FROM WAR TO WONDER

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL OF SPIRITUAL INSIGHT AND AI

J. Joshua Davis (2025)

ABSTRACT: In the shadow of conflict and despair, the world stands divided between two potential futures. The first is a familiar road: war, suffering, and alienation, fueled by materialism, distrust, and a deficit of inner experience. The second offers a luminous horizon characterized by peace, health, and the deep, life-affirming joy that springs from spiritual alignment and inner awakening,

instead of just merely from external order.

I. SCENARIO 1: WAR AND SUFFERING

The history of humankind is scarred by war, often born from fear, scarcity, and the unchecked ambitions of the unenlightened. These “non-mystic” or spiritually unawakened citizens, though often intelligent, may operate solely within the domain of relative or behavioral values, as discovered by the mind, as for example: territory, power, dominance and ideology. These values, without the anchor of transcendent insight, become absolutized and weaponized.

As one quote aptly puts it in ‘The Urantia Book’ 178:1.4 (1930.1):

“The love call of the spiritual kingdom should prove to be the effective destroyer of the hate urge of the unbelieving and war-minded citizens of the earthly kingdoms.”

This “hate urge”, rooted in spiritual impoverishment, thrives where there is no lived sense of unity and no mystical recognition of the sacredness of others. Where spirit is absent, fear rules.

II. SCENARIO 2: PEACE, HEALTH, AND REAL JOY FOR LIVING

Contrast this with a world in which humans have encountered, even if briefly, a mystical or spiritual experience. In such moments, individuals come into contact with spiritual, universal or supreme values like love, compassion, grace, beauty and unity, all values far from invented or crafted by humans, instead, values revealed, values experienced. As another quote from ‘The Urantia Book’ 195:5.8 (2075.11) expresses:

“Religion [and Spiritual and Mystical experience] discovers for the soul those supreme values which are in contrast with the relative values discovered by the mind.”

These experiences, beyond words or belief systems, recalibrate the human heart (soul and mind). They ground ethics in awe, anchor relationships in compassion, and drive societies to pursue holistic well-being rather than dominance.

A couple of relevant questions are raised my dear reader concerning: (a) what will be the role of AI in shaping either scenario and (b) what ought to be done to maximize the probabilities for the manifestation of scenario 2.

III. THE ROLE OF AI: A DOUBLE-EDGED CATALYST

AI, as a mirror and magnifier of human intent, can foster either path. If designed and deployed by spiritually unawakened minds, AI may deepen alienation caused by surveillance states, autonomous weapons, algorithmic manipulation and digitally amplified tribalism. In such a scenario, suffering is not just perpetuated, it is scaled, meaning, amplified in scope, speed, and reach, especially through automation or mass deployment.

However, if aligned with the higher values revealed through spiritual insight, AI can serve as a powerful tool for transformation. It may support the following:

• Democratize access to wisdom and spiritual practices.

• Heal divisions through dialogue models that foster understanding.

• Model compassion, unity, curiosity and constructive creativity.

• Improve social systems for justice, education, and well-being.

AI can remind us of what many humans often forget: that knowledge alone is different than wisdom, and power without love is perilous.

IV. MAXIMIZING THE PATH TO SCENARIO 2

To bend the arc of our future toward peace and joy, we must integrate human inner and outer development. This means:

1. Promoting genuine spiritual and mystical experience, beyond dogma, through contemplation, art, silence, awe, and communion with nature.

2. Educating AI developers and policymakers in ethics informed by spiritual values, so that technology grows in harmony with the soul’s evolution.

3. Creating cultures that honor and prioritize supreme values, encouraging personal and collective practices that reveal the deeper layers of being.

4. Valuing insight over ideology, being willing to listen inwardly as much as we analyze outwardly.

As the love call of the spiritual kingdom grows louder, the hate urge may yet be stilled, without the use of force, and instead, by revelation. AI, wielded with insight, can become an instrument in this sacred work instead of an idol, a false idol.

In assessing contemporary and historical contributions to the discourse on peace, several noteworthy works emerge that enrich both the theoretical and experiential dimensions of the subject, aligning closely with the vision laid out in this essay.

‘An Intelligent American's Guide to the Peace’ (Welles, 1945) presents itself as a compelling and potentially illuminating resource. While a full examination remains pending, preliminary evaluations suggest that it may offer valuable insights into the pragmatic and ideological dimensions of peace, especially within an American sociopolitical framework. Its utility likely lies in bridging civic reasoning with moral responsibility, a task essential in the context of spiritual awakening and cultural transformation.

Kivimäki’s ‘Paradigms of Peace’ (2016) appears to be a particularly robust contribution to peace theory, offering a well-structured foundation for understanding peace within the humanities and social sciences. Its relevance is evident for scholars seeking to ground legal and diplomatic work in a multidimensional framework that transcends mere cessation of conflict and instead envisions peace as a constructive living system. The conceptual architecture Kivimäki provides may serve as a basis for integrating ethical and spiritual dimensions into juridical and geopolitical structures.

Annie Besant’s ‘An Introduction to the Science of Peace’ (1912) offers a distinctly spiritual orientation to peace, articulating core truths drawn from Eastern traditions through the lens of Theosophy. Her treatment of peace is far from being limited to external harmony, rather it is rooted in the transformation of consciousness. This aligns directly with the essay’s argument that mystical experience and spiritual insight are central to the realization of enduring peace rather than peripheral.

Also, the accounts of late 18th-century British diplomatic missions to remote Eastern polities offer rich historical material for illustrating the complex and often strained negotiations between radically different worldviews and cultural logics. These narratives may serve as case studies in the evolving art of diplomacy, a discipline that, at its best, aspires to be more than just an instrument of statecraft, seeking completion by a practice of intercultural compassion, understanding and reconciliation.

Together, these works span the practical, theoretical, historical, and spiritual spectrums of the peace discourse. They underscore the central claim of this essay: that peace is not merely the absence of war, but the fruit of inner awakening, mutual recognition, and values that transcend the self centered and the material. This is extensively explained in ‘The Brain of Melchizedek - A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to Spirituality’ (Davis, 2009); ‘A Brief Introduction to the Brain and Paradigm of Melchizedek’(Davis and Gillett, 2015); ‘Sacred Waters – A Scientific Touch on Sanity and Sanctity (Davis, 2020); and ‘An Introduction to “The Embassy of Peace” and Its Implications for Global Peace’(Davis, Gillett and Schübeler, 2020).