© 1999 Gary Farr, Peep Söber, Francois Dupont, Travis Binion, Jeffrey Wattles
© 1999 Urantia Association International (IUA)
¶ In This Issue
- USUA Symposium
- The Opening of the Urantia Book School
- A Letter — Gary Farr, US
- The Future of Our Planet — Peep Sõber, Estonia
- Religiosity and Secularism — François Dupont, Belgium
- Decisions — The Human Process — Travis Binion, US
- The Fundamental Principles of Teaching — Jeffrey Wattles, US
- Council of National Presidents and Vice Presidents
¶ USUA Symposium
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
April 29-May 2, 1999
The most striking thing about these conferences is that each one is better and more life-giving than the last. Such was the case with this latest meeting. The plenary presentations were informative, inspiring, and refreshingly varied in both content and style. But what made this conference special was above all the people who attended. Many of the local associations were represented, as a USUA organizational meeting had preceded the conference. Representatives of the Foundation from many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Chile, also attended. Representatives from Finland, Estonia, Norway, England, Lithuania and Texas also attended. Many enthusiastic, imaginative and charming young readers of the book were also present.
At every conference there are some who prefer a structured study of the book, while others choose to enjoy unscheduled fellowship. The curriculum for this conference, like that in Nashville in 1995, was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Wattles, and time was efficiently allocated to structured learning sessions. The conference theme, “Different Ways to Spread the Teachings,” was beautifully illustrated by the plenary speakers. Afterward, smaller groups met, practicing and discussing these and other teaching techniques. After dinner there was time for worship and reversal (often not distinguished from one another), sometimes scheduled, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes lasting into the early hours of the morning.
While each conference is carefully critiqued and analyzed to determine what will be done differently in the future, it must also be viewed as a whole, as an experience. And as such, it was a great conference, thanks to Jeffrey Wattles and the Southern Kindred Spirits! There was remarkable harmony across all the diverse views, both economic, geographic, political, and philosophical. The people who attended expressed in many ways the love and unity that seemed to permeate the conference. One woman compared the conference experience to the unconditional love of her family, and went on to say that this conference had convinced her that the relationship would continue, and would not be transient. At this conference, an especially diverse group of readers (men, women, young, (somewhat) old, white, black, brown, carpenters, salesmen, doctors, teachers, and at least two farmers) came together as a family. Old ties were renewed and strengthened, while new ones were formed. This is a worldwide family. We are inspired and strengthened by this fellowship.
And this progress in the arts of civilization leads directly to the realization of the highest human and divine goals of mortal endeavor—the social achievement of the brotherhood of man. [UB 71:4.15]
¶ Announcement of Opening of The Urantia Book Internet School
The Internet School Subcommittee of the Coordinating Committee is pleased to announce that UBIS will open for registration on June 10, 1999, with the first course beginning July 5.
Interested readers will be able to find a link to the School on the Urantia Foundation website. The School’s purpose, philosophy, and method of operation, as well as pages listing courses, dates, and teacher-moderators, will be available there.
Nine courses will be offered in the first semester with teaching materials and topics from all four parts of the book. The format and participation work best with a maximum of ten students per course. The Internet School is dedicated solely to the study of The
Urantia Book and is a service sponsored by Urantia Foundation and Urantia Association International for the community of Urantia Book readers.
The organizers would like to welcome both student-readers and teacher-moderators for your participation in this new project. We hope that the UBIS text on the Urantia Foundation site provides a good overview of the purpose, philosophy, and spirit of The Urantia Book Internet School.
If you would like to apply for the school as a teacher-moderator, please contact Dorothy Elder at elder03@sprynet.com.
¶ For Urantia Book Readers
Gary Farr
It seems to me that once again the readers have focused on doing something immediately based on group consensus. Group study and social interaction have been replaced with “we need to do something now to spread the teachings.” In an effort to provide some assistance and to shed light on our current situation, I would ask you to consider the following statements.
In reading the primary mission statement of the Urantia Foundation, two facts stand out. The first is that the writer was not one of us, as evidenced by the language and the making of such statements as no one on this world could ever make. Second, the writer clearly said that it would be a religion that would make all the changes mentioned possible and that cosmology and philosophy would follow as a result.
¶ The Future of Our Planet as a “Known” and “Unknown” Reality
Peep Sõber
Tallinn, Estonia
The Urantia Book Readers Conference in Estonia, Karepa, August 12, 1998
I. Future Problems in Our Spiritual Lives
Anxieties about the future are difficult and emotional. Uncertainties about the future often originate in fear-based emotions associated, as they are, with the reality of the unknown. In another sense, we live with faith and hope, as well as with expectations of pleasurable things, which we perceive as the known reality.
These expectations are rooted in our personal beliefs. For example, we might think that we are “the chosen ones” and that the “bad guys” will soon disappear. We should then be elevated to a pleasant place. We might believe that after physical death we should wake up in heaven, or something similar. Even these beliefs are based on revelations. Now, beliefs are always the product of our distortions of personal or collective revelations. They are not necessarily based on perceived truth, but rather on pleasant expectations. We all lean toward believing in things that seem pleasant and ignore all those messages that are not pleasant to us.
¶ Religiosity and Secularism
François Dupont
Brussels, Belgium
Speech presented on October 27, 1998 at the Free University of Brussels before the Agora Society
1. Introduction and motivations
The 21st century will be facing such tasks as social reconstruction, economic reorganization and the re-establishment of responsible citizenships. How will all this turn out? It will only be determined by whether confrontation or understanding prevails between these two tendencies: religion and secularism.
The boundaries between these two currents are almost the same, which only separate believers from non-believers. But for believers and non-believers alike there is the other side of the coin: true religion, which I would describe as internal religion, or religiosity, and its opposite, external religion, or institutional religion. Just as for secularity there is the choice between the true, i.e., humanistic secularism and the fanatical kind.
The need for societal adjustments finds its justification in the fact that many great writers and philosophers of this end of the century are in search of a new kind of philosophy, a new style of religion, marked by the recent failures of modern ideologies, such as communism, socialism, capitalism, syndicalism and at the top of the fundamentalist, integrist and spiritualist movements.
¶ Decisions — the human process
Travis Binion
Tennessee, USA
The purpose of this study is to make you think: to think about yourself and how you think, perhaps in a new way; to think about what it is inside you that governs your decisions. The purpose is also to provide you with a framework that you can use in thinking about your life, the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom that you have; and how that knowledge, coupled with the feeling self, and using the tools that you have been given, has led you to where you are today; and perhaps, if appropriate, to motivate you to modify the process for the future. The theory already proposed cannot be tested by scientific methodology because science no longer possesses the knowledge or the tools to correctly evaluate the effects of each of the proposed independent variables. It is only something testable by individuals through self-analysis of their own decision-making processes. A warning: while the information presented in this study represents my current beliefs on this subject, some or all of this discussion may be incorrect. On page UB 39:4.14 of The Urantia Book, you can read:
¶ The Fundamental Principles of Teaching
Jeffrey Wattles
Ohio, United States
As members of our Father’s family, it is a great privilege to be able to teach truth through what we say and do. We gratefully pray for guidance for those with whom we associate, for our colleagues in teaching, and for the furtherance of the fulfillment of the family of God.
The fundamental principles set forth below are derived, for the most part, from a study of revealed teaching patterns. This paper includes commentary and page references, as well as questions and exercises to help the reader gain new and original insight from the study of the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and other universe beings, including Jesus of Nazareth (UB 7:4.7, UB 8:4.1—UB 8:4.8, UB 9:0.2, UB 20:1.12, UB 32:3.12, UB 35:1.2, UB 35:2.3, UB 39:2.7, UB 50:4.11). Of course, the study of models raises the question of knowing when to imitate the models as much as possible and when to adapt them.
¶ Council of National Presidents and Vice Presidents
The Council of National Presidents and Vice Presidents of the International Urantia Association (CPN) has been holding meetings since early April. Because there are so many countries represented and so many different languages spoken, the most efficient way to “meet” is by fax, e-mail, and postal mail. This “meeting” is chaired and moderated by Seppo Kanerva, who translates and makes public the necessary documents. He recently reported that the CPN has passed several resolutions.
The Council has resolved to gladly accept the offer of the AFLLU and entrusts the association with the organization of the 2002 IUA International Conference in Paris, France (the AFLLU is the Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d’Urantia, the French-speaking Urantia Association present in France, Belgium, and Switzerland).
The Council also unanimously elected Carolyn Prentice of the IUA as editor-in-chief of the IUA Journal. The Council will appoint four or five editors to form the IAU Editorial Board. The members of the CPN will bring to the attention of their associations the importance of the IAU Journal, and will invite the members of their associations to send articles to the IAU Journal, as well as to become subscribers.
The CPN has also decided to publish the IAU Journal in Spanish, in addition to the ones currently published in English, French and Finnish, and has authorized the President and the Spanish-speaking associations to take the necessary measures to comply with this decision.
Another issue to be discussed was that of the local Associations which, although not national, are nevertheless present throughout the national territory of their country. The CPN unanimously agreed to communicate all important and pertinent decisions to these associations through their presidents. The CPN also agreed to invite the presidents and vice-presidents of these associations as observers on those occasions when personal face-to-face meetings would be convenient.
¶ International Urantia Association Journal
The International Urantia Association JOURNAL is a quarterly newsletter for readers of The Urantia Book, published by the International Urantia Association, 533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614, U.S.A.
Editors
Carolyn Prentice, Editor-in-Chief;
Kathleen Swadling, Trevor Swadling, and Seppo Niskanen, Associate Editors.
Other Language Editors
Seppo Kanerva, Supervising Non-English Editor;
Seppo Kanerva, Finnish Translator;
Chris Ragetly, Nicole Ragetly, and Jean Royer, French Translators;
Elias Garcia Canseco, Gustavo Proano Noriega, and Bill Lloyd, Spanish Translators.
© 1999 Association Urantia Internationale