Preface and Apology

...many and various strange judgments original Latin: "judicia" regarding these aforementioned works original Latin: "Operibus" of mine have been passed here and there. But what is one to do? One must let the people talk until their gray beards fall away. Yet I also speak, and say: let everyone judge as they understand it, according to how they are inclined original: "affectioniret"; meaning their emotional or intellectual disposition. either toward my person or toward the teachings of my well-considered writings. The fool judges original: "judiciret" foolishly; the ignorant, ignorantly; the worldly, purely in a worldly manner; the mocker, mockingly; the envious, begrudgingly; the slanderer, slanderously; the despiser, despicably. Every bird sings according to the way its beak has grown. A German proverb meaning everyone speaks according to their own nature and capacity. The world rewards in no other way. Be that as it may, I know for a certainty—and can (where necessary) prove it with many letters—that good people who understand the Art meaning the "Great Art" of alchemy and theosophy. have also understood these works rightly, judged them well, and have spoken and written of them with wisdom.