© 2014 Ivan Stol, Guy de Viron, Max Masotti, Meredith J. Sprunger, Jean Royer, Jean-Armand Hourtal, Jacques Rogge, Simon Orsini, Dominique Ronfet
© 2014 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
¶ The President’s Note: General Appeal
Hello everyone,
To be in line with the ethics that the AFLUB has imposed on itself, it is ABSOUBTELY necessary that the following positions not be held for long: Secretary, Treasurer, President and Vice-President.
Indeed, being a member of an association means participating in its life and therefore occupying key positions. Our Secretary, after eight years of service, wishes to retire for a while and this position is therefore vacant (and it will remain so until someone comes forward to take it). This involves a lot of things in the administration of the association (monitoring contributions, updating members’ situations, knowing who does what and where).
The CA should also take care of lots of small details like managing editions (corrections and sending), monitoring groups… that only the current secretary takes care of, which is rather heavy.
Ivan Stol
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.
¶ Edito: Traffic jam
If Teilhard de Chardin leaves us at the end of this edition, can we imagine what this great thinker would have revealed and experienced in the light of The Urantia Book …
The saga of the last Winter Olympics has just ended in a grandiose manner. Apart from any material controversy, there is room for reflection and recognition. A man stood up and invested himself body and soul to restore the image of humanity: Baron Pierre de Coubertin! It is gratifying to see that this spirit of universality already touches more than a fifth of the world’s population and that it conveys the Olympic values at a cosmic level, constantly evolving. Today, parity between men and women in the Olympic disciplines has practically been achieved. This is gratifying in more than one way.
Guy from Viron
¶ Thesis: On Love V
2) LOVE, A HISTORICAL PRODUCT OF HUMAN EVOUBTION
The above analysis of the synthesizing power of love in matters of interior life was not made, — it could not be made, — without our having a model before our eyes.
Where, then, in present Nature, is there a first sketch, a first approach, of the total act of which we seemed to dream?
Nowhere more distinct, it seems to me, than in the act of Christian charity, such as can be posed by a modern believer for whom creation has become expressible in terms of Evolution. In the eyes of such a believer, the history of the World presents itself as a vast cosmogenesis, during which all the fibers of the Real converge, without merging, in a Christ at once personal and universal. Rigorously and without metaphor, the Christian who understands both the essence of his Creed and the spatio-temporal connections of Nature, finds himself in the blessed situation of being able, by all the variety of his operations, and in union with the multitude of other men, to pass into a unique gesture of communion. Whether he lives or dies, by his life and by his death, he in some way consumes his God, at the same time as he is dominated by him. In short, perfectly comparable to the Omega point that our theory predicted, Christ (provided that he discovers himself in the full realism of his Incarnation) tends to produce exactly the spiritual totalization that we expected.
Teilhard de Chardin
¶ Maxien Quiz No. 17: The questions
The Master Universe
- The central island is geographically divided into three areas of activity: Which ones?
- The divine plan for attaining perfection embraces three universal adventures, three unique yet wonderfully connected enterprises. Which ones?
- What beings were personalized in the first act of Deity creation of the Infinite Spirit, functioning apart from the Trinity, in unrevealed association with the Father and the Son?
- The master universe exists in six concentric ellipses, the levels of space surrounding the central island: Which ones?
- What characterizes personality in creatures of the finite type?
- How does the First Source and Center operate outside of Havona?
Max Masotti
¶ Psychospi: The Seven Fundamental Realities IX
6. Growth Methods: Transformation and Adaptation
Growth and adaptation are the principles of planetary survival. Organisms either thrive or deteriorate. Human beings improve in physical condition until the years of adulthood, then slowly decline in physiological fitness. Although bound up with bodily power, our mental and spiritual development does not share these material limitations. The future is open to spiritual growth and mortal transcendence for all. The psychological disciplines of this path are exacting. We are free to choose among facts, meanings, and values. In so doing, the human pilgrimage is sometimes derailed by evil, the ignorant and unconscious violation of universal law; barred by sin, the willful discernment of disobedience to divine law; or terminated by iniquity, a complete identification with nonreality, by which the individual commits spiritual suicide.
Meredith J. Sprunger
¶ Wise words
Thought is a bird of space which in the cage of words may know how to spread its wings, but not how to fly.
You speak when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.
He who can put his finger on what separates good from evil is the same one who can touch the hems of God’s robe.
Desire is half life. Indifference is half death.
You are good when you walk firmly toward your goal with a fearless step. Yet you are not bad when you limp toward it. Even those who limp do not go backward.
If you are hurt by someone else, you can forget the hurt. But if you hurt them, you will always remember it.
The strongest stone in a building is the lowest in the foundation.
Only he is great who transforms the voice of the wind into a song that his own love has made sweeter.
Between the shores of the oceans and the summit of the highest mountain is traced a secret road that you absolutely must travel before becoming one with the sons of the Earth.
The deeper sorrow digs into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Khalil Gibran
¶ Reflection: UB and science
The Spanish version of Wikipedia, in the article El Libro de Urantia gives a dozen scientific points that it claims have been proven false by science.
What is it really?
The terms used (demostradas falsas) are generally abusive. In fact, two arguments can be made:
Jean Royer
¶ Recipe: The Life Project
There is no foolproof, “turnkey” system for making your projects a success. To overcome this deficiency, here are some principles presented in the form of a cooking recipe for making your projects a success (in general) and your life project (in particular).
The recipe
- Take a good portion of conviction.
- Gently add a large piece of vinaigrette, then,
- Slowly incorporate the necessary price to pay.
- Observe the first stirrings of success. Then let your project simmer over the gentle heat of patience until the desired result is perfect.
- Don’t forget to introduce the flavor and value of ethics into your project, it alone allows you to maintain your projects with a common good in mind.
- If you don’t have all the ingredients in your stock, you will certainly find them at the partnership market.
Jean-Armand Hourtal
¶ Testimony: Olympic Values
Some quotes from Baron de Coubertin:
“The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”
“Success is not a goal but a means to aim higher.”
“See far, speak frankly, act firmly.”
“Sport seeks out fear in order to dominate it, fatigue in order to triumph over it, difficulty in order to overcome it.”
“Every difficulty encountered must be an opportunity for new progress.”
“The important thing is to participate.”
“Stronger, higher, faster.”
Jacques Rogge
¶ Reflection: Causes, effects IV
THE PARADISE
Is it possible for man to understand a place, which would have a position in space but, without time, without space, and no presence at the level of space-time?
The presence of man on Earth
According to Darwin, life was born in the sea, I agree on the principle of research, but obviously not on the evolution of species. I am convinced that everything is organized, there are several unknowns, so that our life takes place in total freedom. Darwin described facts observed by analysis and comparison, in his theory, he favors chance. For his theory to be true, an airbus would have to appear ready to operate in space, without cause, as if by magic. There is something to think about the question. How could plasma have developed to give birth to two different versions of species, since they need each other to procreate, how was thought, which is outside of matter, born. The answer is very simple, there is a Creator.
Simon Orsini
¶ Maxien Quiz No. 17: The answers
The Master Universe
- The central island is geographically divided into three areas of activity: 1. Upper Paradise. 2. Peripheral Paradise. 3. Lower Paradise. UB 11:2.4-7
- The divine plan for achieving perfection embraces three universal adventures, three unique yet wonderfully related enterprises:
- The Plan of Progressive Attainment. This is the Universal Father’s plan for ascension through evolution.
- The bestowal plan. The next universal plan is the great enterprise of the Eternal Son and his co-ordinate Sons to reveal the Father.
Max Masotti
¶ Brother Dom’s Little Corner: The Question!
- Why is it so difficult to love your neighbor?
- …hmm…Somewhere the Christian philosopher Gustave Thibon says that having faith is accepting to “keep one’s wound open”. I have the impression that this is also a bit your answer.
- Interesting, indeed loving your neighbor means opening up to him, to the world, showing your fragility. And therefore a little “showing your wound”, your fears.
- While we prefer to go around in our inner courtyard and repeat our problems, building our little castle.
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 | 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.