The life of the physical world that we are all familiar with is obviously the only one we know very much about. Yet each of us as an individual is here for only a limited period of time. We are born, we grow up, we go through life experiences of varying degrees of intensity, we grow old, we die. Most of us feel we should try to make the most of our lives in ways that feel meaningful and satisfying. Many of us also feel that based on this brief experience we are compelled or even entitled to extrapolate by putting forth explanations of ultimate reality.

Some of these explanations derive from valid intuitions that there is more to life than what the physical senses disclose. Even those who are followers of age-old religions don’t have a great deal more to say about it all than those with no structured belief system. These religions, whose founders lived thousands of years ago, all end up saying the same thing: be good, believe as we do, follow our rules and rituals, and your future will be better: in this life and/or in the life to come, however that may be defined in the ancient texts. For many people, a simple faith in these beliefs suffices, and there is nothing wrong with that, though many others ache for much more by way of empirical information and emotional certitude.

As the old religions have faded in their appeal to the modern mind, attempts to fill the void have been put forth through various methods over recent centuries. Philosophical speculation has produced various schools of thought from rationalism to existentialism to a kind of millennial utopianism based on the assumption of endless technological progress. Even so, now and then someone will still speculate amidst all the generalizations about where individual human beings come from and what is the place like that they encounter after they depart, if such a place indeed exists.

Various individuals have stepped forth as mediums who claim to have visited other realms in trance states or have been told of these realms through channelling or even alleged encounters with extra-terrestrials. The Spiritualist movement appeared during the 18th century and persists today in attempting to contact the deceased through séances, Ouija boards, or whatever. There are some who claim to have visited parallel worlds or the afterlife through out-of-body experiences.

More concrete and reliable may be the growing literature on near-death experiences, starting with the book Life After Life by Raymond Moody. These accounts have given new hope to many that the main questions may perhaps someday have real answers: where did we come from, why are we here, and what comes next?

Fortunately, a source has appeared that provides detailed and authentic answers to these questions. This source is the writings of the German spiritual master Bô Yin Râ, born Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, who lived from 1876 to 1943, and who produced a 32-volume collection of masterpieces called Hortus Conclusus (The Gated Garden). His works are starting to become available in English through the publishing program of Kober Press in Berkeley, California.

Bô Yin Râ was/is a Luminary, a member of the order of enlightened beings who have guided all spirituality on earth from the beginning of mankind. Some Luminaries live in physical form on the planet; most reside in the spiritual dimension that interpenetrates the physical. Jesus was a Luminary, as were the founders of all the great ancient religions, as well as many others known and unknown to history.

All authentic spiritual teaching comes from the Luminaries, says Bô Yin Râ. Around a century ago, a decision was made by them to release much more information about spiritual evolution and the pathway to enlightenment than had been done hitherto and to do so in a readily available and understandable form. The works of Bô Yin Râ are the vehicle.

Bô Yin Râ explains in considerable detail that much of what we moderns have come to believe is nothing more than occult deception, including all of the mediumship and channelling mentioned above. This deception arises from an invisible physical dimension where beings exist whose role is to impede human spiritual evolution and keep us bound to the material plane. We also see a great deal of mental speculation based on modern interpretations of ancient texts in light of quantum physics or information theory.

But none of this is actual conscious experience of an afterlife by those who are able to freely move back and forth between that world and the physical domain of everyday life as do the Luminaries. Bô Yin Râ also discusses the theory of reincarnation that is now rampant in the West, even though it is never clearly explained by any of the popular Buddhist and Hindu writings from which it derives. Consequently, millions of people believe they have numerous successive lives on earth that will allow them to get their acts together at leisure. Bô Yin Râ debunks this piece of wishful thinking.

That is all I have to say about The Book on Life Beyond in this short review. It is not easy to identify what is really new, but my own view is that Bô Yin Râ has established a starting point for all practical research into spiritual reality for the age to come. His books are a jewel hidden in plain sight, though we may not see them if we are too identified with the mountains of rubbish all around. But if we do see them and take them seriously, a miracle starts to happen. Life is never the same again.

Carl Ehrlich is a pen name of Richard C. Cook

https://montanarcc.substack.com/p/review-of-bo-yin-ras-the-book-on