© 2004 Séverin Desbuisson, Georges Michelson-Dupont, Chris M. Ragetly, Jean Royer, René Felix, Myriam Delcroix, Max Masotti, 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
Dear readers,
What will we remember from AFLUB’s activities over the past year?
The most important action, on a logistical level, was the delegation of the sale of the Urantia book and related publications to the distributor DILISCO. As a reminder, when Urantia France ceased its activity, we were mobilized and quickly saturated for six months to ensure, as best we could, the interim distribution of the book.
For the rest, most of our activities were devoted to organizing readers’ meetings, distributing the Lien, the IUA journal, and maintaining fraternal exchanges between readers. Note: we have just received the reissue of Appendices to the Master Universe by William S. Sadler Junior. The book had been out of print for several weeks.
So what does 2005 have in store for us?
First, a unique opportunity to meet us all from June 3 to 5 in Goult during the only readers’ meeting of the year.
Then, we hope to publish, during the year, the new website of the association. It will offer more communications and information provision for truth seekers. Ideally, we also hope to enrich this future site with a portal for discussions that we hope will be cordial and fraternal. We will not fail to keep you informed.
Finally, many other projects are underway or could see the light of day. Unfortunately, to carry them out, we often lack volunteers willing to invest a little of their time and little of their energy. In 2005 also we will need your support and your goodwill to keep the AFLUB alive.
Best wishes for spiritual growth in this new year,
Severin Desbuisson
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
¶ Summary
- The President’s Word by Séverin Desbuisson
- Becoming what I AM by Georges Michelson-Dupont
- Reason and Faith by Chris M. Ragetly
- Hasty judgment by Jean Royer
- Where metaphysics totally fails by Jean Royer
- Testimony: Diamond Wedding or Smiling Philosophy of Serene Octogenarians by René Felix
- Tales, poetry and humor: Absence by Myriam Delcroix
- Questions and answers: an answer by Max Masotti
- The art of paradox by Dominique Ronfet
- _Gazette Column: The Dissemination of The Urantia Book
- Brief Urantian News
❧ 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)
¶ Becoming what I AM
The organizers of the I.U.A. international conference, held in Chicago from July 28 to August 1, 2004, asked me last March to lead a workshop and I chose the topic “becoming what I AM.”
When I arrived on site I discovered that the theme had become: “worship as a technique of communion”. Perplexed, I went to one of the organizers to express my embarrassment when suddenly the idea came to me: “communion” means to enter into “communion” which is directly related to the theme I had chosen “becoming what I AM”, becoming one with my Thought Adjuster.
By slightly changing my introduction the topic became perfectly consistent with what I had prepared. English not being my native language I nevertheless had to rethink a little the articulation of my presentation that I made without notes and in the form of a dialogue with the people present.
Here are the main ideas presented in writing.
Read more
Georges Michelson-Dupont
¶ Reason and Faith
Reason, reasoning, is of the mind. Faith can manifest itself on the mental as well as the spiritual level. “…Reason creates the probability which faith can transform into moral certainty, and even into spiritual experience…” (UB 102:6.6). This function, or should we say, this ability of faith to transform a probability (provided it is compatible with the divine reasonings of the Adjuster) into moral certainty or even into spiritual experience, is one of the channels through which our spiritual evolutionary experience can progress.
But before it can become a spiritual experience, this stage must pass through the moral phase of certainty. We need this certainty on the mental plane before we can transform this mental reality into a spiritual experience. But what exactly is faith? The Urantia Book offers us a question-definition of faith: “Is faith - the supreme affirmation of human thought - desirable? Then the mind of man must find itself in this embarrassing situation where it always knows less than it can believe.” (UB 3:5.9) First, the definition: “Faith is the supreme affirmation of human thought” Human thought, which functions thanks to the mind, reaches here the maximum of its affirmation, we must “fuel” mentally at 100%, so that we can pass to the spiritual stage, that is to say, transform a mental certainty into a spiritual experience (with the indispensable help of the Adjuster) and thus be able to endure this bizarre situation where we always know less than we can believe! In other words: I have a living faith in God, (but what exactly is a living faith? It is a faith that is practiced and lived on a daily basis) and this belief gives us an indispensable point of support for the continuation of our evolution, both mental and spiritual, but what I know about God is limited to very little, successive revelations teach us a little more each time, taking into account the new levels that the human mind has reached in a given era of an evolutionary planet.
Chris. M. Ragetly
(Quotes from The Urantia Book are in italics)
¶ Hasty judgment
We must be careful not to make hasty judgments when we detect, or believe we detect, an error in the UB. Let us take two examples:
Lucifer and his first assistant, Satan, had reigned on Jerusem for more than five hundred thousand years when in their hearts they began to array themselves against the Universal Father and his then vicegerent Son, Michael. (UB 53:2.1)
When did this happen?
The Lucifer manifesto was issued at the annual conclave of Satania on the sea of glass, in the presence of the assembled hosts of Jerusem, on the last day of the year, about two hundred thousand years ago, Urantia time. Satan proclaimed that worship could be accorded the universal forces—physical, intellectual, and spiritual—but that allegiance could be acknowledged only to the actual and present ruler, Lucifer, the “friend of men and angels” and the “God of liberty.” (UB 53:4.1)
But what do we read a hundred pages further?
Jean Royer
¶ Where metaphysics totally fails…
Science ends its reason-search in the hypothesis of a First Cause. Religion does not stop in its flight of faith until it is sure of a God of salvation. The discriminating study of science logically suggests the reality and existence of an Absolute. Religion believes unreservedly in the existence and reality of a God who fosters personality survival. What metaphysics fails utterly in doing, and what even philosophy fails partially in doing, revelation does; that is, affirms that this First Cause of science and religion’s God of salvation are one and the same Deity. (UB 101:2.7)
We have all read that phrase, “where metaphysics totally fails,” but how many have stopped to ask what it means? In other words, what is meant by metaphysics? (The word occurs 22 times as a noun.)
Metaphysics is one of those polysemic terms that must be analyzed from at least two angles, the human point of view and what The Urantia Book says about it.
Jean Royer
¶ Testimony
¶ Diamond Wedding or Smiling Philosophy of Serene Octogenarians
What keeps couples together…?
LOVE? — maybe.
THE HABIT? — possible.
SEX? - why not.
TENDERNESS, COMPLICITY? -For sure.
THE INTEREST? - It happens and it is not always sordid.
It is not just Cupid who drives boys and girls side by side on the highway of conjugality.
Long live homogeneous couples; that is to say, those whose two partners share the same geographical origins, the same religion, the same education, the same culture…
These couples are better equipped to face the crumbling of the years. The bonds created by a religion, a culture, common tastes, will come to take over from the passion that general opinion displays as eternal…leaving a scent of grayish conformism hanging.
Rene Felix
¶ Tales, Poems and Humor
¶ Absence
A star passes and goes out in the cold silence,
Myriam Delcroix
¶ Questions - answers
Answer to Dominique Ronfet’s question… “How did Jesus in morontia form manage to breathe on Urantia, a planet with 2 gases (the majority: 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen + minus 1% other gases) when a third is needed for morontia creatures?” (published in Link 31)
I believe this is solely the responsibility of the Master Physical Controllers and Energy Transformers.
They are the ones who must do everything possible to ensure the morontia appearances, at the various stages, of Jesus’ ascension.
If these beings ensure Michael’s appearances, they must also ensure his breathing, that goes without saying.
But let us not lose sight of what is said (UB 189:3.1 “The Dispensational Resurrection”): "As my Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself
This suggests that Jesus could control everything, including his breathing.
At UB 192:3.2 “on the mount of ordination” It is written: “Their Master now spoke to the rulers of the universes as one who, in his own universe, had been given all power and authority.”
If Jesus had all power, surely he had the power to control his morontia breath.
But yet something contradicts all this.
A little further down it is written: "During the entire week Jesus was occupied with the morontia creatures who were on earth and with the operations of the morontia transition which he was experiencing on this world.
So, if there were morontia creatures on earth, they might breathe differently than us and the supply of the 3rd gas is only used for their breathing in the spheres of Mansonia and other worlds.
But, is it not also the Energy Transformers who modify the morontia creatures so that these creatures can breathe freely on Earth?
In reality all these questions will be resolved later.
But to know the truth… Don’t you have to die?
Max Masotti
¶ The art of paradox
Real or apparent, the paradox has always fascinated.
Used by comedians to highlight the absurdity of a situation, it has even been able to claim to become a teaching method for schools of thought seeking to break the automatisms of our intellectual machine.
The Urantia Papers bring out some paradoxical propositions.
I therefore propose that we can highlight some that we find particularly enlightening and/or destabilizing, or simply amusing.
They could also be developed and provide explanations in future issues.
But let’s stop there.
A nice paradox is worth a thousand words:
I am mortal; my personality is not.
(from the teachings of The Urantia Book)
Dominique Ronfet
¶ La Gazette section
¶ Distribution of the Urantia Book and related books
Since this summer, the Chicago Foundation has signed a distribution agreement with MCOR Christienne. This company now serves as a distributor for major retailers and booksellers. In particular, MCOR works with the distributor DILISCO.
Also, in order to best supply and maintain this distribution channel, we recommend that you order directly from booksellers, without going through 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.
Urantia Book Distributor 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.
¶ Small ad from a reader
Louis GADY would like to contact other readers (towards NANTES: 06.20.25.72.02)
¶ Urantia News Briefs
- In August the biannual international meeting was held in Chicago. It seems that the French were poorly represented.
- The transfer of responsibilities from Urantia Foundation to UAI is continuing. Financial independence first, which will have to be assumed, and also independence in the websites. We will keep you informed.
- The new Charter and its internal regulations have been adopted.
- The AFLUB email address is now afllu@urantia.fr.
- The next international meeting will be held in 2006 in Sydney, Australia and the next one in 2008 in Mexico. Pack your bags!
- The Southern Cone Association, which includes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and recently Paraguay, becomes a National Association.
- The translation of The Urantia Book into Lithuanian was in the press a few months ago and should be released now.
- The 26th UAI Local Association, the Urantia Brotherhood Association of Arizona, was licensed in February in Phoenix, Arizona. UAI’s full membership now exceeds 1,600.