A closer look
Everyone thinks alchemists were just greedy medieval nerds trying to crash the gold market, but they were actually deeply annoying spiritual life coaches. The famous 'Philosopher's Stone' and the transmutation of lead into gold were heavily coded allegories for achieving mystical enlightenment. The 'lead' was your garbage, unrefined self, and the 'gold' was spiritual perfection. Of course, plenty of con artists ignored the metaphor and just blew up their kitchens trying to get rich anyway.
