© 2015 Olga López
© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — No. 40 — Presentation | Luz y Vida — No. 40 — June 2015 — Index | Appearance on the cosmic stage of matter and energy |
The XIV Readers’ Meeting began at 6 pm on Thursday, April 30, at the Los Habaneros hotel in Cartagena. This year we have had the invaluable help of the Murcia study group to organize the Meeting in this corner of the Levante peninsula. Our special thanks go to everyone who has helped us feel comfortable and covered at all times.
In total we met almost 40 people (including companions) from Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Valencia, Mallorca, Murcia, Malaga, Seville, Burgos, Santander and Vizcaya. We also had the pleasure of having the presence of the president of the Conference Committee of the ISB (International Service Board) of the UAI, Antonio Schefer, who came from Holland to be with us. Thank you all for attending!
This has been the meeting back to the format of 3 nights / 4 days. At the inaugural meeting, a brief review of the activities program was given. The theme of this Encounter was “Ágora Nostra”, a motto that we have used for the series of talk shows on topics related to The Urantia Book that are being published on the Youtube channel of the Urantia Association of Spain (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXLLynKr61xQSPbZnxBSPQ). La The reason for using this tagline was that we mainly used the format of presentations and discussion on the topics that some “long-time” readers volunteered to deliver. In addition, we took advantage of the celebration of the Meeting to record more installments of Ágora Nostra. Subscribe to the association’s channel to be promptly informed of the publication of these new videos!
On Friday morning, May 1, two presentations were given. The first presentation, “Appearance on the cosmic stage of matter and energy”, was given by Santiago Rodríguez, member of the Barcelona study group, amateur astronomer and regular contributor to our magazine “Luz y Vida”. In the fixed section “Convergences and Divergences”, Santi is in charge of presenting scientific questions comparing the current scientific explanation with that which appears in The Urantia Book. In this presentation, he offered us a tour of matter, energy, and the forces that intervene in the physical world, as considered by current science, and then he compared this vision with what The Urantia Book offers us about it.
Demetrio Gómez, from the Madrid study group, gave the second presentation, entitled “The Scribe of Damascus.” In it he reviewed the trip that Jesus made with Ganid and Gonod to Rome, and the encounters he had with some people who were later decisive for the development of later Christianity. It is surprising that none of them knew that the Damascus scribe and the Christian Jesus Christ were the same person.
The afternoon of Friday the 1st was devoted entirely to holding a workshop on document 72, “A government of a neighboring planet”, facilitated by Olga López. The idea was to address the twelve sections of the document among all, so that the attendees were divided into six groups so that each one worked on two sections. Each group had to answer some questions and then share their conclusions with the others. In the end, document 72 gives us a message of hope and we consider that it is important to stay with that message to advance the progress of our societies.
Two more presentations were given on Saturday morning. The first, «Time and space. Our universe and the universe of The Urantia Book”, consisted of a vibrant presentation in which Francisco Fuentes, from Madrid, made us see with very graphic examples how small we are compared to the gigantic universe. Once again, the great divergence in the age of the universe that scientists propose with the temporal magnitudes of which The Urantia Book speaks arose.
The second presentation of the morning was given by Ginés Avilés, from the Murcia study group, on the problem-solving technique proposed by Rodán de Alejandría and which appears in document 160. This technique, consisting of four simple steps (but not for that reason easy), serves as a guide to address everything about us that we do not like and that we want to change. Ginés proposed a practical case to apply this technique, so that attendees would know how to use it in their daily lives.
After lunch, most of the attendees went on a short excursion to visit the city, taking advantage of the hotel’s central location. Cartagena has a thousand-year history and that is undoubtedly reflected in its monuments. During the visit we had the opportunity to take a quick tour of most of them. This was also an opportunity to relax and enjoy relaxed conversations with other members of the group.
In the afternoon, after the excursion, we had the opportunity to attend a brilliant presentation by David Carrera on the Reality-Irreality dichotomy (with capital letters), which was very much appreciated by all the attendees and which stood out for being very visual and enlightening and for provoke reflection. David made it very clear to us what is on both sides and urged us to turn away from Unreality and embrace the divine values that are included in Reality. Unfortunately, we cannot include his presentation in this issue of the magazine as it was not developed from a written text or recorded (this absence of audiovisual media will be corrected in future Meetings). But we are sure that all attendees gained greater insight and discernment about how to embrace divine values (good) and thus move away from Unreality (evil).
Comment to the photo: David began his presentation with two sheets of white paper pasted on the wall, like a blackboard, on which he drew a vertical black line that separated the set of sheets into two halves. On the left side he placed the word UNREALITY and on the right REALITY. With the nuance that the word REALITY was very marked and defined, very highlighted and the word UNREALITY was made with a loose line, poorly defined, almost blurred. Once this was done, he began his presentation. When he finished, the supposed blackboard was left as shown in the attached photo. From the blank canvases to the finished mural was the result of this dynamic presentation. A guide to follow this “map”, explained David, which is to take the black line as the border between both concepts with the meaning that the more to the left of the border, the more unreal and the more to the right, the more real.
Due to the success of last year’s Meeting, both on Friday and Saturday nights there was a meditation session led by Mariano Pérez, head of the association’s study groups. The first session was a conventional meditation and the second was a visualization exercise entitled “Overcoming our fears.” After these sessions, and as usual, spontaneous debates arose on all kinds of topics, which lasted until dawn. In recent years, these impromptu conversations have taken on a popular name among readers: “Comanche territory.”
On Sunday morning, the 3rd, as usual in the last Encounters, there was a question-answer session on the teachings of the book, based on questions suggested by the participants. These were, among others, the questions that were posed:
- If God is so good, why does he allow poor people and so many natural disasters to happen to them?
- Are Caligastia and Daligastia still free on the planet? What is the point of view regarding the channelings that affirm that the trial of Lucifer is over?
- Can experiences with deceased beings be reconciled with what is said in The Urantia Book?
Once again, the discussion that followed each question was very lively.
Lastly, and before lunch, the assembly of the Urantia Association of Spain was held, where the attendees were informed about the activities (in support of the study and dissemination) carried out during the last twelve months, as well as about future projects. . It was also a time for attendees to say what they thought of the Meeting and to make suggestions on how to improve the experience of a readers’ meeting. According to the comments of the attendees, the presentations were very popular. It has also been unanimous among the attendees to welcome the return to the 4-day/3-night format.
At the end of the assembly, and for the first time in a long time, the board proposed to the attendees three cities to celebrate next year’s Meeting. Bilbao won almost unanimously, so that’s where we’re going in 2016! The Encounters will arrive in the north of Spain for the first time, so we hope that readers who live in that area will be encouraged to come.
Then, and after lunch, we said goodbye (not without a little sadness) because the Meeting, although it had lasted one day longer than the previous one, had passed too quickly. The Encounter is already history, but its memory gives us strength to continue with our daily lives and with our work of disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| Luz y Vida — No. 40 — Presentation | Luz y Vida — No. 40 — June 2015 — Index | Appearance on the cosmic stage of matter and energy |