All illness comes from wanting things to last forever. Historically, Chinese Medicine's purpose is to heal our spirits. We know things can't last forever, but it's human nature to wish things could or that we could go back in time and do it over again. We wish for permanence in life, but the only constant in life is the idea of change.
The Alchemical Healer isn't doing the healing, but rather is acting as the medium or the intermediary by which something comes through them, and through them, they serve as a vehicle of the healing process.
Alchemy can mean many things to many different people. But the Chinese Daoist masters believed that people are like gold—that their spirits can never tarnish and disintegrate like other base metals, such as silver or lead. Even though most people believe we will eventually grow old, decrepit, and die, these Chinese masters believed humans could even become physically immortal! Alchemy helps our minds embrace the comforting idea that we are something greater than our physical beings—something that has an ever-changing, but permanent nature.