© 2006 Michel Rouanet, Chris Ragetly, Jean Royer, Samuel Heine, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Adolfo Guzman, Dominique Ronfet
© 2006 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
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.
¶ Le Lien Urantien
Journal of the French-speaking association of readers of the Urantia Book
Headquarters
48 rue Douy-Delcupe
F-93100 Montreuil under woods
France
01 5693 35 10
afllu@urantia.fr
http://www.urantia.fr/afllu.htm
Publication Director
Michel Rouanet
Editor in Chief
Dominique Ronfet
Reading Committee
Jean Royer
Dominique Ronfet
Chris Ragetly
Manufacturing
Ivan Stoll
Printing workshop
xxxxxx Toulon
Edition of 120 copies
❧ 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 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)
¶ Summary
No. 37
Summer 2006
- The President’s word
- Reflections:
- Knowledge and Truth by C.M. Ragetly
- Double nature by Jean Royer
- General Semantics and the Urantia Book by Jean Royer
- “Faith” by Samuel Heine
- ME! by Jean-Claude Romeuf
- Poetry
- When he passed by Adolfo Guzman
- The game of “I find myself” by Dominique Ronfet
- The Gazette
- Urantian News
¶ A word from the President
Dear members of the French-speaking Association of Readers of the URANTIA Book, as I take up my new duties as President of the AFLUB, I would like to thank you for the trust you have placed in me. Indeed, at the General Assembly held on Saturday, June 24, 2006, you entrusted me with the heavy and honorable responsibility of leading our fraternal association.
Rest assured that I will do my best, with my team and each of you, to carry out the mission you have entrusted me with. Like all of you, I am a volunteer for this work for which I will have to free up time and energy through judicious arbitration in my family, social and professional life: I am therefore counting on your support for the life of our association, each according to their skills, possibilities, means and tastes. I will take charge, with my team, of giving it direction and coordinating its actions. The task is great and new artisans are always welcome.
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
Michel R.
¶ Reflection
¶ Knowledge and Truth
Here is an injunction from the Father that was relayed by Jesus when he was teaching his apostles on Tuesday evening, April 4, 30 A.D., on Mount Olivet. “…My Father asks all his children to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth…” (UB 176:3.5). Growing in grace takes on a special meaning here, this word means beauty, charm and harmony, this on an intellectual and spiritual level. This grace of the mind and spirit goes hand in hand with the knowledge of the truth, one does not go without the other. We are taught that truth is one of the characteristics of divinity: “Divinity is intelligible to creatures as truth, beauty and goodness…” (UB 0:1.17) and: “Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably encompass the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced coordination of planetary knowledge…” (UB 0:12.12).
C. M. Ragetly
¶ Double nature
From his birth, Jesus is both man and God.
From the moment we are born we also have a divine personality.
At about age 5, Jesus received an Adjuster.
Around the age of just over 5, humans receive an Adjuster.
So what is the difference between Jesus and us?
Jean Royer
¶ General Semantics and The Urantia Book
Why did The Urantia Book appear in the 1934s and perhaps also appear in Chicago? A possible answer is found in the following facts.
There is no such thing as chance. Alfred Korzybski (1879-1950) is the founder of the Institute of General Semantics in Chicago in 1938. This extraordinary character, originally from Poland and a former intelligence officer in the Russian Second Army, overturns the vision of language and reality by introducing concepts developed in particular by Russell in mathematics on the principle of non-identity. This is non-Aristotelian reasoning. It is the differential structure or three-dimensional model of the differences between orders of abstraction, between verbal and non-verbal levels, between descriptions and inferences, between what we see and external stimuli, between my abstractions and your abstractions…
Jean Royer
¶ “FAITH.”
Jesus’ faith reached the purity of a child’s trust. (UB 196:0.12)
The child is eminently receptive, he accepts everything that is said to him in that magnificent frame of mind that one could call “Childlike Faith” and in which there is not the shadow of a doubt.
This is how the child sticks to the teachings he has received until confirmed otherwise.
Samuel Heine
¶ ME!
It took millions and millions of years of evolution to obtain a creature as beautiful as me! I am not perfect, I know, but I am working on it! Since the Life Carriers made a vow to no longer interfere in the course of the organic evolution of my planet, I am responsible for my destiny. At the beginning of this century, it seems to me that I am becoming aware that my destiny and that of all humanity are in my hands!
For this, I am helped by a crowd of superhuman beings, whom I thank in passing, but I am the only captain of my ship, I am the one in charge! I have the power to destroy myself and kill my fellow man. My freedom in this sense, however, has its limits. I have the personal ability to interrupt my physical, mental and spiritual life, at any moment of my existence. Fortunately for my fellow citizens, if I can take away their earthly life with a simple blow of an axe or a revolver, it is impossible for me to interrupt the course of their mental and spiritual evolution in the afterlife. Therein lie the restrictions of my free will. Do not doubt for a second that if I had had this power and this freedom, I would have used them in the past. To make someone suffer, then kill them and then ultimately, take away their eternal life, would that not be the end of all ends of sadistic pleasure? To blow up the earth, what a joy that would be too! but there, it’s another problem, maybe, in a few decades…
Jean-Claude Romeuf
¶ Poems
¶ When he passed by
The women and men of those times had some suspicion of His existence and His Greatness.
He was born in Judea and was called Jesus, the Galilean of Nazareth.
Wherever he went he embodied the Father’s Love.
Only once did I see him pass by and all my life this God-Man spoke to me.
He is for the ages to come the surest and most faithful Friend in the kingdom of men.
Adolfo Guzman
¶ The game of “I find myself”
In the game of I find myself there is no doubt: nothing is certain Little Thumb lender,
Everyone takes the hand that is extended and invites us to a present that was once scattered.
In the beginning was One, then Two, then Three
And the dancing could begin.
Dominique Ronfet
¶ The Gazette
Report of the meeting at the Grand Seminary of Lorraine
June 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2006
For the first time, our friends and organizers Pascal Coulombe, Dominique and AnneMarie Ronfet and Sèverin Desbuisson, decided to hold the summer 2006 meeting in the North-East of France.
The Grand Seminary of Lorraine welcomed us in an austere atmosphere.
Quote from our friend Jean Royer, always very philosophical and very wise: “Nothing is dramatic as long as we are warned about it in advance.”
Max Masotti.
¶ Urantian News
In the United States, installation of a small Urantian community. Initially, three individuals who together purchased about 16 hectares of land already built and equipped, with a house of 315 square meters. In addition to their weekly study group where they welcome other people, they plan to have a monthly external study group, at the local Unitarian church and also to enlarge the premises to accommodate their guests. The community has just celebrated its first anniversary.
(summary of: The Retreat Network, Spring-Summer 2006)
Release of an audio DVD in English, of the entire UB, under the aegis of the Fellowship.
Dear AFLUB members,
Last Saturday, August 12, I had the pleasure of representing our association at the creation ceremony of the Belgian Francophone Urantia Association.
It was a very emotional moment. It took place at Jean Annet’s house, who gave us a warm welcome and was chaired by himself, in his new role as provisional president pending the next elections which will take place in 6 months.
Associated with him in the office are François Dupont as vice-president, Myriam Decroix as secretary, and Guillaume Kalonji as treasurer.
This ceremony was held under the auspices of the Urantia Association International, whose president Gaétan Charland and the chairman of the membership committee, Gary Rawlings, were the official representatives.
This new organization has the status of a local association, since it represents, for the moment, only the French-speaking part, the one that was also attached to us for a long time, of the Belgian confederation.
It officially starts with 12 members, but more than 25 Belgian readers welcome this creation with great hope.
It is the fruit of a slow process and a desire reiterated many times, in particular by one of the oldest members of the movement, François Dupont, who became vice-president, and who saw his dream come true that day. We were also honored by the presence of a former reader who was the wife of a late proofreader of the initial French version.
We will remain in touch with our Belgian friends who will always be invited to our national meetings and who will still be given a special place in “the Link” while waiting for them to, possibly one day, have their own newsletter.
We therefore wish ABFU good luck and will continue our friendly cooperation.
All our wishes and prayers accompany our Belgian brothers in this new adventure, under the protection of benevolent celestial beings.
Michel R
¶ How to buy The Urantia Book?
Dear members of the French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book, many customers still turn, out of habit, to the AFLUB to purchase the Urantia Live.
The Urantia Book is now available for sale in most French bookstores, often on order, or from certain transnational online sales companies (MCOR Christienne: http://www.livres-tradition.com/urantia.html — Amazon, Alapage, Fnac, e-bay, price minister, Chapitre.com, abebooks, etc.) for shipping costs, often reduced, and within relatively short timeframes.
In fact, for two years, the distribution of UB has been the result of contractual commercial relations between the Urantia Foundation of Chicago and national distribution and sales companies (MCOR Christienne in France).
The AFLUB has therefore now lost the transitional role it once had in this matter.
The solutions are therefore as follows:
- order, in person, in French bookstore
- order online from online distributors (MCOR Christienne who himself supplies Amazon, Alapage, Fnac, e-bay, price minister, Chapitre.com, abebooks (use price competition in your favor)
- in both cases and while waiting for delivery: read the book online to wait without wasting time
On the other hand, I would like to remind you that these same distributors are offering you the opportunity to place your comments on the UB online, in order to inform future buyers in a “democratically” manner about the content of the work:
Amazon
Fnac
Alapage
This message is to be distributed widely to any French-speaking member or future reader.
Michel R
President of AFLLU