© 2003 Chris and Nicole Ragetly
© 2003 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Humor, laughter and smiles in the Urantia Book | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 28 — Winter 2003 | Relaxation corner: I am no longer afraid |
Arrived in Armeau around 3:30 p.m. The hotel is located on the banks of the Yonne, a river with a very calm course, conducive to deep meditation! A special mention must be made about the food; the meals were all the more enjoyable, as they were accompanied by particularly well-cooked dishes, including a succulent beef bourguignon. After a quick discovery of the place, it appears that the thirty participants in the meeting will all be at ease. Meeting old acquaintances and new ones is for us one of the main reasons for attending such meetings. Indeed, communion between personalities is a cosmic value of the utmost importance, and does not disappear with time, but on the contrary, it reappears with each new life, whether on the mansion worlds, where for the first time we will have the chance to test this truth taught to us by The Urantia Book, or later on other worlds of the local universe, the superuniverse, Havona and Paradise. Even beyond our experience on the central island, when we are finaliters or have another status, it will always be pleasant for us to meet again people we knew on Urantia.
Let’s return to Armeau: Among the new faces, we had the surprise of meeting the couple Sala, José and Christiane. They have just settled in the hamlet of Blateiras, just above our hamlet of Bruel, both located in the same commune of Générargues in the Gard. This will strengthen the Gard representation, both that of the Avignon study group, and that of the national Urantian community.
The subject of the study for these 2 days was humor, as it is taught in the book. We divided ourselves into three roughly equal groups. Each had plenty of time to express their points of view on humor by participating successively in the three study groups. Some were more interested in the religious aspect of the study, like this Flemish Belgian couple living in the southwest of France. Others tried to make jokes, while still others preferred to look for inspiration or an example to cite in the teachings of the book, whether in the life of Jesus or in the booklet concerning Rodan. But, generally speaking, we were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm and resources of each person. Nicole and I find that it is one of the most successful meetings in which we have participated.
This is basically what happened. We stayed one day longer than planned, on Monday, (and thus had the privilege of having breakfast face-to-face with Annette and François Dupont) and returned to the south in torrential rain, which was a change for us, because during our stay in Armeau, we enjoyed very calm and mild weather.
From these meetings, in more or less strong doses, emerges an impression of agreement, an affinity that is not only linked to the visible participants of the meeting, but that we can also perceive as the help of our invisible friends. This impression is not so noticeable during the sessions, but personally, I feel it in the calm of the room, after these exciting discussions with people we know or new. It is also, I believe, one of the reasons that makes me love all these meetings even more, because perhaps one day, a seraph will say to me on one of the worlds of the houses: “Do you remember Armeau, in November 2003? I was there among you too, and you more or less felt my presence? I had great pleasure in observing your efforts, and in supporting them to the best of my ability, efforts that were not entirely useless.”
Chris and Nicole Ragetly
| Humor, laughter and smiles in the Urantia Book | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 28 — Winter 2003 | Relaxation corner: I am no longer afraid |