© 1996 Carole Jett, Seppo Niskanen, Chris Moseley, Kathleen Swadling, Grey Power, Suzanne Kelly, Seppo Kanerva
© 1996 International Urantia Association (IUA)
A News Journal for Readers of The URANTIA Book
Produced by International URANTIA Association (IUA)
Issue No. 3/1996 1. First Meeting of National Association Delegates and Conference News 2. United States URANTIA Association - USUA’s First Birthday. 2. From the Editors 3. Finnish Conference Explores Cosmic Citizenship. 4. Britain Cries Out for Cooperation. 5. Marriage, Parenting and Their Products 12. A Few Words from the Wise. 12. Stoicism–lts Time Has Come…Back. 14. Freely You Have Received, Freely Give.
¶ In this Issue
- First Meeting of National Association Delegates and Conference News
- United States URANTIA Association - USUA’s First Birthday — Carole Jett, USA
- From the Editors
- Finnish Conference Explores Cosmic Citizenship. — Seppo Niskanen, Finland
- Britain Cries Out for Cooperation. — Chris Moseley, UK
- Marriage, Parenting and Their Products — Kathleen Swadling, Australia
- A Few Words from the Wise. — Grey Power, Australia
- Stoicism — lts Time Has Come…Back. — Suzanne Kelly, USA
- Freely You Have Received, Freely Give — Seppo Kanerva, Finland
¶ First Meeting of National Association Delegates and Conference News
The 1996 IUA Conference was held in Nashville from August 9 - 12. Attendance was good and spirits soared after four days of quality study and fellowship. The December Journal will be a special conference issue with a full report plus presentations, so stay tuned for a full briefing.
The first meeting of representatives from the National Associations of IUA was held during the Nashville Conference on August 10. USUA (the National Association for the USA) was represented by Rick Brinkman - President, James Perry - Vice President, and Carole Jett - Secretary. The Finnish URANTIA Association was represented by Kalevi Eklof - Vice President and Seppo Niskanen - Secretary. ANZURA (National Association for Australia and New Zealand) was represented by Neil Francey - Vice President and Kathleen Swadling - Secretary. A.F.F.L.U. (National Association for France/Belgium) was represented by Francois Le Rohellec.
The main issue for discussion was future IUA International Conferences. It was decided that future IUA conferences would be held every two years instead of every year, and that they would alternate between the USA and another country where there is a National Association.
¶ The next IUA Conference: 1998 Helsinki, Finland
(sometime in the summer. Stay tuned for further details)
¶ USUA National Conference: May 1997
Since the IUA has decided to hold an international conference every two years, the USUA will be sponsoring a national conference in May 1997. The conference is now in the planning stages but the location has been determined. It will be held in a beautiful retreat/conference center in Southern California in the Cleveland National Forest. The west coast Regional Associations, Northwest URANTIA Association, Pacific URANTIA Readers Engagement (PURE) and Southwest URANTIA Readers Family (SURF), will be hosting the conference for USUA. These three Associations reach from California, Oregon and on up through Washington State. USUA looks forward to creating a well-organized, peaceful, spiritual, and mentally challenging affair.
¶ United States Urantia Association USUA’s First Birthday
Carole Jett, Secretary USUA
The USUA celebrated its first birthday at the 1996 IUA Conference in Nashville. We brought the cake, lit the candle, and found the flame could not be extinguished. Our President, Rick Brinkman, held a highly attended and very vocal meeting on Friday evening, August 9, where much was accomplished. The atmosphere was ripe with plans and ideas. If we are able to carry out one tenth of them in the coming year, the USUA will be well on the path of an extremely cohesive North American organization. Our first goal is to assist the growth and prosperity of the existing fourteen US Regional Associations. Second, we are in the process of birthing an additional Association in mid-America. And last but not least, USUA will be forming Provisional Associations for the more rural parts of America.
¶ From the Editors
With the new Journal year comes a couple of changes on the editorial board. We’d like to extend our thanks and gratitude to Seppo Kanerva for all the hours of hard work and dedication he has put into the previous year’s IUA Journal. As Chief Editor Seppo really had the hardest task out of all the editors and carried the main load. Seppo has elected to resign from the board of editors and Kathleen Swadling has been elected to take his place as Chief Editor. Seppo Niskannen from Finland has been elected onto the board, while Carole Jett and Suzanne Kelly from the USA remain. We hope we can keep the IUA Journal an interesting and worthwhile publication for you.
We would like to take this opportunity to share with you some thoughts the editors came up with when we met at the IUA conference in Nashville last month. We thought we would create a kind of mission statement for the IUA Journal to use as a gauge for making decisions and for letting all readers know what we aim to achieve by producing such a publication. We have already stated that:
IUA Journal is by, for, and of the members of the IUA; it is for the in-depth discussion of the teachings of The URANTIA Book, and for their orderly dissemination.
We’d like to expand on that purpose a little and state the following:
The IUA Journal is a communication vehicle for National Associations of IUA. It has the potential to provide an opportunity for the exploration of international understanding and cultural crossfertilisation. The IUA Journal is also intended to provide a service to all readers of The URANTIA Book around the world in an attempt to assist individual readers in their study and personal growth.
So remember folks, this is your Journal. Without your participation and contribution there would be no reason to have a news Journal. Consider this Journal as an international forum for readers to share themselves with one another, to share your thoughts, insights, interpretations and experiences as they relate to your reading and understanding of The URANTIA Book. By sharing your_self_ you are doing others a service as we all have so much to learn from one another. This Journal provides a unique opportunity for the cross-fertilisation of ideas from many different cultures. Each culture can learn and grow from other cultures; and as we learn more about the diversity of other cultures, we expand our understanding of the human race outside of our own circumscribed, tribal viewpoints.
We look forward to hearing from you and to serving the readership. Please feel free to send us any comments or thoughts.
¶ Finnish Conference Explores Cosmic Citizenship
Seppo Niskanen, Helsinki, Finland
From time to time, each of us has been pondering the reasons for our existence: why do we exist; is all this labour and toil worth the pain? At the Summer Conference of the Finnish URANTIA Association, in mid-June, a concerted effort was made to find the cosmic viewpoint into human existence. The URANTIA Book is a true treasure chest for anyone in search of a cosmic viewpoint — provided one reads the book from beginning to end. I shall hereunder present some of the findings of the Conference.
Existence is divided into two major sectors: the existential and the experiential existences. Within existentiality, everything is absolute and perfect in actuality; in experientiality, everything is imperfect, or perfecting, yet perfect in potentiality. God views the universe looking from the centre out; we view the universe looking from the outside in. God gains our viewpoint of looking from outside in as his gift, the Thought Adjuster, in each of us, looks upon the existence through our eyes. It will be difficult but it would be worth the effort should we strive to perceive, at least to a limited extent, how it feels to look upon the existence from God’s viewpoint, from the cosmic viewpoint.
¶ Britain Cries Out for Cooperation
Chris Moseley, UK (Editor of The Ascender - Britain’s newsletter for URANTIA Book readers)
An innocent looking letter arrived on my desk a few weeks ago from a group in New York State soliciting funds for a translation of The URANTIA Book into Korean. Rather shyly, the group styles itself “The New York Society”. Not only is a Korean translation under way but also a Russian one. Great idea isn’t it, translating the book into the major languages of the world, and a laudable thing to solicit funds for it too. They ask if I would give publicity to it in my next publication. That I’m only too happy to do. Speaking as a professional translator myself, I can have some dim inkling of the colossal amount of work involved in preparing a new translation of such a demanding volume. To be any good at all, and last a long time in print without major revision, it will have to be a team effort by people with rare skill and sensitivity, familiar with both the source and the target language — and as much skill will be required of the proof readers as well. It will require typographic and cover design, and print quality, which are not subject to the mere whims of late 20th century fashion. It will require consistent checking and cross-referencing throughout the life of the project.
¶ Marriage, Parenting and Their Products
Kathleen Swadling, Sydney, Australia
An article by William Wentworth on “The Family” which appeared in a recent copy of The IUA Journal has inspired me to reiterate his concerns and expand on this theme.
Following are two consecutive paragraphs in The URANTIA Book which suggest to me a very strong warning to our society and to modern day parents (underlines are my emphasis):
The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative. Civilization can hardly progress when the majority of the youth of any generation devote their interests and energies to the materialistic pursuits of the sensory or outer world.
The inner and the outer worlds have a different set of values. Any civilization is in jeopardy when three quarters of its youth enter materialistic professions and devote themselves to the pursuit of the sensory activities of the outer world. Civilization is in danger when youth neglect to interest themselves in ethics, sociology, eugenics, philosophy, the fine arts, religion, and cosmology. UB 111:4.3-4
“Civilization is in danger when youth neglect to interest themselves in ethics, sociology, eugenics, philosophy, the fine arts, religion, and cosmology.”
¶ A Few Words from the Wise
by a State President and Senate Candidate, Grey Power
(Australia)
For the benefit of parents, Grey Power recommends the following 12 rules to assist them in bringing up their children as… juvenile delinquents.
- Begin at infancy by giving your children everything they ask for so they will believe the world owes them a living.
- When they pick up swear words, laugh at them and make them think they are clever.
- Never give them any basic spiritual or moral training.
- Avoid the use of the word “wrong”. They may develop a guilty complex and when they later steal a car they will believe that society is against them.
- Pick up all they leave lying around, such as clothes, books, etc., so they become used to leaving all responsibility to others.
- Let them read any printed material they can lay their hands on, or watch the Ricky Lane show on TV so their minds can feast on garbage.
- Quarrel frequently in front of your children, so they will not be shocked when their home eventually breaks up.
- Give them all the spending money they want and don’t make them earn their own. Why should they have it as tough as you did?
- Satisfy their every craving for food, drink and comfort, so that occasional denial is not too frustrating for them.
- Take their side against neighbours, teachers, policeman, who are of course, all prejudiced against them.
- When they get into real trouble apologise for yourself saying: “I never could do anything with them!”
- Prepare for a life of grief. You are bound to have it!
¶ Stoicism — Its Time Has Come … Back
Suzanne Kelly, Texas
If the political and social problems of today were approached through the belief system of ancient Stoicism, we might have achieved political morality and be somewhat socially content. In Stoicism is found the universe of God and God according to the Stoic is reason, “men and God are united.” This is the undeniable seed of unity—unity is the progenitor of social peace. Stoics in their attempt at unity not only attacked tribalism and chauvinism, but they pleaded for equality of slaves and women. We are still, 2000 years later, working on equality.
True Stoicism looked at a world-state and eliminated the many states. It had one system of law based on universal reason rather than on custom and convention. Stoicism’s single belief that there are no naturally inferior people would catapult us into a new age of compassion and cross cultural understanding.
However, the solving of our modern day problems lies not in any one philosophical viewpoint, but in the action of parts of them all, actually applying those ideas and ideals in the bureaucracy of our daily life. However getting politicians to live the idealistic life of philosophers and utilizing their theories is wishful thinking.
¶ Freely You Have Received, Freely Give
Seppo Kanerva, Helsinki, Finland
“Freely you have received, freely give.” UB 140:9.2
“I say to all of you: Freely you have received the good things of the kingdom; therefore freely give to your fellows on earth. ” UB 159:1.5
“Freely you have received of the good things of the kingdom; freely give.” UB 163:1.4
The issue of money in connection with the activities, performed largely on the voluntary basis, of a movement of the type of the URANTIA movement is one that practically everyone has to come to terms with in his heart. Every one of us has, on moral and economic grounds, to determine whether to contribute something, and what is the scope of one’s monetary involvement in the progress of the fifth epochal revelation. Jesus imparted the above quoted exhortations of freely giving at least three times. He did not refer to mere monetary contributions; he spoke about all types of activities in the furtherance of the gospel and the kingdom of heaven.
¶ International URANTIA Association
International URANTIA Association Journal
Quarterly News journal
International URANTIA Association
533 Diversey Parkway
Chicago IL 60614, U.S.A.
Board of Editors
Kathleen Swadling, Editor-in-Chief
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Sydney NSW 2101, Australia
Ph: +61-2-9913 7893
Fax: +61-2-9970 6200
E-mail: swadling@ozemail.com.au
Carole Jett
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Ph: +1-213-876-0765
Fax: +1-213-876-1082
Suzanne Kelly-Ward
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Ph: +1-817-545-0201
Fax: +1-214-751-0964
E-mail: skelly@gte.net
Seppo Kanerva
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00260 HELSINKI, Finland
Ph: +358-0-496561
Fax: +358-0-496225
E-mail:kanerva@personal.eunet.fi
Subscription (including postage)
4 issues: 15 U.S. dollars, 15 Australian dollars, or 50 Finnish marks.
Single copies: 4 U.S. dollars, 4 Australian dollars, or 15 Finnish marks.
Any interpretations, opinions, conclusions, or artistic representations, whether stated or implied, are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the International URANTIA Association, the national or local URANTIA Associations, the Coordinating Committee, the Trustees of URANTIA Foundation, or the editors.
Quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The URANTIA Book, © 1955 URANTIA Foundation.
The method of identifying quotations is the method used in The URANTIA Book Concordance, © 1993 URANTIA Foundation
Please feel free to submit your articles, visual aids, charts, graphs, and news items to any of the editors.
© 1996 International URANTIA Association