© 2011 Francine Fortin, Line St-Pierre, Claudette Gonthier, Luciano Camellini, Alain N.
© 2011 Urantia Association from Quebec
¶ Who is listening to me? (Part 1)
DO YOU OFTEN feel like you’re talking into a void? Disappointed because you weren’t heard? Sad because you weren’t understood? Unfortunately, this is all too often the case for everyone. The key to communication, the one that opens the doors to understanding others, the one that allows us to discover the horizons of others, this key to assured success is that of LISTENING.
If in your heart there is a sincere desire to understand the other, there is only one way and no one can achieve it without learning to LISTENING and wisdom.
“Intelligence is sufficient to speak, but wisdom is necessary to listen.”
It is so easy to talk, talk, talk, it has become a visceral need in our society. Everyone talks because there is no one to listen to them; no one feels understood, so we talk to try to make ourselves heard. During a discussion, when everyone needs to assert their point of view, without taking the time to listen to each other, it sometimes happens that it ends in an argument, an argument or a dialogue of the deaf. Have you ever been told or told the other: but that’s what I just said!
Observe carefully the communications around you, stop at your own communications, don’t you find that they are often empty of meaning? How can we manage to attract the attention of the other to our thoughts, our point of view, when we do not pay attention to him?
We teach our children what we were taught: to speak, but who taught us to listen? As we grow, we learn to use our senses, but what about LISTENING? We can’t teach what we don’t know, can we? There are even Toastmasters programs for teaching good speaking, but no programs for teaching listening!
People talk too much about themselves and by not listening to others, they deprive themselves of the opportunity to discover their brothers. Taking the time to think about what the other has just told us before responding requires a lot of willpower and concentration.
This is quite natural, because while someone is talking to us, we are already thinking about our response. Speech is slower than thought!
So why do people write to each other more and more in their communications on the Net? Isn’t it because they know they will be understood? Because when we read them, we don’t prepare our response, we are more attentive to their writings.
For many years, I was a volunteer listener and trainer in active listening for the suicide prevention organization: Tel Aide. This experience greatly helped me later on to improve my communications within my family, my work colleagues, and with my brothers and sisters who cross my path.
So, I want to share with you some listening techniques that I have learned and that I always try to put into practice.
If I have piqued your curiosity and created a desire to learn new techniques that will change the way you communicate, stay tuned for the next column.
I invite you to follow me, to live a new experience that will facilitate your communications to speak of God by learning to listen.
Francine Fortin
¶ New Year’s greetings!
THIS IS THE FINAL edition of Réflectivité for the year. We will see you again in February. Until then, I wish you a joyous holiday season filled with goodness, beauty, truth and that 2012 presents itself with many opportunities for our spiritual growth.
Line
¶ My Adjuster
I HAD BEEN SAILING FOR MANY years on the uncertain ocean of life, in search of truth. I sailed to Tibet with the Lama Mardi Lobstang Rampa. All his books I read and reread. Then my journey continued with the Lives of the Great Masters. With my beliefs, I absorbed everything that could make me better. But until then my soul remained unsatisfied until the day I embarked on the ship of truth, Urantia.
As soon as I opened this magnificent volume, I was mesmerized by the way God is introduced to us. “The Universal Father.” After reading this sentence: “The transcendent goal of the children of time is to find the eternal God, to understand the divine nature, to recognize the Universal Father.”
Now, you can be sure that I wanted to know more. I believed in reincarnation and this sentence gave me a glimpse of another path. I who hated this idea of leaving this earth to come back again and again. To redo this uncertain path life after life.
I was reading slowly to soak up these beautiful truths. And it is in the Heavenly Father’s papers that the Thought Adjusters are revealed to us and I looked at this magnificent quote:
“If mortal man is wholeheartedly spiritually motivated, unreservedly consecrated to the doing of the Father’s will, then, since he is so certainly and so effectively spiritually endowed by the indwelling and divine Adjuster, there cannot fail to materialize in that individual’s experience the sublime consciousness of knowing God and the supernal assurance of surviving for the purpose of finding God by the progressive experience of becoming more and more like him.” (UB 5:1.6)
It was then that my soul knew that the divine gift was not just some thing that God gave us, but a Divine Being who lives in our mind. I understood that I could communicate directly with God through my Adjuster. Not just look up to heaven and wonder if the Good Lord will receive my prayer or worship.
And this hope of continuing my spiritual evolution with my Adjuster after my passage on this earth. So, reincarnation no longer had its place.
It is in Paper 107 that the Thought Adjusters are fully revealed to us.
“God, having commanded man to be perfect, even as he is perfect, has descended as the Adjuster to become man’s experiential partner in the achievement of the supernal destiny which has been thus ordained.” (UB 107:0.3)
“Eternal fusion of the Adjuster with the evolutionary soul of man is the factual experience of eternal union with God as a universe associate of Deity.” (UB 107:0.4)
I say, our Father places his Universe at our feet so that we can follow the path of divinity by doing his will. This is the greatest gesture of Love that the human lives and will live for eternity.
In this booklet we learn everything we need to know to harmonize with our Adjuster and above all the phenomenon of death is explained to us.
“After death the material body returns to the elemental world from which it came, but two immaterial factors of the surviving personality remain. First, the preexistent Thought Adjuster with the transcribed memory of the earth career goes to Divinington; second, the immortal morontia soul is preserved by the guardian angel of destiny.
It is the reunion of the Adjuster and the soul which reconstitutes the surviving personality, which makes you conscious again at the time of the morontia revelation. ” Paper 112, The Death Phenomenon. UB 112:3.5
What a beautiful adventure our journey to the beyond, our new morontia life on the mansion world, continuing our path to the Father through Nebadon, Orvonton, then Havona and finally Paradise.
It was the greatest revelation for me, I can’t imagine a more magnificent gift.
I have been sailing through life with Urantia for at least 25 years. Many of my fears have vanished in the waves of truth and have found themselves at the bottom of the ocean of knowledge. Slowly, the truths have been sinking into me.
I am happy today to be able to go to a reading group to delve deeper and understand these beautiful revelations more. With the help and opinion of others, I will better understand these revelations and thus live them fully.
I hope that with the little time I have left in my life, I can share it with those around me through my example.
Thank you, Gaétan and Line, God bless you.
Claudette Gonthier
¶ The gift of self
DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, DURING all these experiences of learning, trials and sufferings that exist on our planet Urantia, we also have, among so many others, that of sharing and this always respecting free will.
An experience was recently offered to me, that of succeeding my brother Alain Cyr, who incidentally did a remarkable job as Treasurer for the AUQ.
New direction, new challenges, new sharing in the service. This is the task I occupy within the AUQ. I would tell you that the responsibility is great. In my daily work, I work at night and during the day I proceed with my cellular regeneration. But the Being that inhabits me makes me a strong human, ready to take on the challenges and obstacles of life; my being that is always ready for those who need it. To love, share and serve has been my credo since my early childhood.
One of the mandates as treasurer is to manage the money that is paid to the AUQ and another is to solicit the world that sometimes forgets, because of their earthly commitments. In checking my files, I noticed that some members have forgotten to pay their dues for the current year and that soon we will move on to a new year. In general, everyone remembers to renew their dues and sometimes we add a small donation with that, but others forget or find that in the end their participation is not necessary; I will explain to you what the money you give us is used for.
One of the mandates of the AUQ, affiliated with the Urantia Association International, is the dissemination of the teachings of the Urantia Book and consequently the need to send books to underdeveloped countries. Of course, The Urantia Book is not free, nor are the shipping costs which are often more expensive than the book itself. Also when we organize certain events, such as thematic events, the Annual General Assembly, it is always from the AUQ fund that we will take the money to cover the costs incurred.
I am sure that among us the $50.00 that we pay for our annual contribution to the AUQ does not leave us unprepared; on the contrary, when we give with our heart, God gives it back to us a hundredfold.
Another point that I would like to bring to your attention is the participation in the themes. I noticed that more or less, it was almost always the same participants, however and personally I find that the themes bring us a lot in our spiritual evolution. Each time, I come out of it stimulated to the maximum and I look forward to the next one. You will say that it is my opinion, of course! But me, as I said before, I work at night, and when my work is finished, I go home to shower and change and I go to the theme or to my board meetings which take place during the day. The effort that I put into it could perhaps make you question yourself? That is certainly my goal. If we could really live our present moment, we would realize that it is not difficult, quite the contrary, it proves to us that God lives in us and gives us the strength to work for his work.
This is my message and with fraternity I wish you to live your present moment with love.
Luciano Camellini
Treasurer of AUQ
¶ Sharing an experience
THERE ARE NUMEROUS SUBJECTS ON which I could speak to all of you, but this time I have decided to write to you on a delicate subject which deals with death. I have observed that most of the time we discuss it, we are contemplating our own death and what we will do after it. But today it is not on that subject that I wish to write, but on those of us who remain here on Urantia after a loved one has departed for the Mansion Worlds.
Even though death sometimes seems liberating for the person concerned and for those who accompany him, it still creates a certain void for us who remain, in the fact that we now lack this relationship. Can we benefit or learn something from this void created? Fortunately, everything that is empty can be filled, it is a universal law.
I sincerely believe that death allows us to redefine the meaning of our life, not that it did not have one before, but it adds a degree or a higher value to the current life. This seems silly to say, but we learn to live in death. We cannot replace the lost relationship with another, because each of them is unique. However, the relationships that remain take on a more important dimension in our daily lives.
Life is a great school and death is part of it. I have often heard in this experience the famous phrase that supposedly brings a certain comfort “Don’t worry, time fixes things!” Well, know this, time is very real, but does nothing for us, it is we who act in time by our own will to want to overcome the trials of time. A mourning is not experienced by shouting scissors.
Let us not forget that we are both human and divine and that these human feelings are very real, just as real as the divine ones. We are here on Urantia to learn and live the human experience and that without this experience of humanity, how could we recognize the divine in us? Each of us must continue to move forward with our pains and handicaps in this life which is ours.
Besides, isn’t that what the Master teaches us? The divine does not manifest itself through words, but through the life we lead and that is what we recognize in the life of Jesus. Believe me, the experience we live here on Urantia is unique and that is what makes it so beautiful even in the hardest trials of our lives. In a storm, the great oak can bend under the force of the wind, have its branches broken, lose all its foliage, but what makes it noble is that it is still standing despite everything and that Life still flows in it.
Let us not forget that a piece of God lives in each of us and that even if in certain circumstances it seems distant, it is always present and accompanies us on the paths along which we walk.
Alain N.
¶ AUQ 2012 ACTIVITY CALENDAR
Annual General Meeting
Sunday February 5th in the morning
Welcome from 9:30 a.m.
Presentations and Sharing at 1:30 p.m. Until 4:30 p.m.
Hotel Le Dauphin, Drummondville
Thematic
Sunday March 18
The theme and location will be communicated to you later.
International Congress of the UAI in Colombia
From April 28 to May 1.
For details visit www.urantiacolombia.com
Thematic
Sunday May 27
The theme and location will be communicated to you later.
Picnic, Michael’s Party
Sunday August 19
Angrignon Park in Ville La Salle
Thematic
Sunday October 21 The theme and location will be communicated to you later
Holiday Brunch
Sunday December 27
The place to come
¶ Call for the Annual General Meeting on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 10 a.m.
Hotel Le Dauphin, 600, boulevard St-Joseph,
Drummondville QC, J2C 2C1
Tel.: 819-478-4141
Dear members, please take notice that your participation in this meeting is highly requested. This assembly will allow us to redefine our goals and make joint decisions regarding the direction we want to give to the Urantia movement in Quebec. After lunch, starting at 1:30 p.m., there will be presentations and sharing.
¶ Agenda
- Opening of the meeting by the president after taking attendance and establishing the quorum
- Reading and adoption of the agenda of February 5, 2012
- Reading and adoption of the minutes of the meeting of February 5, 2011
- Reading of the activity report for the year 2011
- Financial report for the year 2011
- Election of an election chairman and reading of the election procedure
- Presentation and election of candidates for the positions of Vice-President and Secretary
- List of resolutions ratified for 2011
- News from study groups in Quebec
- Closure of the meeting
It is here, now, through our involvement, that we begin learning the administration of the universe.
Call for applications
This year, at our Annual General Meeting to be held on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at Hôtel Le Dauphin, 600, boulevard St-Joseph, Drummondville QC, there will be an election for the positions of vice-president and secretary.
Job Description: (taken from our corporate statutes and regulations)
The Vice-President replaces the President and any other member of the Council as needed; like the President, the Vice-President of a local association liaises with other local associations and participates, as a voting member, in meetings of the national association.
The Secretary handles mail and takes minutes; keeps the membership register, directs readers to study groups, and answers members’ questions, or delegates another person to answer them.
Any member in good standing wishing to submit their application may do so now by communicating their intention by mail to the following address:
Urantia Association of Quebec
c/o the secretary
C.P. 304, St-Jérôme, QC
J7Z 5L0
By email: mauricemigneault@gmail.com
¶ STUDY GROUPS
THIS ACTIVITY ALLOWS MULTIPLE READERS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING TO SHARE AND STUDY THE TEACHINGS OF THE URANTIA BOOK TOGETHER. IT PROMOTES SPIRITUAL PROGRESS BY ENABLING PARTICIPANTS TO FIND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE URANTIA BOOK IN THEIR DAILY LIVES. THIS IMPORTANT PRACTICE MAINTAINS A BROADER VIEW OF CONCEPTS OF TRUTH.
You wish to participate or form a study group; we will be happy to assist you. If you wish to have your study group appear in this list, contact the person in charge, via email association.urantia.quebec@gmail.com or at 450-565-3323.
Group: Découverte
Every Monday from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Laurentians Region Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre
Tel.: 450-565-3323
Group: Étoile du Soir
Every Wednesday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Laurentides region
Carmen Charland
Tel.: 450-553-3601
Group: Le Pont
Every Thursday from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
South Shore of Montreal
Guy Vachon
Tel.: 450-465-7049
Group: Mauricie Readers
Every Monday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Three Rivers Region
Madeleine Boisvert and
Tel: 819-376-8850
Roger Perigny
819-379-5768
Group: Veritas
Every Tuesday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Montreal area, near the Church metro station
Lise and Pierre Routhier
Tel.: 514-761-2378
Sherbrooke Group
Every two weeks, Tuesday or Wednesday (to be confirmed)
From 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Helene Boisvenue or Denis Gravelle
Tel.: 819 569-6416
Group: The Ascendants
Every two weeks on Sunday from 13 h 00 to 3:30 p.m.
South Shore of Quebec
Guy LeBlanc
Tel: 418-835-1809
Group: The Agondontarians
Every two weeks on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. North Shore of Quebec
Guy & Rolande L. Martin
Tel: 418-651-3851
Group: Les Débonnaires
Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Montreal region
Julien Audet
Tel: 514-315-9871
Group: Urantia Fraternity
Wednesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Lanaudière region
Richard Landry & Gisèle Boisjoly
Tel: 450-589-6922
Group: Vers les Sommets
Friday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Regions Ormstown & Valleyfield
Louise Sauve
Tel: 450-829-3631
Group: The United Urantia Family
Monday from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Montreal region
Mrs. Diane Labrecque
Tel: 514-277-2308
The Partners of the Supreme
Monday from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Quebec region
Richard Lachance
Tel: (418) 614-2520 or (418) 933-0244 (cell)
At Maisonia
Every two weeks on Monday from 7:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Quebec region
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud
Tel: 418-871-4564
Group: Uni-Terre
Every Sunday from 9:00 a.m.
Lanaudière region
Eric Martel
Tel: 450-756-9387
Group: Laurantia
Every Sunday from 9:00 a.m.
Petite Nation region in Outaouais
Denise Charron & Jean-Claude Lafreniere
Tel: 819-983-2113
Group: The Precursors of Divine Reality
Every two weeks on Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Laurentides region
Mrs. Johanne Séguin
Tel: 819-327-3237
Group: Sans Frontiére
Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Hawkesbury region
Yvon and Irene Belle-Isle
Tel: 613-632-5706
Disclaimer: Any interpretations, opinions, conclusions or artistic representations, stated or implied, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Urantia Association International or local and national level associations.