"War and Peace"

From Bô Yin Râ's "The Book on the Living God"

By Richard C. Cook

November 2, 2024

Introduction and Commentary

In a world engulfed in the horror of constant wars, no question could be more important to address than the one so often uttered in heartbreak and futility: “Does it have to be this way?”

If we go back to World War I, which was the first large-scale “industrial” war of the modern era, hundreds of millions of human beings have been put to death by other human beings using every weapon and technique imaginable, yet the slaughter shows no signs of stopping. We are now on the cusp of global thermonuclear war that could kill billions, possible every human on the planet, along with all other life forms as well.

Why? Who or what is responsible? Why won’t they stop? Why can’t they stop? What is it in the nature of humanity that is the cause? What is it about humanity’s many vaunted religions and our belief in a higher being called “God”—or whatever—that has seemingly and so egregiously FAILED?

Of course we know that every human being born on earth must someday die. But why die so gruesomely, so wantonly, so much in violation of our better instincts and our sense that a normal life span should at least be possible, ending with a peaceful transition to the next world?

I can affirm, as many readers surely can, that what we hear from the “wise men” of the earth is rarely, if ever, satisfying. Their answers are too often speculative or even infantile. Even worse are the excuses of the “worldy-wise” who explain life or death on the basis of what always appear to be self-serving political, economic, or geopolitical circumstances, as though humanity is simply a herd of cattle to be culled or slaughtered at will by our self-chosen masters. The most abominable excuses are those levied by partisans who consider their own particular tribe “chosen” to survive and thrive while everyone else is tossed aside with scorn.

Rare indeed is it that we come across someone worth listening to on this subject. One of these I have already written about on this blog in reviewing several of his books is German spiritual writer Bô Yin Râ, whose birth name was Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, who lived from 1876 to 1943 and acquired perhaps a million readers during his lifetime in German-speaking countries. His works have started to be translated into English and other languages since then.

Following is the chapter on “War and Peace” from The Book on the Living God which I would like to offer to readers as food for reflection. The chapter is short and to the point. Among the points it makes are the following:

• Every created being has an instinct for self-preservation and self-expression, but it is only human beings who hate.

• Hate is a reaction to frustration caused by a feeling of helplessness.

• Hate often results from envy.

• An individual with a sense of his own inner strength will not feel envy so will not feel hate toward others, as inner strength leads to love.

• Hate is fed by invisible causes of a demonic order.

• It is hate that causes wars, which will continue until it is overcome.

• The only justifiable war is the war against hate which each individual is responsible for rooting out within himself.

• There will always be disagreements and conflicts in life which can only be truly resolved by peaceful negotiation and only then when each person sees himself reflected in the other.

These points seem clear and simple, but if we think about them, they are profound and would change life forever if they were implemented.

I will only add from my own experience and observation that while these points are certainly reflected in the Golden Rule, they may also be seen in the principles of Buddhism where suffering is seen to be rooted in desire. Given the fact that human desires are infinite and can never be fully met, this alone will lead to a feeling of frustration and helplessness that can turn into the hate that Bô Yin Râ is talking about. These desires belong to our animal nature which must be tamed if we are to gain the inner strength through which hate is conquered.

Finally, it is clear that if we look soberly at modern life the existence of hate is everywhere. What else could account for the genocide taking place in Israel, for instance? What else could account for the hate that is constantly expressed by people of the West toward Russia? And we see hate spewed forth by people against those who refuse the “vax.” So here is the reading:

“War and Peace” by Bô Yin Râ

Whoever has recognized the creative forces of

this physical world of matter in their dreadful power

and in the incomprehensible simplicity of their

relentless striving of their will –, will quickly shed the

superficial illusion that the universe we apprehend

through the senses is the visible embodiment of the

“spirit’s harmony”. – –

Observe the hymenoptera which must lay its eggs

in the body of a living caterpillar so that the young

wasps can live through the tortuous death of the

caterpillar, – and you will be healed for all time of

such illusory beliefs! –

The world of the senses is the effect of the primal

spiritual power found in the world of spirit.

For the spiritual world, however, to enter spiritual

phenomenon, the one eternal primal force must

be reflected in itself in infinitely unfolding aspects

of itself. Once reflected in each of these aspects

as an element of primal being, it must assert itself

so that every individual element will seek only its

own influence, with the consequence that all other

elements of primal being are like empty molds for

it since it only knows itself as primal force within

itself.

Every aspect of spiritual primal power: – every

‘element of primal being’ – thereby becomes the

cause for the manifestation of its influence in the

physical region acquiring the instinct to live only for

itself and to consume every other manifestation for

the preservation of its own existence.

Primal power is undivided in every element of

primal being, whether it is the cause of the basest

or highest manifestation through its influence.

So it is that every physical power, every physical

manifestation, seeks to assert itself as though only

its own existence was willed, and no other.

The tiny cell asserts only itself, even if it is

temporarily forced, along with billions of its kind,

to serve collectively a higher will for whom its

existence is only of value in so far as it is used and

consumed for that will’s own assertion. – –

The physical universe perceptible to the senses is

the furthest polar opposite to spiritual being.

“Life” of the spirit determines endlessly unfolding

spiritual forms within itself, in elements of primal

being, and their influence in turn ultimately determines

the “rigid” physical form of manifestation: – endlessly

“expanded” spiritual power in a condition of captivity,

relative impotence, and the state of being tied to a

particular rigid will to form…

These spiritual powers raise themselves from this

expanded form and rigid captivity so unsuitable to

them as a result of the most powerful attraction

from the region of sublime spiritual form of being,

towards new, less dense and rigid forms until,

through countless transformations, they become

increasingly free of the tension which arises from

expansion, and finally they feel they are being pulled

upwards into their original condition within the

innermost life of the spirit…

What we are capable of perceiving physically

through the senses are not, however, the state of

forms of those elements of primal being, but only

the effects of the power they exert…

Elements of primal being become inwardly

perceptible for us, however, in a very high state as

– ‘our powers of the soul’…

This is the eternal – eternally renewing – cycle of

‘life’ in the substantial spirit that ‘is’ from itself!

Becoming ‘nourishment’ for itself, it sinks down

into itself in order to raise and absorb itself again

into its highest absolute essence, free of all the

tension of rigid form. – –

Only though this ‘eternal life’ can ‘God’ shape

himself in the spirit, – in spiritual ‘man’. – – –

If the blade of grass did not grow by the wayside,

if the worm which eats the root of the grass did not

exist, you would also not exist, nor would the spirit,

nor God in the spirit!!

If the microbe did not exist which may begin

tomorrow destroying your body, your body itself

would not exist, nor would your soul, nor the

spiritual spark living within you!!

Then the will of the spirit would also not exist,

which once had been formed in your spirit as your

God and now wants to ‘beget’ himself anew as your

God within you!!

Yet as much as the powers within the physical

universe rage against one another in their urge to

assert themselves, nature still knows no ‘hatred’. –

It is foolish to compare human hatred with the

instinct of animals which strive to kill other animals,

for they – like all forms in whose manifestation

elements of primal being experience themselves –

only wish to assert themselves.

‘Hatred’, on the other hand, is an expression of

human helpless impotence!

Only by transposing human emotions can the

word ‘hate’ be applied to the instinct to attack

found in aroused animals, and it is not difficult to

recognize the error of all those who believe they

see the same emotion in animals which among men

is called hatred.

Man has carried hatred even into the invisible

realms of the physical world; for even the worst

of his other enemies within the invisible realm of

the physical world are unable to feel the emotion of

hatred. Their hostile intentions towards man come

from quite different motives…

The most dreadful monsters within the invisible

realm were once earthly men who ‘brought

judgement’ upon themselves through their life on

earth.

As high as they once had risen spiritually, they

have now sunk as low, below the most pitiful among

earthly men.

Aeons may elapse before they may find their

ultimate annihilation, – yet before that happens,

they seek to attract into their sphere whatever

their hatred can reach…

Even these invisible demons, ones who brought

judgment over themselves, are aroused to their

terrible hatred only by the feeling of their own

powerlessness. –

Power, however, is the most sublime conqueror

of hatred…

The powerful one being aware of his power, loves

his power which gradually makes him into one who

loves.

Yet love suffers no hatred!

The more mankind in its separate groups known

as ‘peoples’ and ‘nations’, awakens to an awareness

of its spiritual power, the more will hatred vanish.

For he who is aware of his power envies no other

powerful man for his power – however, envy, is but

all too often the infernal cause of hatred…

All wars are fathered by hatred; he who cannot

hate is useless as a warrior. – –

Still you cry out: “A war on your wars!” – – yet I

counsel you rather to call out:

“Let hatred henceforth be treated with contempt!”

Only when hatred becomes contemptible will the

time come which teaches you to have contempt for

war! – – –

Only when anyone is contemptible to you

who seeks to decide through mass murder

those things which should be decided by an

argument for and against before the tribunal, – only

then will the man of this earth be permitted to take

pride in his ‘human dignity’!

There will always be differences in the opinions of

men, for here too one will opposes another; each

will seeks only to assert itself.

But within the human spirit the will is capable

of recognizing itself in another will, and this allows

man to seek that balance which guarantees peace

through discipline of the will, which then wills not

only itself but also the other will. – – –

However, until every individual has extinguished

hatred in himself this way of discipline of the will

remains only accessible in brief stages. –

The result of this is war upon war until the last

trace of hatred no longer finds a place in the heart

of man. – –

Whatever else urges men to war can be overcome

with good will; the waves of hatred, however, sweep

even the best will in the world into its swirling

depths…

Opposites and contests between argument and

counter-argument develop many different powers

and further the fluency of life, – yet, truly, they need

not lead to war, just as the victor in a game has no

need to kill his defeated opponent. – –

Any man on this earth, however, who seeks to

destroy the hatred within him, is waging the only

‘just’ war, – the war which will one day make the

murderous wars of man impossible! – – –

Yet even the final victory over murderous wars

by the human spirit can not bring those opposite

powers, at work within the whole of the physical

world, to unite in the pursuit of the same goal,

for such union would mean the destruction of the

whole of the physical universe…

The realm of ‘eternal peace’ ardently yearned for

by so many lofty men throughout the ages will only

be allotted to us human spirits when, – after this

life on earth – , we find ourselves again in that light

which eternally unites within itself everything that

once was united with it. – – –

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