© 1998 Joseph Le Dain and Séverin Desbuisson
© 1998 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
On August 7, 8, 9 and 10, 1998, the first international conference of the IUA outside the United States took place in Helsinki. Around one hundred and fifty readers met to meet and discuss the theme: facts, meanings, and values.
By Thursday evening, most of us had already arrived at the Unitas conference center. Located to the east of the city, this conference complex is pleasantly bordered by the sea and the surrounding forests. After having relievedly discharged the burden of heavy suitcases, we joined the other participants to discover their travel itineraries and enjoy the buffet that awaited us. But already, we had to separate; reason reminded us of the constraints of the next day’s agenda. That evening, the moonlight and the gaze of the sea observing us with its calm eye, through the edge of trees was our last memory.
Friday morning began with a hearty breakfast and was followed by a bus tour of the Finnish capital. In a few hours we discovered, among other things: the various ports, train stations, markets, shopping malls, cathedrals and churches, both Lutheran and Orthodox, the sculpture in memory of the illustrious musician Sibelius, the parliament… and so on. And then came the time to return to Unitas and give speeches.
The first address was a vibrant call from the Foundation to close ranks and support the difficult directions it must take to ensure the dissemination of the original message. The summary of this speech could be presented roughly as follows: The work is immense and includes on the one hand the translation, the edition, the diffusion and the promotion of the revelation on the whole planet and on the other hand, the organization of teaching, meetings and debates between readers.
The first task, very material, is the reason for being of the Urantia Foundation. Its objective is to cover 95% of the planet with translations before 2030 to reduce the risk of falsification of the translation. Indeed, this date marks the end of copyright and will see the beginning of private publishing. The second task, more social and spiritual, is under the responsibility of the International Urantia Association (IUA). Its objective is to train the instructors and leaders that our planet needs. Its organization is as follows:
- the individual who carries out work and personal research,
- the study group which is the first level of exchange of views,
- the local association which enables meetings at the local level,
- the national association which oversees the guidelines defined by the coordination committee,
- the council of national presidents and vice-presidents which identifies the problems encountered and makes proposals,
- the coordination committee made up of people appointed by the trustees who put in place the tools necessary for the study groups,
- the trustees who are the guarantors of respect for the revelation.
In the United States, another organization, the Fellowship, also disseminates the teachings of the book. The task to be accomplished, to finally succeed fully in reestablishing the truth on Urantia, is immense and supreme. It requires the coordination of all available forces and intelligences. Also we must be careful to put ourselves at the service of the policy specified by the revelators.
The facts, meanings and values of our contribution to this great task is a good practical example to illustrate the theme of the conference. This subject, however, called us to a lot of humility, before any intellectual reflection, in front of our distorted mind limiting our discernment of the truth and leading us towards futile or even destructive action of the work already accomplished. What meanings should we see in these struggles? What values will they bring us?
Thus the tone was set and the speeches [^1] which followed described in turn the facts, the meanings and the values perceived in the following areas:
- the mission, commandments, faith and religion of Jesus,
- the concept of I Am,
- mortal life,
- religious intrepidity,
- faith.
We were all struck by the quality and relevance of the presentations, both in terms of the concepts studied and their application to real life. In addition to the speeches, we had the pleasure of participating in three study groups on very varied subjects, attending a play, a quiz, listening to a tenor and celebrating a memorial dinner. On this occasion a song was sung and once again recalled our common faith in the 5th revelation. The conference ended on Monday at noon and for the most part we separated after lunch, not without thanking this Finnish team for their sense of organization and discretion.
For about thirty of us, the separation was temporary because a second conference awaited us in Estonia. Around 6:00 p.m. on Monday we left Helsinki to join the Estonian capital by boat, our minds still in the spiritual clouds of the conference. The reality of this world would soon remind us of its constraints: customs, surprise return to Helsinki for one, faulty credit card for the other. Everything was finally settled and around midnight, somewhere in a hotel in the suburbs of Tallinn, everyone was able to return to the paradise of restful sleep.
Tuesday was a day of transition. In the morning we visited the old town enlightened by the comments of an Estonian reader and in the afternoon we went, transported by bus, to the conference venue, in the small holiday village of Karepa, east of Tallinn. This visit allowed us to appreciate the medieval character of the city and was enough to grasp the originality of this small country which hopes a lot from the opportunities that the European market could open up for it.
This Tuesday evening, after settling into small wooden bungalows, we took our first steps to discover the forest and the beach that surrounded us. Dinner was served very quickly and continued with a small meeting that presented the program for the next three days as well as the situation of the book in Estonia. In fact, the Estonians have the first half of the translation and, of course, are impatiently awaiting the rest, especially the fourth part of the book: the life of Jesus. The current distribution is very basic and consists of photocopying the first attempts at translation. The rest of the translation is in progress and relies on the participation of Finland given the financial effort to be made. But already, and while the book has not yet been translated, the Estonians estimate that there are a potential of five hundred people interested in reading the book. In fact, the population seems to be moving towards a movement of search for the truth and only 10% of Estonians belong to churches.
On Wednesday morning the conference began, in front of about fifty people, with a speech by the Estonian leader, Peep Sober. It was an introduction to the entire conference which clarified the concerns of the Estonians and described their approach to the book. Like all of us, they wish to understand this revelation in order to evaluate it and to be able to situate it among the rest of the knowledge at our disposal on the planet. Thus we discussed and reflected on the following themes:
- reader reactions to a book defining itself as the fifth revelation of the spiritual world in Urantia,
- what are the consequences of this revelation,
- how to situate it in relation to other revelations and other teachings?
In addition to these study groups, several speeches were given, including one on the dissemination of teachings and the decision-making process in humans. A memorial dinner was celebrated on Thursday, and on Friday evening a play, performed by a charming Estonian, presented us with the revelations of an angel about his human subject. Finally, every evening, after the sauna, we met around a campfire for a final exchange before the daily sleep.
The conference ended on Friday early afternoon. We all said goodbye to Karepa and returned to the capital by bus from where everyone went their separate ways.
These two gatherings seemed beneficial to us both because of the richness of the speeches and discussions in study groups and because of the exchanges of points of view on our experiences and our difficulties in understanding and implementing the teachings of the book. But they were also complementary because the Helsinki conference gave us a first contact with this vast world association that is the IUA while the Karepa conference allowed us to deepen personal contacts with its members through its more relaxed side and the smaller number of participants. These multiple discussions have undoubtedly transformed us and reminded us every day that we are not alone in taking up this enormous challenge that is the revelation of the truth about Urantia. This is how everyone’s motivation was brilliantly regenerated until the next world meeting which should be held in the United States in the year 2000.
Joseph and Severin.