© 2006 Michel Rouanet, François Dupont, Dominique Ronfet, Robert Mondange, Johanna Beukers, Samuel Heine, Max Masotti
© 2006 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
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FRANCE
¶ Le Lien Urantien
Journal of the French-speaking association of readers of the Urantia Book
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Michel Rouanet
Editor in Chief
Dominique Ronfet
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Chris Ragetly
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❧ 1955 URANTIA Foundation.
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These materials from The URANTIA Book are used with permission.
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Legal deposit: December 1997 — ISSN 1285-1116
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¶ Summary
No. 38
Winter 2006-2007
- The President’s word
- Thoughts :
- Essays to explain the concept of living truth by François DUPONT
- The Human and His Double by Dominique Ronfet
- Worship God? An invitation to travel beyond space-time by Michel R.
- Testimonials
- A Reader’s Experience, an Experience to Draw by Robert Mondange
- Readers’ letters
- Testimony on the meeting in Armeau by Johanna Beukers
- Sharing on the teachings and spiritual leaders of Samuel Heine
- The Gazette
- by Gaétan Charland
- Report of the Armeau meeting by Max Masotti and Johanna Beukers
¶ A word from the President
Dear members of the French-speaking Association of Readers of the URANTIA Book, In this issue, the presence of the article by François Dupont of the ABFU and the message to the Council of Representatives by Gaétan Charland, Quebec president of the IUA, shows us, on the one hand, that the influence of the Urantian Francophonie goes beyond the simple French territorial framework, in metropolitan France and overseas, on the other hand that the AFLUB is totally integrated into a French-speaking associative fabric. In addition to the fraternal relations that we maintain with the Quebec association, the Belgian association and the Senegalese association, we still welcome Swiss members and sporadically receive requests from different French-speaking countries in Africa (Ivory Coast, Congo, Rwanda, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Madagascar, etc.).
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
Michel R.
¶ Reflection
¶ Attempts to explain the concept of living truth
FOREWORD
I have always been intrigued by the search for truth in any field. The Urantia Book speaks a great deal about it, and particularly about the good truth, that is, the living truth. But the Book does not define it clearly. It is like an invitation for the reader himself to set to work and try through in-depth study to involve himself and to clarify for himself this very important notion. This is my motivation for tackling the task.
Francois Dupont
¶ The human and his double
The chapter “Prayer and the alter ego” (Fasc. 91 Chap. 3) opens certain doors for us on the ways in which human psychology functions.
I would like to share with you what inspired me to read this chapter.
These thoughts are obviously only my own.
A man is never totally alone thanks to his particular mental functioning. He has the possibility of “reflecting” himself, of projecting himself through certain imaginary conversations.
Dominique Ronfet
¶ Worship God? an invitation to travel beyond space-time.
Why and how to worship God? It can sometimes seem difficult to answer, simply, the question of why and especially how to worship the Universal Father.
You become conscious of man as your creature brother because you are already conscious of God as your Creator Father. Fatherhood is the relationship out of which we reason ourselves into the recognition of brotherhood. And Fatherhood becomes, or may become, a universe reality to all moral creatures because the Father has himself bestowed personality upon all such beings and has encircuited them within the grasp of the universal personality circuit. We worship God, first, because he is, then, because he is in us, and last, because we are in him. ([UB 16:9.14)
By apparently answering the question of why, this explanation seems to offer us a technique of worship, a how: that of a triple movement of the soul in relation to God.
Michel R.
¶ Testimonials
¶ A reader’s experience, a lesson to be learned
I came across the Urantia Book in Provence, a long time ago, it was at the time of photocopied booklets. Old readers will know what that means. I came across the book because I was avid for reading and I was looking to read something other than novels and maybe also because I was on a spiritual quest. Friends told me about a book that explained the organization of the universe and the place of God in all that. The first readings were difficult and if there had not been a study group, with “confirmed” readers I would certainly have given up.
A professional transfer sent me to Eure et Loir, there were no study groups. My reading became less frequent, some months almost non-existent.
Robert Mondange
¶ Readers’ letters
¶ Testimony on the Meeting in Armeau
By doing 650 km twice in three days which were largely rewarded by our joy of finding our brothers and sisters, we met, 8 women and twenty men, for about forty hours to explore a very interesting and still current theme: “The biological and cultural heritage of the human species” linked to the texts of the Urantia Book.
A welcoming place in every way, Max and I, like many others, really appreciated this meeting for many reasons:
Johanna Beukers
##Sharing about spiritual teachers and leaders
A spiritual educator shares his individually experienced experience in his progression towards God and this in relation to the level where he is. Souls thirsty for truth take by their own choice and in accordance with mutual affinity what they need to make them grow spiritually.
True spirituality does not formalize itself or impose itself.
This is why, in my humble opinion, every individual devoted in a living and balanced way to God is most certainly at his level a spiritual educator for the brothers and sisters with whom he has an affinity. To give an image, we could say that God is at the top of a mountain and that at the foot of it there are an infinity of different paths, which ultimately at the top, meet in God.
Samuel Heine
¶ The Gazette
Distinguished Members of the Council of Representatives
It is with great hope and anticipation for the progress of our mission that I bring you this very important news. This past weekend, a few representatives of the UAI Service Office were invited to attend a meeting with the Trustees of Urantia Foundation in Chicago. Many people were present for this important occasion, Regular Trustees, Seppo Kanerva, President, Georges Michelson Dupont, Richard Keeler, Mo Siegel, Gard Jamieson, an Honorary Trustee, Neal Waldrop and Associate Trustees, Nancy Shaffer, Jane Ploetz, Sue Tennant, Jay Peregrine and also representatives of the UAI, Gaétan Charland, President, Eddie King, Chairman of the Conference Committee, James Woodward, Executive Director and Olga Lopez of the Spanish Urantia Association of Spain.
The UAI representatives were warmly welcomed by the Foundation representatives and we were informed by their President Seppo Kanerva that they were all speaking with one mind, they had reached consensus in their decision. In his first statement, Seppo Kanerva, to paraphrase a statement from one of our members, simply said, “The war is over.” He went on to explain that one of the reasons the UAI was created, to support it in defending copyright, was no more. He then proceeded to acknowledge and thank the UAI and all its members for their steadfast support of the Foundation during its copyright battle. He clearly and simply emphasized that the UAI’s role as defender of the Foundation was no longer necessary; Urantia Foundation could now attend to resolving its licensing and copyright issues on its own.
After this important statement, the other trustees were invited to share with us their opinion on this decision. We could clearly see that they were all truly of one mind. They invited us all to engage in our mission to disseminate the teachings of The Urantia Book. They did not in any way ask us to engage in activities that would promote organizational unity between ourselves and the Fellowship, but they enjoined us to make peace with them for the benefit of the revelation. They know very well the difference between spiritual unity and organizational unity.
We were then invited to make comments or ask questions. One of us, Eddie King from the USA, addressed the issues that were at the heart of the conflict between the Foundation and the Fellowship. We were informed that these issues were Foundation business and should not in any way distract us from our mission. The Trustees realized that the continuing conflict between them and the Fellowship was endangering the mission of revelation and that it was time to put these differences aside and move on. A similar meeting was held between the Fellowship and the Foundation last August and many changes will come from these meetings.
These actions in no way contradict or interfere with the resolution that was passed by the CR regarding cooperation with other organizations. When we asked the Foundation for its position on the references of new readers, we were informed that nothing would change. As for the licensing agreement, we were informed that they have not yet finished reprinting it and we should not worry about it. The Trustees have promised to do everything they can to help us in our mission to train leaders and educators and have already expressed their intention to create a committee for this purpose that will meet in Chicago next January to launch a project to train leaders and educators.
I know that such a decision by the Foundation is necessary for the success of our mission and I invite all members to view it that way. I also know how some of our brothers and sisters in the U.S. might feel about this decision and I say to them, thank you for all you have done in the past, you have been steadfast in your loyalty to the Foundation and will always be remembered as such. Now is the time for you to join the ranks for another battle, that of bringing light to this darkened world, to fight and win the great battle of truth alongside your brothers and sisters in the rest of the world.
I ask each of you to share this message with your members and encourage them to continue their support for the Foundation in all its projects. This does not change our status with the Foundation; we still enjoy a relationship of interdependence.
Gaetan Charland
President of the UAI
¶ Report of the Armeau meeting.
After a short interruption in the regularity of our autumn meeting in Burgundy, we were happy to return, from 10 to 12 November 2006, to the small village of Armeau, nestled in one of the bends of the Yonne.
Etymologically, the name Armeau is intertwined with the history of its landscape. A borderland shared between the county of Joigny and the king’s fiefdom, it seems that Armeau often remained a “desert”, a cyclically abandoned or unexploited area. Long spelled “Ermeau”, it comes from the Latin “eremus”. Its meaning would therefore be “the small desert”. Even today, indeed, Armeau is a quiet village where nothing of importance ever seems to happen, apart from the regular flow of Parisian holidaymakers on the national road 6, which crosses the village, and the autumn meetings of the AFLUB.
Max Masotti and Johanna Beukers
