© 1996 George Michelson-Dupont, Jean Yves Vigneron, François Dupont, François Le Rohellec, Michael Hanian
© 1996 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Journal of the association L'A.F.L.L.U. French-speaking Association of Readers of the URANTIA Book
Member of the I.U.A.
Head office:
8, Passage of the Good Seed
75011 PARIS—France
¶ A Word from the President
Here is the second issue of your Urantian Link. Much more substantial than the first. It is also more in line with what you expected, but as with anything new, it takes time to adapt. We nevertheless hope that the format chosen satisfies you. This periodical is yours from now on, do not hesitate to send your criticisms or suggestions in order to improve it, both the container and the content.
Our French language website is starting to function on the URANTIA Foundation server and we remind you here of its address: “http://www.urantia.org”. It also gives access to a “Discussion Forum” in French, to which you just have to register to participate and receive messages. This forum, a real electronic study group, is dedicated to the study of the URANTIA Book and allows French-speaking readers from all over the world to come together and exchange ideas, compare interpretations and share.
Enjoy reading and let us commit ourselves more and more to doing the will of our Father.
G. Michelson-Dupont
¶ Summary
- The President’s word
- Artistic conception of the Master Universe
- Proceedings of the 3rd Nashville Conference 1996
- Meeting of the translators of The URANTIA Book in Paris in 1996
- Welcome to new readers
- The Consecration
- The Gazette
❧ 1955 URANTIA Foundation. All rights reserved. These materials from The URANTIA Book are used with permission. Any artistic representation(s), interpretation(s), opinion(s) or conclusion(s) implied or stated are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of URANTIA Foundation or its affiliates.
¶ Artistic conception of the Master Universe
Drawings made by Jean Yves Vigneron using Windows® “Paint” software (Texts taken from the URANTIA Book)
This study is entirely based on the description of the universe presented to us in the URANTIA Book in papers 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Interested readers can obtain the files by sending a blank diskette to the association office. They can also be downloaded from the French-language Internet site according to an explained procedure.
In considering these views, we suggest that the reader refer to the various relevant papers in The URANTIA Book.
¶ Report of the 3rd International Conference of Associations Affiliated to the I.U.A.
From August 9 to 12, 1996, the 3rd IUA conference took place in Nassville, Tennessee (USA). National associations from different states met there.
A strategic planning session had preceded it on August 8, conducted by representatives of the various national delegations. At issue: the definition of objectives and the development of a plan for the dissemination and promotion of The URANTIA Book over the next 5 to 10 years.
Both events took place on the campus of Vanderbilt University, a place conducive to both warm contacts and more personal meditations.
Under the title “On the Road to Service” a triptych Consecration-Integration-Transformation was deployed — forming the basis of the conference.
Francois Dupont
September 1, 1996 — BRUSSELS
¶ Meeting of the translators of the URANTIA Book organized by the URANTIA Foundation in PARIS in April 1996
We all know that a planetary diffusion of the Fifth Revelation will only take place if the original text The URANTIA Book is translated into the languages of the races and peoples of Urantia. This obligation is written in the “Declaration of Trust” governing the URANTIA Foundation and this is why, in view of the importance of the task, it seemed necessary to gather in one place, not only the Trustees of the Foundation (thus emphasizing the interest they had in this mission) but also all the good wills who, directly or indirectly, have been or are involved in a translation process.
The URANTIA Foundation, with the help of passionate and dedicated readers, has undertaken seven translations and one correction, and continues to actively seek talented and willing individuals who might join in this unprecedented effort to extend the reach of the 5th Revelation to every continent.
Summary prepared by G. Michelson-Dupont
¶ Welcoming new readers
With the availability of the URANTIA Book through the traditional channels of bookstores, the number of readers continues to increase. This will have as a direct consequence an increase in requests from these new readers that we must welcome as best we can.
These requests will probably involve a request for information concerning the movement and existing activities, meeting other readers (participation in study groups), the possibilities of obtaining works related to the study of The URANTIA Book, etc.
The newly formed Association of Readers of the URANTIA Book (A.F.L.L.U.) was created precisely to meet these needs, which will undoubtedly continue to grow. Much work remains to be done to effectively provide readers with the services they expect or that we imagine.
As things stand, the least we can do is, in my opinion, to be able to respond as warmly as we can to these truth seekers, in particular by the availability we will reserve for them during their first contact. Also in this sense, it seems important to me to have a small network of volunteers to whom requests would be redirected based mainly on proximity criteria, thus facilitating the realization of a meeting and/or integration into the local study group. Already a good number of experienced readers have spontaneously responded to requests of this type. This is therefore not a particularly new approach but simply an attempt to organize existing circuits a little better.
I therefore ask people who would be available to participate in this reception to explicitly communicate to me their telephone number and their place of residence, in order to establish a geographical list likely to be used to propose a neighborhood contact to future new readers.
From experience, I know how painful it is to be unable to simply share the richness and depth of The URANTIA Book in the early days of its discovery. Thank you in advance.
Francois Le Rohellec
Head of the Study Groups Committee
8, rue des Lilas 34430 St Jean de Védas
Tel.: 04.67.42.22.71
Email: flrohlec@lmgc.univ-montp2.fr
¶ The Consecration
Speech delivered by Michael Hanian at the 1996 Nashville Conference
Dear friends, I have the honor to present one of the themes of this conference, but first of all I would like to apologize: speech is not really my strong point. I hope that this frank confession will be received with sympathy and pity. After all, a sincere confession softens the punishment.
In speaking of consecration, we are going to touch on several topics that are related. We will begin with the comparison between consecration and intellectual curiosity; then we will discuss the mysteries of consecration; then we will talk about another topic—the relationship between consecration and the will; then we will touch on, very briefly, an interaction between consecration and integration; we will go on to try to define consecration as the focusing of the will, after which we will try to see if there is a connection between consecration and trust and see if we can have some help in establishing that trust.
¶ Gazette section
The purpose of this column is to disseminate information from groups of readers of the Urantia Book and relating to the life of the Urantia movement.
¶ FROM FRANCE
A.F.L.L.U. NEWS
Vocabulary for readers of the Urantia Book.
Members will find, at the same time as No. 2 of the Urantian Link, a “Vocabulary for the use of readers of the Urantia Book”. This small lexicon, prepared by Jean Royer, is the fruit of several years of reflection on the semantics and vocabulary of the Urantia Book. It will be especially useful for readers with some knowledge of English and wishing to know the origin of certain words used in the corrected French version.
It is available, for non-members, from the Paris office for the sum of 25 French francs payable to the A.F.L.L.U.
A story of the Master Universe
A French translation of “A story of the master universe” is in preparation.
William S. Sadler, Jr., the author of this essay and son of Dr. William S. Sadler, took an active part in the preparatory phase and then in the dissemination of The Urantia Book. He died prematurely on November 22, 1963. It is likely that his participation in the “contact commission” and then his reflection and meditation allowed him to acquire an exceptional human understanding of the concepts of reality described in The Urantia Book.
When we began reading this 150-page work in 1983, my wife and I were young readers of the Urantia Book and its help was so valuable to us that we decided to translate it for the benefit of readers of the Urantia Book. Later, Jean Royer joined this project.
The publication of a 150-page work, with a minimum of 1000 copies, costs 60,000 FF. Also, not having this sum, we propose to publish it in 3 times, in the same format as Le Lien Urantien and with the limited means of publication that the Paris Office of the Foundation makes available to us.
Its price, covering publication and shipping costs, is set at 90 F.F. for Europe and 100 F.F. for Canada, payable to the A.F.L.L.U.
Warning: The ideas presented in this book are only a human interpretation and cannot claim to replace The Urantia Book. Nevertheless, the interest in reading them is obvious and we recommend it. They are a scaffolding allowing, at a given moment, to progress in the understanding of reality but, as such, they are destined, sooner or later, to be abandoned to make way for more personal ideas and in accordance with the level of maturity reached.
IT IS not enough that the ascending mortal should know something of the relations of Deity to the genesis and manifestations of cosmic reality; he should also comprehend something of the relationships existing between himself and the numerous levels of existential and experiential realities, of potential and actual realities. Man’s terrestrial orientation, his cosmic insight, and his spiritual directionization are all enhanced by a better comprehension of universe realities and their techniques of interassociation, integration, and unification. (UB 106:0.1)
Nota Bene: William S. Sadler Junior wrote a sequel entitled: “Appendices to a story of the Master Universe” which is also being translated and will probably be published later.
¶ FROM FINLAND
URANTIA SOCIETY OF FINLAND
Our friends in Finland are in charge of preparing the next International Conference of the I.U.A. which will take place in 1998. The theme and the place of the conference have not yet been fixed but we will not fail to inform our readers.
Furthermore, the Finnish office of Urantia Foundation informs us that in total, since the availability of the Finnish version in June 1993, approximately 3000 copies of URANTIA—Kirja have been sold, including nearly 1000 in the “soft cover” version since June 1996.
With a population of 5 million, Finland has the highest per capita penetration rate of The Urantia Book.
¶ UNITED STATES
ATTEMPT AT RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE FELLOWSHIP AND THE FOUNDATION
At the invitation of the Trustees of the URANTIA Foundation, a preparatory meeting with the principal leaders of the Fellowship will be held in Chicago in January 1997.
The aim of these discussions is to highlight the points of friction and the difficulties which have led these two organisations to tear each other apart for more than 5 years and to reflect on the solutions to be implemented to put an end to this state of affairs which is detrimental to the entire movement.
At a time when our readership is about to experience an extraordinary expansion with the availability, in the course of next year, of Russian, Korean and Dutch translations, it becomes suicidal to export to these countries the spiritual cancer of our disunity.
The path followed is certainly not the easiest or the least dangerous, but it is certainly more in conformity with the will of our Father and the desire of the Revelators who have given us this prodigious gift. Spiritual unity does not mean servile intellectual uniformity, but on the contrary personal creativity within a structured and ordered overall scheme.
When the Master had finished speaking to James Zebedee, he stepped around to the end of the table where Andrew sat and, looking his faithful helper in the eyes, said: “Andrew, you have faithfully represented me as acting head of the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. Although you have sometimes doubted and at other times manifested dangerous timidity, still, you have always been sincerely just and eminently fair in dealing with your associates. Ever since the ordination of you and your brethren as messengers of the kingdom, you have been self-governing in all group administrative affairs except that I designated you as the acting head of these chosen ones. In no other temporal matter have I acted to direct or to influence your decisions. And this I did in order to provide for leadership in the direction of all your subsequent group deliberations. In my universe and in my Father’s universe of universes, our brethren-sons are dealt with as individuals in all their spiritual relations, but in all group relationships we unfailingly provide for definite leadership. Our kingdom is a realm of order, and where two or more will creatures act in co-operation, there is always provided the authority of leadership. (UB 181:2.16)
Resignation of Philippe ROLNICK from his position as Trustee
Philippe Rolnick, Trustee of the URANTIA Foundation, has resigned, effective at the end of 1996. He has served since 1993, replacing Martin Myers.
During his mandate he was particularly responsible for the training of the I.U.A., contacts with the French-speaking world and then the legal and judicial problems which the Urantia Foundation was facing.
French speakers will remember him as a Francophile, with a good command of our language, pugnacious in the face of adversity but faithful in friendship. His great intellectual capacity, his devotion to the values he held supreme and his unwavering commitment made him someone sought out not only for his advice but also for his warm support.