© 2024 Olga López
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
Bulletin of the Urantia Association of Spain
Light and Life — July-August 2024
¶ In this issue
- Editorial – July-August 2024 — M. José Sánchez Santamaría
- Presentations of the XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Spain
- History and teachings: Chronicle of the life of Jesus
- Urantia Book Children’s Guide: Rebecca
- XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Spain — Olga López
- Report on the Circle of Trust — Fernando Carazo
- New Hara Davis Study Aid: The Family
¶ Editorial – July-August 2024 — M. José Sánchez Santamaría
Manuel Vicent in his latest book, A Particular Story, tells us these beautiful words at the beginning:
Life, like the violin, only has four strings: you are born, you grow, you reproduce and you die. With these elements each personal story is woven with a whole tangle of dreams and passions that time half-marinates with chance.
Certainly, those four strings to which the Spanish writer alludes are fundamental in earthly life, that of here. But is there nothing more, just chance? Only what our senses see? If we were to pluck those four strings with the violin bow, would we not extract great melodies? Would not the beauty and truth, the intelligence and order of a superior intelligence such as that of the musician be manifested in an inert body such as a musical instrument?
Those of us who read The Urantia Book know the difficulties that material life has, especially in a decimal world, in rebellion, without the help of a physical planetary government and, on many occasions, with the predominance of our instinctive part over our highest part. It is true that there are many human beings who only aspire to be born, grow, reproduce and die; to reproduce the incessant race of the hamster, which leads nowhere. Now, The Urantia Book tells us:
At the time of this writing the worst of the materialistic age is over; the day of a better understanding is already beginning to dawn. The higher minds of the scientific world are no longer wholly materialistic in their philosophy, but the rank and file of the people still lean in that direction as a result of former teachings. But this age of physical realism is only a passing episode in man’s life on earth. Modern science has left true religion—the teachings of Jesus as translated in the lives of his believers—untouched. All science has done is to destroy the childlike illusions of the misinterpretations of life. (UB 195:6.4)
¶ Presentations of the XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Spain
The Urantia Book versus the paradigm of the future
Technological future (Olga López)
The development of technologies has experienced exponential growth in recent years, but are humans up to the changes that their widespread use is producing in all areas? There are studies that say that the progress of the human mind has been linear, while technology has experienced exponential advancement. Faced with this situation, what can The Urantia Book offer as an instruction manual to navigate these times of accelerated development, in which we are even questioning the boundaries of the human being?
In this presentation, we see what The Urantia Book tells us regarding the challenges of modern society (taking into account that its content is on its way to turning one hundred years old), first mentioning what have been the most notable technological advances in recent years.
¶ History and teachings: Chronicle of the life of Jesus
JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE URANTIA BOOK
We present to you the next installment of the chronicles of the life of Jesus, which on this occasion contains what the revelators tell us in paper 157 (In Caesarea Philippi). Inside the PDF you will see a button from which you can access the text of the document from the Urantia Foundation website.
¶ Urantia Book Children’s Guide: Rebecca
We continue reviewing the secondary work A Child’s Guide to The Urantia Book, by Mary Livingston. This is the next chapter, which deals with what happened between Jesus and Rebecca, the young woman from Nazareth who fell in love with Jesus, and it begins like this:
“Jesus was poor but people didn’t care. Everyone loved him. Rebecca, daughter of a rich family, fell in love with Jesus. She personally told Miriam and Miriam told her mother Mary. They thought this was not a good idea. They thought it was better to dissuade Rebecca before Jesus found out.”
Download the full chapter in PDF format
¶ XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Spain — Olga López
Date: June 27-30, 2024
Location: Hotel Zentral Mayoral (Toledo)
Topic: The Urantia Book versus the paradigm of the future
The XX Meeting of Spanish readers began on the afternoon of Thursday, June 27 at the Zentral Mayoral Hotel, located very close to the historic center of the beautiful city of Toledo. About 30 people attended from all corners of the country: Ávila, Barcelona, Burgos, Cáceres, Ciudad Real, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Navarra, Seville, Tarragona. We also had the presence of Antonio Schefer, from the Netherlands, president of the Congress committee of the Urantia Association International.
The Meeting officially started late Thursday afternoon, 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. The program was reviewed and then there was a moderate and relaxed conversation session before dinner time.
Friday was the most “intense” day of the program. In the morning, before breakfast and the presentations, Fernando Carazo offered a session of breathing techniques that serve to quiet our mind as a preamble to meditation. In the morning, two workshops were offered, which followed this format:
¶ Report on the Circle of Trust — Fernando Carazo
During the annual meeting of the association held in Ciudad Real in 2023, the proposal arose to create an experiential group, complementary to the study groups, whose main objective was the application of the knowledge acquired through personal reading or by attending formal study groups of The Urantia Book. That is: to tell, to express how we apply the book to daily life, and in turn to listen to other experiences of colleagues, with their difficulties and their benefits.
It was subsequently decided to launch the project and a document was published with the proposal to create the group. This document is available to everyone.
After a period of communication with the members of the association and other known readers of the book, a total of 12 people signed up, and on January 19, 2024, the first official meeting was held, which included personal introductions and the group’s guidelines.
To date, 11 biweekly meetings have been held on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom in the association’s room. The average participation in the group is three-quarters of all members; that is, about 8, 9 or 10 per meeting.
The most important characteristics and dynamics of this group can be summarized as follows:
¶ New Hara Davis Study Aid: The Family
Now available in Spanish is The Family, the Fundamental Unit of Fraternity, a new Study Aid by Hara Davis, who has spent many years dedicated to summarizing and condensing the teachings of The Urantia Book, grouped according to different themes.
In the words of the author: “The Urantia Book places significant emphasis on the family as the fundamental social unit and as a crucial factor in the development of individuals and society. In this study aid, we examine the family as a basic element of human civilization. We begin by examining unity and diversity within the divine family (…) We explore the evolutionary origins of the family institution, beginning with the way marriage progressed from primitive times to the present day and the differences between men and women. We study the development of the family from the primitive form to the more complex and organized family units that exist today, including issues of gender and equality of the sexes (…) We examine the responsibility of parents in the rearing of children, emphasizing the importance of education and training in the early years of a child’s life (…) We also examine the spiritual dimensions of family life and the potential for spiritual growth and development in the family context. As an example, we study Jesus’ family life and the many qualities he learned in his transition from childhood to early adulthood.
Link to purchase The Family in Amazon
¶ About the Luz y Vida newsletter
Luz y Vida is the newsletter of the Urantia Association of Spain. From 2005 to 2016 it was published in PDF format and distributed by post and email to the association’s reader list, but is currently distributed in newsletter format from HTML content.
If you wish to receive the newsletter in your email, contact the association to be subscribed to the recipient list.
All work and news from readers and study groups are welcome, so if you wish to share any secondary work, writing, outline, image, etc., you can send it to the association and we will publish it after evaluating its suitability. Likewise, the Communications Committee of the board of directors of the Urantia Association of Spain reserves the right to edit it to meet minimum spelling quality standards.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”