© 2013 Ismael Gracia, Carmelo Martínez, Jaime Marco and Olga López
© 2013 Urantia Association of Spain
| The XII Meeting of readers | Luz y Vida — No. 33 — June 2013 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |
¶ Ismael Gracia
Valencia was the first presentation I gave, thanks to Guillermo Miró, a Valencian reader. I prepared the presentation with the idea of adapting to the audience, although I must admit that my nerves got the best of me. Among the public I found educated and restless people (not freaks). That was really an occasion to talk more in depth about The Urantia Book, not to present it (because they already knew it).
At first, our idea was to have a study group start there, although it took a little longer to arrive.
Here are the personal and board conclusions we drew:
- It is essential that a local study group or some committed reader get involved in the preparation and in the local publicity. That ensures a minimum number of attendees. The fact of simply making a presentation does not imply that the public will come. That is, the personal factor is very important.
- The content of the book is important and what it is, but what “arrives” the most is why it is important to people.
- To explain why, you have to use personal experience… but be very careful not to end up talking too much about yourself. Emotion must be controlled, because if you don’t stop talking about the book to talk about your experience… the book is the star, not you.
- This experience shows that no matter how much you sow, study groups are something that is born spontaneously. Reading cannot and should not be forced (it is a personal decision to take that step). The same happens with the commitment to belong to or create a study group (despite all the benefits it brings); it is a personal decision and a spontaneous act.
- If we are asked for advice, we are there to help and explain… but little else.
As for Seville, here it was totally different. I wondered what it would be like and if I would be able to. I must say that it was Josefina who made this event possible (thank you, friend!). I decided to nourish myself with Olga’s interview on the radio and make use of a presentation that David Carrera gave us and which was excellent because it was direct and concise… it was to the point.
I was very nervous, but having Rita and Víctor accompany me helped me a lot; he did not go alone to the slaughterhouse. On the set I found myself a very welcoming place and a very relaxed atmosphere; the presenter was very nice. Before we talked a little to focus the interview… but of course, live depends a lot on the presenter. I immediately realized that I couldn’t expose everything I had prepared from home. In any case, I like the question/answer method more than the simple exposition (it is more lively and interactive as well as spontaneous).
These are the conclusions I drew:
- Nothing scary: the book is within us and provides us with enough material to contribute in an interview. We just have to transform it through our own language and try to use as little as possible the technical language of the book, because from the outside it may seem like dogma when it is not: it is information.
- Be very careful with the use of the word TRUTH. Always remember that The Urantia Book is RELATIVE TRUTH, and above all it is NOT GOD’S WORD (I fell).
- You can talk about everything, but you have to make it as clear as possible that everything that involves The Urantia Book (the book itself and us) is not an organized religion, it is not a cult: it is a personal tool for the increase of conscience, and we are an association of readers. Sometimes the terms are confused.
Interviews should be explored further. In fact we are trying, but very carefully (for example, not in mystery shows).
Above all I ask you all for help, you can all participate in the dissemination. Not preaching, but helping to set up presentations. We are all sowers in one way or another. Think what you can do for The Urantia Book when the book has given you so much on a personal level.
¶ Carmelo Martínez
I am going to talk here about the presentation I gave at the “Art i Sentiment” (Art and Feeling) fair in L’Aldea (Tarragona). This presentation was included in a series of talks organized by the town hall of that town, and was attended by about 40 people in a good atmosphere. The attendees were interested in hearing what was going to be said.
I oriented the talk to what The Urantia Book is, to what its contents were, emphasizing the following points:
- Extensive and varied book.
- There is no official interpretation, the book is for the people.
- A first metaphor of a general approach.
- Justification of the order of appearance of the documents.
- The Father as the beginning of everything; its characteristics, with special detail about its infinite love. Learning to love as a first level task. The vengeful and punishing false gods.
- The Son and Paradise (confusion of concepts).
- The plan, the third person and the perfect universe; imperfect and evolving universes.
- “Be perfect, just as I am perfect.” The will of the Father is his plan and it is that we become perfect through the many lives.
- Ascending and descending. The creator children. The mother spirit. the local universe. The administrative units.
- Outer space.
- The journey of improvement going up through the administrative units.
- Matter, morontia and spirit.
- The soul, the adjuster (in the flesh and after). Fusion (regarding the will of God).
- Free will as the only possession and key to our improvement.
- The journey of improvement. The minds and organs more and more powerful. finaliters.
- The finite, the absonite and the absolute. The journey in the absonite and after.
After exposing these points, the presentation was put on Power Point (which can be downloaded from the home page of the association, https://www.urantia.es) and the presentation was resumed, this time from parts 3 and 4:
- The planet, evolution, humans, the prince, function of the 100.
- Experimental planet.
- The rebellion, the quarantine.
- Adam and Eve and their ruling. The gardens of Eden.
- The planetary epochs.
- The concept of the seven bestowals. The seventh.
- Brushstrokes of the Master’s life.
- The true purposes of his 7th bestowal.
- The new concept of God: the Universal Father. The true religion.
- His apostles did not understand him. The message of spiritual freedom.
- The transformative capacity of the idea.
The discussion that followed was very lively. The attendees were genuinely interested in learning more about the concepts in the book, although most came with previous ideas from other faiths. Many people asked questions. For example, they wondered about the Father and his personal, physical presence, and they did not finish accepting that, physically, we will not be able to be in his presence until we are perfect.
Reincarnation came up, of course, and a topic that, in my opinion, reflects a fairly widespread confusion: mind is confused with intellect, with the intellectual, and it is thought that the emotional is not mind. The mind is everything, it is the relationship tool of our self with the universe, with what is outside of our self. The question of the origin and authorship of the documents also appeared.
The concept of love that I had introduced in the talk was also discussed. And I found that it is not easy to explain the concept of love that appears in the book. It is confused with many other things and mixed with other concepts. Another issue: the supposed end of the season on December 22. The one about non-reincarnation came back later and greatly encouraged the debate; It allowed me to talk a little more about the mansion worlds.
At the end, they talked a little more about the personal aspect, about how each one saw the book and what interested and convinced them. The debate had to end, although people were willing to continue, because afterward there would be another session that had already been delayed. It lasted almost forty minutes. And I say this because there are many expectant people, many people who are searching, and many people with great concerns. Some have found other things, but are still waiting for more.
The main criticism leveled at me is that I focused a lot on the content of the book and less on the personal aspect, on its influence on me and on the transformation that reading induces in people.
¶ Jamie Marco
In March of this year, the Fnac Diagonal in Barcelona was the place where I had to fight. I am from Murcia and my wife and I decided to go to Barcelona by train, it is calmer and more restful. I had just come out of a febrile throat crisis that caused me to take the first sick leave of my life. All my concern, regarding the presentation, was whether my throat would be up to the task, however, that aspect was covered because I had Olga López as a spare and if necessary there would be no problem for her to resume the presentation and take it to out successfully. Everything was “tied up.” Everything was under control.
Thus, I devoted myself on the train to outlining the main threads of the presentation. I had a document prepared by David Carrera, stupendous and magnificent. I had the experiences of Ismael, Carmelo and Olga. My own experience in exposing and giving courses, talks and debates. Everything was “tied up.” Everything was under control.
Once the presentation was solved, I began to think about what kind of public I was going to find. Barcelona is a big, cosmopolitan city and the venue for the presentation was central. He had to be prepared to change the focus of the presentation depending on the type of recipients. I’m not bad at capturing the reactions of an audience in the first sentences of an exhibition. Everything was “tied up.” Everything was under control.
We arrived in Barcelona, we were received by Olga and Paco, we spent the afternoon together, we talked about the presentation, we went to the Diagonal shopping center. We were happy to see that in the fnac bookstore section there were about twenty Urantia Books. There we were joined by Luis Coll and a friend. Together we saw the room. It was perfect. With its audiovisual media, its chairs, its table. Everything was “tied up.” Everything was under control.
The time for the presentation drew near. Presentation time has passed. Half an hour. One hour. No one came into the room. People passed by and looked but they left. Only those mentioned were there, Luis Coll and his friend, Olga and Paco and my wife and me.
Suddenly a man came in and asked when the talk was going to start. It was Gerardo, my only assistant at the presentation… I will never forget him.
We did not make a presentation, as Gerardo was already familiar with The Urantia Book. We got involved in a colloquium and talked about the subject of the presentations, why the lack of interest of the people, the low attendance, the message of the Book… And so we spent about an hour. We drew interesting conclusions that have somehow influenced how this Board is going to approach the subject of presentations.
On the way back by train, he meditated on what had happened. He wondered if so much human, intellectual and economic effort had been worth it. In itself I was disappointed, but on the other hand I had the firm feeling that I had given everything on my part. Finally, to my ramblings, a phrase appeared: “The acts are ours, the consequences are God’s.” Really everything was “tied up”, everything was controlled. There it is.
¶ Olga López
The Urantia Book: Why? As? That?
After the presentations of my colleagues, now it is my turn to share part of my experience making The Urantia Book known in presentations, interviews and events in general.
Sooner or later, all of us who have adopted the teachings of the book as our guide in “the uncertain labyrinth of life” UB 144:5.21 find it natural to make its content known. His teachings seem to us such an extraordinary gift that we find it almost immoral to keep them only for ourselves; hence we want to share them with as many people as possible.
However, it is not long before we realize that our enthusiasm for the book is not easily contagious. Apart from the fact that not everyone is looking for or prepared for the book, it could also be that our way of making it known is not adequate. Because, as in almost everything in life, the form matters as much as the content.
Since any of you may one day have the opportunity to present the book to a group of people, I would like to share with you some things that I have learned from the experience, and others that I have learned from books and by Internet.
Of course, there are many more details and teachings to comment on than the ones I am going to present to you below. But, since it is not about boring or overwhelming with too much information, here is what I consider most important of what I have learned and that I want to share with you.
First of all, I wanted to mention a talk on the TED website (www.ted.com) that I found extremely interesting regarding how to convey the content of the book. In reality, the talk focused on how leaders from any field (political, economic, social, etc.) “sell” a product, but our objective is not too different and is perfectly applicable to what we are pursuing: to publicize the teachings of The Urantia Book in an effective way, which provokes in the seekers of the truth the desire to know more.
The Urantia Book: why? as? that?
TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, by Simon Sinek
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=es
The main theme of this meeting arose from this talk, and it is important to highlight the following:
- If we “only” limit ourselves to describing the book and listing its contents, people will interpret that we are transmitting knowledge and, even if they pay attention to us, our words will not provoke in them more than a superficial response. That information that we are giving will remain in the purely intellectual part of our mind and will not go further. Surely, those who listen to us will think that we are trying to sell them another motorcycle of the many that circulate around there, and they will turn a deaf ear.
- However, if we begin our presentation by saying “why” we are making the book known, we are entering the zone of values, a much deeper zone of our mind, where the springs that motivate people to act are activated. how they act, which make those who hear us identify with us and want, therefore, to get to where we have arrived. You yourself will have experienced it on numerous occasions, although you probably have not been aware of it.
So, first of all, it is good to do a preliminary reflection, ask ourselves why we do what we do. And then transmit our why to those who listen to us as the first step in the presentation. Because precisely those reasons are the ones that can activate the mechanism in other people that arouses their interest, by identification with our motives.
Here are three examples of those whys:- a. We want a better world.
- b. We want to share what we have learned with the book, because it has made us better people.
- c. We firmly believe that the book offers the tools to overcome the current crisis of values and move towards a new stage of peace and scientific, philosophical and spiritual progress.
- Once we have specified “why” we do what we do, the next step would be to explain “how” the book manages to offer a life guide. At this point, it may be interesting to give a brief glimpse of our personal experience reading the book, as well as highlighting the way in which the book explains all of reality, beginning with God the Father and descending level after level until reaching the human being and his story. It can also be interesting to give a hint about the way in which its content was revealed, to avoid all kinds of sensationalism, veneration and idolatry and with the intention that potential readers focus on what is truly important: the content.
- Finally, once we have framed the book in some values that lead us to act in a certain way, it would be time to explain the “what” of the book. This is the most important content. At this point, it’s important to say that we shouldn’t be exhaustive by any means: let’s assume that it’s impossible to do a comprehensive 2,097-page synthesis in a one-hour (or less) presentation, and there will be a lot going on. we remain in the inkwell. Much more if it is an interview, because there we do not decide one hundred percent about what we are going to talk about. But that’s not what it’s about either! We don’t want (or shouldn’t want) to tell everything, because in that case what we’re going to do is bore the public. Keep in mind that each person must discover The Urantia Book at their own pace and in their own way. The only thing we have to do is give them a few brief brushstrokes so that they feel curious and enough impulse to start reading it. As an English saying goes, you can’t force a horse to drink, but you can give it barley to make it thirsty and drink. Therefore, we have to arouse the “thirst” for truth in those who listen to us, so that they feel the impulse to drink from the source that we offer them!
As an example, this is an example of a schema that I have used in some of my presentations:
- My personal experience: how I learned about The Urantia Book.
- What the book means to me: o The answer to the great questions of existence: who are we? where we come from? where we go?
- A road map of the universe: from Earth to Paradise.
- A tale of our true origins.
- A guide for personal growth, with the sublime example of Jesus of Nazareth.
- What the book can do for the improvement of the person and, by extension, of society.
But, of course, it is not the only scheme nor the best. In fact, other friends of ours have given excellent presentations in which the approach has been different and other points have been emphasized. What we do have to be clear about is that, no matter how much a common script is followed, there are as many presentations as there are people. And not even one person gives the same presentation twice.
Finally, and with this I end this presentation, I would like to encourage you to look for the opportunity to present the book to a group of people. It does not matter if we do not have experience in giving talks or if we believe that we do not have the ability to speak. From my own experience, I can tell you that if you put yourself in the hands of the Father, the words will come out of your mouth with a fluency that will surprise you. Our invisible friends help us in ways you can’t even imagine.
It also doesn’t matter if those who listen to you are three people or three hundred; When it comes to diffusion, it is not quantity that we are looking for, but quality. Sometimes we can feel discouraged because very few people have come to a talk. But, who knows if one, two, or three of the people who have attended will later be the catalysts that give new impetus to the dissemination of the book in that area? This revelation will spread slowly, and it will be very difficult for us to see spectacular and immediate results; We have discussed this on numerous occasions. The important thing is to sow.
Remember what the book says: “The act is ours; the consequences belong to God” UB 48:7.13
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| The XII Meeting of readers | Luz y Vida — No. 33 — June 2013 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |