© 2023 Urantia Association of Spain
Date: September 7-10, 2023
Location: Hotel Santa Cecilia, C/ Tinte nº 3, Ciudad Real
Topic: The commitment to be a believer. Life practices in light of The Urantia Book
The XIX Meeting of Spanish Readers began on Thursday, September 7 in the afternoon at the Hotel Santa Cecilia, located in the center of Ciudad Real. About 30 people attended from all corners of the country: Alicante, Almería, Ávila, Barcelona, Burgos, Cáceres, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Navarra, Seville, Tarragona and Valencia. We also had the presence of Antonio Schefer, from the Netherlands, president of the AUI Congress Committee, who honored us with his presence.
After eighteen national meetings of readers in Spain, the time has come to reflect and weigh what The Urantia Book has contributed to our lives, after so many years of readings, debates, analysis and meetings. As readers of the book we face a great challenge: if society, or at least an important part of it, is lethargic, precarious, infantilized, polarized, what can we offer to wake it up and revitalize it? If we live in a “postmodern” society that denies and rejects everything that came before, that only pays attention to the present without thinking about the past, where the value of commitment and certainties is lost and characters as mediatic as they are mediocre and transitory are adored, the readers of The Urantia Book can offer an anchor that stabilizes this life adrift that we observe. And that was precisely the topic that was discussed at this meeting.
The Meeting officially started with a presentation by the president of the association, Jaime Marco, focused on the theme of the Meeting and what was intended with the scheduled activities. To begin with the series of presentations, and in support of the theme of the meeting, Paco Santos, from Malaga, gave us a presentation on meditation in the Urantian movement and ended with the possible benefits it offers us if we make it a regular practice in our lives.
On Friday morning, before the presentations, Paco Santos offered a guided meditation related to his presentation from the previous day. In the morning, two presentations were offered, followed by a free but moderate round of interventions from the attendees. The first presentation was given by Marinett Morales and dealt with the family in light of the teachings of the book, and the second was offered by Inma Gómez, in this case about work, business and money (you can find the content of the presentations on our website).
In the afternoon, we watched the film “Jesus Revolution,” based on Pastor Greg Laurie’s book of the same name, which describes the true story of the national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s within a community of hippie teenagers in Southern California. It is a film that makes us think as Urantians and about the best way to transmit the teachings of the book. Because, as one of the characters in the film said: “If you want to talk to my people, you have to talk to them in a language they understand.” At the end of the film, there was a very interesting conversation among the attendees, which discussed promoting quality over quantity in the dissemination of the revelation, the generational change of readers, and dissemination by “contagion,” among other topics.
On Saturday morning there was also another meditation session (or rather, breathing techniques) led by Fernando Carazo, which are very useful for carrying out the subsequent meditation as they help to calm the mind. After breakfast, the presentations on the main topic of the Meeting continued. The next was the presentation on technology and science in the light of The Urantia Book, by Santi Rodríguez, after which the attendees reviewed a series of controversial topics regarding the development of science and its ethical implications. Next we attended the presentation by M. Helena Bañas on health, illness and death, in which her status as a doctor of medicine and reader of The Urantia Book offered us a unique and integrative point of view on these topics. She ended her presentation with a phrase from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross that could not be truer: “A dignified and vibrant life is for the brave.” The attendees then focused on the topic of death and how to accompany someone who is about to die.
On Saturday afternoon there were no presentations, but rather it was dedicated to fraternization. At five o’clock we began a guided tour of Ciudad Real, where we had the opportunity to learn something about its history and its most emblematic buildings on a walk that lasted three hours. That night during dinner we had a brief and informal “dinner of remembrance” ceremony, in memory of Jesus’ last supper with his apostles.
As usual, the nights were dedicated to free debate and conversations among attendees who wanted to continue sharing ideas about the teachings of The Urantia Book.
On the last day, Sunday, there was also another session on breathing techniques led by Fernando Carazo. After breakfast, there was a recapitulation session on the Meeting, in which attendees offered various suggestions, such as creating work groups to discuss topics from the book and problems in society, and sharing opinions. Afterwards, after a break so that attendees could check out, the Assembly of members of the Urantia Association of Spain was held, in which the board presented the activities carried out during the last few months and discussed the association’s future dissemination projects: a book with “The 100 questions of The Urantia Book”, seminars on specific topics to reach consensual conclusions that will then be published on the website, reconnecting with previous attendees at the Meetings, hiring a new Zoom room, etc.
This has been the first Meeting of Spanish readers since the beginning of the pandemic, and it has truly been a pleasure to see that there is a cohesive and committed group of readers in our country, with ideas to continue advancing in the dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book. Now we just have to wait for the next one, whose place and date are yet to be determined.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”