© 1999 Guy Bourhis, Chris Ragetly, Anne-Marie Ronfet, Sylvette Perrier, Nicole Ragetly, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Jeanmarie Chaise
© 1999 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
Le Lien Urantien is getting bigger! This means that either we are more and more readers in France or that you are more and more prolific in your studies and personal reflections. In fact, there is probably a bit of both! In any case, this observation happily celebrates the already first 3 years of operation of the A.F.L.L.U. association created on March 3, 1996.
As you will also see, our newspaper is expanding with a complementary section: the relaxation corner. I think you will like the initiative as much as I did; it wonderfully extends the content written in a playful form. An initiative that I hope will promote others of the kind.
Francois Le Rohellec
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
❧ 1955 URANTIA Foundation. All rights reserved. These materials from The URANTIA Book are used with permission. Any artistic depiction(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.
Legal deposit: December 1997 — ISSN 1285-1116
Subscription in 1998: 100 FF per year (approximately 4 issues)
It is very difficult to realize the work that the Adjuster is doing in our minds, especially when we know that, more often than not, this “adherence” on our part to his mission is not a conscious (UB 110:3.6) process.
In the rare case where there is synchronization and harmonization of objectives between the Divine Gift and its human subject, the interested soul is transferred directly to the mansion worlds without going through the experience of death (ibid. UB 110:5.3).
The fact remains that the great goal of human experience is to attune oneself to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster.
Guy Bourhis
(This article has three parts)
What was his character when he was on Urantia as the Son of Man?
“Every one of the apostles loved Jesus, but it remains true that each of the twelve was drawn toward him because of some certain trait of personality which made a special appeal to the individual apostle. Andrew admired Jesus because of his consistent sincerity, his unaffected dignity. When men once knew Jesus, they were possessed with the urge to share him with their friends; they really wanted all the world to know him.” (UB 139:1.11)
No one could doubt the sincerity of Jesus. His life, as always, reflected the words he spoke. Jesus was, among other things, a leader, but a leader whose authority was such that he had no need to demonstrate it; he commanded without any affectation. His personality was a constant radiance, which his character could only emphasize.
(End of the first part)
Chris Ragetly
The following article is inspired by reading the “Center of Being” by K. G. DURCKHEIM [1], a German psychotherapist who lived in Japan for a long time. A disciple of Jung, he tried to reconcile Western and Eastern spirituality and treated only people with psychological problems due to a spiritual search. In fact, he was interested in what is common to all religions: a method to help man access “Transcendence”.
But under different names, we can find the characteristics of the cosmic mind described in booklet 16.
Dürckheim: "The three great distresses of the human being are:
Anne-Marie Ronfet
Love is Good, because God is Love.
Love is of Divine essence, so everything that is love, the one that we feel for other beings (children, men, women…) is Good. On the contrary, everything that is selfish is Evil: it is not self-love as it should be (that is to say the desire to survive, which pushes us to lead our being in the ways of God), it is its caricature, it is behaving like a spoiled child, an unpunished thug, in contempt of our neighbor whom we should respect and love. It is the centripetal path of selfishness which leads towards implosion, Luciferian destruction, the impasse of darkness.
Let us see Love: it has so many forms, it is pure jewel stuck in multiple more or less coarse gangues, or alloys with dubious metals to varying degrees. (Maternal Love is one of the most brilliant at the human-animal level). It is not always easy to recognize, but it Is. If we are moved by Love, do not worry, the direction is good.
It happens that we make many mistakes out of love for another being, that we abandon the simple path to take tortuous tangents, descending stairs, lengthening paths where we no longer find ourselves because we have lacked discernment. In this case it is said that love is blind, but it is we who are blinded by the deleterious vapors that inextricably mix with the minerals that surround this jewel reduced to the state of a glow-worm. Because our planet is distorted, the circuits are cut, and we are so obscured by Luciferian negativity (in us and outside of us), that we often go astray. But we always find ourselves further on the right path, even one or more levels lower, further away, more sloping… We tirelessly go back up because the light of Love guides us, seems to change shape as we advance. It becomes more beautiful, more lively. We make fewer mistakes. We no longer follow the slightest firefly, because we see better what was harmful, false, is gradually dissolved by the clarity of Love.
We love better and better. a rises. The essential beckons us more directly. The superfluous and the false fade, the True is seen better. After all these wanderings through human trials - which is our lot to all - we rise, victorious, less and less wavering towards the Good, towards the “True Light which enlightens Every Man coming into the world”, the only way out towards endless happiness.
Sylvette Perrier
The Paradise Trinity is the archetype of Trinitization.
The Universal Father achieves his freely-consented liberation from the bonds of infinity and the chains of eternity through the technique of trinitization, the triple personalization of Deity. (UB 0:7.8)
The transmutation of possibility into probability and inevitability is the free will (self-existent) attribute of the First Source Center. Here appears a new cycle of reality—the cycle of growth—which seeks these high destinies toward the source of infinity and the coming into existence of time itself.
Nicole Ragetly
I walked on the pink mountain again
And my hesitant steps lifted me a little.
Ah! To reach the peaks where winter rests.
And join the bird teaching me to fly!.
There is no month without a week.
Where echoes do not resonate
From the song of his sovereign voice.
Wing rustling?, alter ego?
I could have drowned in groundwater.
The friend who helps me climb higher every day,
Will lead me to the rock from which the fountain springs
And will make jewels from the gold of my streams.
There is no tree where a feather does not rest to guide me.
In the azure that the wind waters
Watch over me, winged friend.
Jean-Claude Romeuf.
Dear friends of the Urantia Book, here is a little mathematical-symbolic question that challenges me, as they say now. Have you never noticed that our dear Revelators, while serving us the most attractive truths about our future, and therefore, about our Father, about his Creation, and about ourselves, do it while having fun? We all know that the Urantia Book has 196 fascicles, or 4 x 7 x 7 but also 2097 pages, or 4 + 299 x 7
Is this a coincidence? Then let’s take a closer look:
Wouldn’t the 4 additional pages of the Book represent the 4 parts of the Book? In any case, these four pages are integrated into the very first part which is the Introduction of the Book which includes: 18 pages including one blank, or: 18 pages 4 + 2 x 7
Apart from this characteristic exception, all parts, pages and fascicles are multiples of “7”. Are these coincidences?
The first part has 336 pages, or | 354.18 | 48 x 7 |
The second part has 294 pages, namely: | (648-354) | 48 x 7$ |
The third part contains 672 pages, namely: | (1320-648) | 42 x 7 |
The fourth part contains 777 pages, namely: | (2097-1320) | 111 x 7 |
As for the fascicles, they are distributed as follows:
The first and second parts comprise 56 (31 + 25) fascicles, i.e. | 8 x 7 |
The third part contains 63 fascicles, i.e. | 9 x 7 |
The fourth part contains 77 fascicles, i.e. | 11 x 7 |
Additional remark: The symbol 4 seems to play a special role in the Introduction of the Urantia Book. Now, it can be noted that the fourth power of the first four symbols of the numeration results in the total number of pages of the first part, introduction included, namely:
I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the number 4 is presented as the axial symbol of 7, and that the phenomena of symmetry symbolically engender the phenomena of reflectivity, even of reflexivity (therefore of reflection). I ask the question: Did the revelators content themselves with communicating to us the spirit of the created universe only, or did they add to it possibilities of reflection of another order? That is the present question. Who has an idea?
Jeanmarie Chair
Here is a talk by Sister Emmanuelle given at the 1998 Christmas mass at Notre Dame de Paris, recorded by Jacques Dupont.
How do you see the future when you are 90 years old?
Well, when you are 90 years old, you are very optimistic, me, now I know a little about humanity, since I have been everywhere, where there are dramas, massacres, miseries, famine, well through all that, I have seen, you see, that the heart of man is good. There is in every man, even if he is said to be bad and wicked, a fiber, and I believe that the older we are, the more we admire the action of God through humanity.
That’s what Christmas is, it’s God present in the heart, it’s that fiber that is sometimes all hidden, but where there is love. Solidarity is needed. If you love, you are the brother of the one you love, you can’t bear to have everything and the other has nothing. It’s obvious.
When you love, you share, you can bear anything. That’s why I wanted to live in a shantytown, I couldn’t bear to see them living like that, I wanted to share their life, night and day, because I was their sister. To love is first to share.
We are sure of eternity, whoever they are, atheists, believers or unbelievers, there is something in the heart of man, this fiber which vibrates which makes God present in humanity.
It is exciting to live when you share the joys and sorrows of others.
At 90, we live more than when we are 10 or 20 or 50 or even 80; the heart expands, we have dimensions that are ultimately universal; we can no longer live huddled up on ourselves, it is no longer possible, so I am delighted to be 90. I don’t think I will reach 100, I don’t care. I am ready to take the leap to run into the arms of God and Jesus, my beloved. But I am also ready to stay with men, because it is good to be with others.
Sister Emmanuelle
One of the remarkable features when one becomes acquainted with THE URANTIA BOOK is the almost constant reference that one finds there in the establishment of its organization according to the mathematical ordering of its essential components. It quickly becomes apparent to the reader that numbers play a leading role, and in particular the decade and especially the heptad which, respectively, organize more than space and the conformation of things. And this observation brings an additional confirmation to the order in which the Deity wanted to unify and coordinate all his creation.
Jeanmarie Chair
Answer to the question asked in Link 5 (P.12) by Jean Royer relating to:
“…possibilities of operating in the external space…”
My own contribution is mainly focused on the type of operations carried out by:
The Master Force Organizers
The Lone Messengers
The Inspired Spirits of the Trinity
Mystery Monitors
The Frandalanks
The Master Force Organizers operate under physical conditions intolerable even for the Power Centers…;
The Solitary Messengers — are fundamental to the contact between the Infinite Spirit and the Universe;
like distant, solitary and urgent missions;
discover the new organizing centers.
The Inspired Spirits of the Trinity are a secret order of the Paradise Trinity; sometimes available for assignments to trinitized beings; have no discernible function in the management of the superuniverses.
Summarizing the activities specific to these three orders, we can say that:
The link uniting these three orders, according to fascicle 31, chapter 9, penultimate paragraph, is as follows:
“Only the Solitary Messengers and Inspired Spirits of the Trinity maintain organic association with the Transcendentalers and the Architects of the Master Universe,” and “…the Architects of the Master Universe have at their disposal…the Master Force Organizers…”
In a certain sense, the Architects of the Master Universe therefore head the three aforementioned orders: the Master Force Organizers, the Solitary Messengers and the Inspired Spirits of the Trinity…
Regarding the Frandalanks and the Mystery Monitors we know that:
4. Frandalanks record energy, but do not operate in the literal sense of the word, like the Master Force Organizers. So, let us ask ourselves the question: “Is it necessary to withstand intolerable physical conditions, just to record?”
5. The Mystery Monitors are not physical, but entirely spiritual and can follow the gravitational presence of Paradise even in the outer regions…
Therefore, the operations of the Frandalanks are limited to taking measurements and they do not intervene at all in the stage of elaboration of energies, masses and materials: they do not operate.
Mystery Monitors being spiritual will have no difficulty in overcoming the obstacle of intolerable physical conditions.
So, it is possible that the meaning of the last paragraph on page 329 is as follows:
François Dupont, Brussels
Article by Raymond Barilari about the article COHERENCE 2 of Link No. 6 page 11 about:
« about Father Melchizedek and Gabriel. »
“Having determined the time of his final bestowal and having selected the planet whereon this extraordinary event would take place, Michael held the usual prebestowal conference with Gabriel and then presented himself before his elder brother and Paradise counselor, Immanuel. All powers of universe administration which had not previously been conferred upon Gabriel, Michael now assigned to the custody of Immanuel. And just before Michael’s departure for the Urantia incarnation, Immanuel, in accepting the custody of the universe during the time of the Urantia bestowal, proceeded to impart the bestowal counsel which would serve as the incarnation guide for Michael when he would presently grow up on Urantia as a mortal of the realm.” (UB 120:0.6)
“There were immediate advantages and tremendous compensations resultant from the willingness of this mighty Creator Son once more voluntarily to subordinate himself to the will of the Paradise Deities, this time to that of the Universal Father. By this decision to effect such associative subordination, Michael would experience in this incarnation, not only the nature of mortal man, but also the will of the Paradise Father of all. And further, he could enter upon this unique bestowal with the complete assurance, not only that Immanuel would exercise the full authority of the Paradise Father in the administration of his universe during his absence on the Urantia bestowal, but also with the comforting knowledge that the Ancients of Days of the superuniverse had decreed the safety of his realm throughout the entire bestowal period.” (UB 120:0.8)
““And that you may know with assurance that I am empowered to do all that I am now promising (knowing full well that I am the assurance of all Paradise for the faithful performance of my word), I announce to you that there has just been communicated to me a mandate of the Ancients of Days on Uversa which will prevent all spiritual jeopardy in Nebadon throughout the period of your voluntary bestowal. From the moment you surrender consciousness, upon the beginning of the mortal incarnation, until you return to us as supreme and unconditional sovereign of this universe of your own creation and organization, nothing of serious import can happen in all Nebadon. In this interim of your incarnation, I hold the orders of the Ancients of Days which unqualifiedly mandate the instantaneous and automatic extinction of any being guilty of rebellion or presuming to instigate insurrection in the universe of Nebadon while you are absent on this bestowal. My brother, in view of the authority of Paradise inherent in my presence and augmented by the judicial mandate of Uversa, your universe and all its loyal creatures will be secure during your bestowal. You may proceed upon your mission with but a single thought—the enhanced revelation of our Father to the intelligent beings of your universe.” (UB 120:1.5)
When we say, either Gabriel or Father Melchizedek, it is in ordinary times, the bestowal of Michael on Urantia is an extraordinary case as you can see in the text of booklet 120, special measures have been taken, very severe measures, this does not take place in ordinary times.
So learn this:
To every general rule there may be one or more exceptions, even if this has not been revealed.
Remember this principle:
SPECIAL SITUATION, REQUEST FOR SPECIAL MEASURES.
Raymond Barilari
“reading pace”
"As for the rhythm of reading The Urantia Book, I think the idea is to read a passage, more or less long, each day. When you put off a job until tomorrow, it’s like when you have to answer mail, you put it off from day to day, lacking more and more motivation. It is always possible to find a quarter of an hour or a half hour in a day to study the Book.
After reading The Urantia Book in its entirety, to get an overview, I study very seriously the fourth part, which is more accessible to me, and I see the life of Jesus differently from what I had known before. The Bible had not answered my questions, but The Urantia Book explains everything.
Helene Gauducheau
Response to the article on inconsistencies in Link #6, regarding:
“the simultaneous absence of Salvington, Gabriel and Father Melchizedek, during Michael’s last bestowal on Urantia.”
Let us first see what The Urantia Book tells us about Gabriel, Father Melchizedek, and Emmanuel regarding their attributes and prerogatives when Michael is absent from Salvington.
Gabriel and his staff are not teachers; they are administrators. They were never known to depart from their regular work except when Michael was incarnated on a creature bestowal. During such bestowals Gabriel was ever attendant on the will of the incarnated Son, and with the collaboration of the Union of Days, he became the actual director of universe affairs during the later bestowals. Gabriel has been closely identified with the history and development of Urantia ever since the mortal bestowal of Michael. (UB 33:4.7)
In the universe of Nebadon the Father Melchizedek acts as the first executive associate of the Bright and Morning Star. Gabriel is occupied more with universe policies, Melchizedek with practical procedures. Gabriel presides over the regularly constituted tribunals and councils of Nebadon, Melchizedek over the special, extraordinary, and emergency commissions and advisory bodies. Gabriel and the Father Melchizedek are never away from Salvington at the same time, for in Gabriel’s absence the Father Melchizedek functions as the chief executive of Nebadon. (UB 35:1.2)
Having determined the time of his final bestowal and having selected the planet whereon this extraordinary event would take place, Michael held the usual prebestowal conference with Gabriel and then presented himself before his elder brother and Paradise counselor, Immanuel. All powers of universe administration which had not previously been conferred upon Gabriel, Michael now assigned to the custody of Immanuel. And just before Michael’s departure for the Urantia incarnation, Immanuel, in accepting the custody of the universe during the time of the Urantia bestowal, proceeded to impart the bestowal counsel which would serve as the incarnation guide for Michael when he would presently grow up on Urantia as a mortal of the realm. (UB 120:0.6)
“There were immediate advantages and tremendous compensations resultant from the willingness of this mighty Creator Son once more voluntarily to subordinate himself to the will of the Paradise Deities, this time to that of the Universal Father. By this decision to effect such associative subordination, Michael would experience in this incarnation, not only the nature of mortal man, but also the will of the Paradise Father of all. And further, he could enter upon this unique bestowal with the complete assurance, not only that Immanuel would exercise the full authority of the Paradise Father in the administration of his universe during his absence on the Urantia bestowal, but also with the comforting knowledge that the Ancients of Days of the superuniverse had decreed the safety of his realm throughout the entire bestowal period.” (UB 120:0.8)
“Throughout each of your former bestowals you have voluntarily chosen to subject yourself to the will of the three Paradise Deities and their divine interassociations. Of the seven phases of the will of the Supreme you have in your previous bestowals been subject to all but the personal will of your Paradise Father. Now that you have elected to be wholly subject to your Father’s will throughout your seventh bestowal, I, as the personal representative of our Father, assume the unqualified jurisdiction of your universe for the time of your incarnation. (UB 120:1.2)
“…I (Emmanuel) would be fully and effectively responsible for the uninterrupted administration and security of your universe…”
“…My brother, (it is Emmanuel addressing Michael), in view of the authority of Paradise inherent in my presence and augmented by the legal mandate of Uversa, your universe and all its loyal creatures will be safe during your bestowal.”
“As in all your previous bestowals, I (Emmanuel) remind you that I am the depositary of the jurisdiction of your universe as your proxy brother. I exercise all authority and make use of all power in your name. I am the supreme and living pledge whose presence and promise guarantee the administration of your universe in all security, in accordance with the will of your Father… ”
“As long as you are absent for this final and extraordinary effusion, I undertake (with Gabriel’s cooperation) to faithfully administer your universe…” UB 120:1.4-7
From all these quotations (there are nine of them) it is clear that Emmanuel is completely responsible for the administration of the universe of Nebadon, even though Gabriel and Father Melchizedek are absent together. This situation had also occurred on other occasions during Michael’s previous bestowals. Furthermore, the Ancients of Days of Orvonton guaranteed the security of Nebadon during the said bestowal. Gabriel and Father Melchizedek could therefore come together in complete safety to Urantia to meet Michael-Jesus. This explanation of the said inconsistency of The Urantia Book on this subject seems to me quite plausible.
(Italics are ours)
Chris and Nicole Ragetly,
ERRATUM
Link 8 page 13 & 14: The author of a Response to the article “Is it possible” by J Royer was Mr C Castel
Dear friends, we are thinking of creating a new “Relaxation Corner”, we invite you to submit your own crosswords, funny stories, drawings…or any other kind of support related to what The Urantia Book calls “retrospection”.
The editorial staff
This grid is offered to you by Dominique Ronfet
HORIZONTAL
VERTICAL
The Urantia Foundation Coordinating Committee is pleased to announce the creation of the Urantia Internet School; a new project directly conceived on the communication possibilities of the Internet network. Its objective: to encourage ever more the study and understanding of The Urantia Book.
This school is intended to complement existing study methods; individual study, study groups, electronic forums, seminars and conferences.
The Urantia Internet School is multilingual, the French language “classes” will probably open their doors to “students” at the beginning of summer 1999.
The philosophy of this new project is intended to be in complete agreement with the goals of the Declaration of Trust at the origin of the Urantia Foundation; which are to help readers to expand their perception and understanding of the concepts of The Urantia Book through a non-interpretive and non-invasive pedagogy.
Therefore, the mode of operation of the classes will be of the purely Socratic type, that is, based solely on a process of “questions (from the teacher) — answers (from the student).” The essential thing is that the student has first-hand experience with The Urantia Book, aided in this by his Thought Adjuster and by the Spirit of Truth. They will in fact be the real “teachers.”
An eight-week full-scale test was conducted to evaluate this method of distance learning. This initial feedback will enable future teaching managers to optimally prepare their first classes.
But Urantia Internet School needs your help because like any school it needs teachers.
They will be long-time readers of The Urantia Book, with additional teaching skills and of course sufficient availability to get seriously involved. If you yourself have particularly studied this or that aspect of The Urantia Book, if you wish to share your discoveries, join us for this new and ambitious project by sending your profile and your contact details (see below) to Dorothy Elder (delder03@sprynet.com) president of the Urantia Internet School before February 20 (or possibly to Georges MichelsonDupont (Georges.Michelson-Dupont@wanadoo.fr).
The current goal is to prepare a group of 15 to 20 first teachers in order to start the 1st semester of classes. Once your application is accepted, the school will send you all the useful information to help you prepare the technical aspect of your classes. Except for an Internet connection and an email software (the possibility of configuring several email addresses on it is recommended), no additional tools are necessary.
The overall strategy of the school and the development of different streams is currently being developed. Also, for this first year, the classes will be quite general; the subjects will be selected by the teachers but approved by the committee.
To learn more, you can:
Typical profile: long-time reader with teaching skills and time. Specify:
Do not hesitate to write to us for an article, or for the “questions and answers” section
We ask you to provide us with your names (use your real names, no pseudonyms) and address, date and also try not to exceed 2 typewritten pages…
Send them to:
A.F.L.L.U. — 8, Passage de la Bonne Graine 75011 — PARIS — FRANCE
Albin Michel — “Living Spiritualities” Collection ↩︎