What the salt constitution is really afraid of is too much fire, because they'll dry out, and turn to dust and they won't be able to relate to the water again. And what the fiery sulfur is afraid of is that they're going to cool down too much and get soggy. The sulfurs don't want to get soggy. They want things to just cook all the time, to fester and to keep bubbling. The sulfur, when it is in balance eventually ends up rendering whatever is cooking into a more intimate condition known to alchemists as 'moist'. This is the paradox of sulfur. If they keep cooking they become moist. This is polar to the salt which is moist and colloidal to begin with but if the salt becomes unbalanced the salt constitution becomes dry and dusty.

If left to themselves sulfur constitutions would just keep festering and cooking until they began to ooze grease, and the salt constitution would swell up into a large ball of colloidal substance which would eventually dry out like a puff ball mushroom. In these polarities the two constitutions would not have anything to say to one another.

So the third constitution, the vata, the mercury, brings the other two into interaction. The vata constitution is aware, we could say chronically aware of imbalances of salt and sulfur. So if there is any imbalance within ten miles of the mercury constitution, it takes the imbalance personally. Soul wise the mercury constitution is incredibly aware of currents of meaning shifting between people. A mercury person knows exactly who's thinking what, when. That's good, but it's also very crazy making, because by being so aware of every imbalance the mercury constitution never gets any rest. They never get any rest because the world, Lord help us, is totally full of imbalances, and the mercury constitution expects that somewhere there would be balance and rest if it was a better world. But damn, here comes the newspaper in the morning and there we go. The currents of imbalance start.

Alchemically this mercury pattern is good, because it brings these other two constitutions into interaction. But the problem is that this becomes a desire in the mercury constitution, and the desire in the mercury constitution is to know what exactly is going on with everything, all of the time. The salt constitution wants to know when lunch is, and the sulfur constitution wants to know when the next encounter is, because that's where the fun is. And the mercury constitution wants to know why was I put on this earth? What's the meaning of existence? The mercury feels like asking everyone, "does existence make sense to you? Do you get it? Does life make sense to you? Really, do we all have to keep doing this same stupid life thing again and again?"

This type of obsessive inner posture reveals the Achilles heel of the mercury, because the mercury becomes imprisoned in repetition, because the constantly have to bring salt to the sulfur and the sulfur to the salt. Constantly. That's their whole thing. So they just have to keep repeating the same thing with people. "Will you never learn?" they say. "Can't you see that what you're doing is going to result in this?" And the mercury can see it, but they can't do a blessed thing about it. So what happens is it drives them nuts, because they can see the polarities so clearly. They live in the oscillation between the two poles. They are the oscillation and they know it. They know that, this too shall pass. That's written in their blood serum. This... shall pass. This is going to change. Watch this change into that, and watch it next week change back again. Isn't that interesting? And then when they try to explain that to somebody, it doesn't usually come across too well. So the mercury has to find satisfaction in being able to form images that are accurate to the phenomenon that is changing even as we speak. The only saving grace for them, is that they can easily take what they know and then make it appear as if it was someone else's idea. If a mercury tries to go head on with a sulfur, that's it for the mercury. Intellectually, the mercury can argue any position, so the other two usually consider them to be intellectual lightweights.

Here's a gesture for a sulfur in giveaway. (Sticking things in his pockets) [laughter] So giveaway to one constitution may not be what it is to another constitution. Here's giveaway to a salt. (Tossing papers from a stack slowly one by one and watching each one fall all the way to the floor) [laughter] Is it lunch time yet? Here's a mercury in giveaway. (Picking up the papers from the floor and starting to read each one and then in an instant switching to another etc., etc.)

And the mercury in giveaway is telling everyone, you need to give that to them, and you need to give that to them etc. but the mercury can't really give away by doing that. And the sulfur can't do give away by gathering all the cookies into his pocket. The sulfur has to give the cookies to others. And the salt has to volunteer to instigate an initiative. All right. I'll do it, but I won't like it. And I'll only do it if I can have extra time off for lunch. So what the sulfur has to give away is the need to control the mood of give it to me, give it to me. And the sulfur has to learn to say "all right, tell me what you think should be done with this." The sulfur wishes to dominate so much that they can't get any satisfaction. They care too much about how it all has to come out. They feel that things have to come out just so. Unfortunately things never cooperate in this, because there's all these other wiggly things happening all the time, and dammit people always mess things up! "So, look, just do it my way and we'll all be happier!" That's the sulfur gesture.

[Question:] What really is the problem of the mercury constitution again?

[Dennis:] The mercury has to get salt and sulfur balanced in their own constitution and give away trying to be everything to everyone.

[Question:] What can help to heal imbalances in mercury?

[Dennis:] Forming an image and thinking it backwards into silence is a beginning. as well as a daily practice in observing phenomena that are lawful. Lawfulness to the mercury seems somehow suspect. The mercury person just wants things to change. They don't care how they change. They just want them to change. Trying to perceive what is lawful change and what is not lawful is very healing for a mercury.

[Question:] What is the real nature of the mercury giveaway?

[Dennis:] If mercury tries to form an accurate or lawful image, it starts to slow down to somewhere within the speed of light. And as that happens these people start to recognize, oh yes, there's more to life than just doing stuff and networking. They realize that humans can actually think about something for longer than three seconds. They also realize that if they had enough fire, they could actually get something finished, rather than starting a zillion things forever and ever, which is cool when mercury needs to get some energy. The code of the mercury is When you get lost, just start something. But mercury is very good at starting things and not very good at finishing things or most especially getting things organized. You know the ROS word. So what the mercury has to give away is flightiness. This constitution has to give that away and say, "I'm actually going to learn something that is objectively sequential that's not just dependent upon my ability just to tell cool stories. I'm going to actually have to study something that other people have studied and figured out, and that I must apply my attention to. I must be able to think something in a consequential way." To do this is a giveaway for a mercury. What they're giving away is the freedom to just say "this lawfulness stuff bugs me. I'm going out for a walk. Who cares about the right genus or species name? Botany. Huh! I just want to go look at the flowers. Isn't that enough? Who cares about ratio and proportion? I'm a creative artist. My creativity is a god given gift. Why do I have to give away that I'm creative? I don't have to play by your rules." That's what the mercury has to give away. And when they do, they'll find that the nervousness they have goes way down. Their nervous energy becomes integrated. And the force of the mercury gets hold of sulfur and salt and weaves them together, and then suddenly these people experience really deep creativity, which involves an incredible amount of being able to keep a question open for a long time. That's what the salt gives to the mercury. And then when the answer starts to come, to be able to get something done about it, that's what the sulfur gives to the mercury. And then when they actually have the thing done, to turn right around and let it go and act as if the answer that they just got is not the answer, and just keep the process open, keep the question open that is salt.

[Question:] Why salt?

What I just described would actually be a salted mercury, because the salt can stay in a question for a decade, as long as there's lunch. The mercury allows the person to keep returning in a rhythmic way to the question and the salt lets the person not go crazy that there is no answer. In these complex relationships the mercury is the one that must bring stuck things into movement. As a result the mercury constitution is the one that is most easily set out of balance. It is also the last one to come into balance. Mercury is always anticipating a little bit that something will go out, so as soon as mercury goes out, it doesn't go out a little bit. It goes way out. And then it says oh god, I'm way out! I have to compensate. Whoooom! Bang! It's way on the other side. That's the problem. Extremes. So what the mercury has to do is find rhythm. Rhythm is great problem of the mercury. And it sounds odd because the mercury is rhythm. But there's a difference between oscillation and rhythm. So the mercury has to transform oscillation into rhythm, and to do that, they have to give away the addiction to extreme states. They have to just give that away. But we don't know any people like that do we? [laughter] Rhythm is the gift of mercury and rhythm is the wound of the mercury.

Each constitution has a gift that it brings. The salt brings the ability to simply keep cycling a question without getting an answer. And foods which support that are cooling, succulent, soft, easily digestible, just cooked all the way out till it's blended. Everything's blended. It's all blended. Smoothies and things like that help us to keep open without falling into the salt wound. Custards and pies and things like that soothe the dry and precipitating wound of the salt. That's what the salt loves, soothing warm sweet things. The sulfur needs some of that. But if the sulfur just says oh yeah, egg custard. Cool. How about egg custard? Yeah, I could eat a lot of egg custard. We went there earlier.

But, you know, there's a question in this; because we're talking here about satisfaction. Suppose that you are a sulfur and your doctor tells you that the big steak that you always eat at dinner is killing you. He recommends that you avoid it. But there is no satisfaction in this and the thought of eating salad for dinner makes you think that death would be better. So if you find out that the food you want is bad for you it will be easier to give up if you find something which is acceptable and that also gives you satisfaction . It's better to eat the sulfur in an egg custard than a big fatty steak. And so if we can make a deal with ourselves that we won't eat the steak and get the salad, It might be that instead of the Dr. Pepper we can have some sweet egg custard after the salad, then we're having satisfaction even though we are not eating the steak. Through the sulfur in the egg custard we're still getting what our constitution is looking for, but we've made a really good compromise and a substitution which helps us to cool out the blood. See, something like that.

And that's where the creativity comes in your inner work, is trying to find the thing that is a picture for you of why the dissatisfaction is there. What is it that is causing the dissatisfaction so that you can try to substitute something which will appease the hunger that is inherent in our constitution and yet will not feed the cravings of the shadow side of the B constitution. A very good place to start the inner work is in paying attention to what we eat. Try to substitute something which will give satisfaction for a food which is a problem.

Very often people who are sulfur people who start to do this and they give up red meat and very yang things, what they'll often say is, "yeah, I don't miss meat so much. I don't miss red meat, you know. I mean I have a little chicken, I have a little fish, this is all right. But do you know what I really miss? I miss the crunch." The sulfur gets great satisfaction when the canines go through the flesh and come in contact with the bone in there. The crunch is very satisfying. So there is something in the crunch that they miss when they have a little piece of poached salmon or even egg custard. These things are good substitutes protein-wise and blah blah blah. But it just doesn't do it in terms of crunch the bone. [laughter] There's something in that, you know, crrrrunch. So beef jerky is more satisfying than egg custard, because of the crrrrunch. And there's something in that. So if you're really a bona-fide sulfur, then maybe a switch to a little treat of turkey jerky will do it, or something like that. Who knows? But it's the satisfaction of the whole experience that is where there are great possibilities. If you're struggling with these types of things, take a look at that. So try, when you take something out of your diet, to find what the real satisfaction was in the old food. If you work meditatively with the picture of you eating the forbidden food there will often be a yearning that comes up. Try to picture in yourself, what this yearning would be. If you can find this picture in yourself, then ask yourself if there is something else that moves like this? Is there something in a particular season that reminds me of this? Go through the grocery store, but don't go through the grocery store on automatic pilot; because on automatic pilot you're going to buy a lot of stuff that is going to tell you that you should take it home and make friends since you can't have your old friend anymore. At these times the grocery store is like the lonely hearts club. Go through and look at the salad fixings. I know, it's green and you are after the meat. Just go through and look and see is there is something there that causes a kind of a recognition that if I had this thing it would take care of my craving. Or it may be a particular form of food which can bring satisfaction. Maybe the thing for you, if you're struggling with sulfur and you need the crunch, would be getting some kind of grain cereal (which gives you a similar kind of fire -- the grain gives you a similar kind of sulfur) that had a little more crunch to it. It may be something as simple as that, that you could substitute for this thing that was killing you.

[Question:] I'm very sulfur and I've been working with this since last fall. One of the things that I discovered in this is that sulfur kind of associates satisfaction with being spent. You like to work really hard and enjoy the satisfaction of being spent. But part of the practice has been to be able to slow down enough to notice that satisfaction as something besides being spent.

[Dennis:] Yeah, wow. That's big.

[Question continues:] So the shift in what feels satisfying is also important.

[Dennis:] Thanks, that's a higher level of this work. If you find something to satisfy the mouth urge, then that is the door to the constitution. It's like what goes in the mouth creates a whole panorama of smells and textures which are the beginning of the process of digestion. And once we can satisfy that, then we can begin to see, well god, I eat at fifty miles an hour. It may be that we eat that fast because we're afraid that the flavor isn't going to last or something. So we eat and eat but still there is no satisfaction. So maybe to slow down the speed of the eating we could put an hour glass on the table to remind us to slow down. Just something gentle like that. To say to myself I can't finish my meal until that sand stops falling.