© 2014 Oscar Blais, Normand Laperle, Hélène Boisvenue
© 2014 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ My Adventure on Urantia
Oscar Blais
Montreal
In my search for God, I discovered that the universe He created is not perfect.
If it were perfect, we wouldn’t be here on this planet.
“All in all, there probably never was a more disheartening miscarriage of wisdom on any planet in all Nebadon. But it is not surprising that these missteps occur in the affairs of the evolutionary universes. We are a part of a gigantic creation, and it is not strange that everything does not work in perfection; our universe was not created in perfection. Perfection is our eternal goal, not our origin.” (UB 75:8.6)
I believe that if the Universe were perfect, God would only accept that which is perfect and reject all that is imperfect, therefore we would be rejected. God in his divine goodness and great love has laid out an upward evolutionary path for us and gives us the freedom (free will) to follow it or reject it. Even falling hundreds of times along the way, he always forgives us and we are supported by the spiritual beings he has placed at our disposal and it is by this miracle of faith that all this is allowed to us.
Faith is the basis of spirituality and without it we are lost, because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. (The Bible)
Faith brings us the hope of reaching the end of the road, and from these two virtues comes a third which is love and this is where we are drawn. Love is charismatic because it sows around us peace, joy and the desire to change things in our lives.
The beginning of my adventure and my journey began 36 years ago. At the age of thirty-four, I felt the need to make a change in my life. I had no spirituality and felt empty. I had already heard about the Bible and I told myself that one day I would decide to know its contents. I often saw Jehovah’s Witnesses passing by the doors and one day I decided to let them into my home. They spoke to me about the Truth, Jehovah and Jesus and I then began to attend the Kingdom Hall every week for two years. After these two years, I still felt an emptiness. I then decided to go elsewhere and I attended the Baptist, Brethren in Christ, Pentecostal Protestant churches and I adopted the latter for a few years, but without much personal satisfaction. I went to the Seventh-day Adventists and all that did not fill the void.
I dropped everything and went back to reading my Bible daily and sharing my readings with a friend who was doing the same thing. We talked about spirituality for hours, but I felt like I was going nowhere. So I prayed to God to lead me onto broader paths where I would feel like I was progressing. It was several years later that I met a long-time friend, Guy Laporte, who told me about The Urantia Book.
The word Urantia was not unknown to me and that is what caught my attention, because I remembered that in 1975 a friend of my wife had told me about the Urantia Cosmogony, the beginning of the world and the fallen angel Lucifer.
At first it piqued my curiosity, but this seed did not germinate in me. It was only thirty-four years later that God caught up with me through Guy Laporte.
Finally the discovery of this Fifth Revelation fills this void in me. In my search for Truth through the reading of all these spiritual books I found only half-truths, but with The Urantia Book and its teachings I found the whole Truth.
Today, in the autumn of my life, I finally know where I will continue this adventure.
“Faith reveals God in the soul.” (UB 101:2.10)
¶ Editor’s note
Normand Laperle
Lévis
Hello everyone,
Happy start to spring. We deserve it.
Did you know that the first newsletter “Réflectivité” was published in November 1982? Guy Hévey was its coordinator. That year, Emma Christensen died at the age of 92. To this day, she was the last person still alive to have been part of the contact group of six (the witnesses of the sleeper). In 1982, there was only the “Urantia Foundation” and the “Urantia Brotherhood”. The Urantia Association International (UIA) did not yet exist. In Quebec, the expression “Urantia Movement” was used to refer to all administrative activities related to “The Urantia Book”. This is also the year when the French version of the blue book began to be sold in a single volume.
Today, 31 years later, we are still moving forward. Many things remain to be done. We must build the future. We must invent it. But this task is not that of a single person, nor even of a few elites, it is the small gestures of thousands of people that add up to each other. Each of these small contributions counts. In this context, it is not necessary to worry about large-scale advantages, they place themselves. The associations will be able to tell you where their needs are. Then, we only have to worry about the advantages at the personal level. On an individual scale, each person is master of themselves and their future. Basically, we become what we want to become. It depends entirely on us. Each person must ask themselves: Am I moving forward? I want to go where? I want to live what?
Réflectivité is a place for sharing. When I went to Line St-Pierre to do the knowledge transfer in the administration of Réflectivité, she told me that her biggest difficulty was finding people to write articles. In order to find a solution to this difficulty, I am launching an invitation to subscribers. I am looking for eight (8) people among you who would commit to writing one (1) article every four (4) months. That would give us a guarantee of two (2) articles per month. The other articles would be filled by “voluntary contributions” as is currently the case. If there were only four (4) people who volunteered, that would give us one (1) guaranteed article every four (4) months. And if there were more than eight (8), we could space out the time between contributions more.
The person who would commit would have the choice of his subject, while following the rules of common sense. That is to say, the articles must still have “The Urantia Book” as a backdrop and we want it to be constructive, not destructive. Of course, there is an exception to these rules: as editor, I reserve the right to have the last word.
This is a very simple and not too demanding way for you to get involved and it would help us solve our biggest problem. There would be no mandatory contract, just a promise of adhesion. We are not pulling you by the arm. It is a moral contract. When you want to disengage, you say so a little in advance so that we can relay the activity to another volunteer. I therefore invite you to send us your application for this purpose.
Happy reading.
¶ Divine Governance
Helene Boisvenue
Sherbrooke
Conference presented at a meeting between students of Progressive Divine Wisdom in July 2013 in Montreal, Quebec Canada
Part Three — of Four.
From The Urantia Book I have drawn (UB 3:5.6) moral qualities essential to our spiritual growth which develop in situations of contrast:
- Courage, strength of character
Letter from a soldier
A few months ago, I was watching a special program on TV that informed us about the participation of Canadian soldiers in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. During this program, the daughter of one of the soldiers who died in this war read us the letter that her father had written to her mother who was pregnant at the time: he asked her to raise their child in such a way that this child would be able to face life’s difficulties with courage.
Let us put ourselves in the position of an educator. For example, what do we do to help a child cope with life’s difficulties? In education, how do we train children to have courage and strength of character? They must be placed in situations where they are forced to react to disappointments and tackle difficulties. We all deplore the poor education of spoiled children, who are thus ill-equipped to cope with life’s difficulties.
Parents sometimes have an unwise filial tenderness when, cowardly, they shield their children from the consequences of inappropriate acts. I admired the sensible attitude of my daughter’s husband when he offered his twelve-year-old son two tickets to attend a hockey game at the Montreal Forum. The child, a little pretentious, then told his father that the seats chosen were not well placed and that, under these conditions, he might not go to this game (this in the hope of obtaining better tickets). Despite the boy’s tears, my son-in-law gave the tickets to a friend and thus forced his son to assume the sad consequences of his words and to face a sharp disappointment.
2. Altruism, service to others, requires situations of social inequality.
How does altruism develop in a child? I asked this question to a friend who is a social worker specializing in ethics. Here is what she answered me: “All children experience situations of lack at one time or another. Thus, the child will subsequently be able to identify the lacks and needs of other people around him and will also be able to put himself in their shoes.” It is the experience of such a situation that allows empathy and kindness to develop. The social services set up by our societies or the many community organizations were set up to help people in need. These community projects have developed a sensitivity to others in the people involved.
3. The love of truth with the willingness to follow it wherever it leads requires a world where error and falsehood are possible.
The experience of error and the pain and disappointments that follow make truth desirable and stimulate the search for it. A sincere search will powerfully bring about the development of many desirable qualities including enthusiasm, drive, courage, constancy, hope, perseverance and many other expressions of personality where heart and reason can be powerfully united.
4. Disinterestedness, the spirit of self-forgetfulness, requires living with the clamour of a self that demands recognition and honor.
We are told in The Urantia Book that the child has already developed a strong and well-unified selfish nature long before he can attain moral capacity, and therefore before he is able to choose unselfish service. (Paper UB 103:2.9) This situation is necessary because to choose dynamically there must be at least two possibilities which are powerfully combined.
5. Hope, the nobility of trust, requires this situation where one is confronted with uncertainties and insecurities.
Without uncertainties, trust would not be part of the reality of values. Let us examine the behavior of a person who must appear for an interview for a position that is truly important to him. The hope of being selected will mobilize the considerable resources of his personality and latent capacities will thus be able to be actualized that would otherwise remain inert.
6. Faith, the supreme affirmation of human thought, requires this situation where one always knows less than one can believe. This situation develops a faith built on trust and abandonment to divine care.
I share with you here the attitude of a person who is very dear to me. This person hesitates a lot about the reality of God and she describes herself as agnostic. While we were talking about spirituality, she confided to me that, all her life, she had sought to know the truth about God, but, today, exhausted from searching and relying on the word of Jesus who affirmed:
“Seek and you will find,” she had decided to abandon herself to the goodness of God: “If he exists, God is undoubtedly good, he will know how to take care of me,” she added. This person who claimed not to have faith thus presented one of the most beautiful expressions of faith that I know.
7. Idealism, the emergence of the divine concept, requires an atmosphere of relative beauty and goodness which will stimulate the desire for better things.
Let us take this example of a situation where the citizens of a country realize that collusion and corruption are tainting public works. If people are scandalized by the frauds committed, it is because they are driven by ideals of honesty and sound management of public funds. Who does not desire more justice, more goodness, more beauty when they realize the failures of a system? This situation contributes to stimulating the search for and expression of ideals and thus participates in the emergence of the divine concept. How can we understand this? It is that the concepts of God developed by men always integrate their highest ideals. Thus we can say that the ideals that rise enhance the relative representation that men can have of God.
8. Loyalty, devotion to higher duty imposes that situation where the possibility of desertion or betrayal is possible. Devotion to duty implies the danger that would result from failure.
A couple of friends of Serbian origin, now Canadians, were living in Sarajevo when the war broke out in Yugoslavia in 1992. In this city, three communities lived side by side, including Serbs, Muslims and Croats; all these people lived relatively well together before the war. The man of this couple even had a very dear friend of a different ethnicity from his own. His attachment to him was so tangible that he had chosen him as a best man at his wedding. When the city was set ablaze, this friend betrayed him and told him: “We’re going to kill you all, Serbs!” The pain of betrayal is still intense in my friend, but I sense in him an unwavering loyalty to our friendship. Having known the odiousness of betrayal, he would never allow himself to commit such an infamy himself. This experience has developed in him a strong sense of loyalty.
9. The experience of pleasure, the satisfaction of happiness, implies that situation where the possibility of suffering is always present.
I have the joy of being with my two grandchildren, a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy. A visceral attachment binds me to them and this strong tenderness nourishes my joy of living, especially when my granddaughter says to me seriously: "Grandma, you are very dear to my heart . The thought that unfortunate circumstances would tear me away from their affection serves to intensify the present sweetness and happiness of being able to love them.
All the qualities previously listed and which develop in situations of contrast are necessary and obligatory for those who want to rise towards their encounter with God, for those who want to spiritualize themselves or, in other words, for those who want to divinize themselves. These qualities open the consciousness of man to the direction of divinity. They are also qualities of relationships of love and service directed towards men.
Divine Governance continued next month in Part 4 (of 4)
¶ The extras
Definitions: “Adjuvant”
In medicine: A medication or treatment that enhances or complements the effects of the main treatment.
In chemistry: A substance that facilitates a reaction or improves the properties of another substance.
Etymology: Borrowing from classical Latin adjuvans meaning ‘who helps’, present participle of adjuvare, ‘to help’.
By analogy: “He also sees it as a powerful adjuvant in the fight for employment and for a balanced development of our economy.” — Senate, February 2000
Source: Antidote Software
¶ For the technos
I invite you to try the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zakfdsN2yk
This is a video created by www. UrantiaBookOutReach.com. You will see a cartoon about the life and teachings of Jesus. The scene begins with Jesus and his apostles about to begin their public ministry in mid-January A.D. 27. It is interesting to see what is happening around “The Urantia Book”.
¶ Michael’s Day 2014
The meeting for Michael’s Day will take place on Sunday, August 24th near Beaver Lake in Mount Royal Park, Montreal.
Additional information to come.
¶ STUDY GROUPS
THIS ACTIVITY ALLOWS MULTIPLE READERS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING TO SHARE AND STUDY THE TEACHINGS OF The Urantia Book TOGETHER. It promotes spiritual progress by enabling its participants to find practical applications of 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.
Outaouais Group
Gatineau Region
Tuesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maurice Migneault:
(613) 789-6833
Group : “Sans Frontière”
Hawkesbury Region
Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Yvon and Irene Belle-Isle: (613) 632-5706
Group : “Laurantia”
Petite Nation region in Outaouais
Sundays from 9:00 a.m.
Denise Charron & Jean-Claude Lafrenière Tel: (819) 983-2113
Group: “Découverte”
Laurentides Region
Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre
Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Group : “Étoile du Soir”
Laurentides Region
Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Carmen Charland: (450) 553-3601
Group : “Les Débonnaires”
Terrebonne Region
Every 2 weeks: Thursdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Julien Audet: (514) 315-9871
Group: “Uni-Terre”
Lanaudière region
Sundays from 9:00 a.m.
Eric Martel: (450) 756-9387
Group: “Fraternité-Urantia”
Lanaudière region
Wednesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Richard Landry & Gisèle Boisjoly Tel: (450) 589-6922
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Montreal Region
Tuesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Ms. Diane Labrecque: (514) 277-2308
Group : “Le Pont”
Montreal South Shore Region
Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Guy Vachon: (450) 465-7049
Group: “The South Shore Lighthouse”
Montreal South Shore Region
Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Luciano Camellini and Dominique Marchessault Tel.: (450) 332-1459
Group : “Vers les Sommets”
Ormstown & Valleyfield Regions
Fridays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Louise Sauvé: (450) 829-3631
Sherbrooke Group
Sherbrooke region
Every 2 weeks: Tuesdays or Wednesdays (to be confirmed) from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Hélène Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle Tel.: (819) 569-6416
Group: “Readers of Mauricie”
Trois-Rivières Region
Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Madeleine Boisvert: (819) 376-8850
Roger Périgny: (819) 379-5768
Group: “The Agondontarians”
Quebec Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 13 h 00 to 4:00 p.m.
Guy & Rolande L. Martin: (418) 651-3851
Group: “The Partners of the Supreme”
Quebec Region
Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Richard Lachance: (418) 614-2520
or (418) 933-0244 (cell.)
Group: “At Maisonia”
Quebec Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud:
(418) 871-4564
Group: “The Ascendants”
Quebec South Shore Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Guy Le Blanc: (418) 886-2366
¶ Réflectivité
Responsible: Normand Laperle
Assisted by: Gilles Bertrand.
To contact us:
reflectivite.auq@gmail.com
(418) 835-1809 (Normand Laperle)
(418) 871-4564 (Gilles Bertrand)
Deadline for sending us your articles: The 15th of each month.
➤ Add your full contact details so we can reach you if necessary.
Publication:
Monthly: First week of the month.
Warning :
We reserve the right to edit articles for the benefit of the readership. However, in certain specific cases, these changes will be submitted to the author concerned for final approval before publication.
All submissions of articles or otherwise become the property of the journal and none will be returned.
Any interpretation, opinion, conclusion or artistic representation, stated or implied, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion and views of the UAI or national and local level associations.