© 2012 Normand Laperle, Louise Dupuis, Luciano Camellini, Cécile Guillemette
© 2012 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ The Urantia Book The Importance of Study Groups (Part 1)
STUDY GROUPS ARE TO THE Urantia movement what the family is to society. They have a crucial part to play in the overall plan set forth by the Revelators. Each group is a living seed destined to transform the world.
Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family. (UB 68:2.8)
In addition to increasing understanding of the teachings of The Urantia Book, participation in a study group fulfills the soul’s need for fellowship. Being in a group encourages us to listen to others, to take their opinions into account, and to moderate our own. This provides us with excellent conditions for learning teamwork.
One of the most important lessons to be learned during your mortal career is teamwork. (UB 28:5.14)
It is through the practice of teamwork that we will see, over time, the natural emergence of leaders and teachers. When these personalities have manifested themselves, we will then be able to offer them more specialized training. If we want to train a leader without him having first acquired the deep awareness through experience of teamwork, there is a great risk of having unfortunate consequences.
The role of the study group is to facilitate the understanding of the teachings of The Urantia Book, to teach teamwork and, through this exercise, to foster the emergence of leaders and teachers.
It is enough of a reach of the material mind of the children of time to conceive of the Father in eternity. We know that any child can best relate himself to reality by first mastering the relationships of the child-parent situation and then by enlarging this concept to embrace the family as a whole. Subsequently the growing mind of the child will be able to adjust to the concept of family relations, to relationships of the community, the race, and the world, and then to those of the universe, the superuniverse, even the universe of universes. (UB 8:1.11)
¶ Welcoming new readers
New readers do not arrive empty-handed and without valuable experiences. They have a wealth to share that we must welcome with kindness. We are all tutors for one another and this attitude of mutual aid is essential, because everyone has a different level of understanding of the teachings. For these reasons, it is not necessary to have read The Urantia Book in its entirety to be part of a study group, but it is necessary to have a minimum of knowledge of the concepts taught there. This is why it is important to offer newcomers individual preparatory meetings in order to help them integrate into the group.
Each day the six new apostles were placed in the care of their respective recruits, to review all that they had learned and experienced, in order to prepare them for work in the kingdom. The original six apostles carefully analyzed for the benefit of the new six the teachings previously given by Jesus. In the evening they all assembled in the garden of Zebedee to be instructed by Jesus. The Urantia Book UB 138:6.1
¶ Group growth cycles
It is normal during the life of a study group to have ups and downs, just as it happens in human families. We could very well call these groups “study families”. There may come a time when the group must die out or split up to allow others to be born and thus increase their numbers. These groups are living entities, and as such, respond to natural cycles of growth of which “death” or “dormancy” is a part.
It is likely that we will all one day have to experience this little mourning of seeing our group die out due to death, aging, moving or social obligations. We should not worry about it, however, this is a normal process of growth. The important thing is that the participants have kept this family spirit, this taste for gathering and studying together, just as children one day leave home to start their own family.
¶ Planning and organizing
It is important to have a plan when we undertake anything. God had a plan for His Creation, the Life Carriers had a plan for the development of life on earth, Jesus had a plan for the spread of his gospel, the Revelators had a plan for the dissemination of The Urantia Book, and we are part of that plan. We are responsible for the dissemination of its teachings. This is a great trust that is placed in us.
It is the plan of your superiors to advance you by augmented trusts just as fast as your character is sufficiently developed to gracefully bear these added responsibilities, but to overload the individual only courts disaster and insures disappointment.” (UB 28:6.15)
There is a reason why the adjutant of worship precedes the adjutant of wisdom, and that is that there can be no wisdom without a spiritual component. By this same logic, understanding of the teachings must precede their dissemination. An individual’s spiritual evolution will not be accelerated by being given a Urantia Book before the time for doing so has come. This applies equally to the collective.
Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole. (UB 100:1.4)
Part 2 to follow next month.
The AUQ Council
¶ “Touching” the Inner Adjuster
THE SOUL OF MEN NEEDS spiritual exercise as well as spiritual nourishment. L.U. Fasc. 91, Sect. 7, Par. 2 UB 91:7.2
On the afternoon of February 18, 2012, several readers of “The Urantia Book” from the greater Quebec region participated in a “worship” session; an exercise in direct contact with the inner Adjuster.
This activity is directly inspired by a first experience of the same kind about two or three years ago at André Bariselle’s in Berthier-sur-Mer near Quebec City. It had been imagined and organized by Richard Doré and Colette Pelletier. A rainy day when about fifteen people from Montreal, Sherbrooke and Quebec City had gathered, in the depths of the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, for the sole purpose of worshiping God. It was magical. I was there.
I repeated the experiment with a formula I had invented. It took place at Guy and Rolande Martin’s in Quebec. There were twelve of us. It ended with a shared meal.
On the agenda: a short talk on identity, free will, and personality. A little discussion followed. We each quietly focused on our inner “I.” Then there was a short talk on the difference between prayer and worship. And finally, we were treated to 20 minutes of worship each in our inner silence… or at least, an attempt at it.
The technique of entering the state of worship was directly inspired by the teachings of “The Urantia Book.” Slowly, in sequence, one moves one’s consciousness to make contact with the body… the mind… the personality… the soul, and finally one attempts contact with the indwelling Adjuster…
The purpose is NOT to have a “conversation” with the Adjuster, one way or the other. The purpose is only to make “contact,” to “feel a touch,” and to maintain that awareness of contact and touch as long as possible, and to return to it when it is lost. It is that simple.
The inner eye is oriented towards “our center”. Listening is centered. Only the essential remains: the felt at the level of the “I”. Two personalities that meet always recognize each other as a person. When inner silence occurs, there is a “contact” between two consciousnesses. But there is no ecstasy, no words that are said. Simply a touch.
The Adjuster is a terribly simple being. He has been living in us since we were about 5 years old. Most of that time, without even knowing it. He has seen us in our worst and best moments. He knows us and loves us as we are. Like two lovers who know each other in a deep intimacy. It is a simple contact like that that we seek. We seek “the true Adjuster that we know”. The one who respects us and whom we respect. The one who loves us and whom we love. The one who has always been with us in our greatest intimacy/simplicity and whom we see in the same intimacy/simplicity. It is enough to make you cry, so close are the two consciousnesses.
The benefit of such contact is not felt immediately during the contact. It is felt especially afterwards. The door is open… There is an opening… A passage… One cannot help but see… far inside… and perhaps have an exchange between consciousnesses.
This session of collective worship will surely be repeated one day. Perhaps by the same person/people, but perhaps also in another formula imagined by another person. We must share what we love.
Normand Laperle,
Levis, Quebec, Canada
¶ CONSCIOUSNESS
TO ACHIEVE MATURITY and freedom of mind, we need to develop new techniques of philosophy.
We must learn to master the art of living in order to elevate our mind in our life and in society. We must experience the art of living through the practice of tack and tolerance, in order to attain, to discover higher progressive goals, from the material level, transferred to spiritual levels in an actualized ideal of life. When the human personality is dominated by a courageous spirit and according to the UB: [UB 160:1.6] “When men dare to forsake a life of natural craving for one of adventurous art and uncertain logic, they must expect to suffer the consequent hazards of emotional casualties—conflicts, unhappiness, and uncertainties—at least until the time of their attainment of some degree of intellectual and emotional maturity”
The human personality must learn to control its natural life impulses, its immediate desires, and its material attractions, and this involves a mental-intellectual elevation to the morontia-spiritual level, the raising of our consciousness to higher ideals through perseverance, intellectual and spiritual insight. If our aim is sincere in a dedication to doing the Father’s will, in a commitment to self-improvement through our personal choices, in our willing contribution to the fulfillment of our higher social duty. Human immaturity causes emotional imbalances, and we must reposition ourselves through a reconstruction of our thought patterns in order to free our consciousness.
Our survival depends on what we do with this precious mental gift from God that is lent to us, and the UB describes it well: [UB 111:1.5] “Mortal mind is a temporary intellect system loaned to human beings for use during a material lifetime, and as they use this mind, they are either accepting or rejecting the potential of eternal existence. Mind is about all you have of universe reality that is subject to your will.”
Machine thinking is a kind of automatism of the reactive nervous system. This automatic system is part of our physical electrochemical mind, considered our nervous system. This automatic system is often taxed, but necessary for the common situations of life. The UB tells us: [UB 118:8.2] “But man, a mechanism, is much more than a machine; he is mind endowed and spirit indwelt; and though he can never throughout his material life escape the chemical and electrical mechanics of his existence, he can increasingly learn how to subordinate this physical-life machine to the directive wisdom of experience by the process of consecrating the human mind to the execution of the spiritual urges of the indwelling Thought Adjuster.”
Man must learn to free himself by transcendence from the vestiges of primitive life and from his personal conflicts in order to attain freedom of spirit and consciousness of being. We must develop a harmonious consciousness of contact with the indwelling divine spirit that it may spiritualize our concepts of higher ideals into our consciousness. From this standpoint we can say that we accept the guidance of the Adjuster in our lives with an assurance of perfect communion, and the UB tells us: [UB 160:3.5] “From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of the lower levels of thinking—worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of living, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication.”
Self-awareness, awareness of others and awareness of God actualized in an experiential accomplishment equivalent to a freedom of mind. Each human mind has an internal energetic power center. An all-powerful potential of motivation stands at the door of each mind ready to act instantly. With all its mental means, the personality has the possibility of gathering all its energies to make moral choices. Moral consciousness is an incredible force, by aspects of coordination, adaptation and socialization to new situations of adjustment and readjustment always in the direction of ideals of perfection.
It is through our moral choices that the human mind regains its energy center of self-control at all levels of life, to uphold a code of ethics of morality on the personal, individual level, as well as in our social life. This spiritual experience in our life gives us inner peace and freedom of mind. We are free to the extent that self-consciousness brings us to a consciousness of being and to being conscious of others. To be conscious of others means to be conscious of God (the presence of the Adjuster) in our surrounding environment. Thus the personality is seriously oriented toward the ideal path of progressive living in perfection.
This learning of the human personality is accomplished in every aspect of his earth life on the material, morontia, and spiritual levels. The Adjuster gains profit in guiding the personality, which he regards as a victory of achievement through his gain of unceasing labor. The Adjuster gains expression; this inevitably occurs when the personality decides to make a moral choice and become like God. The result of a perfect marriage of the original, perfectly perfected Adjuster will and the perfecting human mind will unified in one personality.
Louise Dupuis
¶ Testimony of Luciano Camellini
TO ACHIEVE MATURITY and freedom of mind, we must develop new techniques of philosophy.
When I was first introduced to The Urantia Book, it was a material discovery to confirm what my mind already knew. This discovery had just been given to me by someone.
Over time, I realized that the UB was not only given to me to deepen my knowledge and give a name to everything in the universe, but I deeply realized that the UB made it clear to me that love is realized through service; that love that we give unconditionally, without asking for anything in return.
I have had challenges and obstacles in my life and I like to always have more to realize that the staircase that leads me to the Father must be climbed one step at a time and fully accomplished with love and faith.
If today I fulfill the role of treasurer in the association, it is to serve you my brothers and sisters and it is with love that I fulfill this role. I give everything of myself to accomplish the task with dignity, sincerity and professionalism. But at the same time, this role is given to me so that I can learn to love money.
Long before my encounter with the UB, money was slipping through my fingers, but I know that the Father made me go through great trials that I had not understood where I saw money as my enemy, the one that had destroyed my life.
Today I thank God and my wife, who is my Angel. I am beginning to learn to love money, to consider it as a friend; a material source necessary for the progression of my spiritual life, which makes my physical life peaceful. I can therefore use the rest of my time for spiritual service.
I could have been up to the task of filling the other positions in the association, because I know myself well and consider myself a leader, but it is that of treasurer that I must fill.
How could I live a good life if I did not love money? Which is to say, I love you my Urantian brothers and that is why I am your treasurer.
Today my biggest message to you:
- love one another,
- serve one another,
- be proud to be chosen beings of light from Urantia,
- be proud to be citizens of the Universe of Universes,
- be our Father’s beloved child.
Luciano Camellini
¶ Comments
IN RESPONSE TO SOME READERS who had already sent an article in a recent Réflectivité, here are the comments of a reader.
To Mr. Eric Martel about the indifference of libraries to putting The Urantia Book on the shelves. The same thing happened to me. For a year, The Urantia Book and my phone number remained in this small municipal library and nothing happened. So I went back to get it. I thought a lot about this indifference and one day a visitor from my family came to the house and seeing this big blue book said to me what are you reading there? He takes it on his knees opens it and at random sees all these numbers, the names of universes and without thinking he says to me, are you taking mathematics courses? After thinking about all this, I think that the fourth part should be placed first. Second idea, make the book in four volumes, but never sell them separately. I know very well that this is not the idea of copyright.
For Alain Nielsen, on the subject of death; I already feel like I am in eternity, because I did not grasp the moment of my birth and do not know when I will die. I am eighty-seven years old, I have lived a new millennium and a centenarian too. What an experience of life! The faith that I have, I already had it at seven years old and secure apart from that. Today I am calm, happy, moved to read each day in my Urantia Book. It is so worn that I was obliged to make small jackets for the beginning and the end of the book.
Let us not forget that the book was given for a thousand years to come.
Let there be light on the world.
Cecile Guillemette
St-Amable
¶ AUQ 2012 ACTIVITY CALENDAR
Esotericism Fair
Next April 13, 14 and 15
The Urantia Association of Quebec will be represented at the Esotericism Show at Place Bonaventure in Montreal.
Representatives of the association will answer questions from these truth seekers.
You are welcome to drop by and say hello to Luciano and his friends.
International Congress of the UAI in Colombia
From April 28 to May 1.
For details, visit the
www.urantiacolombia.com
Thematic
Sunday May 27
You are expected from 9:30 a.m. at the Hotel Le
Dauphin in Drummondville for this day whose theme will be The Divine Language.
Presentations will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the day will continue until 4:00 p.m. In the afternoon there will be roundtable discussions. Cost $10
Picnic, Michael’s Party
Sunday August 19
Angrignon Park in Ville La Salle
Holiday Brunch
Sunday December 2nd
Best Western Hotel St-Jérôme
¶ STUDY GROUPS
THIS ACTIVITY ALLOWS MULTIPLE READERS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING to share and study together the teachings of The Urantia Book. It promotes spiritual progress by allowing its participants to find practical applications to the teachings of The Urantia Book in their daily lives. This important practice helps to maintain a broad perspective on 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
Group: from Outaouais
Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Ottawa Region
Maurice Migneault
Tel: 613-789-6833
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.