© 2004 Séverin Desbuisson, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Chris M. Ragetly, Christine Baussain, Patrick Beaupre, Dominique Ronfet
© 2004 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:
48, rue Douy Delcupe
93110 MONTREUIL UNDER WOOD
FRANCE
¶ A Word from the President
Loyal readers,
In recent months our association has been heavily penalized by the management of the distribution of the Urantia Book in France. Fortunately, this period is now over.
Since this summer, the Chicago Foundation has signed a distribution agreement with MCOR Christienne (see contact details below). This company now serves as a distributor for major retailers and booksellers. In particular, MCOR works with the distributor DILISCO.
I would not like to lose you in these contractual and terminological considerations… For you, the essential thing to remember is that the Urantia Book and the associated works: The Veil Is Lifted, A Study of the Master Universe and Appendices to the Master Universe are again, easily available, at bookstores and other FNAC.
Also, in order to best supply and maintain this distribution channel, we recommend that you order directly from booksellers, without going through the AFLUB. In the event that the book you are looking to obtain is not known to the retailer, simply indicate to him that DILISCO ensures its distribution in France. Your bookseller should know and know how to proceed. Please note, however, that “A Study of the Master Universe” is currently out of print; we are studying its reissue.
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a second piece of good news: the announcement of a meeting in Angers on November 19, 20 and 21. The location will allow us, I hope, to meet new readers while enjoying a very pleasant setting since it is located in a park, near a large lake.
Happy reading to all,
Distributor of the Urantia Book in France: M.C.O.R. Christienne Tel.: 02.28.10.00.01 Fax: 02.28.10.00.01
Distributor of the Urantia Book in France: DILISCO Tel.: 01.49.59.50.50 Fax: 01.46.71.05.06
Severin Desbuisson
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
¶ Summary
- The President’s Word by Séverin Desbuisson
- Cosmic Consciousness by Jean-Claude Romeuf
- Discernment and Free Will by Chris M. Ragetly
- Testimony: Bridges, footbridges and rope ladders by Christine Baussain
- Relaxation corner: Tales, poetry and humor : by Patrick Beaupre
- Nostalgia
- Questions and answers: Question… by Dominique Ronfet
- Gazette Column: Urantian News Briefs
❧ 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)
¶ Cosmic Consciousness
From the mental point of view, the development of cosmic consciousness is not so much about discovering and understanding the laws of rotation of planets, suns and galaxies, as it is about feeling and intellectualizing the benevolence of the universe.
This clairvoyance becomes spiritual because it involves the recognition of a loving First Cause and comes from a revelation of divinity requiring the constancy of personal choice between good and evil, truth and error. It is accompanied and balanced by an increase in sensitivity to the perception of beauty in the apparent ugliness of things.
It is the fruit of the loving communion of the divine and the human. It is the very revelation of the inner spirit, the whispering but perceptible voice of God.
Jean-Claude Romeuf
¶ Discernment and Free Will
How many times have we heard this reflection: “I am very disappointed, I talk about the Urantia Book, about my spiritual experiences, I give away Urantia Books, and all this to no avail, all these people are simply not interested.” This is the complaint heard over and over again from new readers of The Urantia Book. Who among us has not experienced it? Who has not wanted to challenge the whole world?
It might be helpful for new readers to consider the following quote from the Book: “The man who knows God describes his spiritual experiences not to convince unbelievers, but to edify and mutually satisfy believers.” (UB 1:6.6)
Trying to know God the Father is a personal experience. As long as a person does not seek the Father of his own free will, he will not have the slightest curiosity about the spiritual experiences of others who have made the spiritual, and intellectual, effort to seek God. A person cannot be forced to know God. In favorable circumstances, which it is up to each of us to discern, one can try to whet a person’s spiritual appetite: “Stimulate the appetite of your associates for the truth. Give advice only when asked” (UB 48:7.16). A certain spiritual insight is required, but this is perceptible only to the soul: “…But the man of material mind is naturally more accustomed to material manifestations of a physical nature than to the equally real and powerful operations of a spiritual nature, which the spiritual insight of the soul alone can discern…” (UB 12:8.4)
Chris M. Ragetly
¶ Testimony
¶ Bridges, walkways and rope ladders
A lively discussion at a recent readers’ meeting encouraged me to write down this little testimony, and I sincerely thank those who forced me to clarify my thoughts.
My passion is building bridges: finding crossing points between different domains, making them passable, and installing signposts for those who are making their way.
The method? To seek theoretical knowledge and put it to the test by practice, since it is on facts that our experience of the world is based (UB 111:6.7 *), conversely to theorize spontaneous experiences by acquired knowledge; but also to vertically bring together the discoveries of human research, striving towards the light, of the affirmations of the revelation that I consider to be the UB.
Christine Baussain
¶ Tales, Poems and Humor
¶ Nostalgia
Only a poet can discern poetry in the banal prose of life… (UB 48:7.22)
Silence !..
It’s getting late, night is coming quickly.
I turn the page and close the book,
I can almost sleep.
My soul is at rest, and the night will be calm.
I’m not afraid of anything anymore.
Somewhere in the sky,
Someone knows I love him.
Somewhere in the sky,
Someone is reaching out to me
I must confess today that when reading the book
Patrick Beaupre
¶ Magic
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, and make the biggest racket. Two planetary rockets, taking themselves for swallows, touched the surface of the water with their wings and made a curved leaf vibrate, which was trying to bathe and wake up. In short, joy was at its peak!
Jean-Claude Romeuf
“all reality of personality is proportional to its relations with divinity”
¶ Questions — answers
¶ Question…
How did Jesus in morontia form manage to breathe on Urantia, a planet with two gases (the majority: 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen + minus 1% other gases) when a third is needed for morontia creatures?
The first act of Jesus on arising from the tomb was to greet Gabriel and instruct him to continue in executive charge of universe affairs under Immanuel, and then he directed the chief of the Melchizedeks to convey his brotherly greetings to Immanuel. He thereupon asked the Most High of Edentia for the certification of the Ancients of Days as to his mortal transit; and turning to the assembled morontia groups of the seven mansion worlds, here gathered together to greet and welcome their Creator as a creature of their order, Jesus spoke the first words of the postmortal career. Said the morontia Jesus: “Having finished my life in the flesh, I would tarry here for a short time in transition form that I may more fully know the life of my ascendant creatures and further reveal the will of my Father in Paradise.” (UB 189:1.10)
Edentia and its associated worlds have a true atmosphere, the usual three-gas mixture which is characteristic of such architectural creations, and which embodies the two elements of Urantian atmosphere plus that morontia gas suitable for the respiration of morontia creatures. But while this atmosphere is both material and morontial, there are no storms or hurricanes; neither is there summer nor winter. This absence of atmospheric disturbances and of seasonal variation makes it possible to embellish all outdoors on these especially created worlds. (UB 43:1.3)
Dominique Ronfet
¶ La Gazette section
¶ Urantia News Briefs
“Seppo Kanerva informs us that the printing of the Lithuanian translation of the Urantia Book is underway.”