© 2013 Ivan Stol, Guy de Viron, Suzanne Lebesnerais, Max Masotti, Meredith J. Sprunger, Georges Donnadieu, Anatole France, Jean-Claude Romeuf, André Chappuis, Dominique Ronfet
© 2013 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
¶ The President’s note: Our meeting groups
Meeting groups form and transform themselves according to the will of people, new or old. It is remarkable that most of the new readers who make themselves known are in lost regions of France and despite their desire to join a group, the distances are sometimes blocking, although some are really motivated.
Also, regional groups must be aware of the presence of these newcomers and organize trips to allow these people to have exchange contacts.
Ivan Stol
¶ Editorial
A great man, this Teilhard de Chardin! At once a Jesuit, researcher, theologian, paleontologist and philosopher! It is through an interesting reflection on love, tinged with spirituality, that he takes us and which will be expressed in several Links.
The generous verve of our friend Georges D. invites us to revisit the imaginary notebook of Jesus and the “Golden Legend” about Pilate.
Jean-Claude R. sends us his open letter while André Ch. is worried about the decline of our civilization.
Max faithfully cooks us his thirteenth Quiz! Well done and good luck!
Guy from Viron
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, Ivan Stol, director of publication. Thank you for your understanding.
¶ Thesis: On Love I
1. …
Love is the most universal, the most formidable, and the most mysterious of cosmic energies. Following centuries of trial and error, social institutions have externally contained and channeled it. Using this situation, moralists have sought to regulate it, — without, moreover, going beyond the level of elementary empiricism in their constructions, where the influences of outdated conceptions of Matter and the trace of ancient taboos linger. Socially, we pretend to ignore it in science, in business, in assemblies, — while, surreptitiously, it is everywhere. Immense, ubiquitous, and always rebellious, — it seems that we have ended up despairing of understanding and capturing this wild force. So we let it (and we feel it) run everywhere, under our civilization, asking it only to amuse us, or not to harm… Is it really possible for Humanity to continue to live and grow without frankly questioning what it is letting lose of truth and strength in its incredible power to love?
Teilhard de Chardin
¶ Poetry: The Sower
The sun illuminated the plain;
A man was happily walking along the path:
He went to the fields, and many seeds
Filled the bag he held in his hand.
He sang, and his step, marking the cadence,
Seemed to accentuate the harshness of the singing
Who spoke of battles, of soldiers, of bravery,
Fertile furrows to overflow with blood....
Suddenly, images danced before his eyes:
Those suggested by the lugubrious song...
Then he saw big, heavy, black clouds
Turn off the bright Sun on the horizon.
Suzanne Lebesnerais
¶ Maxien Quiz No. 13: The questions
Superuniverse
- To compensate for the finiteness of creature status and to overcome their limitations of concept, the Universal Father has established for evolutionary creatures a sevenfold approach to Deity. What beings compose this sevenfold approach to Deity?
- On the High Paradise there are 3 grandiose spheres of activity. Which ones?
- A Perfecter of Wisdom informs us that the stages of pregravity (force), gravity (energy) and postgravity (universe power), have very specific names. What are these names?
- Who are the Archive Keepers in Paradise? The “living libraries of Paradise”.
Max Masotti
¶ Psychospi: The Seven Fundamental Realities VI
2. Support guides: Facts, meanings and values
The fundamental forms of universal reality—matter, mind, and spirit—are recognized in the cognitive form of things, meanings, and values, and give rise to the disciplines of science, philosophy, and religion. The gathering and accumulation of the facts of knowledge takes place at the scientific level of intellectual activity. The study of the relationships, meanings, and soundness of knowledge is a philosophical function that engenders wisdom. Experiencing the spiritual reality of truth, devoting oneself to following the guidance of the Inner Spirit, living by faith, and producing the beauty and goodness of the fruits of the spirit, is akin to the practice of religion. Human existence involves the use of reason and wisdom to integrate into experience, facts, truth, and faith. The quality of our lives is determined largely by the correctness of our scientific facts, the coherence of our philosophical perceptions, and the fact that our religious values are grounded in reality.
Meredith J. Sprunger
¶ Humor: Jesus’ Report Card
Jesus, who is a boarder at the Saint Philippe school, returns to Nazareth with his second quarter report card.
Frankly, this is not good. His mother has already seen this bulletin, but she has not said anything, “meditating on all these things in her heart.” (Luke 2:51) But the hardest part remains: she must show it to Joseph.
Saint-Philippe School
2nd Quarter Report Card
Student Name: Jesus of Nazareth
Georges Donnadieu
¶ Poetry: In the light
In the nebulous swarm of constellations,
O you who were born first,
O nurse of flowers and fruits, O Light,
White mother of visions,
You come to us from the sun through the soft veils
Floating vapors in the air:
Life then comes alive and, under your clear shiver,
Smile, O daughter of the stars!
Anatole France
¶ Open Letter: The Agondontarians
How lucky you are, you Agondontarians, for you will find yourselves “entrusted very early with many special assignments in cosmic enterprises where unquestioned faith and sublime confidence are essential for success.”
Of this faith and this trust, there is no doubt, you are the torch because not only is your belief in God incontestable, but you know deep down that God is good and that he loves you like a father.
To be an agondontarius is to be able to “believe without seeing, persevere in isolation and triumph over almost insurmountable difficulties”
Jean-Claude Romeuf
¶ Reflection: LOVE: THE HEART OF GOD
God is all love and goodness. He is all mercy and all charity.
Man, who sees only the formless sketches, beginnings of pure and splendid works, you cannot judge His Love. But if you could catch the voice of the majestic twilights, the divine lullaby of serene and radiant evenings, the sweet and plaintive melody exhaled by the great woods, if you could, I tell you, hear the eternal hymn, you would grasp only an ineffable loving murmur, the sea, itself, this cruel sorceress, in the midst of its heart-rending sobs, tirelessly spells out the word love to the foaming reefs…
Edgar Cayce
¶ PUB: Guide to Spirituality
ALMORA GUIDE TO SPIRITUALITY by DURAND Serge and DUBOIS David
An essential tool for all seekers of wisdom.
While there is considerable spiritual renewal, it is increasingly necessary to be discriminating in order to recognize serious and authentic movements.
The Almora Guide to Spirituality presents the great spiritual traditions (Hinduism, yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, shamanism, etc.) but also the main contemporary movements (philosophical wisdom, non-duality, neo-advaita, integral movement, etc.).
A set of files and addresses provide assessments and useful information on teachers and centers, in order to discover the spiritual practice that suits us closest to home.
The Almora Guide to Spirituality is the most comprehensive ever published.
http://www.almora.fr/livre/durand-serge,david-dubois/117-guide-almora-dela-spiritualite.html € 19.50 downloadable in PDF format € 13.65
¶ Caption: Pontius Pilate
PONTIUS PILATE, fifth Roman procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 CE.
The purpose of this article is to compare THE JUDGMENT BEFORE PILATE (Passage 185 of The Urantia Book) with THE GOLDEN LEGEND* from which we quote the following extracts **.
… The passion of Christ was unjust: for he had not sinned, and no guile was found in his mouth. The passion of Christ had three authors, all of whom were justly punished for their crimes. First Judas, who betrayed Christ out of greed, then the Jews who betrayed him out of envy, finally Pilate, who betrayed him out of cowardice.
Georges Donnadieu
¶ FAITH
It is having enough light to carry one’s darkness.
Enough answers to carry your questions
Enough experiences to face the unknown
Enough gratitude to trust what remains to be revealed
Louis Evely
Faith is twenty-four hours of doubt minus one minute of hope.
Georges Bernanos
Between faith and disbelief, a breath
Between certainty and doubt, a breath
Be joyful in this present breath in which you live
For life itself is in the passing breath
Omar Khayyam
¶ Practice: GRATITUDE
Deep down inside, I give thanks for the love that I am. For the love that is in my life and for the love that surrounds me, THANK YOU.
THANK YOU for the miracle of life that I am.
For the wonderful gift of life that lives within me and surrounds me, THANK YOU.
THANK YOU for this perfect body.
¶ Prayer … of the Morning
Lord, I pray to you this morning for all
Those who wake up with me...
Those who find their new strength
And who rise up full of vigor
For the adventure of a new day, Those who do not get up
And who become aware of their great age,
Those who find companions
The trials of their bodies
And the obsessions of their minds,
Those who courageously take up their cross
And those who reload their burden
Bending over a little more today,
Those who go blindly towards their destiny,
And those who walk while staring at a star.
¶ Our Christian civilization is in danger
The following text was composed to be read at an assembly of parishioners of the Waldensian Evangelical Reformed Church following the adoption by its Synodal Council and its Synod of the principle of preparing a blessing rite for same-sex couples.
Although it is denied by most atheists, the indifferent and enemies of religions, our civilization is Christian and has been built over the centuries from the religion that Jesus taught us. Its distant origins are Judaic. At the beginning of this millennium, our civilization risks collapsing as a result of Christianity which is attacked from all sides. For several decades, church leaders have tended to distort the fundamental principles of Christianity and align our religion with political correctness and popular fashionable thoughts. For fear of losing a few parishioners, our leaders are ready to make significant concessions, and if these are adopted, hundreds or thousands of people silently move away from the Churches and some end up becoming indifferent.
André Chappuis
¶ Maxien Quiz No. 13: The Answers30
Superuniverse
- The beings who compose the sevenfold approach to Deity are:
- The Creator Sons of Paradise.
- The Ancients of Days.
- The Seven Master Spirits.
- The Supreme Being.
- God the Spirit.
- God the Son.
- God the Father. UB 0:8.2-8
- The three grand spheres of activity on High Paradise are: The Deity Presence, the Most Holy Sphere, and the Holy Area. UB 11:3.1
Max Masotti
¶ Brother Dom's Little Corner: The Part of the Dream
“My only freedom is to dream, so I dream of freedom.” (Benoîte Groult)
- Why does the search for freedom seem to be an ever-unsatisfied desire?
- It seems that we have difficulty identifying ourselves in this space of freedom.
As it is said: “Freedom is non-existent outside of cosmic reality…” UB 54:1.4
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.
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| afflu@urantia.fr | |
| Site | www.urantia.fr / http://forum.urantia.fr |
| Publication Director | Ivan Stol, ivan.stol@free.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.