© 1990 Dick Bain, Madeline Noordzy, Neil Francey, Ken Glasziou, Ann Bendall
© 1990 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
2 Salisbury Crt, Glen Waverley, Victoria, AUSTRALIA, 3150.
¶ A Note From Six-O-Six
From now on we’ll just be called Six-O-Six. As you can see we’ve had a bit of a face-lift this year. With Neil Francey, Tony Rudd and yours truly, we have a great working team! But we still need all you folks to write to us. So keep those letters and articles coming!
So far 14 people have registered for our Melbourne conference. If you haven’t sent your registration form in yet, we like to remind you that they should be in by August 3.
Madeline
¶ Melbourne Conference Register By August 3!
Registrations for our Australian Meeting of URANTIA Book Readers, to be held on Melbourne Cup weekend, Saturday November 3 — Tuesday November 6, will close on August 3.
For more information and details see the March/ April Newsletter. If you have lost or would like another copy of the registration form write to Six-O-Six or ring Madeline on (03) 5616089.
If you have been to these Meetings/Conferences before, be hopeful for our efforts in trying to evolve a conference that keeps the features that you seem to want plus some freshness in content, format, venue and activities. If you have not been before, I hope that you can talk to someone who has attended — that is why I first came two years ago. I assure you that you are welcome whether you have studied The URANTIA Book in great depth, or have hardly read the book at all; whether you are a regular study group member, or have very little contact with other readers; whether you have had the book for many years or have only just heard of it; whether you have read any of the book — or even want to or feel able to; whether you can lead a presentation or just want to listen. I’ve actually met all these kinds of people at recent conferences.
Melbourne Cup weekend was chosen because it is a similar time of year to recent conferences, because it is a lovely season in Melbourne (!) and to encourage Melbourne and Victorian people to attend over their long weekend. Warburton East was chosen because it is beautiful, and close to Melbourne. Arrabri Lodge was chosen for basic facilities comparable to recent conferences, and because of its beautiful natural setting and 12 acres of on-site recreational amenities — including swimming pool, tennis court, trampoline, mini-golf, ropes course, flying fox, archery, sensory / fitness / nature / nocturnal trails, orienteering, games oval, volley ball, cricket, football, moonball, farm activities, animal feeding, weather recording, BBQ garden eating area, campfire facilities, art / craft areas, bush cooking, bush craft, yabbying, fishing, gold panning, bush / river walks, and forest hikes.
People told me they liked recent conferences because of the “atmosphere”, because of the friendship and fellowship, because of the stimulation of the presentations and discussions — both formal and informal, and because the venues were beautiful. So really the conference depends mainly on the warmth and friendliness of those attending. If you have any doubts about coming, I invite you to trust the welcome you will receive for the whole four days, and to trust those who are committed to preparing a quality weekend. You can ring me on (03) 579-4499
Martin McBurney
Conference organiser
¶ Contents
- Melbourne Conference
- From Our Mailbox
- News & Notes
- The Seven Combinations of Triune Deity
- From E.T. to E-3
- Anton & Fanta
- International Conference
- The Vagaries of Proof
- Study Groups in Australia
- Report on Queensland Meeting
- Against Translations
- Are You Lonesome Tonight
- Crossword
Six-O-Six is a bi-monthly publication dedicated to promote International goodwill and understanding between readers of The URANTIA Book
¶ “Thought For The Month”
“Happiness consists in being perfectly satisfied with what we have got and with what we haven’t got. It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” Spungeon
¶ From Our Mailbox
Dear Six-O-Six
Greetings from the Auckland study group to all the folks of 6-0-6. Thank you very much for the copy of your Tenth Anniversary Special Edition. I just read it all from cover to cover and found it quite fascinating. It’s a really good reflection of the spread of the Book in Australia and the great diversity of people’s reaction to and interpretation of it.
I was particular interested to see a reference to C.U.B.S. I had seen that mentioned several times in the Special Report from the Foundation and l$ had wondered what the letters stood for.
We are all doing fine over here, meeting regularly once a fortnight at Neville & Trish Twist’s home and, I hope, growing in the Spirit. Our group has grown by one, which is really great, as we had remained fairly static in numbers for 3 years, and seemed years away from fostering thousands of study groups!
Actually, it’s quite amazing how one new member, who fits in well with the others, can add such a new dimension to our discussions.
We have been following the developments in the States with great interest and no little sadness. It seems a great tragedy that this has happened, but the Father’s plan for our planet will undoubtedly continue on regardless.
At the moment it doesn’t seem as though any of us will be able to come to your conference in November, though we would all really like to. I would love to meet all of you again. We feel quite isolated here at times. Oh well, perhaps the way will be made clear.
Thanks once again, and please convey our warmest greetings to all of you across the Tasman. Love and best wishes,
Marian Steward
Auckland, New Zealand
Dear Six-O-Six,
Thank you so very much for sending me a copy of your Tenth Anniversary Edition. I enjoyed every bit of it! It must be something in line with Rodan’s suggestion for happiness: “Keep an inner gallery of one’s special moments.” 6-0-6 is indeed an international, a global forum and who can say what the next ten years hold in store for those who pursue the Father’s will and discover him in each other. Thank you very much. Love
David Glass
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
¶ News & Notes
¶ From Florida
At a conference in May, the Florida study groups decided to not affiliate with either the Fifth Epochal Fellowship or URANTIA Foundation at this time because of divided sentiments regarding the two organizations. The Florida groups decided instead to form an independent organization called Florida Students of The URANTIA Book.
¶ From Seattle
The Familist Fellowship is a new socialization of the religion embodied in The URANTIA Book. And it is having an exciting beginning right here in the Northwest with the formation of the “Familist Meeting of Seattle”. The term “Familism” may sound like something you should have removed by your doctor, but you’ll get used to it.
What a pleasure it is for me to participate in group worship in an environment — especially for a URANTIA Book reader/believer — where there is no need to filter the ideas for the truth; no need to make any mental or spiritual compromises with the content of the service. This truly feels like wholesome, healthy, spiritual nourishment, such as I have only felt before at URANTIA conferences.
This beginning is the fruit of years of work by Marvin Gawryn. He has outlined the principles and organization of The Familist Fellowship in draft manuscripts which are projected to develop into a multiple volume work, “Foundations of Familism”. In these writings are described “The Familist Way”.
“At the heart of Familism lies the fundamental truth that family is the master pattern of all personal relationships in Creation”.
“Familists aspire to an actual way of living which centers around seven essential truths or qualities of family relationship: the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, the Indwelling Spirit, the Will of God, Love, Eternal Life, and Faith. Familists attempt to live out these truths within the context of five family circles, each of which is a broad arena of service and fellowship: the inner family, the home family, the fellowship family, the family of all believers, and the world-wide family of all God’s children”.
It is with this framework that we are beginning to have monthly worship services at the Unity Church of Mountlake Terrace. We have formed a steering committee which is meeting regularly, and other first circle (the inner family) and second circle (the home family) activities may develop soon.
Something to emphasize is that this is being undertaken in a very slow, patient, natural sort of way. We are striving to first of all provide ourselves and our community with spiritual nourishment and spiritual enhancement. There is no formalized way of doing anything. We are open to suggestions and willing to experiment with the form and content of these endeavours.
It is an exciting and humble beginning. If you would like to participate or just know more, write to :
Familist Meeting of Seattle,
P.O.Box 426, Mountlake Terrace,
WA., 98043 U.S.A.
¶ The Seven Combinations Of Triune Deity
From: COSMIC REFLECTIONS, Summer/Fall 1990 Vol. 3 No. 2.
At the risk of being accused of heresy, I would like to suggest that there is something that could improve The URANTIA Book. It needs some pictures. Perhaps the authors neglected to include pictures so that we would have the opportunity to exercise our creativity and supply the missing pictures.
As my first contribution, I would like to present the following figure, a symbolic representation of the seven possible combinations of the three persons of the Trinity. Many of you have no doubt seen this as a Trinity symbol in the Christian church.
The seven combinations of Father, Son, and Spirit are the basis for a number of the combinations of seven found in The URANTIA Book. Among these are the seven Master Spirits, and the seven superuniverses. Each Master Spirit and each corresponding superuniverse in some way reflects the nature of one of the seven combinations of the three Gods. Another sevenfold reflection is the case of the sevenfold bestowals of the Creator Sons. We are informed that during Christ Michael’s seven bestowals, he revealed the will of all the seven unique combinations, one at a time.
The common area at the centre of the figure can be interpreted in several ways. First, it can be seen as the influence of the three persons, operating as separate persons. Second, it could be seen as the First Triunity (sce page 1148:2) the functional association of the three persons. Third, it could be seen as symbolic of the Trinity, since the centre consists of the three persons so blended that none can be distinguished as separate.
Stay tuned for the next instalment of “The URANTIA Book : Pictures at Last!”
Dick Bain
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
¶ From E.T. To E-3 Keeping An Open Mind On The Matter
Some of our readers might have received a letter recently addressed to “My Urantia brothers and sisters” and signed by “E-3 or Elijah the Third”.
I must admit that when I first read this letter and the two pamphlets which were included with it, I thought: “Another nut!”
However, true to the habit which eventually led me to The URANTIA Book, the habit of keeping an open mind to new information, no matter where it comes from, I decided to share this letter with the other members of our lunchtime study group. We may or may not have been guided, but we took the decision, after some discussion, to put some money together, purchase “the Graceland tapes” and find out what this “Elijah the Third” had to say.
Once I had listened to the tapes, I asked the members of the Tuesday night study group if they were willing to also be open-minded and share the experience. Although some of them were at first a bit reluctant, to their credit, I must say they all did.
Madeline Noordzy
Melbourne
Neil Francey
¶ International Conference
The International Conference of the Fifth Epochal Fellowship (formerly URANTIA Brotherhood) was held at Snowmass, Colorado, USA, from 30th June to 5th July. Five Australians and one New Zealander were among more than 1,000 attendees of a well organised and stimulating five days of presentations, workshops, entertainment and socialising. This was the second conference at Snowmass, the first being in 1981, and the facilities were superb.
Each day began with a session which included the entire conference, followed by a break-up into smaller groups for morning and afternoon workshops. Meals were taken communally under a huge tarpaulin erected on the roof of the conference building. There was a large variety of activities and entertainments to choose from, including riding, cycling, white-water rafting, shopping excursions, sightseeing excursions and mountain walks, while evening activities included music and dancing at “Club U.B.”, a concert at which John Denver sang, and a performance of “The Power Within”, a musical created by readers in Oklahoma City, and in particular Susan Wright Aldridge and Larry Mullens. An evening of square dancing was also arranged.
William Wentworth
Towamba, NSW
¶ The Vagaries Of Proof — A Reply To Tony Rudd
In an interesting letter in the May/June 6-0-6, Tony Rudd brought up the question of proof, giving an example in which he compared the racialism of Hitler and the Nazis with apparent racialism in The URANTIA Book and concluding that Hitler was on the right track in his efforts to breed a super race of Aryans along the lines of the Adamic program to promote the violet race. I was glad to see Tony’s acknowledgement that his conclusions were clearly ridiculous, but this impasse does bring up the vexing question of the precise nature of proof.
The problem is an ancient one, but perhaps more understanding has been gleaned in the last century than during the previous several thousand years. However the quite remarkable work that has accumulated is almost all couched in the obscure language of logicians, in particular mathematical logicians, and since most of us do not like their conclusions anyhow, very little of the results of their work has penetrated even into academic circles. Some of the important names in this outstanding effort are Hilbert, Frege, Russell, Whitehead, Zermelo and Fraenkel, Cantor, Godel, Shannon, and Cohen — and probably many others.
Ken Glasziou
Maleny, Queensland
¶ Study Groups In Australia
For infornation on Study Grouips, you can contact the following people:
- Sunshine Coast: Ken Glasziou (071) 942503
- Brisbane: Neil Francey (07) 8494504
- Sydney, Kathleen & Trevor Swadling (02) 9137893
- Canberra: Nigel Nunn (062) 521491
- Buchan (Vic): Christpoher Billington (051) 550025
- Melbourne: Madeline Noordzy (03) 561.6089
- Tatura (Vic): Nestor Borowec (058) 241589
- Yanchep (WA.): Peter Webb (09) 5611417
¶ Queensland Meeting To Study Jesus’ Teachings To The Apostles
Imagine focusing on the highest teachings of the greatest teacher as contained in the most authoritative guide to the mortal race.
A small group, in a bushland setting near Nambour, spent three days in late June 1990 doing just that. It was a dynamic, yet informal and open discussion on the mind of Jesus. We considered ourselves apprentice apostles, for indeed that was the theme of our papers.
The material for discussion was categorized from the spoken words of Jesus as presented by the Midwayer Commission in Part IV of The URANTIA Book.
We rationalized that only by knowing his teachings can we hope to know his mind. And only then can we apply the mind of Jesus, which will always serve us well, in the decisions of our daily lives.
We discovered repeated reference to three concepts: service, the will of God, and perfection. The striving for these results in spiritual progress, the measure of which is revealed in our love for our fellow man. (The dual Fatherhood/Brotherhood concept)
We further learnt we need to be out in the world and activity doing His will. This demonstrates to others as well as ourselves that we live by faith in God and are solely dependent on Jesus’ teachings, not on a controlled environment with unnecessary material benefits. We are called upon to bear the fruits of the spirit. The ‘fruits’ are:
“loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.” (UB 193:2.2)
A report cannot capture the feeling accumulated from these days of happy discussion on some twenty pages of teachings. We could not help but become more intimately acquainted with the nature and personality of God as revealed by Jesus. The seminar material is available upon request from: Anne Bendall, PO Box 839, Nambour, QLD. 4560.
While recommended for private study, it has proved particularly worthwhile for group discussion. In addition to these ‘Apprentice Apostleship’ papers, another four categories compiled from the quoted words of Jesus, are also available. These papers are entitled: Spirit of Truth, Philosophy, General, and Service.
Neil Francey, Brisbane.
¶ Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Well, sit down, open up your heart and pour it all out to Michael! Open up the channel to his Spirit of Truth and he can act as he desires, as the most sympathetic, empathetic friend you have in the universe, and he knows what it is all about so the two of you can compare notes.
There has never walked this earth and there never will walk this planet another individual who has experienced the loneliness and shattering of every conceivable dream than Jesus. Every other planet in his local universe benefited from his bestowal, but potentially, none so much as ours.
As a result we are released of all the deleterious effects of being quarantined, all the damage done by the Caligastia rebellion and the Adamic default. That is, providing we wish to take advantage of The Spirit of Truth. All the revelators refer to The Spirit of Truth as an impersonal channel; it is carefully explained that it does not provide a one-to-one communication link; that is everyone, except Jesus. He refers to it as “he”. Note whenever he refers to the coming of the Spirit of Truth of “myself and my Father” he unfailingly says and “when he comes” and “he” will do this and that!
Ann Bendall, Nambour, Queensland
¶ Crossword
Solution To Previous Crossword
ACROSS:
1. Passover 3. Amos 5. Refer 7. Baptist 8. Disperse
9. Span 11. Seek 13. Eos 14. Dawn 17. Trial. 18. Judas
19. Lut 20. Yahweh
DOWN:
1. Paradise 2. Our 3. Attis 4. Satania 6. Fishes
7. Bestowal 10. Pew 12. Eon 14. Deity 15 . Truth
16. Adam 17. Tut
Clues to this crossword
1. Tell the word (pg 1569 — 6 words)
2. He died on the cross
3. We feel it
4. The hand over our head
5. Forgiving
6. Divinely
Audrey Morris, Tewantin, Quensland
