The next installment in the “Laws” series of books by World Teacher Ryuho Okawa is the The Laws of Bronze. Faith remains a central concept throughout The Laws of Bronze, along with important concepts such as self-sacrifice, wisdom pertaining to guarding and sharing one’s faith, information about space people and their connection with earth people, and much more. It is perhaps one of the most important books published by Okawa to date.
The Laws of Bronze
"Bronze" is a symbol of unshakable faith. Okawa encourages us to find God's true love and vigilantly seek the universal Truth. Throughout this book we learn how to build and protect our faith alongside the emphasis that we are all one people on this Earth in the wake of opening the space age.
Early on in the book the topic of self-sacrifice is explored. It is stated that such is a quality that has largely become lost to humankind. Despite the myriad examples of self-sacrifice that historical religions have revealed in the light of emphasis, humans tend to follow their natural impulse for self-preservation. Okawa asks the reader to consider all people, including oneself and others, as precious; such is an important quality to embody if one is to transcend the natural law of self-preservation. While self-preservation is a natural law, and can be important, there are many instances throughout history of people who lived with the spirit of self-sacrifice, and these are all people who left a remarkable imprint upon humanity. Such figures discussed include Jesus and His disciples, Mani the founder of Manichaeism, Joan of Arc, Aristotle, President Lincoln, Ryoma Sakamoto and many more.
Where the good of the world is placed as one’s highest priority, the law of self-preservation may be transcended and the spirit of self-sacrifice may be embodied. Such is most readily accomplished by generating and maintaining a strong sense of faith in God, with the understanding that we are all His children. Throughout the The Laws of Bronze it is stated that the ultimate God of all religions is one in the same. Differences between religions are most commonly due, quite simply, to the personality of their founder and to specific regional qualities pertaining to the area in which the religion was founded. An example provided is that while Shakyamuni Buddha forbade the consumption of alcohol amongst his disciples, Jesus encouraged the consumption of wine as the symbolic representation of His own blood. Such a difference in custom may simply be due to the preference of one spiritual leader over another as pertained to alcohol.
This causes one to consider the genuine nature of God’s Truth in contrast to those truths that are derived from God’s prophets and human mediators, and likewise helps to unify the faithful of any and all religions in Happy Science. It is explained that Happy Science aims to transcend all culturally-specific limitations and restrictions in order to create a true religion for the entire world.
The title of The Laws of Bronze is inspired by the doors that protect churches and sacred places in order that they may contain a space in which the light of Heaven is ever-present. Oftentimes throughout history the bronze doors of churches also kept the unfaithful away, while keeping the faithful safe inside. By guarding our own faith we can become “bronze doors” that, in protecting our faith throughout all of our life circumstances, may become conduits for the Light of Heaven. Wisdom must always be used in order to determine how much of one’s faith should be shared openly, for there is always the chance of persecution. Such is especially true in atheistic totalitarian nations, but can be equally true within corporate frameworks that favor one or another religion. The power of one’s faith in the Highest God, El Cantare, will emerge through our work in the world nonetheless, so long as we guard it and nurture it within ourselves.
The Laws of Bronze takes an interesting turn where it begins to discuss space people, and reveals that there are over 500 species of space people living on earth today, often incarnated as humans. One may wonder why space people, whose scientific technologies are hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than that of earth people, would take an interest in studying and incarnating amongst humanity. An important fact is that the one Highest God that is present in all human religions, including polytheistic religions that include many gods, is revealed to be the same God as that of the space people. Although their science is far more advanced than our own, the space people are fascinated with the human experience of love, which differs from the utilitarian form that is assumed on most other planets. It is perhaps specifically the spirit of self-sacrifice that space people come to earth to learn about and experience firsthand.
There are additional reasons that space people visit and observe earth people. Although there are laws set in place concerning the intervention of space people with humans, they have in fact been here all along, and played a vital role in the creation and evolution of ancient humanity. Furthermore, they tend to appear more visibly where there is a danger of mass-catastrophes that are caused by humans, such as nuclear war. Okawa states that many of the space people are presently concerned that humanity may destroy the earth; this would be a terrible loss to the universe due to the very special expressions of love that are experienced within the earth evolutionary system. Okawa states that as humanity continues to embrace tolerance for all types of humans, regardless of differences, and as our scientific technologies develop further, we will begin to develop an open working relationship with space people. It is crucial that humanity embody and spread the virtues of democracy, faith, tolerance and love, not only for our own benefit, but for the benefit of the space people who are watching us and living among us.
The Laws of Bronze concludes with statements of encouragement and hope. These include the notion that we have the ability to determine our actions in our life, to live in the way of the Truth of God, to love and be loved, and to awaken to the angels and bodhisattvas that we are meant to be. We are urged not to focus on our differences so much, and to instead focus upon what we have in common, in order to create a more peaceful, democratic and loving world.
