© 2016 Jean Anet
© 2016 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
On May 6, 7 and 8, a new course called: ‘Spiritual Love’ took place in French-speaking Belgium.
This course started from a desire expressed several times in study groups in Belgium to concretely experience the teachings of The Urantia Book. Some felt the study groups were too intellectual, too mental in the first sense of the term and often too far removed from reality.
During the international symposium in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 2015, a meeting took place between Guy Perron from Quebec and Jean Annet from Belgium as well as their respective wives and companions to consider a new seminar which would link the teachings of the Urantia Book as well as Personal Development techniques.
Guy and his partner Jade experienced a similar weekend in Chicago in November 2015 and the project was to adapt it to the European public.
The other particularity was to open this weekend to people who do not know the Urantia Book.
We first had to find a title. The English title used for the workshop in Chicago, “Living a compassionate live”, translated poorly into French. The word ‘Compassion’ evokes, on the one hand, the Buddhist universe, and on the other hand, a doloristic side that we wanted to avoid. After several searches, we agreed on “Spiritual Love”, a title that had never been used to our knowledge and which evoked spirituality and love, which we wanted to develop in this seminar.
It was then necessary to construct a teaching that comes from The Urantia Book, but which does not systematically refer to it in order to respect non-readers. And on the other hand, to use Personal Development techniques that are in accordance with the book, to respect the readers of the book, but which open up to new experiments possibly not known to the readers of The Urantia Book.
The challenge was huge and, the least we can say is that it was successful!
The group consisted of 13 people, including 2 facilitators, 2 organizers, 5 members of Urantia Book reading groups and 4 people who did not know the Urantia Book. In all, 9 women and 4 men. These people, many of whom did not know each other at the start, very quickly formed a fraternal group and this was probably the first element of success of the WE.
The seminar took place in a training and accommodation center near Liège in Belgium. This center has two beautiful work rooms (a large and magnificent meditation room and a study room) and a magnificent garden. The food was brought in part by the participants and each and every one was invited to participate in the daily tasks: meal preparation, washing dishes, tidying up, etc. Daily life during these two full days was a constituent element of the experimentation of Spiritual Love and was, for the most part, the occasion for beneficial work of inner growth…
The work began for some before the weekend. As the advertisement had been made in a Personal Development magazine in Belgium, in addition to being communicated to all readers of The Urantia Book, some non-readers who were attracted by the title first registered, then retracted after finding out about The Urantia Book. Talking about God or Jesus seemed too religious for their taste. For our part, we never wanted to hide the fact that the goal of the course was to experience the teachings of The Urantia Book and the advertisement had always been made in this sense.
In this regard, it is interesting to report the feedback of a participant who registered at the last minute with her husband, and who followed her husband more than she was interested in the content of the course. As a non-reader, she did not expect to receive so much teaching from The Urantia Book, so much so that for her, it was too much: “If I had known that we were going to talk so much about The Urantia Book, I would not have come to the course, but I am still very happy to have participated.”
This testimony denotes the warmth that emanated throughout these two days. For us, as organizers/facilitators, it was not only necessary to teach love in all its facets, it was necessary to live it. And living love also means looking for what prevents us from loving, digging into our shadows, highlighting our blockages, analyzing the mechanisms of human relationships that will allow us to develop this love or, on the contrary, hinder it.
We were able to discuss as a couple, in a group, but also in solitude how we positioned ourselves in relation to the relationship, in relation to our way of loving. Teachings were given on the different ways of loving and the different love relationships, and they were also linked to concrete exercises: how to feel the love of the creator in me in order to love better and more? How to experience the 8 effective techniques of the benevolent listener, how to live an inspired and inspiring life, how to cut ourselves off from emotional ties that oppress us, what type of prayer to do to free ourselves from them, etc.?
Nature and the wonderful weather during this weekend also accompanied us on our journey. We found ourselves several times in the magnificent surrounding garden for a closer contact with nature: finding symbolic elements of our personality (stones, flowers, pieces of wood, etc.) and assembling them in a mandala in the garden was like a projective test that allowed us to give elements on our personality. This personal mandala evolving through exercises on oneself allowed us to become aware of some internal operating mechanisms.
The body was also in the spotlight. We can only harmoniously develop our personality if we simultaneously develop the 3 aspects of our being: physical, psychological and spiritual. Not only was the food provided by each participant natural, healthy and of quality, but each morning, we were offered yoga exercises, and on Saturday evening we were able to dance to let our prayer be expressed through the body.
Finally, spirituality. Everything was overseen by the teachings of the Urantia Book. The particularity of this course is that it was designed to experience the teachings of the book. Whether we made too much or not enough reference to the Urantia Book is an interpretation of each person, depending on their knowledge of the book and, a fortiori, for non-readers, the appreciation will be very different. Still, one person who did not know the book was able to really enjoy it and left with a copy under their arm. And the other non-readers make their own journey.
Of all the spirituality and personal development courses that I have done in my life, I can say that this one was the most accomplished, the most complete and the most enriching, because it connected to the highest source that is given to us: revelation. There are probably still points to improve, an even finer coherence to find, the teachings to enrich and, depending on the given audience, options to operate to develop the course, but what we can say for this one is that the “mayonnaise” took! The group, the teachings, the facilitators, the place, the organization, the theme, the practical exercises, the time, everything came together to make an exceptional WE. And this WE had a particularly tasty taste because we knew that beings from heaven were watching us, accompanying us, encouraging us and that they too tasted this divine dish that we concocted for them.
I can only say a huge thank you to all the participants, to all the earthly and spiritual beings who participated directly or indirectly in the success of this WE. I think it will be a milestone in the evolution and history of the Urantian movement in French-speaking Belgium. We have opened a new field of experimentation in the understanding of the teachings of The Urantia Book, and I hope that you can all taste it as well.
Very fraternally
John ANNET
