© 2010 Guy de Viron, Patricia Brambilla, Chris Ragetly, Max Masotti, Samuel Ullman, Georges Michelson-Dupont, Elisabeth Liswen Delval, Jean-Louis Fournier, Jean Royer, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Pierre Morency, Dominique Ronfet
© 2010 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
¶ Edito: Humor
Humor may not be an integral part of the fruits of the Spirit… But still! It remains one of the main joys of Existence… right up to the gates of Paradise.
Here below, it is the main antidote against overwork, existential tensions and especially against the exaltation of our ego.
If one of the functions of humor is to help us all take ourselves less seriously, it is to show us that we are eternal beginners. And, if our past is thick with heavy shadows, the humorous look that we project upon it will soon illuminate it and lighten it of a good part of its futilities.
Less anxious, we are then able to minimize the worries of the present in favor of the certainties of the future. It is thus our health insurance at the same time as our liberator of emotional pressures!
Guy
Editor’s note (editor’s note):
The Links are quarterly and appear on the 15th of March, June, September and December! They are first sent to subscribers in digital form (PDF format) on these same dates and then, as far as possible, in their “paper” form. As AFLUB prints are grouped with other periodicals, it is possible that the deadline for the paper format is longer. As for the texts intended to be published within the Link concerned, they must imperatively arrive 30 days before the aforementioned publication date and approved by our president, Dominique Ronfet, director of publication. Thank you for your understanding.
Guy from Viron
¶ The President’s ticket
Dear friends,
Should an autumn without a national meeting be an autumn of solitude?
Obviously not.
In Chàles we invited regional intermediaries to take advantage of this national break to organize their own assembly, even if it was held in their kitchen.
Furthermore, the study groups remain the active cores of our association.
Meetings, exchanges, sharing seem essential in our evolution.
But personality and personality relationships are never scaffolding; the human memory of personality relationships has cosmic value and will persist. On the mansion worlds you will not only know and be known by those who were your associates in the short but mysterious physical life on Urantia, but you will remember them and they will remember you. UB 112:5.22
So happy ‘relations’!
And see you soon.
Dominique Ronfet
¶ Testimony: Elisabeth Sombart, the pianist of the Angels
A tall white Tunisian woman with an immaculate shawl thrown over her left shoulder. A glittering cross around her neck and two Madonnas in her ears. Elizabeth Sombart appears. Like a vision, out of nowhere, suddenly she is there. She has the halo of an angel, but when she speaks, her voice is deep. Words taken from the lower octaves that reveal an immense inner strength.
Sure, this virtuoso pianist, 51, has an extraordinary will. A life of scales and concerts, honors and galas, entirely dedicated to classical music, which she has taken to the greatest halls in the world, in Paris, London, New York. But not only. More attracted by the shadow of the humble than the spotlight of glory, she quickly chose other places. Like nursing homes, hospitals, prisons.
Patricia Brambilla
¶ Notes XV: Personality
1. Personality is that quality in reality which is bestowed by the Universal Father himself or by the Conjoint Actor, acting for the Father. (UB 112:0.3)
Whether the Conjoint Actor can confer personality in place of the Universal Father is a mystery.
Personality is bestowed by the Universal Father upon his creatures as a potentially eternal endowment. Such a divine gift is designed to function on numerous levels and in successive universe situations ranging from the lowly finite to the highest absonite, even to the borders of the absolute. Personality thus performs on three cosmic planes or in three universe phases: (UB 112:1.1)
Chris Ragetly
¶ Maxien Quiz No. 3: The questions
Central Universe
- What are the 7 planetary physical types?
- God is the absolute Father but how does he operate outside of Havona?
- In the seven groups of Supreme Spirits there are some who see all, hear all, feel all, and even know all that takes place in the seven superuniverses and in Havona. Who are they?
Max Masotti
¶ News
The French translation of “Aids to the Study of the Urantia Book” by Hara Davis has just been published. These 41 pages, all in color and containing numerous diagrams, are published in England, apparently at the price of €15 (but the charming Hara does not specify whether postage is included). For the moment, it can be obtained directly from Hara at the following address: hara.davis@yahoo.com. There is an English version, of course, it is the original version, but also a Spanish version.
Our internet forum joins the family.
If you go to the UAI Forum website, http://www.urantia-uai.org/forums.html, you will find a link to our forum.
We are thus the 3rd forum, with English and Spanish, officially recognized.
So keep coming to keep this exchange platform alive.
Hello everyone!
We are pleased to announce that we now have a public French language discussion forum available at www.urantia-uai.org. This forum was created and is hosted by our national association AUI — Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Le Livre d’Urantia. You can find the French forum at www.urantia-uai.org by clicking on the “forum” in the upper left corner of the page. You may need to refresh your screen when pages change.
We greatly appreciate the support of our Urantia family in France for our mission and for providing this important communication and study tool for all French speakers to our language readers around the world.
We now have public study forums available in English, French and Spanish!
With love and friendship,
Rick Lyon, AUI Executive Director
¶ Thoughts: Being Young
Youth is not a period of life, it is a state of mind, an effect of the will, a quality of imagination, an emotional intensity, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort.
We do not become old by having lived a certain number of years, we become old because we have deserted our ideal.
The years wrinkle the skin, giving up one’s ideal wrinkles the soul.
Worries, doubts, fears and despairs are the enemies that slowly make us lean towards the earth and become dust before death.
Samuel Ullman
¶ The choice of the verb
One day a minister was sitting on the edge of a fountain.
A moment of inattention and he falls into the water.
Some passers-by, witnesses to the drama, approach and hold out their hands to him, shouting: “Give me your hand!”
But the politician does not reach out to anyone, as if he does not hear anything.
At this moment another passer-by appears. He pushes his way through the crowd and explains: “My friends, since his earliest childhood, our minister has only learned the verb TAKE. He does not know the verb GIVE!”
And while speaking, he holds out his hand to him: “Good morning, your Excellency, TAKE my hand.”
Immediately, the minister grabs the man’s hand and pulls him out of the pool…
Ah, how many people confuse verbs!
God, Himself, knows only the verb TO GIVE.
Joseph Ngo van Truyen
¶ Communication: Recloses
Many beginning readers wonder about the origin and manner in which The Urantia Book came to our planet. These questions are legitimate and many documents have been published on the subject. Some of these writings question the superhuman nature of the papers as well as the facts and truths contained therein. However, it remains true that the reader must evaluate for himself and form a personal opinion of the contribution and repercussions that these teachings bring to his personal life.
Georges Michelson-Dupont
¶ Lived: My Life in Paradise
Dear Urantians, after our meeting in Chalès, I wanted to draw your attention to a nice book “My life in Paradise” which relates the testimonies of Mgr Robert Hugh Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury who died in 1914, who dictated in spirit to Anthony Borgia, medium, the first days and the first impressions of his arrival in the other life.
There are very strong similarities with morontia life, which was the main theme of the AFLUB annual meeting this year in Chalès.
For those who have questions that are a little more down to earth, if I may say so, here are some extracts from this book that will bring us many details on daily morontia life, it will enchant you and make you dream as its style is poetic and beautiful, just like the world that awaits us…
Elisabeth Liswen Delval
¶ Press: God’s CV (1)
Editor’s note: Here are two excerpts from the aforementioned book.
The theme:
God is bored and looking for a job on earth.
He has to go through a series of job interviews…
...Can I get you something? the HR manager asks God.
I would like to, yes.
Whiskey or fruit juice?
A little whisky, please.
Did you invent alcohol?
It's a big responsibility!
I know, but I have extenuating circumstances.
That is to say?
I had hidden it, in the fruits, in the vegetables,
in plants, but they managed to find it.
You still invented it, why?
Jean-Louis Fournier
¶ Meeting: Photos from 21.10.2010 C° Eliane
¶ Phone call: When praying and laughing are close…
To call God… some essential rules for good communication.
- Rule #1: Don’t dial a number blindly, be sure to choose the right code… Be sure to call the right number, Jesus’ number!
- Rule #2: A conversation with God is not a monologue… know how to listen to Him!
- Rule #3: If you get an answering machine, you’ve dialed the wrong number… God is always there!
- Rule #4: If it sounds “busy,” your desire to talk to God was not sincere.
- Rule #5: If communication is interrupted, it is because you yourself have cut contact… to reestablish it, make the decision to reconcile with your neighbor, your enemies, to be faithful in small things, to be ready to ask forgiveness for your sins.
- Rule #6: Don’t get into the habit of only calling in emergencies… you’ll quickly learn that it feels so good to call just to tell him you love him!
- Rule #7: Don’t call God just at a reduced rate, at specific times… God is never disturbed in his work, you never bother him! There are no off-peak and peak hours, full rate or “off-peak” rate. Some people only think about calling on Sunday morning. Multiple short calls at any time, all week, are much better than one long, interminable phone call on Sunday morning.
- Rule #8: The cost of communication is free… great, right? It’s a toll-free number!
- Rule #9: Don’t forget to check your answering machine regularly…because Jesus Himself calls you and sends you messages! Often you don’t hear His call… So, check the calls received regularly, take time for this and don’t leave a message unheard!
WARRANTY CONDITIONS: First of all, if it does not work, check the telephone’s user manual. This user manual is called: the BIBLE! Your telephone is guaranteed for life, after-sales service parts and labor included… Immediate repair by “confession of sins”. The telephone you are using is not a telephone by line, nor by cable, nor by hertzian waves, nor by satellite, nor cellular, etc. It is a portable that you can take with you everywhere in the world and in every room of your house, in every place… Its means of transmission is called: the Holy Spirit!
The satisfaction rate, according to a very serious survey of consumers, is 100%!
1 Telecom Employee
¶ Punctuation: “What if we danced?”
Excerpts from the above-mentioned book
Punctuation is a system of signs used to indicate divisions in a text…
Punctuation also serves to note certain emotional nuances.
What is a full stop? It is a sign that indicates separation. A sign that indicates that the story is ending.
What is a comma? It is a punctuation mark that marks a short pause.
Quotation marks are very strange beasts that, like parentheses, always come in pairs. They look like circumflex accents, or hats, half-turned upside down. They most often announce a quotation and, as they are polite, they greet the author. To greet someone, you raise your hat, right? And when the quotation is finished, another greeting, another tip of the hat.
Hyphens announce a link, unlike a space which separates.
And an apostrophe? It’s a little comma that floats through the air. It signals that a letter has disappeared, like an amputated limb.
Capital letters are also punctuation marks; they help the eye to find its way around.
As for the semicolon, we hardly use it anymore. We are wrong. It gives rhythm to the sentence, without cutting it. It wakes it up, relaunches it.
Erik Orsenna
¶ Reflection: Reincarnation
The question of reincarnation in the UB, with the exception of the spornagias (cfr UB 46:7.5): the word appears 8 times in the singular and 1 time in the plural (cfr UB 46:7.4; UB 86:4.6; UB 88:1.4; UB 94:2.3; UB 164:3.4 and UB 94:2.6), the notion is qualified as absurd and debilitating. If the Hundred of Caligastia are indeed in some way reincarnated, none of them come from Urantia and are moreover supermen who abandoned their Adjuster on Jerusem. One could also say that Adam and Eve, Material Son and Daughter are reincarnated, but they too came from Jerusem and they did not have an Adjuster, at least until after the failure. (cfr UB 76:5.2)
Jean Royer
¶ Wink or “God” wink: The navels
“It bothers me a lot,” said God,
this mania they have of looking at their own navel, instead of looking at others.
I did the navels without thinking too much about it, said God,
like a weaver who reaches the last stitch and makes a knot, like this, so that it
here, somewhere that isn’t too visible… I was so happy to have finished.
And usually, my belly buttons hold up well, says God.
But what I had not anticipated, which is not far from being a mystery even to me, says
God, that’s how much importance they give to that last little knot, intimate and well hidden.
Yes, of all my creation, says God,
What surprises me the most and what I hadn’t anticipated is all the time they spend, as soon as things go a bit badly, at the slightest annoyance, all the time they spend navel-gazing, instead of looking at others, instead of seeing other people’s problems…
You understand, said God,
I hesitate, maybe I was wrong!
But if I had to do it all over again, if I could do a general recall like the big car companies, if it wasn’t too much to start all over again, God said, I’d put it right in the middle of their foreheads…
Like this, says God, at least they will be forced to look at the navel of others… »
Author Unknown
¶ Words … to say it
Words should be nothing more than the garment, rigorously tailored, of thought.
There are no synonyms.
There are only necessary words, and the good writer knows them.
Words are the currency of a sentence.
It should not be cluttered.
We always have too much money.
ules Fox
¶ Poem: My garden
My garden is a deep sea.
This morning the weather was nice and I went swimming,
As usual, Mouchka, my cat, followed me.
As I lifted a few bunches of warm grass,
To sink into the unsuspected water,
She lay down on the newly mown lawn.
It’s always hard to let go.
You have to go down very slowly and not forget
To pinch your nose to decompress your ears. Otherwise, it hurts.
Then when we have reached the desired depth,
We turn towards the sky and point out its position in relation to the sun.
It is a guarantee of safety to find your way again.
Jean-Claude Romeuf
¶ Lyrical Pages
¶ To have and to be
Far from the old grammar books
Listen to how one beautiful evening
My mother taught me the mysteries
From the verb to be and the verb to have…
Among my best helpers
There are two original verbs
To have and to be were two brothers
That I have known since the cradle
Although opposite in character
They could have been thought to be twins.
Their story is so unique
But these two brothers were rivals
What Having Would Have Wanted to Be
Being always wanted to have it
Wanting neither god nor master
The verb To Be has been had
His brother Avoir was in the bank
And put on a great show
While Being, always lacking
Suffered a lot in his ego
While Being was learning to read
And did his humanities
On his side without telling him anything
Having learned to count
And he amassed fortunes
In assets, in liquidity
While Being, a little in the moon
Had allowed himself to be dispossessed
¶ Art of living: Success, instructions for use
“Ah, if only I had this, if I were like that, my life would be more pleasant.” Work hard, save all your life in order to enjoy later. An insane attitude in the eyes of Pierre Morency, a Quebec physicist who writes psychology best-sellers. His leitmotif: ask in order to receive. He has also made it the title of a book, in which he encourages not only to ask, but to ask a lot, based on the principle that the more you ask, the more you receive.
And we have already received a lot. “You have already won the biggest lottery in the universe, that of life. You are the chosen sperm,” he explains. Following mathematical operations, the researcher calculated that each individual has “only one chance in 2 to 2000 trillion” of coming into the world.
Pierre Morency
¶ Maxi Quiz No. 3: The Answers
Central Universe
-
- Atmospheric types. UB 49:2.10
- Elemental types. UB 49:2.15
- Gravitational types. UB 49:2.19
- Thermal types. UB 49:2.21
- Electric types. UB 49:2.22
- Activator types. UB 49:2.24
- Unnamed types. UB 49:2.26
Max Masotti
¶ Brother Dom’s Little Corner
— What is humility?
— Maybe a technique…
— What do you mean by that? Our Master “recommended men to humble themselves only to enable them to be truly great; the goal he really aimed at was true humility toward God.” (UB 140:8.20).
— Yes, now we must understand it. Why “to be great” must we “humble ourselves” if not to allow our real Personality to take precedence over the idea that we have of ourselves, and that we project with so much pride: our individuality.
— How you go. Am I not of an absolute nature?
— You!?..Dear friend, let’s be reasonable. And what are we talking about?
— But, about me, about my personality!
— I’m afraid you’re talking about the vehicle, not the energy that can mobilize it.
Dominique Ronfet
¶ Imprint
Le Lien Urantien is the journal of the French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book, a member of the UAI, the International Urantia Association.
| Head office | rue du Temple 1, F-13012 Marseille, +33 (0)4 91 27 13 20 |
| afflu@urantia.fr | |
| Site | www.urantia.fr / http://forum.urantia.fr |
| Publication Director | Dominique Ronfet, d.ronfet@noos.fr |
| Editor in Chief | Guy de Viron, guydeviron@bluewin.ch |
| Reading Committee | Jean Royer, Max Masotti |
| Subscription | €20 per year (quarterly publication 4 issues) |
| Legal deposit | December 1997 — ISSN 1285-1116 |
| Print run | 125 copies © 1955 URANTIA Foundation |
All rights reserved. Materials from The Urantia Book are used with permission. Any artistic depictions, interpretations, opinions or conclusions implied or stated are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of URANTIA Foundation or its affiliates.