© 2018 Ivan Stol
© 2018 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
This INTERNATIONAL meeting brought together 180 people in the NETHERLANDS, a little far from Amsterdam in a somewhat specific conference setting. The organization was well thought out, with speeches that were not too long, well-prepared and effective group studies and substantial discussion time. There were, as usual, a few “hiccups” and the price certainly dissuaded some from coming from far away. The French were present (10 or 11) among around 25 French speakers.
Its purpose was to understand how and what Jesus taught the people He met.
To understand this well we must study very closely how Jesus himself learned and what he retained in his childhood.
He had an ideal environment, a thorough religious education, an open, dynamic and loving family environment, a rich international social environment. He was curious but did not let himself be influenced. He liked to form his own opinion on everything and did not form an opinion as long as there were unresolved questions or a true higher conviction had not appeared (adjuster). He only defended his own convictions but did not impose them, and did not even speak of them when he was searching himself, so as not to influence the response of others.
The way Jesus used his discernment is an example for all. Wisdom was present in both his education and his teaching. He only really taught when there was a need to clarify a new or misunderstood concept, the rest of the time he answered questions by allowing the students to find the answer for themselves. He even ended up using parables to get his messages across, not to play on his enemies but to encourage everyone to think about the problems they face.
We deduced (well, in my working group) that it was not so much the Urantia Book that we must bring to people who are searching, but our own reflections and spiritual advances discovered in our lives and adapted to our global environment. In addition, each community, people, nation has its ethics and morals and must be approached differently. This is possible today because the communications circuits allow us to better understand what is happening elsewhere and therefore to be more flexible and tolerant.
The Urantia Book tells us, on the other hand, that what was missing in the teachings of the apostles was the concept of Brotherhood and Divine Fatherhood which the world needs most today. It would therefore be interesting to orient our message in this direction, and make everyone understand the difference in behavior between a human and an animal (reason and fraternal intelligence versus domination and force).
In any case, it is really the spirit of truth and spiritual influences which will do most of the work (adjusters, angels…) and we must not worry too much about our book, the truth will be recognized.
There you have it, I think I have covered the essentials of this meeting. We also talked about prayer and meditation as an aid and the use of parables, among other things. I think that the topics of the conferences and working groups are still on the AUI site but they are available from those who participated.
This meeting ended with the official announcement of the following international meeting in 2021 which will take place in PERU not far from MACHU PICCHU and having chatted a little with Peruvians (really very spiritual), I advise you to prepare a nice trip including this meeting from another world. Oh yes, by the way, there are only sandwiches at lunchtime in this NETHERLANDS…!!
Friendships
Ivan