© 2012 Gaétan G. Charland, Louise Renaud, Line St-Pierre
© 2012 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Message from the President
DEAR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS of the AUQ, for several years, the Urantia Association of Quebec has organized occasional thematic meetings, three per year.
One of the reasons for this program was that the thematic meetings could give readers the opportunity to perfect their ways of presenting their interpretations of the teachings of The Urantia Book. By doing this work, these same readers thus became better teachers and through this competition allowed other readers to acquire an expanded vision of their intellectual and spiritual knowledge.
In its efforts to pursue its mission, the association has worked consistently over the past few years to foster the emergence of leaders and teachers. In order to pursue this approach more effectively, the members of the board have mutually agreed to refocus the association’s actions in order to allow its members to take greater ownership of the mission of The Urantia Book. To do this, thematic meetings will no longer take place as usual; they will be replaced by a program that will offer study groups and their members the opportunity to develop presentations that will then be shared in other study groups. This program will allow study groups to develop synergy among themselves, while promoting greater dynamism in the study of the teachings of The Urantia Book and their integrations.
To develop such a program, it goes without saying that we need the collaboration of study group hosts and, with their help, the collaboration of their group members. With this in mind, the Urantia Association of Quebec is organizing a meeting on August 11 in St-Jérôme (the location remains to be determined) where it invites all study group hosts to work on developing such a program. For this first meeting, we will work on establishing goals and strategies to promote the emergence of leaders and teachers through the development of presentations and we will also explore how to increase the number of readers and study groups in Quebec.
The association does not seek by this means to control or dictate to study groups how they operate, but rather how it can best serve them in the accomplishment of their important mission. Let us remember that the Revealers in the Publication Mandate enjoin us to create thousands of study groups and to provide for the training of leaders and teachers. We believe, we the members of the AUQ council in accordance with the mission of the AUL that study groups are the ideal place to accomplish such a mandate.
In its quest to better accomplish its mission, the association regards study groups as autonomous entities to which it can offer numerous services that will enable them to progressively accomplish the mission of the Revelation as described by the Revelators in the introduction to The Urantia Book, which I permit myself to quote here, “In our effort to expand cosmic consciousness and heighten spiritual perception.”
In a spirit of brotherhood.
Gaetan G. Charland
President AUQ
¶ Theme of May 14, 2011
Presentation by Louise Renaud from Quebec
IT IS THE RECONSTITUTION of our intentions and our motives which proves and supports our determinations for personal and individual change.
Is faith desirable? Does it go beyond mere belief? The Blue Book tells us, and I quote:
“Neither science, philosophy, nor theology can validate the personality of God. Only the personal experience of the faith sons of the heavenly Father can effect the actual spiritual realization of the personality of God.” (UB 1:7.5)
The true seeker of God will feel within himself a force that attracts him to high values such as: goodness, beauty and truth. He will dare to explore this attraction that he feels within himself. It is said that one must know men to love them, but one must love God to know him. It is with parliament, human thought that one must begin.
“The Universal Father is not invisible because he is hiding himself away from the lowly creatures of materialistic handicaps and limited spiritual endowments. The situation rather is: “You cannot see my face, for no mortal can see me and live.” No material man could behold the spirit God and preserve his mortal existence. The glory and the spiritual brilliance of the divine personality presence is impossible of approach by the lower groups of spirit beings or by any order of material personalities. The spiritual luminosity of the Father’s personal presence is a “light which no mortal man can approach; which no material creature has seen or can see.” But it is not necessary to see God with the eyes of the flesh in order to discern him by the faith-vision of the spiritualized mind.” (UB 1:3.3)
“While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.” (UB 155:6.13)
Healthy, balanced body + mind is a bit like the delicate balance of an aquarium!
“In the higher philosophy of the universe, wisdom, like reason, becomes allied to faith.” (UB 103:9.6)
The reason: it is our mind and its support is our electrochemical brain which creates the thought.
Wisdom: spiritual clairvoyance, it unifies, harmonizes and according to the L.U. this spiritual clairvoyance is defined as an inner communion with God.
Faith: are the highest human accomplishments.
Reason: It brings man into the world of facts, of things, for example: man faced with science, the study of what surrounds us, matter, time and space.
Wisdom: It brings man into a world of truth, of relationships. It deals with philosophy and revelation. It unifies, it harmonizes extreme positions, different realities. (Battle in universities between sciences and religions between evolution or creation.)
Faith: It initiates man into a world of divinity, of experiences. It deals with living spiritual experience. It brings us into feeling.
“Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one.” (UB 155:6.12)
Furthermore, the revelators tell us that it is less important for us to know the fact of God’s existence than it is to acquire an increasing ability to: FEEL THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Faith is therefore a technique and it has a function.
His technique is to bring us closer to God through the function of the human mind, which shifts to the spiritualized mind (divine or morontia mind) through active involvement in meditation, prayer, worship and service to others.
In science, the idea precedes the expression of its realization; in religion, the experience of realization precedes the expression of the idea. There is a vast difference between the evolutionary will-to-believe and the product of enlightened reason, religious insight, and revelation—the will that believes. (UB 102:3.13)
Difference between faith: Religion of the Spirit and beliefs: Religion of authority
Faith: A mental disposition only reaches the level of faith when it motivates life and shapes the way of living.
Belief: Accepting a teaching as true is not faith, it is mere belief. Certainty and conviction are also not faith.
Faith: must be individual and personal, it is a matter between me and God.
True religion is that of revelation. By spiritual insight (by faith), it is the revelation of supernatural values, it is a partial penetration of eternal realities, a glimpse of the goodness and beauty of the infinite character of the Father who is in heaven.
The Religion of the Spirit as Demonstrated in Human Experience. The Life of Martin Luther (Paid Indulgences) and the Experience of the Monks of the Tiberian Monastery (The Film of Gods and Men).
Beliefs can become the property of a group (Catholic religion, Muslim religion or any other) it is always the business of a group: “… Great is the mystery of faith…”
Faith unfolds and liberates.
There is no one between you and God. No priest, bishop, pope, guru, marabout or other intervener.
Belief is an evolving religion of civilizations.
These are evolving religious conceptions and practices of all races that are becoming civilized. The religion of the mind, intellectual theology based on the authority of established religious tradition.
Faith:
- does not hinder creative imagination,
- it no longer maintains unreasonable prejudices against scientific research.
Belief is limiting and chaining. Beliefs can generate creeds, rituals, persecutions and intolerance.
Examples:
- the Holy Inquisition in 1616 which prohibited the publication of Galileo’s scientific works. (1564-1642)
- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
¶ ON THE ROAD TO PHOENICIA
The Great Difference Between the Religion of the Mind and the Religion of the Spirit:
The religion of the mind is supported by ecclesiastical authority.
It only requires intellectual assent, regardless of religion, Hindu, Muslim, Judeo-Christian…
The religion of Spirit is based entirely on human experience, which involves active participation of mind and soul in the adventure of faith in grappling with the rigorous realities of progressive human experience.
The Religion of the Mind: Authority theology demands little or none of these efforts from its believers… look at the religion of the Spirit!
The religion of the Spirit means: effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty and progress.
The Religion of the Mind: Tradition is a safe haven and an easy path for fearful and unenthusiastic souls, who instinctively avoid spiritual struggles and uncertainties. Security and conformity lead to servitude.
“…Great is the mystery of faith…”
No, it is simple and explainable!
The Religion of the Spirit: You have dared to protest against the exhausting servitude. Jesus brings us out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition.
The Religion of the Mind: “The price you pay for this temporary satisfaction is the loss of your spiritual and religious freedom.” (L.U. p.1731, 4)
The Religion of the Spirit: The price of admission into the kingdom of heaven: the Spirit leaves you perpetually FREE to follow the truth.
“I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make—the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience; and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment.” (UB 155:6.3)
The Religion of the Mind: Religions of authority will never succeed in unifying themselves, because each race of humanity has its own particular mental point of view on human existence. These religions can therefore only divide men and set consciences against each other. They demand of men a uniform belief, something impossible to achieve in the present world. Religions of authority crystallize into inert creeds.
The Religion of Spirit: It is only by and through the higher gift of Spirit religion that the unity of men and the brotherhood of mortals can be realized. The mind may differ from race to race, but all humanity is indwelt by the same eternal and divine Spirit. The hope of a brotherhood can therefore be realized. It will draw men to one another and will bring about a sympathetic understanding between them. This religion demands only a unity of experience, a uniform destiny, taking full account of the diversity of believers.
The religion of the Spirit requires only uniformity of clairvoyance and not uniformity of point of view and conception, it does not require uniformity of intellectual views, but UNITY of spiritual feeling.
¶ THE MOVIE OF GODS AND MEN
The last monk found in Tibhirine testifies:
- Jean-Pierre, 88 years old, currently living in a monastery in Morocco, recounts the event
- It takes place in Algeria in 1996, kidnapping and execution of the monks of Tibhirine.
The role of the prior (the monk in charge of the group), Christian is very well represented according to Jean-Pierre. Christian is steeped in Islamic culture, he read the Bible in Arabic, he spoke their language, he knew Sufi spirituality. He proceeded to create a group for sharing and exchange with the Sufi Muslims of this region. Discussions on dogmas divided religious traditions and prevented the unity of harmonization. So we talked about the path to God (Allah…) Through these meetings and mutual knowledge, Jean-Pierre said…it made us true brothers in depth.
What struck Jean-Pierre about Christian was his passion for discovering the Muslim soul and living this communion with them and with God while remaining a monk and a Christian.
INTERVIEW with the monk (Jean-Pierre):
- Jean-Pierre, who were you closest to?
… Brother Luc, Luc was a doctor at the monastery dispensary. He was a pillar at the group level through his humor he defused tensions between the brothers and the pressures that they suffered in their Muslim environment.
What Jean-Pierre feels when watching the film: the film was very close to the reality experienced by the group of monks. The film describes the events with surprising accuracy and truthful simplicity.
At the end of the film, even in the face of a drama that seems to be occurring, Jean-Pierre feels joy, not sadness, not nostalgia, only peace.
Jean-Pierre says:
In their regular meetings with Sufi Muslims, they used an image to speak of their mutual relationships. They taught the monks that their “Christ” is greater than the Church.
Think of a double-sided ladder… we climb one side and you climb the other. Each according to his own method. The higher we climb the ladder, the closer we are to God and the closer we are to each other. All theology is in there.
This thought coming from the Muslims shook the monk. He felt a rapprochement in the group.
What Jean-Pierre really thinks and feels today: It is the violent and the extremists who cause fear and the breakdown of mutual and spiritual friendship.
What Jean-Pierre says: We must hope that love is always the strongest. That God’s love will have the last word.
Hope is invincible said Christian the prior. Hope founded in God, founded on God must remain and the love of God will have the last word.
“When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to discover him in other men’s souls and eventually in all the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.” (UB 155:6.13)
¶ CONCUBSION
- Faith frees man, it shows him the way to the finality of human salvation, to the ultimate of universal human achievements.
- It takes us from the human mind to the spiritualized mind, that is, the divine mind. It takes us from the world of matter to the morontial world, that is, to the world of the Spirit.
Faith is truly a technique of approaching God and it has a powerful liberating function.
Through your prayers, your moments of quiet and silence, your moments of worship and reflective meditation, you will begin a true inner life. You will give birth to your soul, you will nourish it, you will make it grow and you will maintain it in a gentle growth.
- Your human mind will change to a divine mind.
- You will enter a new inner level.
- This faith and spiritual clairvoyance will make you realize that you are becoming a free and spiritualized being.
- Your faith, your mind that believes and not that which wants to believe, becomes real and eternal.
When we arrive on the other side, we will live with our divine or morontia mind, the one that we will have begun to spiritualize here on the planet and we will live with our soul, the one that we will have brought into being and grown here.
We will also live with our thought adjuster, the one who accompanies us throughout our earthly path.
“The reason of science is based on the observable facts of time; the faith of religion argues from the spirit program of eternity. What knowledge and reason cannot do for us, true wisdom admonishes us to allow faith to accomplish through religious insight and spiritual transformation.” (UB 102:1.2)
Spiritual communion with God and spiritual transformation, all of this leads us to an intense, productive and progressive interior life.
You will feel and experience the difference between belief and faith: you have become a free and eternal being.
Louise Renaud
Quebec
¶ MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR
PICNIC FOR MICHAEL’S PARTY
Sunday August 19, 2012
Dear friends,
You are invited to come and fraternize with us at Angrignon Park on the occasion of a friendly meeting on August 19, for the birthday of our Creator Son, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth on Urantia.
In these meetings we rejoice in the pleasure of conversing with other seekers of truth. We exchange our points of view and we share a bite to eat… bring your lunch and your chairs.
Itinerary :
Take Highway 15, exit Boulevard La Vérendrye, first entrance immediately after Boulevard Trinitaire on La Vérendrye. Once there, watch for the three blue concentric circles on your left. A shelter is provided in case of rain. For those traveling by metro, buses 110 and 113, westbound, leave from the Angrignon terminus and stop at the park entrance on La Vérendrye.
The AUQ Council
¶ Editor’s note
DEAR READERS, In this summer period that has just begun, I wish you a summer filled with social and cultural activities as well as wonderful vacations. This time is conducive to outdoor life and it is there that we can appreciate more all this beautiful nature.
Let us take moments of meditation and reflection and thank our creator for all these external beauties.
Your Réflectivité will return to you in September. Until then, smile, God loves you!
Line St-Pierre
¶ AUQ 2012 ACTIVITY CALENDAR
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.