© 2007 Michel Rouanet, Alain Coulombe, Guy de Viron, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Johanna Beukers, Claude Castel, Dominique Ronfet, Marlène and Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2007 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:
1, rue du Temple
F-13012 MARSEILLE
Head office: at
¶ Le Lien Urantien
Journal of the French-speaking association of readers of the Urantia Book
Headquarters
1 rue du Temple
F-13012 MARSEILLE
04 91 27 13 20
afllu@urantia.fr
www.urantia.fr/afllu.htm
Publication Director
Michel Rouanet
Editor in Chief
Dominique Ronfet
Reading Committee
Jean Royer
Chris Ragetly
Layout
Olivier Desurmont
Printing Help
Jean Annet
Edition of 160 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
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¶ Summary
No. 41 — Winter 2007/2008
- A word from the President
- Presentation of the Book by Alain Coulombe
- A little reflection on the power of loving (1st part) by Guy de Viron.
- Story: The Barn by Jean-Claude Romeuf.
- What is enlightenment? excerpt from Eckhart Tolle
- AFLUB Autumn Meeting in AIX-LES-BAINS by Johanna Beukers
- Reflections on infidelity by Claude Castel
- Trinity of Supremacy by Jean-Claude Romeuf.
- Brother Dominique’s corner by Dominique Ronfet.
- Reflections of Georges & Marlène by M. & G. Michelson-Dupont
- The Gazette
- Announcements
¶ A word from the President
Dear members of the French-speaking readers’ associations of the Urantia Book,
At the beginning of this year 2008, I would like to invite you to examine our era in the light of some historical events, which make me think that our civilisation is on the verge of a renaissance, such as our Europe experienced half a millennium ago.
The Renaissance was a time of great discoveries: discoveries of new land areas and new indigenous peoples (Christopher Columbus discovered a continent in the ocean that interposed itself between Europe and the Indies); awareness of the position of the earth and man in the cosmos (Copernicus, Galileo); understanding of the internal functioning of the human body through dissection (Ambroise Paré); common temporal rhythm thanks to church steeples and the religious calendar; invention of the political State (Machiavelli, Francis I); development of cities (towns); dissemination of knowledge through the invention and spread of printing (Gutenberg); rereading of ancient philosophers with development of the critical spirit and demand for the free exercise of reason in the face of institutional religious authority (Lutheran and Calvinist Protestant Reformation), etc.
Michel R.
¶ Presentation of the Book
This text was written by my former department head, who was, for a long time, a very assiduous reader (at least seven readings) of the UB and whom Pascal knew well. If I remember correctly, he addressed this text to people who had no knowledge of the UB, but were “curious” enough to look into it more thoroughly. It’s up to you to see if he had any chance of achieving his “goal” with this text…
Alain Coulombe
PRESENTATION (1st part)
The planet on which you live is reaching a turning point in its history. There is still, in truth, a great risk that it will disappear in the coming decades in a general conflagration. The most powerful and most advanced nations are by no means safe from destructive turmoil likely to overwhelm them and all are at the mercy of the multiplication of weapons, the excess of nationalism, the outbreak of new dangers and the gangrene of corruption. But it is comforting to say that it seems nevertheless likely to emerge, in the coming centuries, when the murderous and stupid upheavals which tear peoples apart will tend to calm down, the timid dawn of a real and lasting human progress, a prelude to the establishment of a later age of relative perfection.
¶ Reflection: A Little Reflection on the Power of Loving (Part 1)
Love is considered the supreme good, the sum of all ordinary virtues (patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, selflessness, gentleness, simplicity, sincerity …). It is the most enviable gift because it is the only lasting good. God, the Eternal is love. We must therefore desire this eternal gift. Let us put love before the rest.
Love is the fulfillment of the Law. If we love, we will fulfill all the commandments of the Law without even thinking about it. Love is greater than all gifts, all virtues and all knowledge because the end is greater than the means, because the whole is greater than the part. Faith serves to unite the soul with God in order to become like Him. It is the means that leads to love, but it is love that is the goal. Thus, love is clearly greater than Faith.
Guy De Viron
¶ Story: The Barn
The facts. Below flowed a river. Him, having bathed under the waterfalls many times, knew it well. Its pools were filled with exotic fish, the same multi-colored fish that populate the atolls of tropical islands. He had often been surprised to be able to breathe underwater.
As he jumped upstream from rock to rock, he had noticed that the river was also a storehouse of gold. How many vials of this precious metal had he filled while searching in the cracks? He could not say; nor did he remember in which hiding place he had buried them.
Jean-Claude Romeuf
December 2, 2007
¶ Reading Corner: What is enlightenment?
“You are here to enable the divine mission of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are.”
Eckhart Tolle
A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger passed by. “Got some change for me?” muttered the beggar, holding out his old baseball cap with an automatic gesture. “I have nothing to give you,” replied the stranger, who then asked, “What are you sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar, “just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.”
“Have you ever looked at what was in it?” asked the stranger. “No,” replied the beggar, “for what reason? There is nothing.”
“Take a look at it,” the stranger insisted. The beggar managed to open the lid by forcing it. With astonishment, disbelief and a heart full of joy, he found that the box was full of gold.
I myself am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who tells you to look inside. Not inside a box, as in this parable, but in a place even closer to you: in yourself.
“But I’m not a beggar,” I can already hear you retorting.
Those who have not found their true wealth, that is, the radiant joy of Being and the deep and unshakable peace that accompanies it, are beggars, even if they are very rich in material things. They look outward for a few crumbs of pleasure and satisfaction, for a sense of confirmation, security, or love, while they harbor within themselves a treasure that not only contains all these things, but is also infinitely greater than anything the world can offer them.
The word “enlightenment” conjures up the idea of superhuman achievement, and the ego likes to stick to that. But enlightenment is simply your natural state, the feeling of being one with Being. It is a state of merging with something vast and indestructible. Something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you but yet much larger than you. Enlightenment is finding your true nature beyond all name and form. Your inability to feel this merging gives rise to the illusion of division, division from yourself and the world around you. This is why you perceive yourself, consciously or not, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises and conflict becomes the norm, both within and without.
Being is THE eternal and omnipresent life that exists beyond the myriad forms of life subject to the cycle of birth and death. Being, however, exists not only beyond but also at the heart of all forms; it constitutes the deepest invisible and indestructible essence. In other words, Being is immediately accessible to you and represents your deepest self, your true nature. But do not seek to grasp it with your “mind” or to understand it. You can apprehend it only when your “mind” has become silent. When you are present, when your attention is totally and intensely in the present, you can feel Being. But you can never understand it mentally. To regain this presence to Being and to remain in this state of “sensation of realization” is enlightenment.
Extract from the Book “The Power of Now”, Eckhart Tolle, Editions Ariane.
¶ Readers’ Meeting: AFLUB AUTUMN MEETING IN AIX-LES-BAINS
Tasting the air, a little rain and typical Savoyard dishes brought us together in a new, hitherto unknown sphere for the biannual AFLUB meeting held from 8 to 11 November 2007.
Since Jacques Hellet, whom we thank very much for his approach, had offered to take charge of finding a nice place for Armeau this autumn to allow the AFLUB to bring its protégés together once again, here we are established for 3 nights and 3 days at the Hôtel Dauphinois.
The owners who opened the hotel especially for us, demonstrated great efficiency, a considerable effort in variety and richness of meals, as well as assistance without connivance to improve the situation of the meeting rooms. Because it was a bit of a black spot of the meeting: not enough space.
The total number of participants being 34, some arrived on Friday 9th November and others left already on Saturday 10th/11th.
Johanna Beuckers
¶ Reflection: Reflection on infidelity.
We are at a serious turning point in post-Christian Western history: the couple and the family are losing more and more credit and it is cohabitation and cohabitation without lasting ties that are taking over. The consequences of this sexual revolution, which affects married people, adolescents and children, are catastrophic. The family is increasingly flouted. Does man therefore violate certain laws that the Creator would have established, and which would be written in the Old Testament? No. Knowing today that humanity is an evolution of the animal world, we can ask ourselves the following question: did infidelity exist among primitive men whose major concern was fertility? Mating is universally natural but fidelity is a product of the evolution of morals that created marriage (UB 82:3.1). The concept of infidelity only appeared with time, because among primitive races, relations between the sexes were not regulated, or very little, and license was practically total (UB 82:2.2-3). Physical attraction alone counted until the appearance of social groups and matrimonial codes that imposed fidelity in marriage.
Claude Castel
¶ Book Study
Ability to comprehend is the mortal passport to Paradise. Willingness to believe is the key to Havona. The acceptance of sonship, co-operation with the indwelling Adjuster, is the price of evolutionary survival. (UB 26:4.15)
Trinity of Supremacy
It is not possible to grasp the undivided and personal relationship which the three existential Deities of the Eternal Island have within the Total Deity itself, that is, within the Paradise Trinity.
However, through the revelations of The Urantia Book, the experiential aspect in the Finite of this triune Deity relationship can be approached through the Trinity of Supremacy. It is this Trinity which represents the purpose of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit to participate in the experience of living creatures in the Supreme. Thus, through God the Sevenfold, Deity can free itself from existential limitations by participating in the experience of the Finite. God would be incomplete were he not both existential and experiential.
Jean-Claude Romeuf
January 1, 2008
¶ Relaxation Corner: BROTHER DOMINIQUE’S CORNER
Good morning,
Today I would like to talk to you about thought.
“You mean mental?”
No, no… thought. How can we talk about water when talking about the basin that contains it?
To know you have to taste, said - I don’t remember who - so let’s dive in.
And let’s try to understand this space in which, ultimately, we are. We are ultimately only there, as I said… I don’t know what.
Dominique Ronfet
¶ Reflection: Reflections of Georges & Marlène
(FOLLOWING ARTICLE I OF LINK 39)
Before being able to answer the question posed as the theme of the Light meeting in May 2007, namely whether the SELF or the Ego could be a hindrance to our spiritual progression, it was necessary as a preamble to clarify the meaning of certain words used in the Urantia Book such as Personality, Identity, mind, Ego, soul, and secondly to make an inventory of man’s endowments by explaining how they work in order to know him better.
This clearing work having been done, let us dwell a little on the term “spiritual progression”.
Marlène & Georges Michelson-Dupont
¶ The Gazette:
News from Africa:
Two new international associations have been created in Malawi and Zambia!
Save the date:
The next 2 national meetings in 2008 will take place:
- Dinard from May 22 to 25:
- personality, the origin of the individual.
- Paris in November:
- the material and spiritual origins of Jesus.
International meetings:
in 2009 in Spain
Young readers meet:
There are dozens of meetings in the USA each year for both seniors and young people.
The youth will meet from June 29 to July 1 in Los Angeles… Let us recall that Los Angeles had a study group of Forum alumni as early as 1945, (it was a comparative study group because the UB was not yet available;) and that the First Urantia Society of Los Angeles dates back to 1957.
There will be an international conference, also in Los Angeles, from July 1 to 6.
UAUS Conference in Kansas City July 24-27.
A youth retreat hosted by Kindred Spirits in Eugene, Oregon in the summer of 2008, dates to be announced.
Announcement: The Link needs you!
Send us your article before December 15th and you will then have the joy of seeing it published in the January issue.
Before March 15: then your creations will appear in the spring issue.
A little late? It’s nothing. Before June 15, your thoughts will bloom in the July issue.
And for the editors who are maturing their work by the fireside: before September 15, your autumnal thoughts will enrich the October issue.
Every season, don’t miss the opportunity!
The Editor-in-Chief.