© 2012 Claire Mylanus
© 2012 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Everything Comes in Its Time | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 58 — Spring 2012 | The First Sentence of The Urantia Book |
August seminar in Brittany
About a year ago, I asked Gard Jameson to do a retreat on prayer and worship, because I knew he used to lead them regularly. I wanted to have this personal experience on worship because it is a difficult subject to understand. Gard decided to do it at our place in Brittany and to share it with other interested people, he wanted readers aged thirty to forty, who could understand English, the next generation of potential teachers. So there were three of us French, a French woman living in the Netherlands, a Mexican, an English woman and four Americans. Gard Jameson, a graduate in Comparative Religion and Doctor of Philosophy, led the seminar, which lasted a week; each day had its program with different speakers, but always with sessions of silent prayer, called “Centering Prayer” or Prayer of Consent.
This technique is based on the discipline of the Cistercian monks and on the technique of the Prayer of Consent of Father Thomas Keating who wrote “Open Mind, Open Heart”. The goal of the Prayer of Consent is silence, which allows one to communicate more deeply and personally with God and to experience his inner presence. It is a discipline to foster this relationship. This prayer is done in silence during 20-minute sessions and is completely personal and different for each person. This personal communion ultimately results in healing emotional difficulties and soul growth since this whole experience acts on our soul. There is a vertical relationship between God and us (the depth of love) and a horizontal relationship (the process of transformation) through social relationships, called the ministry of forgiveness. God heals and our actions transform us: Healing the Past — Receiving Blessings in the Present — Being Guided into the Future.
The Prayer of Consent is comparable to worship. God exists above thoughts and feelings, this prayer increases our capacity to receive the divine presence and to appreciate its proximity.
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
“Jesus taught his disciples that after they had made their prayer to the Father, they should remain for some time in a state of silent receptivity to give the inner spirit the best chance of speaking to the attentive soul. It is when the human mind is in an attitude of sincere adoration that the spirit of the Father speaks best to men.” UB 146:2.17
The first day was devoted to the discovery of the Prayer of Consent and the explanation of its practice by Gard Jameson.
On the 2nd day, a reader of The Urantia Book for over thirty years, David Elders, took us on a journey through the new teachings or revelations given to our planet in The Urantia Book. These new concepts are a way for us to learn, perceive truth and experience it in our lives. This allows us to elevate ourselves. Dr. Sadler counted 64 new concepts, we studied a few of them that day. These concepts allow us to develop a larger framework for understanding the vision behind the Revelation or plan.
The plan being that God shares, empowers, provides a system of upliftment and all new truths are embraced within the old. A number of these new truths contain the potential to elevate spiritual perception such as:
Personality endowment, Thought Adjuster endowment, mind, Supreme, soul, personality survival, Jesus identity etc.
It was a profound study and David was a huge source of inspiration and knowledge to all.
On the 3rd day, Marta Elders, a long-time reader and psychologist, spoke to us about the soul, she had us do an exercise two by two. She based herself on the method of “Lectio Divina”, a practice of Benedictine monasteries in the 6th century, or how to read a sacred text, a method which incorporates four levels of the psyche or four different perspectives which reveal the four meanings of a sacred text:
This method applies very well to The Urantia Book.
She had us apply it with another person, making us practically realize and feel the four levels of appreciation and understanding through relationships with our fellow men. This allowed us to communicate and share on a whole new level. Then we continued our study on the soul in The Urantia Book.
On the 4th day we did something quite different but related to The Urantia Book. It was a study that allowed us to understand much better the different personality types or identities of human beings and by understanding better their character difficulties and potentials, we can be more open to forgiveness and mercy towards our fellow men.
Long-time reader Carol Schindler told us about the Enneagram of Personalities, from the Enneagram Institute. There are nine personality types or identities:
There is the triad of “Feelings”, the triad of “Mind”, and the triad of “Instincts”.
This comes from the Urantia Book, “Wisdom of the Enneagram” was very interesting, because it was an “intermezzo” that allowed everyone to know themselves better. What connection is there, you might ask, with the Urantia Book? There is none directly, except that by knowing ourselves better, we can better value our neighbor and thus practice forgiveness and service which are essential points in the philosophy of the Urantia Book. This allows us to improve our relationships with others, to work better as a team and to help realize the Supreme.
This week was very much appreciated by all, we shared our soul, our brotherhood, beautiful evenings of discussions, our good humor, good meals, the joy of living and a deep gratitude for having had the privilege of being able to have this unique experience.
Claire Mylanus
| Everything Comes in Its Time | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 58 — Spring 2012 | The First Sentence of The Urantia Book |