© 2015 Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2015 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Editorial | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 72 — Winter 2015 | Bill Sadler's Study on Synthesis and Functional Coordination |
On October 12, 1955, the Urantia Foundation published The Urantia Book in the United States in 10,000 copies. History reveals that this was the culmination of a long preparatory work of contact undertaken in 1911 between super-celestial beings and a small group of people in the city of Chicago. The process of contact and transmission resulted in the materialization of the Urantia papers in four parts, the first and second in 1934, the third in 1935 and the last, the life of Jesus in 1937. In the hierarchy of Urantia revelations, it is the fifth.
This sixtieth anniversary is a good time to take stock of some past events and attempt to look to the future.
The phenomena of contact between the visible and invisible worlds always raise legitimate questions about their authenticity, their content and their modus operandi and in particular for the Urantia fascicles given their nature.
¶ Is the revelation true and authentic?
Just as the existence of God is demonstrated only in the realm of human experience, the truth and authenticity of the fifth revelation are to be discovered in the lives of those who dare to put these incomparable teachings into practice in their daily lives and for themselves alone. Wanting to convince with words is illusory but, as the wise man in my neighborhood says, you cannot force a horse to drink but you can make it thirsty. Loyalty to values and an empathetic listening attitude will do the rest.
¶ Is the content of the revelation coherent and inspiring?
Here again the answer is to be found within oneself. For my part, I consider that the revelators have kept their promise to expand my cosmic consciousness and enhance my spiritual perception.
All my distressing existential questions found answers in The Urantia Book that fulfilled me and gave me an unsuspected perspective of eternity and gave a deep meaning and a sure direction to my life.
All my scientific, philosophical and religious curiosities have been integrated and harmonized into an art of living that makes me happy.
All my relationships with God have been simplified and brought closer thanks to the presence of my Thought Adjuster and by the divine/human Jesus described in part four.
Finally, I found in selfless service a useful meaning for my life, for the growth of the Supreme and for the pleasure of my Universal Father.
¶ By what technique was this revelation transmitted?
This is a legitimate question that many readers ask themselves, but it may never find a complete answer. Nevertheless, the Urantia Book itself provides some details on the modus operandi of transmission and the attentive reader will have noticed the following paragraphs: UB 110:5.7; UB 113:2.6; UB 113:2.7; UB 114:7.9.
In his appendix to The Mind at Mischief, [Funk & Wagnalls Company 1929], Doctor William S. Sadler testifies to what he observed in these terms:
"The other exception refers to a rather particular case of psychic phenomenon that I am unable to classify and that I would gladly like to relate here more completely but I cannot do so because I made an oath not to speak about it and I wish to honor it. In other words, I made a promise not to publish this case during the person’s lifetime. One day, I hope to be able to free myself from this promise in order to be able to report this case more completely because it contains interesting elements. I came into contact with him in the summer of 1911 and I have been able to observe him since then on several occasions during approximately 250 nocturnal sessions. For most of them, I was accompanied by a stenographer who took voluminous notes…
A careful study has convinced me that this case is no ordinary trance. Although the sleep appears to be quite tranquil, it is very deep, and so far we have not been able to awaken the subject when he is in this state; the body is never rigid and the cardiac action is not modified although breathing is sometimes clearly disturbed. This man is quite unconscious, totally unaware of what is happening, and, unless he is told afterwards, he does not know that he has been used as a sort of “clearing house” for the comings and goings of supposed extra-planetary personalities. In fact, he is more or less indifferent to the whole process and shows a surprising lack of interest in the matter when it occasionally takes place.
In no way do these nocturnal visitations resemble séances associated with spiritualism. During the 18-year observation period, not once was there a communication from any source claiming to come from the spirit of a dead human being. The communications that have been written down or that we have had the opportunity to hear in person, come from a vast order of supposed beings who claim to come from other planets to visit our world where they stop to study and observe, on their way from one universe to another or from one planet to another. These communications come from alleged spiritual beings who claim to have been assigned to this planet for tasks of all kinds.
Eighteen years of careful study and investigation have failed to demonstrate the psychic origin of these messages. I now find myself at the same point as when the phenomenon began. Psychoanalysis, hypnotism, intensive comparison have failed to show that the written or spoken messages of this individual originate in his own mind. Much of the material obtained from this subject is quite contrary to his habits of thought, the way he was educated, and his entire philosophy. In fact, of all that we have obtained, we have failed to find that there is anything similar. Its philosophical content is entirely new, and we are unable to find anything similar in human expression.
Although I desire to give details of this case, I am not in a position to do so at present. I only say that these years of observation have proved to me that all the information communicated through this source is consistent in itself. There is a considerable difference in the quality of the communications but this can reasonably be explained by a difference in the state of development of the process and by the order of the personalities involved in the communications. His philosophy is consistent. It is essentially Christian and on the whole quite in harmony with the known scientific facts and truths of this age. In fact and in my experience the case is so unusual and extraordinary that it takes its place immediately in a class by itself, a case which has so far resisted all my efforts to prove its auto-psychic origin. Our investigations are continuing and, as I have intimated, I hope in the near future to obtain permission to make a fuller account of the phenomena connected with this interesting case.
Since 1955, a lot of progress has been made; some 15 translations have been made and published. 5 others are still in progress and will be completed by the end of this decade. In all, more than 800,000 books have been sold, all translations combined, on five continents and new electronic means of distribution are increasingly participating in the dissemination of the fifth revelation.
¶ What role can we play in this adventure?
Religion is a personal experience that takes place in our inner life in the presence of God. By making adjustments in our will and transformations in our mind it must necessarily lead to the service of our neighbor and produce social fruits.
“WITH God the Father, sonship is the great relationship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status—one must do something as well as be something.” ([UB 115:0.1)
Like Jesus giving his final advice to the apostles for the continuation of the mission of the fourth revelation, the revelators gave us advice that can be found in the Publication Mandate on the following link:
http://www.urantia-canada.org/francais/le-livre-durantia/le-mandat-de-publication.html
Among these there are two which particularly appeal to us:
“. . . An early publication of the Book has been offered so that it may be available for the training of leaders and teachers. Its availability is also required to attract the attention of wealthy people who might then be induced to provide resources for translation into other languages.”
“You must encourage your souls to be patient. You are associated with a revelation of truth which is part of the natural evolution of religion in this world. Too rapid a growth could be suicidal. This Book is given to those who are ready for it, long before the day of its world mission. Thousands of study groups must be organized and the Book must be translated into many languages. Then the Book will be available when man’s battle for freedom is won and the world is once again made more fertile for the religion of Jesus and for the freedom of mankind.”
The revelators have been engaged for centuries in a plan of intellectual expansion and spiritual upliftment for the inhabitants of our planet, and the visible result is The Urantia Book. Now they are urging us to participate in it by training leaders, by training teachers, and by establishing thousands of study groups. If we take this revelation to be true, then we must each, individually and collectively, become involved in a social service that is committed to achieving these goals.
Human history demonstrates forcefully that without a leader with an enlightened and intelligent vision a social group quickly disintegrates. Those who deny this truth are idealistic utopians. It was with Paul, the pragmatic realist, that the angels decided to work and not Abner the intransigent idealist. Paul was a great leader because he had a clear vision and accepted compromises.
The leaders of the Urantia movement must feed on the inspiring life of Jesus as a man and study with great care the manner in which he organized his apostles and worked with them for their edification and prepared them for their mission of spreading his gospel.
Teachers of The Urantia Book should carefully study the teachings of the Master and the manner in which he transmitted to his apostles the truths of the kingdom of heaven.
Finally, the study of the teachings of The Urantia Book can be difficult for some, study groups are the appropriate answer. The ancient religious order gathers in churches, mosques, temples and synagogues to listen to the good word. Readers of The Urantia Book gather in study groups led by a teacher, a resource person, to study together, share their spiritual life and create the dynamics of true brotherhood.
“In the beginning the Father does all, but as the panorama of eternity unfolds in response to the will and mandates of the Infinite, it becomes increasingly apparent that creatures, even men, are to become God’s partners in the realization of finality of destiny. And this is true even in the life in the flesh; when man and God enter into partnership, no limitation can be placed upon the future possibilities of such a partnership. When man realizes that the Universal Father is his partner in eternal progression, when he fuses with the indwelling Father presence, he has, in spirit, broken the fetters of time and has already entered upon the progressions of eternity in the quest for the Universal Father.” ([UB 118:5.2)
Georges Michelson-Dupont. Reclosed
| Editorial | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 72 — Winter 2015 | Bill Sadler's Study on Synthesis and Functional Coordination |