© 2012 Georges Donnadieu
© 2012 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
The 2012 national meeting of French-speaking readers of the Urantia Book took place at Pentecost at the Domaine de La Neylière. Some participants were able to listen, during the recreational evening of Saturday, May 26, to the song Suzanne performed by Alain Bashung (album “Bleu Pétrole” 2008). The lyrics of the 2nd verse and chorus are as follows: original lyrics in English by Leonard Cohen and French adaptation by Graeme Allwright, Australian folk singer.
| Original text (L Cohen) | French adaptation (G. Allwright) |
|---|---|
| And Jesus was a sailor | He was a fisherman who came to Earth |
| When he walked upon the water | Who stayed up for a very long time |
| And he spent a long time watching | From the top of a lonely tower |
| From his lonely wooden tower | When he understood that only |
| And when he knew for certain | Lost men saw him |
| Only drowning men could see him | He said we would sail |
| He said "All men will be sailors then | Until the waves set us free |
| Until the sea shall free them » | But he himself was broken |
| But he himself was broken | Long before the sky opened |
| Long before the sky would open | Abandoned and almost a man |
| Forsaken, almost human | It sank under your wisdom |
| He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone | Like a stone |
| And you want to travel with him | You want to stay by his side |
| And you want to travel blind | Now you are not afraid anymore |
| And you think maybe you’ll trust him | To travel with your eyes closed |
| For he’s touched your perfect body with his mind. | A flame burns in your heart. |
Only the French adaptation was read, then listened to on the CD, the listeners being invited to summarize in three words maximum, on a piece of paper, their feelings upon reading the poem. In the mind of the host, three words maximum were capable of synthesizing the text: “Jesus of Nazareth” or “7th effusion Michael”. None of the 10 testimonies collected saw or were able to retain this aspect of the text - Apart from 3 blank butterflies, the 7 others mentioned respectively:
It is indeed unusual for us to appreciate only three elements in universal reality, namely: the FACT, the IDEA, then the RELATIONSHIP. Religious consciousness identifies these realities as SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, TRUTH. (READ booklet 196 the faith of Jesus, & 3) or as the Urantia Book speaks of: THINGS, MEANINGS, VAUBES or even MATERIAL, MORONTIAL, SPIRITUAL LEVELS. The Adjuster constantly invites us to climb the 3 steps towards the SOUL.
Let us now compare the English original (which a friend present at La Neylière was able to provide us with 7 days later) with the French adaptation. The original is very explicit, this from the first two lines of the verse: “And Jesus was a sailor when he walked on the water, ” allusion to the evangelical legend, rectified in UB 152:4.1 of the UB under the heading, “The night vision of Simon Peter”. The French adaptation enhances the value of the message in “He was a fisherman who came to Earth” “Abandoned and almost a man” and the Son of Man… “He sank under your wisdom” (that of the Sanhedrin and its leader Caiaphas, the wisdom of men, even religious ones, being very often madness before God!).
The three quotes make it possible to unambiguously identify the “fisherman” (without an acute accent) who, when he was very young, often spent 2 months of vacation with his 2 uncles (and aunts), one of them being a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. Later, many of the apostles were also fishermen. The mention “came to Earth” highlights the mission of the “7th bestowal of Michael”, where he chose to come to Urantia.
The last two lines of the original chorus are different from their adaptation: “And you think that maybe you can have confidence (faith) in him, because he has touched your perfect body (your soul) with his spirit”. But the French adaptation is much more evocative and poetic. You can follow it “with your eyes closed: a flame burns in your heart”!
Cohen and Allwritgh are authors - composers - performers of great quality in this work “Suzanne” “Liliane the rose and the lily), the princess sleeping beauty, the soul which awaits ”the divine lover living in man" (cf. Antepenultimate paragraph page LXVI of the table of contents of the UB), namely the Thought Adjuster, Monitor of Mystery very discreet tenant of our mind.
On the wings of poetry, our imagination becomes fertile and takes each of us to regions that could not be more diverse, with varied feelings according to our present or past experiences lived on Urantia. Page 557 of UB nº20 “Only a poet can discern poetry in the banal prose of everyday life”!
Georges Donnadieu