We ask the students to understand that gaining control of the soul

  Now the alchemist uses his purified consciousness as a reflector of solar energies much like the moon reflects the light of the Sun.  The waters of his mind reflect the light of the day and the night even as the waters of the sea reflect the golden pathway of both the Sun and the moon.  But the Christ consciousness, the prism of purity like the “sea of glass,” filters out the impurities of the moon even as it refracts the light of the Sun....In order to love as God loves, you must first give freedom to all parts of life, including yourself, and then you must place your trust as does a nestling bird in the heart of God, in the heart of goodness and mercy....
  One of the greatest dangers in the religious quest has been brought about as men have given themselves to God, thinking that that was all they had to do.  Not understanding the responsibilities of freewill they then acted the part of the nebulous ninny.  Having no will of their own they would flip and flop back and forth, blown by every wind, obsessed with what We will call the law of uncertainty....
  What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world through the use of alchemy and lose his soul?  We ask the students to understand that gaining control of the soul (of the energies composing one’s identity pattern) is one of the most essential functions of alchemy and that this control is gained through surrender and through humility.      

                       -Saint Germain:  Pearls of Wisdom 13:13