© 2009 Johanna Beukers
© 2009 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
The majority of participants arrived on Thursday evening where an excellent meal directly confirmed the serious and warm welcome that we were used to experiencing at previous meetings.
Other readers joined our group the next day. Some came to join us for the duration of a day. Several new readers from the south were present, which added to our study, bringing the total number to 28 participants.
Following the evening meal, the President, Mr. Dominique Ronfet, opened the session by inviting us to introduce ourselves to get to know each other better. Dominique then began with a mini conference on the theme that was to occupy us all for the next 3 days: “Post-mortem awakening”.
The President told us a fiction which aimed to confront us with a new “awareness” to enter this universe which is found after death or awakening would, thanks to guides, make us feel comforted to begin our evolution on the mansions.
Friday morning, Guy Antéquéra, a very old reader, opened a first debate with his presentation on the first moments of our survival, accompanied by video documents. He has been interested, for several years, with some participants in his group, in deepening his research concerning post-mortem awakening, an area that concerns us all. The Revelators speak to us about it in a certain way but leave us to seek certain consistencies between the various texts of the UB, knowing full well that the latter are held “by restrictions placed by the celestial authorities governing Urantia” UB 112:5.11. Guy’s conference concluded that according to his theses, certain deceased mortals would awaken in the 3rd period, while certain others would be asleep and awaiting a future dispensation.
After which Guy adds the fact of those who “can be prevented from leaving until the judgment of their affairs has been completed…”. UB 112:5.10. And we asked ourselves this question: Where are these mortals?
Guy kept us in suspense by presenting us with several suggestions related to this subject. The debates will remain open to continue to philosophize among ourselves on this enigma which is anything but mediocre. Guy’s conference is available to all our members, you just have to ask the secretary to obtain it.
Jean Royer took over with a text composed, among other things, of the opinion of Merrit Horn as well as that of Philip Calabrese, to measure, compare, and attempt to calculate the time that a survivor could take to arrive safely on the first mansion world. According to an impressive number of comparisons and figures, Jean deduced that it was necessary to envisage a journey of approximately 20 years of Urantian time before our newly recomposed tabernacle of all its attributes (soul, personality, mind), resurfaces on the first world.
Following an excellent meal, it was the turn of Chris Ragetly, the last speaker, to present his study.
The essential subjects explained included: “Why does a creature survive? The transit of mortals. The construction of the morontia form. The halls of the temple of resurrection. What becomes of the adjutant ministry? What becomes of a personality that does not survive?”
A rich conference like the previous ones, following which study groups were formed to explore the subject in greater depth in workshops.
During the two evenings, the emphasis was given to creativity based on the content of the UB. Anne-Marie Ronfet welcomed us into her world of calligraphy, gouaches, drawings and watercolors, scattered across a set of seven notebooks that revealed passages and images from the UB. A long-term work that she wanted to share with us.
At the same time, Emmanuel Lou, had presented on the walls of the room an overview of the subjects of the UB as well as grandiose photographs of the universe where texts from the Book intervened with beautiful philosophical phrases from illustrious writers and poets. The artistic interventions were very popular with everyone and the President recommended continuing this initiative in the future, perhaps in other forms, during future national meetings. According to many testimonies, a great feeling of fraternity was felt during this stay in an exceptional site where even a heated swimming pool contributed to the relaxation of some of us.
A forthcoming meeting which is already eagerly awaited by some will take place in Chales, central France for the month of May 2010. The subject proposed for possible future speakers will continue to be linked to the theme debated at N. D de Lumières and will focus on:
Our morontia daily life:
service (work) — study (progress) — relaxation (play).
We hope to find many of us there and we will get even more into the heart of this great adventure that awaits us after our postmortem awakening.
Finally, I would like to express a big thank you for the organization, sometimes complicated, put in place at each meeting by the AFLUB office without which these meetings could not exist.
Fraternally.
Johanna Beukers