic forms of life,
and equally to the psychic forces that penetrate both.
-Govinda