© 2011 Olga López
© 2011 Urantia Association of Spain
Our 10th Readers’ Meeting officially began at 7 pm on Thursday, May 5. In total we met about 24 people from Seville, Málaga, Alicante, Valencia, Vizcaya, Burgos, Tarragona, Gerona and Barcelona. In our first session, we delivered the material that was going to be used in the Meeting, and we explained what the mechanics of the workshops were going to be. After dinner, and as a complementary activity, we watched one of the episodes of the J.J. Benitez “Enchanted Planet”, titled “An Ace in God’s Hole”, and which was about the Shroud of Turin. In future issues of Luz y Vida we will develop an interesting debate that occurred in the Internet Study Group regarding this topic.
On Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th, four morning and afternoon sessions were held, in which each of the following documents was discussed:
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Paper 92: The Later Evolution of Religion
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Paper 99: The social problems of religion
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Paper 100: Religion in the human experience
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Paper 101: The Real Nature of Religion
Each of the attendees was given a list of six questions for each of the documents, related to direct quotes or references from the corresponding text. Each session lasted about three hours and consisted of two parts: in the first, people met in groups of three or four people, in which one of them acted as moderator/facilitator, and in which another person (or the same) took notes of what was answered in each question. The groups changed members in each session, to give attendees the opportunity to group with different people. The only thing that remained constant were the moderators, around whom the groups were formed. The moderators were: Eduardo Altuzarra, Santiago Rodríguez, Andrés Pérez, Olga López, Carmelo Martínez and David Carrera.
In the first part of the session, three of the six questions posed for each document had to be answered. Then, after approximately an hour and a half, we all met for the second part of the session, in which each of the questions was reviewed. The person in each group who was in charge of taking notes was in charge of offering the answers that his or her group had given. I must say that all questions were answered by at least one group. And, curiously, some questions were “full”: all groups answered them.
Once all the answers had been shared, a free debate began regarding the topics covered in the document in question. I should point out in this regard that the discussions were so fluid that no moderator was needed to record the question times. That is an unequivocal sign that the group was well integrated.
Friday and Saturday nights were reserved for musical activities inspired by The Urantia Book. On Friday night, after dinner, Alfons Halsema offered us a piano, soprano and tenor concert, where one of the main themes was the life of Jesus, but where other pieces of classical music were also performed. On Saturday night we had a performance by Jordi Cantos, reader of the book and member of the Barcelona study group, who offered his “music for the soul”.
On Sunday morning we met again to celebrate an assembly of the association, in which a tour of the activities carried out during the year 2010 was made, and the projects planned for 2011 were exposed. In the end, the attendees had the opportunity to offer suggestions for improvement for future meetings, of which we take good note.
From the board we consider that the format of the X Encuentro has been very interesting, because:
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It has given the opportunity to participate both to regular and new attendees alike.
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It has allowed attendees to develop their abilities to express their ideas, both in small groups and in the main group.
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It has served to deepen the concept of religion.
And, to finish, we include here the last paragraph of the last document studied, 101, since we all agree that its words resonate strongly within us and give us great encouragement to continue forward:
Now, rather, are the sons of God enlisted together in fighting the battle of reality’s triumph over the partial shadows of existence. At last all creatures become conscious of the fact that God and all the divine hosts of a well-nigh limitless universe are on their side in the supernal struggle to attain eternity of life and divinity of status. Such faith-liberated sons have certainly enlisted in the struggles of time on the side of the supreme forces and divine personalities of eternity; even the stars in their courses are now doing battle for them; at last they gaze upon the universe from within, from God’s viewpoint, and all is transformed from the uncertainties of material isolation to the sureties of eternal spiritual progression. Even time itself becomes but the shadow of eternity cast by Paradise realities upon the moving panoply of space. (UB 101:10.9)
¶ PHOTOS
X Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/