© 2011 Guy de Viron, Michel Hubaut, Johanna Beukers, Max Masotti, Agnès Lazar, Guy Bourhis, Octavie Jung, Georges Donnadieu, Marie-Agnès Lambert, Dominique Ronfet
© 2011 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
¶ The President’s ticket
Hello everyone,
Just a quick note to thank those present at our last national meeting and those absent for their encouragement in our collective effort.
Summer is looking beautiful and clear, make the most of it!
For the next Link we will give you a report of our trip to Chicago which will take place from July 11 to 17.
In the meantime, I wish you a good read!
Dominique Ronfet
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.
¶ Edito: Paul and the Eternal Feminine
1. Why this sudden desire to rehabilitate Paul? Quite simply by intuition or rather by cerebral itch! A visceral need to understand, recognize and esteem an extraordinary character, a monument of human personality, a spiritual beacon in the religious obscurantism of an era… With this nagging and slightly underhanded question: "Has Paul’s supposed misogyny been a brake on the spiritual expression of women?
The answer can obviously only be negative given the density of his shadow, projected over two millennia… Certainly, by tracing his portrait herewith, I dare to affirm that Paul was predestined to accomplish HIS mission! His skills and his charisma would have been largely devalued by an ordinary life devoted to current affairs and a home… As for discoursing on feminine virtues, this was not his first priority nor that of his contemporaries. All his energy and his personality were devoted to evangelization! Today, I am ready to bet that Paul would begin all his epistles with a thunderous “Dear brothers and sisters in Christ…”!
Guy from Viron
¶ Testimony: The Heavenly Funeral (*)
A bit of history: Shu Wen is a young Chinese woman from Nanking. After her medical studies, she decides to specialize in dermatology. At university, she meets another student, Kejun, a laboratory assistant. Having lost his entire family during the Sino-Japanese War, the government finances Kejun’s studies, who is gentle and kind to everyone. He works hard and is an exceptional student. The army urgently needs surgeons, so Kejun thinks about enlisting. He leaves and Shu Wen has no news for two years. When he returns, Kejun finishes his studies and the young couple decides to get married. He is twenty-nine and Shu Wen is twenty-six. The marriage is celebrated but only three weeks later, Kejun’s unit is sent to Tibet. Shu Wen anxiously awaits his return but receives a summons to Suzhou headquarters to learn that her husband has died in an incident in eastern Tibet on March 24, 1958, at the age of twenty-nine.
Guy from Viron
¶ Portrait: In the footsteps of Paul
Childhood and education of Saul of Tarsus
I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a city not without renown … This apparent pride of Paul in relation to his native city is quite legitimate. Indeed, located in the south-east of Asia Minor (today in Turkey), in Cilicia, on a low plain, not far from the Taurus mountain range which culminates at 3,585 m, Tarsus is, at that time, a commercial and cultural crossroads between the East and the West.
The city is nestled just outside the Calycadnos gorge, called the “Cilician Gates”. This deep gorge, laboriously dug by the Cydnus River through the steep Taurus massifs, is the only passage point between the coastal plain and the Anatolian plateau.
Michel Hubaut
¶ Report: Light 05-08 May 2011
Arriving early on Thursday at the Abbey of Notre Dame de Lumières in Goult to take full advantage of this beautiful site, we found the same friendly and welcoming owner as before. In the evening, two thirds of the participants arrived from various regions of France and Switzerland. 22 readers met after the meal to get to know each other, as a few new readers joined this meeting.
According to an original idea, Guy De Viron proposed to immediately form the 4 groups for the study workshops the next day.
Dominique Ronfet, who had welcomed us as President, after a minute of silence, spoke to us about the working tool provided by Jean Royer, consisting of 3 sheets that contained many questions concerning the subject to be studied. The theme of this meeting was: “Religion in the human experience”. This text offered us immense possibilities for in-depth debates during the next 3 days.
Johanna Beukers
¶ News
- The Fellowship is hosting a meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, from July 26 to July 31, 2011. The theme is: Revelation in Action – Acting Globally and Growing Cosmically. For more information, visit www.ic11.org
- A team of readers went to Calcutta for the 35th book fair in the city. This fair attracts over a million visitors. They sold Urantia Books, but also posters on Charles Montgomery’s ascent to Heaven among others. They donated 2 Urantia Books to the National Library in Calcutta and went to Kathmandu with other Urantia Books for placement in libraries.
- The Pipeline of Light team announces that they have distributed 2,955 Urantia Books to sixty-eight countries.
- From June 3 to 6, 2011, a meeting of youth and young adults was to be held in Boulder, Colorado. We will try to have a report of this very special meeting.
- The leaders of Urantia Foundation, Urantia Book Fellowship, and Urantia Association International are very pleased to announce the Study Group Portal (currently in English): http://urantiastudygroup.org
¶ Maxi Quiz No. 6: The questions
Central Universe
- We know Urantia as number 606 in the universe of Nebadon, but who remembers its registration number on Uversa and Paradise?
- Who are the 7 supreme personalities of the Trinity?
- The Magisterial Sons, the Avonals have a triple function on the inhabited worlds: What are their missions?
- During the present age of the universe, the 7 bodies of destiny have a leader who presides over them. But who is this leader?
Max Masotti
¶ Testimony: The immanence of God in me
Since I began reading The Urantia Book, a text has strangely caught my attention: Material Handicaps in the Adjusters’ Abode. I became intellectually aware of what could slow down my spiritual progress and wanted to find a way to enter into the experience of the gradual liberation of my mental space, offering my Adjuster more freedom of action. That he be the Pilot of my ship was a necessity in my life. It is said that facts educate man. I therefore analyzed those that have marked my existence.
I followed a training in relational communication of the ESPERE Method of Jacques Salomé, a method which offered me tools to better identify my mechanized behaviors. This work allowed me the following: the personal study of my heredity.
Agnes Lazar
¶ Poetry: Image
At the windows of the universe
Where you sit, amazed
To see no dust,
No spider webs.
You think about the household
In front of the immense pavement
Where the stars are sown
Like soft, white sand.
You wonder where we put
The bucket, the sponge, the broom,
The large blue flower cups.
And already, your laborious fingers
Seem to be waiting for Iaine
To start the week again.
Maurice Lent
¶ Prayer The cry of the excluded, Testimony of a Brazilian worker
Plea of the poor worker
Bless, O Lord, these callused hands of a bitter man
Who can’t find work.
Times are no longer the same,
The days when I was taking on the heavy weight are gone:
Hoe handle, cart, and even reinforced concrete,
All that was worthy and honorable work,
I faced it with willingness and joy.
I come from a time when human values were more respected.
Today, everything is technology, everything is computerized.
I did not have the opportunity to accompany this evolution,
But I can read and write.
Because of my age, they don’t accept me for any job.
See, Lord, how great is my affliction!
What will become of me, Lord?
What will happen to my family?
In this difficult moment, I turn to you,
In whom I place all my trust and all my hope.
Keep me whole, however great my bitterness and suffering may be.
Do not abandon me, O Eternal Father!
Amen.
Moacir, Brazil
¶ Echo: The Blue Book
At a time when the spiritual side of our personality tends to take over, we may be tempted to do an inner search outside of any dogmatism to see which way we lean.
Having myself carried out this quest a very long time ago, I give here my testimony to guide the aspiring researchers. It is enough to turn within oneself and to sift through one’s criticism all the available nourishment. From a very young age, I was tormented by questions of a spiritual nature that no one could ever satisfy.
Guy Bourhis
¶ Poetry: The WOMAN
Origin, path, outcome…
How to educate a nature?
A living nature with a view to growth.
What action is required to become mature?
It depends on education.
For a plant, I choose the direction;
A tutor gives a new behavior…
Create living spaces,
Take off biological energy,
Taking the environment into account…
Life is always movement, succession.
Broaden my astronomical approach.
I become in this action
Life bearer and coordinator…
Octavia Jung
¶ Evolution: Birds of Paradise
In the Pacific Islands, sheltered from all predators, some species of birds have been able to evolve in a very surprising, not to say fanciful, way! For example, the birds of paradise have developed totally new seduction devices among the winged species. The reason is very simple. Over time, females have become very demanding regarding the quality of their chosen one’s display. There is no question of settling for a simple nuptial show without a pronounced originality, something unique and effective! Which has resulted in increasingly sophisticated devices: shimmering colors, sculpted or extravagantly shaped feathers, puffy and luminescent plastrons, ornate egrets, jerky dances and rhythms, chanting songs, etc. In short, a whole panoply of knights in waiting who no longer fight their rivals by force or cunning but who ridicule them by mastering the art of seduction… A masterpiece of evolution or a hobby horse of our dear Bearers of Life, the fact remains that we can imagine what it would be like if, in times of peace, our companions were able to encourage us to produce our finest “assets”, our finest skills, our most gratifying aspirations… spiritual, of course! Ah! What a world of light and harmony would reign on earth then! What enthusiasm within the male population!..
(A copywriter’s daydream)
¶ Info: Reiki
Do you know Reiki?
At the end of the eighteenth century, a Christian priest, Dr. Usmi Mikao who headed the Christian University of Kyoto rediscovered the Reiki system: universal vital energy. Through his spiritual heirs it spread to the West.
This very ancient science is called Prana by the Hindus, Chi by the Chinese, Ka by the Egyptians, Light by the Christians.
This energy, everyone can, whatever their religion or lack of belief, connect to it! I would say that an open and compassionate heart is the only prerequisite.
Reiki is for those of us who still resist love. St Exupéry said: "We see well only with the heart, what is essential is invisible to the eyes. It is a means of achieving the blossoming of the body, soul and spirit. Personally, I have been practicing it for eleven years. It brings me inner peace, great serenity but requires a lot of humility. I am what is called a Reiki channel and I transmit this light most often at a distance; it is like a meditation.
I end with this wish: “May children receive and transmit this light in turn.”
Rachel Perroud
¶ Reflection: The Year 1955, The Urantia Book…and the Poet
“20. Only a poet can discern poetry in the commonplace prose of routine existence.” (UB 48:7.22)
October 12, 1955: Publication in Chicago of The Urantia Book. The year 1955 is an exceptional vintage for past, present, and future readings of The Urantia Book.
The following excerpt from the “Historical Perspective—100 Years of Revelation” published for the Urantia Foundation Jubilee is evidence of this.
On Wednesday, October 12, 1955, “the momentous transaction” took place, the publication of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. The first copies of “The Urantia Book” were published under international copyright.
Georges Donnadieu
¶ Astronomy: Race to the other Earth
Twin Sisters: There are said to be billions of exo-Earths in our galaxy. Who will find the first one?
Decoding: Who will discover the first habitable planet? The search for exoplanets has gone from a hobby to a competition where big resources are committed
The news came as a bolt from the blue: an American team, Steven Vogt and Paul Butler, announced at the end of September that they had found another habitable planet, outside our solar system, around a star called Gliese 581. A star on which “there would be a 100% chance of finding life,” declared Steven Vogt. Crash: two weeks later, the team from the Geneva Observatory, which had itself announced the discovery of a planet in a habitable zone in 2007, took advantage of a symposium in Turin to claim that the observed object did not exist! Is the quest for “life elsewhere” heating up tempers in the scientific community? One thing is certain: the search for exoplanets has gone from being a quasi-artisanal hobby to a competition involving huge resources and colossal scientific stakes.
Anne-Muriel Brouet Cathy Macherel/ 24 Heures newspaper
¶ National Meeting: Light 04-06 May 2011
¶ Song: Come, You Source of all blessings
Come, You Source of all blessings
Adjust my heart to sing your grace
Inexhaustible streams of mercy
Call for loud and clear songs of praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by tongues of fire on High
I am determined to praise the mountain,
The mountain of your unchanging love
Here is my Ebenezer raised *
I came here by your great help
And I hope that, by your good pleasure
I will arrive home safely
Jesus sought me out when I was a stranger
Wandering outside the divine enclosure
To save me from danger
He interposed his precious blood
Oh what a great debt to grace
I have to acknowledge every day
Let grace now, like a chain
Bind my wandering heart to You
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Inclined to leave the God I love
Here is my heart, oh take it and seal it
Seal it for your lessons from above.
* Stone of relief erected by Samuel to give thanks for a victory
Hymn Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and translated by Lucas Périer from “Come Thou Fount of Precious Blessing”
Lucas Perier
¶ Humor Give me, Lord, a sense of humor
Lord, give me good digestion and,
Naturally, something to digest, too.
Give me health of body
With the meaning of keeping it at its best.
Give me a holy soul,
Who has his eyes open to beauty and purity,
So that she will not be terrified when she sees sin.
Give me a soul that knows no boredom,
The murmurs, the sighs, the lamentations.
Don’t let me worry too much about this invasive thing called “me.”
Give me the gift of knowing how to laugh at a joke, so that I can draw a little joy from life and share it with others.
Lord, give me a sense of humor.
Thomas More (1477-1535)
¶ And God created woman…
It took the Creator six long days of uninterrupted work to create woman. During his labor, an Angel appeared to him and said, “Why are you spending so much time on this, my God?”
And the Creator replied, “Have you seen the worksheet for this project? It’s completely washable, has 200 replaceable moving parts, runs on black coffee, has a thigh that can support 3 children at a time, has a kiss that can heal everything from a scraped knee to a broken heart, and has six pairs of hands.”
Stunned, the Angel said, “Six pairs of hands? Come on! And that’s just the standard model?”
He tried to stop the Creator: “That’s way too much work for one day, my God. Wouldn’t it be better if you waited until tomorrow to finish?”
Author Unknown
¶ Philo: Theosophical Review
Can the Mind Heal the Body?
More and more scientific studies tend to show that body and mind, thought and health are linked. How can we positively use the influence of one on the other? For ancient philosophies, man is a triple unit. Plato speaks of the spirit (nous), the soul (psyche) and the body (soma) while Ayurveda, this traditional Hindu medicine, refers to the causal body, subtle body and gross body. For a long time, traditions have spoken to us of an interaction between these three planes and more particularly, as far as our health is concerned, between psyche and soma.
Psychosomatic illnesses
Marie-Agnes Lambert
¶ Maxi Quiz No. 6: The Answers
Central Universe
- In the grand universe your world Urantia is numbered 5,342,482,337,666. This is its registration number on Uversa and Paradise, your number in the catalog of inhabited worlds.(UB 15:14.8)
-
- The Trinitized Secrets of Supremacy. UB 18:0.2 — UB 18:1.1
- The Eternals of Days.(UB 18:0.3) —(UB 18:2.1)
- The Ancients of Days.(UB 18:0.4) —(UB 18:3.1)
- The Perfections of the Days.(UB 18:0.5) —(UB 18:4.1)
- Recent Days.(UB 18:0.6) —(UB 18:5.1)
- The Unions of the Days.(UB 18:0.7) —(UB 18:6.1)
- The Faithful of the Days.(UB 18:0.8) —(UB 18:7.1)
Max Masotti
¶ Brother Dom’s Little Corner
- Do you know that a 19th century composer, Gustav MAHLER, divided his 8th symphony into 2 parts? Taking as sung texts on the one hand the Veni Creator Spiritus, a Latin religious hymn from the 9th century and an extract from the final scene of Goethe’s Faust with its Eternal Feminine.
- Ah? And what message do you think he wanted to convey to us?
- Who can know? Is the Spirit masculine or feminine? How to reconcile masculine and feminine principle?.. the eternal question. Profane love, and sacred love… If we discover God through love, is woman the help of man?
- And vice versa!
- Of course.
- It is true that the UB distinguishes the Spirit of Truth, from the Creator Son, from the Holy Spirit, his associate, the Divine Minister.
- And all this remains “of the Spirit.” P 95 — §7 There are many spiritual influences, but they are one.
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 Urantia Association International.
| 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.