Importance of the study of icons, pictograms and symbols in ancient cultures.

We must not forget the persecution carried out against the alchemists, who had to camouflage their knowledge in very cryptic symbols, only decipherable by the so-called initiates, and who had to continue their experiments clandestinely. It is likely that they did not find the true philosopher's stone, although there are those who claim to have found it and become very rich. 

However, whether these findings are true or not, what is truly important is that the foundations were laid for understanding that matter could transmute, that it was not stable, something that could only be demonstrated in the twentieth century with Rutherford's atomic theory, the theory of quantum mechanics by Louis De Broglie and Bohr and the construction of large particle accelerators that made it possible to demonstrate how elementary particles can be created, destroyed and transformed into different entities. 

All this paved the way for demonstrating how heavy metals such as lead can be transformed into gold or another element, often as a result of the corresponding radioactive processes. So the cryptic symbolism of the alchemists was fundamentally correct, although it remains to be seen whether they could have discovered so-called cold fusion to achieve their goal. 

If this is true of the elements, it may well have an impact on the biological world where alchemy aims to lengthen life. We will probably one day prove them right in this field of knowledge as well. These are just two examples of how ancient knowledge encoded in symbols or pictograms can lead us to modern knowledge that we have not been able to rediscover even with modern technology. 

Ancient knowledge of astronomy, such as that reflected in the Mayan calendar, the construction of great stone monuments such as the pyramids throughout the world, which still amazes today due to the vast knowledge used for this purpose, the Nazca lines in Peru, Egyptian mummification techniques, the knowledge of the ancient Sumerians and other peoples in our history who, through symbols, pictograms and icons, left a legacy to future civilizations, are waiting to be fully revealed. 

But it is necessary to carry out a study without prejudices, without preconceived paradigms in order to obtain truly surprising results. The knowledge is already there, we just have to rediscover it in the light of current knowledge, with the messages left in the past. If we know how to read them, we can advance much faster than if we tried to start from scratch. 

However, we must be careful not to fall into unfounded interpretations; we must be rigorous, objective and cautious when reading these ancient messages, lest we fall into mysticism, into occultism without essence and into a philosophical romanticism that will rather distance us from, rather than bring us closer to, the truth.