Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear.

"No, no," I said to the alchemist, "You see, the Alchemical Wedding is just a metaphor for the quest for personal growth. We take what's give to us by gift, birth and upbringing, and we ennoble it with choice and good intentions. Our crucible is psychology and prayer and education and engagement and kindness and hope and self-examination and science and insight and effort and choice. We take the lead of ourselves and transform it into the gold of becoming complete."

The alchemist looked left and right nervously, "Really? That stuff all sounds pretty good, but I've just been working on changing one metal into another with magical chemicals. Have I been doing it wrong?"

I gave a sympathetic sigh. His shoulders slumped a little.

"Well, I guess I'll just ditch all this literal gold I made from lead, then, and try that self-transformation thing. I should have known it wouldn't be so easy."

I was going to ask about the gold thing, but I didn't want to look dumb after such a clever speech.