© 2000 Peep Söber
© 2000 Urantia Association International (IUA)
Peep Sõber, Estonia
From 4th to 5 th of December in Tallinn we had a conference for children introducing The Urantia Book and its teachings. A seminar named “Secrets of Universe” was prepared by our youth organization-Successful Children Organization (SCO) in co-operation with our readers.
Producer of SCO, Veikko Raagmets, was a leader of a youth organization during the time of Soviet occupation in Estonia. The Communists from Moscow strongly controlled all youth organizations, but Veikko was the first in former Soviet Union to declare this kind of youth organization as independent from ideological pressure of Moscow. When Estonia re-established our independence he worked out a new basis and structure for a youth organization, somehow similar to scouts in Western countries. A few years before Veikko had discovered The Urantia Book and, being inspired by that, he reorganized the SCO closer to these teachings. For that reason he hired our young reader Helen Anvelt as a consultant to the SCO.
SCO deals with after-school activities, mostly educational camps for children 12-18 years old from all over Estonia. Their main task is to successfully master the challenges of living. According to SCO the signs of successful living include, in addition to economic independence, many important factors such as peace of mind, good health, appreciation of the natural environment, harmonious relations with the people around us, the existence of goals and ideals, intellectually honest self-awareness, self-respect, self acceptance and Higher Consciousness. In addition to many courses there is some activity with entertainment, sports, fine arts, and the natural environment.
The SCO is not a political or religious organization and it does not cooperate with a political party, a working church or a sect. It has about 1000 members joined into 60 clubs. It has a small membership fee. All members have been introduced to The Urantia Book by an introductory lecture, since it is the ideological basis of SCO. The membership allows every member to participate free in at least three different educational camps during one year. The SCO is financed partly by state and other funds. The Speaker of the Estonian Parliament is its patron. You can get more information from the web site: www.online.ee/~elorg/
And now the time was ready to broaden the world view of SCO members by The Urantia Book teachings. The aims for this seminar were: to make children conscious of the structure and administration of the universe, the origin and destiny of man, and the connection between religion, philosophy and science; to give a new concept of time, eternity and Deity; to give some practical advice how to use knowledge of philosophy and religion in daily life. But the main task was to help participants to discover their personal truth. We let children freely decide whether or not they believed our message. We were not intrusive.
The leaders of the SCO had never experienced such an interest in any other seminar previously. By the week before 120 children had already applied for the seminar, but they had only 85 seats in the hall. They had to close the registration a week in advance; in fact 90 children came and participated! It was really our biggest conference!
There were our lectures by Veikko Raagmets, Ruth Kask, Riho Kokk, and Peep Sõber: “The Structure of the Universe, Leadership and Laws”; “Our Cosmic Career”; “Man in the Universe”; “Life and Teachings of Jesus”;
“Origin of the Book and Urantia Movement in Estonia and in the World.” Some of these lectures were presented using a multimedia presentation. Children saw the Foundation’s video clip about the translations, then a clip made by American TV and a media talk show made this year in Vancouver. We also planned a time for study groups on the following topics: “Invisible World: To Believe or Not?”; “Everyone Can Create His Own Happiness”; “Love, Marriage and Family Life”; “Invisible World and Daily Life.”
The children met with our well-known actress who had received some translated Papers 12 years ago. She is looking forward to reading the whole translation when it will be published and available. Another meeting was organized with our famous composer who is also an amateur astronomer who has built his own observatory. But the top of all was the meeting in the end with Severin Desbuisson from France. It was encouraging to hear that he started to read the book when he was 14 years old. Severin became like a pop-star after a concert, giving autographs left and right to Estonian girls.
It was a unique experience to prepare and assist at such event which apparently no one else has done before. It was incredible to see how deep the spiritual perception and interest can be among our school children. Most astonishing of all was to see that our youngest participient, 10 -year old Toomas, asked Severin such clever questions–and even in English!
At the end there was a little test, and the children received a Master Degree or Disciple Degree on The Urantia Book. Now they know that Urantia Foundation is the publisher and not a church, and that the first printing of the book was made in 1955 in Chicago.
There was much joy and humour among us, and we never heard any criticism or scepticism. The only sad thing was that we still cannot offer the book itself in our native language, but that time is not far when our translation will be ready and hopefully soon published by the Foundation. At this seminar the door was opened; it is their choice to come in or not. The Urantia Book became highly valued: 90 percent of the children wanted to participate again next time; 75 percent were ready for deeper knowledge; and 62 percent believed that all this is true.
Some years ago Trustee Georges MichelsonDupont said that there is a good soil for The Urantia Book teachings in Estonia. Now we can say that this is true also for our younger generation.
by Peep Sõber
On the 8th of April, 70 Urantia Book readers gathered in Tallinn to celebrate a conference organized by the Estonian Urantia Association. The objective of the conference was two-pronged: first, to provide new readers with useful knowledge concerning various methods of studying the book; and second, to form new study groups with them. The first lecture was given by Peep Sõber on “My Personal Experience with Reading the Book.” Thereupon three more lectures were given that made full use of a video projector. Youth organization leader Veikko Raagmets gave an overall introduction to the book, whereupon our Vice-President Ruth Kask gave a talk on the Seven Adjutant-Mind Spirits. The fourth presentation was given by Ruth and Peep with angels and midwayers as our subject matter.
The last discourse was spoken by Professor of Mathematics Vello Reeben, from Tartu University. The theme of his talk was “Cosmology: I Have More Confidence in The Urantia Book Than in Academic Sciences.” He voiced strongly worded criticism about the modern Big Bang theory and referred to the findings of a number of scientists, like H. Arp, H. Alfen, and F. Hoyle, who have rejected the notion of a Big Bang as the beginning of universe existence. He likewise reported on several scientific discoveries which give credence to notions of the crucial significance of the number seven in the universe
Our conference scored many good results. Several new readers became inspired to read the book and to join a study group
We shall soon set into motion the preparations for our Summer Conference in August. As many as 50 readers have already applied for participation in the event. We hope to see there also a great number of readers from other countries. Brothers and sisters, Welcome to Eesti!