© 2022 Gaétan G. Charland, Claude Flibotte, Éric Tarissan, André Desjardins, Samuel Heïne
© 2022 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Editor’s note
Claude Flibotte
c_flibotte@videotron.ca
Hello dear readers of your newsletter Réflectivité.
It seems that the publication of the special issue of “Réflectivité” of July 2021 was very appreciated by all of you. So, we decided to repeat the experience again this year!
The production of this special issue in electronic format only gives us the opportunity to be free from the cost and space constraints imposed by the paper format. In addition, the many in-depth research texts that are too long for publication in the regular issues find, in this special publication, an ideal space to expose themselves.
I encourage all readers who have the taste and passion to share any subject that interests them in relation to The Urantia Book to send us their texts to the email address mentioned above and in the box on the penultimate page.
This fifth epochal revelation has been given to us not only to read in the comfort of our homes and then put the book away on our bookshelves, but to study it in depth in order to live it in our daily relationships with our brothers and sisters on this planet.
It has surely happened to you, following an in-depth study of a subject, a discussion within a study group or having followed a UBIS course or other courses, to formulate new ideas, a greater understanding of this subject. So, why deprive yourself of sharing it with all of us and thus contribute to the expansion of our cosmic consciousness and our spiritual advancement. We have, out of brotherly love, the duty to help each other to better know our Universal Father and his great divine plan.
So, it is with great pleasure that the entire team of your newsletter offers you this special summer 2022 issue!
We wish you a wonderful summer season filled with wonderful discoveries!
Happy reading to all!
¶ Reflections on the big existential questions
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
Have you ever wondered when your life began? Why am I here on this planet? What am I living this life for and where is it leading me? What is its purpose? All these questions and many more are perfectly legitimate for anyone who wants to know the truth about their life, the meaning they should give it and the goal they should achieve.
These existential questions are partially answered through science and philosophy, but to transcend the material facts on which these questions are based, one must rely on the superhuman revelations contained in The Urantia Book. All the answers are there for those who take the trouble to delve deeper into the revelations made therein and to connect together the information provided by various contributors who know what they are talking about.
In this way, it becomes possible to answer many questions like when did life begin? What is the difference between me and animals? When did I become a person? What is my destiny? And many other questions of this kind!
¶ Science or revelation?
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
My attention was drawn to a file in the journal Science & Vie from July 2021 entitled: “The truth about the genetic history of France and our regions…”. Since my ancestors arrived in Quebec in 1656 on my mother’s side, then around 1670 on my father’s side, from France, my interest in reading this file was assured. Although very interesting, my disappointment grew as the author’s remarks progressed. I will summarize the content of his article for you. According to him, there would be four major genetic influences and some regional particularities in the French genome. Initially, he admits that there were archaic humans in France whose tools were found to be more than 1.2 million years old, but, still according to him, the true French genetic history begins with the arrival of foreigners from Africa.
The first influence
These foreigners, they identify them as Homo heidelbergensis arriving from Africa, they spread in Europe 800,000 years ago. They would be the ancestors of the Neanderthals. According to his opinion, the French would have 2% in their DNA of genetic sequences of the Neanderthal man.
¶ Time and levels of consciousness
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
What if time was directly linked to movement and our mental capacity to apprehend it! This is the reflection that is creeping into my thoughts at the moment!
The Human Conception of Time
We all know that our material mind as a human being is limited. Depending on our biological heritage, some are better equipped than others to exploit this phenomenon that is the mind. Although it is possible to push one’s mental capacities further through practice, just as we increase the capacity of muscles through exercise, there are still limits that the human mind cannot cross unless we acquire the higher mental faculties of the soul. It is this cognitive limitation of the human mind associated with movement that makes us conscious of time.
Finally, time is quite relative depending on several factors affecting the present moment for each person. If I am sad and unhappy, time seems like an eternity. Same observation if I am waiting for something or someone. On the other hand, if I am in the joy of a joyful activity shared with friends, time flies by.
¶ Ode to zero
Eric Tarissan
Quebec
The numbers form a family of ten members.
Each one is unique, has its own value, meaning, weight, qualities, coordinates and identity.
If Zero is the first digit, then ONE would be the second or, a ‘second prime’!
What a terrible role to be the second fiddle, thinking you have always played the leading role!
Because even if it doesn’t look like much, it is true that Zero represents nothing but nothingness or, if you prefer, absolute emptiness. However, it remains that it makes possible, by its very presence, the succession and elevation of numbers in increments of ten, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small and this, without any limit, to infinity.
¶ The experience of perfection
André Desjardins
St-Alexis-des-Monts
Our birth is not perfect from a spiritual point of view, we are born into a world considered experiential and imperfect in certain respects but we have the capacity and the privilege to develop our mental abilities and our physical capacities whether material or spiritual. Each human can learn to develop his talents or his abilities in order to reach a level of experience of material or spiritual perfection according to his intended goals. By his nature man has always sought to perfect himself by evolution, by need or by finding technical means to improve the human condition using the least possible physical effort. “These endless efforts of all living creatures prove in them the existence of an innate search for perfection.” UB 65:6.2
¶ The democratic ideal
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
Among existing political systems, representative democracy constitutes the ideal of collective representation of peoples where each sovereign individual has the right to speak, has the power of decision through a free vote and places in the hands of competent elected or appointed representatives the responsibility for their destiny. The underlying danger of this system lies in false individual freedom and the feeling of unbridled sovereignty. We must not forget that the freedom of one stops where that of another begins!
In 2021, there were 21 true democracies where the previous description applied. For example, we have Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. There were also 53 democracies that were defective for different reasons depending on the country, including the United States, Portugal and Hungary. In addition, there were 34 hybrid regimes where elections are possible, but where individual rights are violated. As an example of these countries, we have Mexico, some countries in South America and Africa. In addition, 59 authoritarian regimes impose their dictatorship on their citizens. In this category, we have Russia and several countries in Africa (see Figure 1). In conclusion, we see the sad result that more than half of the world’s population lives in authoritarian or hybrid regimes (see Figure 2). Source: “The underside of the cards”.
¶ Angels’ Anti-Friction Shields
Claude Flibotte
Saint-Julie
The Revelators teach us that angels carry an anti-friction device as they move through the cosmos as in the following quote:
The erroneous idea that angels possess wings is not wholly due to olden notions that they must have wings to fly through the air. Human beings have sometimes been permitted to observe seraphim that were being prepared for transport service, and the traditions of these experiences have largely determined the Urantian concept of angels. In observing a transport seraphim being made ready to receive a passenger for interplanetary transit, there may be seen what are apparently double sets of wings extending from the head to the foot of the angel. In reality these wings are energy insulators—friction shields. (UB 39:5.12)
Have you ever stopped to think about this question? What is the reason for such attire, and for what purpose?
¶ The Nature of Angels
They are the Divine Ministers of the local universes, daughters of the Infinite Spirit who create the seraphim of various categories. Since they are their children, they have a spirit nature and as such, though having a spiritual form, they are unaffected by physical matter and quite conscious of space. They are related to these two facts as in the above quotation.
All patterns of reality occupy space on the material levels, but spirit patterns only exist in relation to space; they do not occupy or displace space, neither do they contain it. But to us the master riddle of space pertains to the pattern of an idea. When we enter the mind domain, we encounter many a puzzle. Does the pattern—the reality—of an idea occupy space? We really do not know, albeit we are sure that an idea pattern does not contain space. But it would hardly be safe to postulate that the immaterial is always nonspatial. (UB 118:3.7)
Thus, a transporting seraphim contains no space, so how can a being in need of its services be skillfully placed upon the transporting angel (UB 39:5.13) since it occupies no space? To think thus is to conceive as a man constrained by the space and time of our finite level. In fact, angels do not transport material beings, but exclusively morontia, semispiritual, or spiritual beings (UB 39:4.15). The term “enseraphining” used must allude to the fact that the nature of the being transported is one with the spiritual nature of the angel; hence all the precautions described in UB 39:5.14. Since all is energy except for the energy of physical matter, all other forms of reality are compatible with the nature of the angel, thus making the process of enseraphining possible.
¶ Space is not empty
We know that space is not empty, it is dotted with residual matter from stars and energies of different forms (UB 42:4.6).
In deciphering spectral phenomena, it should be remembered that space is not empty; that light, in traversing space, is sometimes slightly modified by the various forms of energy and matter which circulate in all organized space. Some of the lines indicating unknown matter which appear in the spectra of your sun are due to modifications of well-known elements which are floating throughout space in shattered form, the atomic casualties of the fierce encounters of the solar elemental battles. Space is pervaded by these wandering derelicts, especially sodium and calcium. (UB 41:6.1)
Unless we hit an asteroid, our current spacecraft are not at great risk of accidents caused by friction since their speed of movement is relatively slow (between 11,000 km/h and 11.6 km/sec) compared to that of the seraphim estimated at 899,370 m/sec (UB 23:2.22). So why do angels need these anti-friction shields?
¶ Why do they need a shield?
As mentioned earlier, since angels are spiritual beings, I assume that protection would not be necessary if they were to travel alone. As mentioned in quote UB 44:0.15, higher form spirits pass freely through ordinary matter. However, when they are transporting a person, whether it be the morontia soul of a recently deceased human, a student visitor, or a semi-spiritual being, it probably becomes necessary to protect this transiting passenger, who could be affected by the particles of matter or the currents of energies present in the cosmos, especially at the dizzying speeds at which the transporting seraphim move. So, the anti-friction shield would be the equivalent of the windshield of our car protecting us from the wind and possible obstacles.
If you have a better idea about the reason and usefulness of these shields, I would be interested to know your opinion!
¶ Honest, sincere and loyal service
Samuel Heine
Reunion Island
I would simply say that when we love God and life and the human creatures around us, we are naturally available, ready to listen, ready to give of ourselves for the other, to be spontaneously ready to love.
Honest, sincere and loyal service simply follows from this, without the need to show off or make it known to receive a medal.
It is a state of being in everyday life, all the men and women around us are our brothers and sisters.
This reminds me of a soon-to-be-retired lady I met not long ago who has been studying The Urantia Book alone at home for over thirty years (1980).
When we love, we communicate (smile).
She told me that she had never contacted the members of the AFLUB, that she was not even aware of the existence of an Internet school, that she had never been interested.
A devout Catholic and high school janitor, she always lived with the conscious presence of Jesus at her side, educating her children and serving her neighbor as best she could.
In the end, things are much simpler than we think!
To live one’s earthly life in living religiosity, praying and saying thanks to God as often as possible and being a living and balanced example of this spiritual ideal.
That’s what this “sour incognito” told me.
¶ Picnic for the feast of Jesus
Invitation for Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.
Come celebrate the feast of Jesus on Mount Royal in Montreal near Beaver Lake and the restaurant Le Pavillon du Mont Royal 2000 Chemin Remembrance, Montreal, Qc H3H 1X2
(follow the signs with concentric circles)
Paid parking nearby
We will be waiting for you with the pleasure of greeting you and sharing
Bertin Perron and Julien Audet
¶ Study groups
This activity allows several readers of different levels of understanding to exchange 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 step 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: “Uni-Terre”
Region: Joliette
Sundays from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, (virtual Zoom)
Contact :
Eric Martel (450) 756-9387
Group: “At Maisonnia”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud (418) 871-4564
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Region: Montreal — Downtown
Thursdays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Mrs. Diane Labrecque (514) 277-2308
Group : “Le Pont”
Region: Montérégie
(Sainte-Julie, south of Montreal)
Tuesdays, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
NEW
Group: “Urantian Universalists”
Every Monday from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Eastern Time (Montreal)
Responsible:
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
Subject: Appendices of W. S. Sadler Jr.
Zoom Virtual Group. (Get informed)
Group: “Découverte”
Region: Laurentians — St-Jérôme
Mondays, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Possibility to participate via Internet (Zoom)
Sherbrooke Group
Region: Sherbrooke
Every 2 weeks: Tuesday or Wednesday, (to be confirmed) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Helene Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle
Tel.: (819) 569-6416
To see the official list of study groups:
Click directly on the following link: http://urantia-quebec.ca/activites_liste_des_groupes.php
¶ Réflectivité
| Responsible: | Claude Flibotte |
| Assisted by: | Robert Cadieux Gilles Bertrand |
(438) 404-6399 Claude Flibotte
(514) 237-3616 Robert Cadieux
(418) 871-4564 Gilles Bertrand
Publication (monthly)
Last week of the previous month.
To submit your articles:
Send them to: c_flibotte@videotron.ca
Add: Your name, city of residence, a photo of you, thank you!
Warning:
Any submission of articles or otherwise becomes the property of Réflectivité and none will be returned.
We do not guarantee that all articles in our possession will be published in the next Réflectivité.