© 2008 Gaétan Charland
© 2008 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 44 — Autum 2008 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 44 — Autumn 2008 | Spring: Study of the Future |
Dear readers of the Link,
It was in 1979 that thanks to the French translation of the Urantia Book made by Jacques Weiss that I discovered the Urantia Book. I still remember my astonishment and my reaction when I was able to read the first pages of the third volume of the Urantia Cosmogony. Since that time, my life has changed enormously and for the better without however making me a paragon of virtue; I still have a lot of progress to make before leaving this world and I am constantly working on it.
It took me several years, eight years in fact, before I took concrete action to become involved in the reformation of my Being and to serve in various ways in activities related to The Urantia Book. I can very well understand that others may take as much time as I did to consciously work on their spiritual growth and become involved in service to others.
It was finally in 1987 that I joined a study group for the first time. The impression that this experience left on me is almost as great as my first reading of The Urantia Book itself. It allowed me to clarify and broaden exponentially my intellectual understanding of The Urantia Book and to succeed in readjusting almost all of my moral and spiritual values in relation to the teachings that we studied there.
Since then, I have continued to progress and grow in this direction and today I work ardently to promote study groups, because I believe that they are an essential function in the success of the mission of The Urantia Book on our planet.
The opportunity to participate in a study group, led by a couple totally dedicated to the study and understanding of the texts of the Urantia Book allowed me to continue this process after the death of the leaders by forming two study groups that I have led every week since 1999. The experience acquired through this commitment allows me to appreciate in a concrete way the validity of the formative approach of this fraternal school as an initiatory means of teaching and spiritual growth while promoting dissemination through the integration of the teachings acquired.
It was in 1999 that I was elected to the position of president of my local association and of the new Canadian national association; in the first, to replace a young president who had not finished his term. I joined this position with a temporary vision of my involvement, because I had told many that I knew nothing about fraternal organization and much less as a leader as president. I had committed myself to it at most to help out my friends for a limited period of two years and that’s where this whole story led me. It must be said that at the very beginning, I was seduced by the mission of the Urantia Book and that of the association that supported it. The help and support of the Fraternity, still present in this association, combined with the example of service of certain members have greatly contributed to maintaining my commitment until today.
Things moved quickly, because in our little world of readers it seems that volunteers are a rare commodity and when one of them gets noticed, they are quickly appropriated. This was my case in 2003, when I was asked to become the first president of the UAI and thus continue the gigantic task that Cathy Jones had started several years before. My first reaction and response to Tonia Baney when she offered me this position was: “I know nothing about politics.” And she replied: “That’s why we believe you’ll make a good president!”
Today, I travel the world, often accompanied by my partner, to meet readers who are or are not part of the UAI. These meetings allow me to better understand different cultures and to readjust the UAI’s strategies in order to meet the requirements of the mission we pursue, that of disseminating The Urantia Book and its teachings. Born in 1949, I am married, without children of my own, but with my partner’s two and their two little girls whom we adore. I am co-owner of three businesses and I live in a wonderful place called Sainte-Sophie in the Laurentians in Quebec.
I still pursue my teenage dream of making the world a better place.
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 44 — Autum 2008 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 44 — Autumn 2008 | Spring: Study of the Future |