Approaching Paracelsus means developing freedom of thought and self-authority in accordance with his motto: Alterius non sit, qui suus esse potest (Let no one be another's who can be himself). Thus begins this slim book full of surprising thoughts. Klaus Bielau, a physician and healer himself, places Paracelsus in a very special context. He reports that the famous doctor, philosopher, and alchemist recognized early on the hollowness of the medical practices of his time, which focused solely on the external aspects of a person. Paracelsus sought something deeper; he sensed that physical illness or health is merely an expression of a person's inner states, and that only the universal remedy can truly help, as pointed out by other great Gnostics. He wrote: This power is the heavenly medicine, and it accomplishes what nature cannot.