International Activities Report 09/04

This report is a brief overview of some of what is happening internationally.  It is only a small portion of a much larger picture which includes work by people such as Norman Ingram, various individuals working under the auspices of Urantia Foundation, and a number of other independent efforts.

Great progress has been made over the past year in the continuing development of a network of leaders outside of the United States who are working to bring the revelation to people in the Middle East, Korea, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. 

Barry and Kaye Clark and the New York Society have continued their fostering of groups arising out of the Korean translation.  J.J. Johnson, working for the United States Department of State in Pakistan has laid the foundations for ongoing spread of the revelation in this Muslim country. 

Readers in Latin American countries are creating their own independent organizations to provide a legal foundation for their expanding work.  Cordesaes in Colombia, Casa de Fad in Brasil, Grupo Orvonton in Mexico -- these new legal entities represents the direction in which reader social development is taking in Latin America.

In Lithuania the readers are preparing to receive a shipment of printed books in their own language by the end of October.  They are excited.  They have been waiting for more than ten years for this event.  Plans have been made for a series of public meetings and for book promotion programs whose purpose is to make the people of Lithuania more aware of the existence of the revelation. 

Books recently placed in Poland, contacts being cultivated in Ukraine, as well as contacts with readers in Russia hold the potential for an integrated movement in Eastern Europe.  The opportunity to introduce the book to a Christian community of 4,000 young people and their families living communally in central Siberia has been extended to us. 

The Fellowship has more opportunities to participate in the spread of this revelation than it has resources to undertake such participation. 

A photo album which will be available at the Council meeting accompanies this report.  This will provide an opportunity to see the some of the contexts in which we are working and some of the readers who are taking this revelation into their lives and their communities.

A Philosophic Perspective

Attempting to foster the international spread of The Urantia Book with the limited resources at our disposal requires a focused approach which can be applied consistently over time.  Our primary purpose is to get people reading The Urantia Book.  Our secondary purpose is to foster the development of social networks which will help in the achievement of the primary objective in various regions of the world. 

Because of a variety of circumstances we have chosen a strategy of international development which encourages the formation of independent local and regional groups.  This is working very well and as of now, readers in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have their own legal entities -- similar to our 501(c)3 entities -- which they are using as a foundation upon which they can evolve financial and social structures for use in the work of the revelation.

In Mexico, Grupo Orvonton is operational and is actively pursuing a variety of outreach activities.  Over the past few years Agustin Arellano has built a core group of dedicated workers.  In Brazil, Dr. Elyr dos Santos Silva has developed Casa de Fad into a good working group.  This group has sponsored several large conferences in the past few years and is a solid reader presence in Rio de Janeiro.  In Colombia, Cordesaes has been granted full legal status and is the organization behind the newly developing Bogota School for Urantia Book Studies, a project spearheaded by Jerry Pando. 

One of the major efforts made by The Fellowship over the past several years has been that of bringing together leaders from these various groups in the context of regional conferences.  We have been able to supply scholarships and help local groups with the expenses of running conferences.  The result has been extremely positive.  Over the past few years we have been able to foster the growth of a strong network of leaders throughout Central and South America.  More details on this will be given in my report below on the several regional conferences in which The Fellowship participated and provided resources during the course of this past year.

Monterrey Conference, Mexico -- Grupo Orvonton

In April a conference was held in Monterrey of Nuevo Leon.  This conference was for leadership people in Grupo Orvonton to gather for some study of the book and to plan for work in Mexico for this year.  A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by philosophy professor Eduardo Garcia Ramirez of his work in the creation of a "Cosmology and Theology Dictionary of The Urantia Papers."  A few pages of this work are included in the photo album accompanying this report.  From this you should be able to get a sense of the quality and scope of the work.  This is the most significant secondary work to be created in Spanish to this date and one of the most scholarly works produced by any reader. 

Grupo Orvonton continues to communicate with readers in Cuba and may be making another trip to the island in 2005 to take books and other materials.  This group is already planning the next Mexico National Conference which will be held in Mazatlan in May, 2005.

Internet chat is used extensively by Latin American leaders to communicate with each other and to spread the book.  Nelida Oliver in Argentina spends an average of three hours each day in religous chat rooms promoting the book.  I have just completed bringing online a chat server which will be used by the Latin American readership.  More about this can be found in the website report.

Rio de Janeiro -- Conference of the Three Americas

At the end of June the Casa de Fad group in Rio de Janeiro sponsored the second "Conference of the Three Americas."  (The first was last year in Guatemala).  This is the group led by Dr. Elyr dos Santos Silva.  The three day conference was attended by leaders from a variety of Central and South American countries.  Sessions were held in both Spanish and Portuguese languages.

In addition to the papers presented at the conference, there was a great deal of interpersonal communication done.  Translated materials, CDs, DVDs, and other study aids were traded amongst the attendees.  Each regional group in Latin America seems to have its own emphasis on the development of study aids and services.  Some very academic work is being done in Mexico.  Nelida Oliver from Argentina has created dozens of PowerPoint presentations, put them on CDs, and made them available to other leaders of Spanish speaking groups.  Jose Manuel from Bogota continues with the work related to the development of the Bogota school.

Nelson Fernando Carillo, the Jesuit educator from Quito, Ecuador, has rewritten the catechism for his school utilizing only Urantia Book materials.  In addition, he openly discusses Urantia Book teachings in his weekly radio program over the Jesuit's Latin American radio network.  Needless to say he is under a great deal of pressure from his bishop.  He is a warrior for the revelation and needs your prayers and our continuing support. 

He has also created a series of CDs for Urantian educators and group leaders.  On this set of CDs he has provided over 120 various study aids written by Spanish readers.  There is a directory with over 700 images which can be used in the production of PowerPoint presentations,  20 sample PowerPoint presentations, and over 100 scanned texts used by various religious and metaphysical study groups in Latin America.  He is concerned that Urantian leaders have the resources to become familiar with the teachings studied in other religious and metaphysical groups with which they may have contact.

Among the texts which he has scanned, OCR'd, and put into this set of CDs for educators are the works of Alice Bailey,  Annie Besant, Anthony de Mello, the documents of Vatican II and Vatican III, some of the works of Deepak Chopra, the Symbolism of the Masons, the Book of Feng Shui, the apocryphal gospels, the Book of Enoch, various Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, the works of J. Krishamurti, various metaphysical texts, Darwin's "Origin of Species", the works of Paulo Coelho, various Mapuche sacred texts (texts of the indigenous peoples of the southern Andes), the fundamental Rosicrucian texts, the Tao Te Ching, various writings on Zen Buddhism, and more. 

I have never seen a more comprehensive collection of tools and training materials for Urantian leaders.

The Fellowship contributed the first LCD projector to the Latin American project several years ago.  It has been gratifying to see the development of resources for this medium.  We need to provide or subsidize the purchase of more of this technology as more leaders find themselves in increasingly public venues for the presentation of information about the book.  This year we provided Algimantas Jokubenas with an LCD projector for use in his work in Eastern Europe.  I spent a little time with him showing him how to use PowerPoint and am confident that he will be able to make very good use of this resource.

Jose Manuel Rodriguez Vargas from the Bogota Cordesaes group provided information on the process they followed in putting together a 501(c)3 equivalent in Colombia.  With the help of Jerry Pando the Cordesaes group is pioneering a school project. 

Over the years Jose and Myriam Montanez have translated many of the study aids available in English, most notably many of Meredith Sprunger's works, Bill Sadler Jr.'s "Study of the Master Universe", many of Dr. Sadler's study aids, and many documents from the Fellowship history archive.  With these books and documents they have a good foundation of materials from which to develop their study programs.  In addition, Jose has made many of these materials available on CD for use by other Latin American groups.

We produced our first video presentation for international audiences in conjunction with the Rio conference.  Earlier in the year I videotaped messages of greeting for the conference attendees from Avi, Marvin, Paula, and Linda Buselli.  I combined these with video clips from the Estes Park conference, children's activities, small study groups, and clips from conferences held in a variety of countries.  The purpose was to give conference attendees a better overview of the activities of the Fellowship, the contexts in which Urantia activites take place, and a look at how other readers are socializing their experience with the book.  It was only a 20 minute tape but it was a big hit -- the attendees really appreciated it and copies were provided for inclusion on CDs.  We need to do more of this in the future.  It is a good way to help relatively isolated reader groups get a glimpse of what is happening elsewhere in the world.

The Casa de Fad group contributed 100 gold concentric-circle pins to us for distribution to other international groups -- many of which have been given to readers in Lithuania.  Grupo Orvonton in Mexico sent T-shirts and Urantia backpacks to the Lithuanian readers as well.  This cross-fertilization of groups needs to continue.

There is an important second group in Rio de Janeiro with which we spent some time.  This is a group of about forty persons led by another physician, Dr. Sergio Braga.  This group consists of readers who are more interested in the metaphysics and cosmology of the book than the readers in Dr. Silva's group.  Dr. Braga's group meets each Saturday from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM and splits up their study between The Urantia Book and The Keys of Enoch.  They have a number of polylingual people in this group and use English, Spanish, and French texts in their study.

A Portuguese translation has recently been completed by Urantia Foundation but it is available only on CD.  Dr. Silva pleaded with me with tears in his eyes before I left to do everything I possibly could to get a Portuguese translation in print and into distribution in Brasil.  He also pleaded with me to do whatever I could to get Spanish books available in bookstores in the Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo metropolitan region.

While we were in Brasil, Agustin arranged for us to meet with the Lama of a Tibetian Buddhist monastery about an hour's drive outside of Rio.  The Lama is somewhat like a bishop for the Rio de Janeiro region.  We met with him for the purpose of introducing him to The Urantia Book and had a delightful time with him, sharing tea, observations about life, and The Urantia Book.  Agustin is particularly adept at finding interesting soil for the planting of seeds.

Lithuania

In early June about thirty people attended the Second National Gathering of Lithuanian Readers of The Urantia Book.  This conference brought together readers from Lithuania, Finland, and Latvia for a weekend of study, fellowship, and worship.  Under the very capable and tireless work of Algimantas Jokubenas, a sizable core of readers has been developed in Lithuania. 

In the two biggest cities of Lithuania he has groups which meet regularly for study and which meet separately for worship on a regular basis.  A joint service project is evolving between some Lithuanian and Finnish readers.  This is a ministry to a gypsy camp which is just outside of Vilnius.  They are visiting people in the camp, taking in clothing and other supplies, and having teaching and prayer services. 

The Lithuanians will receive their translation in late October of this year -- 1,500 copies have been printed.  I was able to spend some very good time with Algimantas Jokubenas, who translated the book into Lithuanian.  He is very excited to be receiving the completed translation and we talked about his plans for public promotion of the book. 

Lithuania presents a very interesting situation for the spread of the book, unlike that encountered in any other mileu so far.  The country is small with a population equal to that of our state of Colorado.  It is heavily Catholic.  Algimantas is a nationally known media commentator, having been a leading analyst of international economic and political trends during the Soviet period.  With its recent entrance to the European Economic Union as well as NATO, Lithuania is in a state of great political and economic turbulence. 

With Algimantas we visited a city in the north of the country near the Latvian border.  Here was a group of more than thirty people -- primarily young people -- with whom we met for some study.  But the meeting turned into a question and answer session which lasted for nearly eight hours.  In addition to discussions about the book and its message, there was a lot of good discussion about the spiritual life in general.  The group was somewhat polarized between an older staunch Catholic and the many young people who were eager to simply ask questions and comment on the spiritual life. 

This town is a three hour drive from Vilnius and Algimantas is only able to make this trip a few times during the year.  With gasoline costing nearly $5.00 a gallon it costs more than $60.00 to fill the tank.  This places serious limits on Algimantas' ability to meet with groups outside of Vilnius and Kaunas.  We should look at expanding our Flowers grants program to help subsidize such expenses for people who are doing this work. 

In addition to the significant development in Lithuania, we are beginning to cultivate contacts in Ukraine, Poland, and continuing to keep in touch with people in Russia.  I am hopeful that over the next few years we will be able to create a productive network of leaders and related groups that can foster growth in Eastern Europe.  In contrast to Latin America, Eastern Europe consists of many different linguistic and cultural groups.  While Russian is widely spoken, it is something of a business language and most people do not have a level of mastery suited for serious philosophic reading.  A German text will likely be available very soon.  The Polish text is complete but apparently on indefinite hold in terms of publication.

The Parliament of the World's Religions

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona.  I was particularly helped by sessions I attended of a symposium on Media and Religion which ran concurrently with the Parliament.  A high point of the Parliament was the opportunity to meet readers from Africa and Pakistan, as well as some young people from America.  Since the booth was an important presence at the Parliament I'm going to assume that a report on these activities will be given elsewhere.

Some Observations

In introductory meetings wherever I have gone, people have expressed deep interest in the spiritual life.  The Urantia Book itself seems to be of secondary interest and of interest only to the degree that it help them with their inner lives. 

Young people are the most open and most interested.  We know the importance of reaching out to young people but have not really mobilized much in this area.  In Latin America many countries have populations in which 70+ % of the population is under the age of 25.  This has interesting implications for the work in those countries. 

By far the biggest problem I see is the unavailability of books -- in much of Latin America they simply are not available.  When they are, they are very expensive.  I've received reports of $85.00 per copy prices in Costa Rica, $75.00 in Chile, and $100.00 for a copy of the Russian text in Lithuania.  Working to get books into distribution should be a high priority for us. 

We need to continue finding and cultivating leaders internationally.  Bringing these folks into contact with each other by helping them get to regional conferences, facilitating their work and interaction with other leaders, helps to stabilize their efforts and leads to important economies in the sharing of work.

We also need to be cultivating individuals who work at what I call "entry points" to Christian culture.  Nelson Fernando Carillo is a good example of a dedicated worker who lives in the world of the revelation as well as the world of the institution.  If we are to uplift Christian culture it is essential that we support folks like him who are on the front lines of this effort.  Algimantas Jokubenas is another front-lines worker who is confronting a fairly entrenched Catholic culture in Lithuania.

A  New Paradigm for the Fellowship -- a Brief Overview

Work over the past few years suggests that a new paradigm is needed within which the Fellowship could become far more effective than it is today in terms of spreading the revelation.  The 19th century Protestant social structure embodied in our constitution and the associated assumptions and expectations about effective group functioning derived from 20th century industrial culture are not sufficient for the task at hand.  They are not sufficient because they represent understandings about reality which were popular in Western culture prior to the receipt of the revelation. 

There are three major insights provided by The Urantia Book about the nature of the socio-spiritual reality in which we live as personalities which we should consider.  The most significant  is the revelation about the nature of Supremacy.  Monitoring emergent conditions and situations, fostering and supporting new realities which have promise for our task -- this paradigm must replace that of the industrial model in which a group conceives of a goal and then mobilizes a body of workers to achieve that goal.  Respecting the processes of Supremacy, we need to admit that we cannot know the future  -- there are too many unforseen developments and novel repercussions related to the introduction of the book into the planet's thought stream for such an approach.  Even the Seraphim appear to work on the basis of statistical probabilities rather than any sure knowledge of the future.  We need to be able to adapt and exploit novel situations as they arise.  The SOAP project, the Sarmast project, the Barcelona Parliament -- these may all be examples of the kind of situations which we can leverage for more effectiveness.

We need to appreciate the workings of the Seraphim.  The book provides enough information about how they work to enable us to develop a partnership approach.  I have written extensively about this process elsewhere.  This is not rocket science or esoteric metaphysics -- the process is relatively straight forward, can be known, and can be engaged in by any one of us.

Lastly we must consider the nature of the Spirit of Truth which has been provided to facilitate a planetary transition to a culture based on the teachings of Jesus and the discovery of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Our understanding of these three major aspects of the revelation should be integrated into a new operational paradigm for our organization.  We don't need to change the constitution -- we just need to change our orientation to our work, our planning, and our priorities. 

In addition to these insights, we must recognize that the primary mission of the book on a cultural level is the salvage, reinforcement, and uplifting of Christian civilization during a period of significant planetary turbulence and transition.  Elsewhere I have listed the tasks which the revelators indicate need to be undertaken.  I would be glad to provide this list to anyone who is interested.  It could be summarized as, "Do everything you can to promote the religion of Jesus." 

Think of civilization as consisting of layers.  The topmost layers, the ones most visible and most frequently encountered in daily life, consist of economic and political relationships.  Beneath these are the layers of religion and spiritual experience which provide the ethical and moral bases from which persons function in the higher layers and in their relationships with each other.  (By "higher" and "lower" here I am referring to levels within the collective consciousness -- not an heirarchy of values). 

It has been argued that capitalism -- and the subsequent development of a global free market economy -- is a repercussion of Christianity, more particularly, of Protestantism as it developed in North America over the past few centuries.  Capitalism works here because it operates in association with ethical and moral values derived from the Christian story.   In places lacking a foundation in this story, capitalism is brutal in its utter disregard for people and for the earth.

But time and events are eroding the power of the Christian story and along with this the strength of the ethical and moral basis upon which civilization rests.  This basis needs reinforcing and strengthening so that it can provide guidance to humanity over the coming decades and centuries. 

The driving force of economics and politics over the coming decades and centuries will be the depletion of fossil fuels, the end of cheap energy, and the transition from a global industrial civilization to whatever will follow.  This will entail a great deal of turbulence on the political and economic levels of life.  How strong will the underlying Christian mythology prove to be during this great challenge?

I maintain that now is the time to be spreading the book around the planet.  Now is the time to be finding ways of introducing the book into the Christian context.  Now is the time to stem the slide of Christianity in the direction of irrelevance.  Now is the time to be shoring up the foundations of the collective unconscious -- note how The Urantia Book revitalizes all of the archetypes of Judeo-Christian culture, re-empowering the old stories while at the same time expanding and elevating their meanings.   

The book needs to be understood as a complex package of information, not all of which is likely to be of interest to very many people.  The book tells us that, "The common people heard Jesus gladly, and they will again respond to the presentation of his sincere human life of consecrated religious motivation if such truths shall again be proclaimed to the world."  These are not likely to be folks who are interested in understanding the relationship between the Triodities and their role in the development of the present universe age.  The book needs to be understood as containing both a message for the common people as well as contextual background information for teachers and leaders -- and it needs to be marketed as such.  Translations of Part IV need to be completed in as many languages as possible and books need to be put into distribution.

I firmly believe that we need to change our fundamental orientation to our task in ways consistent with what I have outlined above.  This present report is not a context in which I can elaborate on this, but I feel it is important to provide this outline in conjunction with this report and with the meeting we are having in Kansas City.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this report.  Let me close by once again recognizing the untiring work of Susan Ransbottom and Agustin Arellano in the international promotion of this revelation.  In addition to them we have tireless workers such as Algimantas Jokubenas, Nelson Fernando Carillo, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Vargas, Ricardo Van Dyke, Angelica Talamantes, Dulce Aguirre, Nelida Oliver, Yolanda Silva, Dr. Elyr dos Santos Silva, and many more.  These folks are warriors for this revelation and I have a great deal of admiration and appreciation for each of them.

Submitted with gratitude for the opportunity to serve,

David Kantor