© 2004 Jean-Claude Romeuf
© 2004 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
For those who know how to see, listen and hear, it is in spring that the river lets its magic flow the most. Everything that passes for banality is, in fact, a mixture, both simple and complex, of the miracles of life.
Nothing is futile or useless; the sun does not rise for nothing! A little before dawn this morning, I took my meditation walk on the bank. The water had barely fallen asleep from the noises of the night, when a slew of all sorts of creatures began to stir. It was a question of who would make the biggest bubble, who would jump the highest, who would croak, whistle, make the biggest racket. Two planetary rockets, taking themselves for swallows, touched the surface of the water with their wings and made curved foliage vibrate, which was trying to bathe and wake up. In short, joy was at its peak!
Suddenly, all these little people fell silent. It was time! The event that was to take place was important. Nothing had to go wrong, everything had to be studied with consideration and meticulousness. There was no need to hurry, there had to be a minute of silence. We then began to hold our breath and settle down, as if in an armchair, for the show. We turned our eyes in the same direction, so that by coordinated and associative magnetism, the one who was going to warm us all day could get up.
When the arc of fire appeared on the horizon, in the direction of our gaze, everyone cried out in their native language: “We have succeeded!” Thanks to us, the sun had just found its way to evening! Everyone started to squawk again and returned to their favorite occupation: living as well as possible! We were made for happiness!
The silence had just been broken. But the magic continued; the fairies of the river, the rocks and the woods, or the angels, whatever name we give them, were there and had enjoyed the spectacle with meditation, tenderness and adoration. Even if we could not see them, we could sense their presence in this moment of profound harmony with nature. Two spaces of matter and creatures, two different but real worlds, coexisted.
Like a spring, a small breeze, coming from I don’t know where, lifted the surface of the water with a kiss, causing tiny ripples that imitated the silvery wriggling of fry and which deceived more than one fish in search of food. On the nearest sleeping shrub, a few flowers were bored with their immobility. The wind knew it. It lifted them delicately and, like multi-colored butterflies, they went to gather nectar from the proud daffodils, admiring their reflection.
Little by little, as the sun gained altitude, a multitude of sparkling sequins, resting on the surface of the water, made all the attentive and admiring eyes blink, as if to hide something supernatural. The silver of the river turned into gold. This was indeed the real miracle that we were witnessing. It was at the origin of the belief in the philosopher’s stone, dear to alchemists and was the key to wealth, happiness and freedom!
We are all alchemists! We all have the power to transform reality, our own reality, our personality reality into a better reality. It is not a question of wanting to change the position of mountains, nor of wanting to exclude from our life, inevitable facts. We can only vary the course of events to a narrow and ephemeral extent, but the struggle for life, when it is clairvoyant, makes us acquire greatness and wisdom. It is a question of having a different vision of the world and of perceiving the magnificence of things and beings, where there is apparently only confusion, tumult and desolation. Let us no longer be adolescents who claim their freedom and find servitude, but mature men stimulated by difficulties. The freedom acquired always depends on a victory over oneself. It is this which makes us cross the boundaries of space and time. Let us become aware of our cosmic and divine citizenship! It’s all about insight, sincerity, belief and trust in a higher mind that keeps us safe in the midst of adversity and uncertainty.
Each time a child of this world takes a step further in the search and discovery of one of the three components of divinity which are truth, beauty and goodness, he draws an indelible rainbow between himself and his Creator.
Jean Claude Romeuf
“all reality of personality is proportional to its relations with divinity”