© 2022 Olga López
© 2022 Urantia Foundation
| Our Urantia Book Stand at the Cali, Colombia Bookfair | Volume 16, Issue 5, Dec. 2022 — Index | Sharing The Urantia Book |
By Olga López Molina, trustee, Urantia Foundation, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
The Third European Conference of Urantia Book Readers was held October 20 23, 2022. Almost 70 readers gathered from Europe and the rest of the world. They came from as far away as Georgia in eastern Europe to the United States and Argentina in the Americas. The conference site was the Sol Torremolinos—Don Pablo Hotel in Málaga, Spain. With almost summerlike temperatures, we were able to enjoy not only the weather, but also the good company of readers and the activities related to the theme of the conference—self-mastery.
The conference had a practical focus so that attendees would return home with new ideas and tools to improve the art of self-mastery in light of the teachings of The Urantia Book. Two tracks were offered in English and Spanish, with workshops that were separate but always focused on self-mastery. As the tracks developed independently, the approaches were different but equally enriching. There were also joint activities that maintained the cohesion of the group of attendees thanks to the translation services.
Since this was the first international face-to-face conference since the outbreak of the pandemic, everyone was eager to meet face to face again and catch up. For this reason, the organizers (whom I thank for their hard work) wanted to encourage social interactions by including two excursions in the program.
On Friday morning, we visited the Dolmens of Antequera, a World Heritage site with megalithic monuments older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. On Saturday evening, we walked through the city of Málaga accompanied by a guide who reviewed the millenary history of the city, which was founded by the Phoenicians. We heard anecdotes about several sites and the character of the local people. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant located on one of the beaches of Málaga.
This was my first conference as a trustee of Urantia Foundation, and I appreciated meeting new readers and cultivating old friendships. I spent time listening carefully and trying to look beyond the program of activities to gauge the health of the Urantia community in Europe. I must say that the development of the community of readers on this continent continues apace.
There are capable leaders who are working tirelessly to keep the community cohesive. I also saw that the presentations and workshops have evolved: their format has diversified; the content has deepened; the participation of the readers is more sought after. Above all that, there is more focus on applying the teachings in our daily lives.
For all the above reasons, I am certain that a milestone has been reached in the development of the European reading community. Despite being scattered throughout many countries and speaking different languages, European readers have created a common space from which to build a network of support to overcome materialism and enlighten Europe.
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| Our Urantia Book Stand at the Cali, Colombia Bookfair | Volume 16, Issue 5, Dec. 2022 — Index | Sharing The Urantia Book |