Nov. 26, 2024
Global Urantia Book Read Thru Project
Join me as we get to know the folks behind a new global Urantia Book-based initiative called The UB Read Thru Project, an innovative online effort to bring students of the Urantia Revelation together to read the papers as a global community.
Diane Labrecque, Conrad Lavallee, Erica Montgomery and others join me to talk about their unique Urantia Book experiences and what this project means to them.
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Welcome to the Your Rancher
Radio podcast where we explore
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the 5th applicable revelation,
including the life and teachings
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of Jesus, the history of our
planet, and the destiny that's
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in store for all.
It's a spiritual and
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intellectual journey, so sit
back and enjoy the Your Rancho
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Radio podcast.
Here now is long time reader and
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student Jim Watkins.
All right, so in with me today
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are several great individuals,
Erica Montgomery, Devin Landis,
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Diane Labrecque who has been on
our program before and Conrad
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Levelly and did I miss anybody?
I don't think I did right.
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And you guys have a project
which is officially named the
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Global Urantia Book Daily
Reading Project, but you also
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call it the UB read through for
short.
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And so I wanted to bring you
guys on and share because this
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is a big thing.
It means a lot.
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We have technology now or you
can be anywhere and you can
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still have fellowship with the
Urantia book.
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And I think that's terrific.
And I was honored to sit in on
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one of your read throughs.
And I love the approach.
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It's sort of like a study group,
but not really.
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I mean it, there's a little
different flavor.
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So I guess I'll ask anyone who
wants to answer, how did this
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project get started and, and,
and who are you?
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Who is tuning in every week?
Do you find people that you
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know, mostly strangers?
How did the project get started?
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And tell me a little bit about
your audience.
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We want to start Erika and
Devin.
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Devin, do you want to start?
Yeah, sure.
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The project got started where I
guess come from our desire to
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have a bunch of people reading
at the same time.
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So in a way, an international
study group, we each had
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independent, I guess, ideas or
contributions that led to the
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same or singular conclusion and
then the details we just hashed
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out through logic.
Yeah, sort of a natural.
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Let let it emerge or grow
organically.
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And have you all known each
other before?
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How did you all get together?
How do you all know each other?
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Because obviously you're not in
the same spots.
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We all read the same book.
How did you find each other?
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I guess would be the better
question.
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So I guess we all met through,
well, we met through the range
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book, of course, but Devin and I
met through like some young
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reader events that happened
maybe over 10 years ago that MM
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Macisa kid put together and then
also through other fellowship
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events.
And I guess it was last or this
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spring, this last spring that we
I had just finished a reading of
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the Urantia book and kind of was
deciding about how to undertake
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the next reading.
And that's when we started
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talking about what like an ideal
reading schedule would look
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like.
And we had another friend who
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was kind of thinking about the
same thing at the same time.
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So we ended up talking with him
and developing this idea that we
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wanted to read, be able to read
together.
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But, but knowing that so many of
the younger generation lives
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places where there aren't study
groups at all, we were trying to
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think of a way that we could we
could read like at the same
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pace, but not necessarily have
to be in the same location.
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So that's where we kind, that's
where we kind of came up with
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the idea of the the read through
and then and then the schedule.
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The schedule for what?
What an ideal schedule would
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look like for that.
Yeah.
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And so the format who wants?
Go ahead.
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Go ahead, Diane.
Yes, I wanted to say that this
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is the part of Devin and Erica,
how they met.
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And maybe Erica later on you can
explain about the 20-30, how you
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coordinated the whole thing.
But the beauty, Jim, is to know
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that this is the hand of God
moving along.
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Because as I told Erica, I said,
Erica, do you realize that when
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when we first spoke, I said four
months ago, I didn't even know
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that you existed, neither you
nor Devin.
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And now we are going on this Co
hosting project of UB reading
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globally.
And this is the hand of God.
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Because when I received their
calendar as a gift for they
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contacted me for the Jubilee of
Jubilees and they said, could we
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just give a little word about
our project because it's brand
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new.
And I said, I don't know if we
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have enough room because we
already have 20 plus guests, you
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know, in that little bit of
time, but I'll make sure that I
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find a spot.
And that's how they announce
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their project.
And I thought, wow, this is
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great project.
And then they sent me a calendar
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as a gift.
When I received the calendar, I
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thought, holy God, this is
beautiful.
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So I called them and I said,
congratulation, all of you
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Yayas, you know, you're
brilliant.
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This is a great project.
And they said, oh, would you
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help us to to to do it?
I said, absolutely, I'd be more
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than feeling privileged to be
part of this project.
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And that's how Erica and I
started to Co host.
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So you can see like it's going
click, click, click, click,
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click.
And now today you're right on
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our website interviewing us, so.
Diane, I didn't start the the
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recording so far, so tell me
when you want me to start.
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It now please write down.
Thank you, Colin.
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Well, it certainly is good to
have you all here.
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Tell us about the calendar
aspect of this recording in
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progress, Diane, or anyone who
wants to tell me the format,
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what what do, what's the goal is
to go through the book in a
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certain amount of time.
Tell me what your goals are with
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it.
Bevan or Erica would be the
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people to explain it because
they have all the details.
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Do you want to go to say it,
Erica, Devin?
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Yeah, sure.
I would say that my experience
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was such that when I was reading
the book, if I were to ever stop
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reading, my life would sort of
emulate what I was about to
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read.
And maybe that's like a almost
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like a fairy tale experience,
but it really was happening.
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And that sort of led me to this
conclusion that we should all
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read together, or that reading
together is power, or reading
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even alone is power.
And that, I think, is the main
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goal.
You know, I find myself, and I'm
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sure many people listening,
reading the book is if you grab
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a paragraph here or there, it
really sticks with you for a
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couple of days.
And the most frustrating thing
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for me is that nobody in my
circle knows anything about the
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Urantia book.
So I might as well be studying
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Mandarin Chinese, you know, and
then not having anybody to
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practice with.
So since you started doing this,
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have you noticed any change in
the way that you read the book
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in a group setting versus in a
private setting?
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I would like to say something
because I know the answer that I
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want to say right now.
Yes, Jim, it has changed a lot.
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I told my study group.
I've had a study group for years
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and years and years, every
Monday.
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So we begin the week when we
meet from lunchtime to supper
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time.
So the whole afternoon we
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dedicate and devote to the
arranger book.
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And as I said earlier when I
received the calendar and I saw
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the program that Devin and
Charles and Erica and others put
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together, what I loved about it
is the fact that the project
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says read only one section a
day, Monday to Friday, take the
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weekend off.
So if you want to review or
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finish your weekly reading, and
then we'll meet once a month
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together to chat, to answer
questions, to make presentations
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and whatever.
And I told my study group, you
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know, we, we are very blessed
because right from the start
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when I accepted to join with
them and help them with this
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project, uh, every Monday now we
devote to doing a pre reading of
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the five sections of the week.
And then after that, everybody
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goes home and we study ourselves
by ourselves.
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And the, the, what I would say
the wonderful aspect of this
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project is that one section is
possible for everyone to do
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every day.
And it allows us to, as I tell
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my study group, we deep dive.
So instead of just reading on
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the surface and hurrying up to
do 1 paper, we do 1 section in,
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in in communion with our thought
adjuster and the spirit of truth
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and the inspiration that comes.
And I call it scuba diving
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because it's like going really
deep and getting new
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understanding that people have
said to me, Diane, even though I
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had read those parts, it's like
it's brand new or I'm getting
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new on.
This time, yeah.
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No, it's fabulous.
How do you decide that the which
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papers or sections you read?
Is that just sort of everybody?
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How is that planned?
Is there someone who says, OK,
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we're going to start here?
Are you going chronologically
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through the book?
Who determines the subject
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matter that you're reading?
Yeah, I can answer that.
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So yeah, you asked about the
organization of the calendar and
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I have it or you're, I'm not
sure if you're watching a zoom,
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you'll be able to see it here.
Yeah, Yeah, I see it.
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We did the we made a visual
which is a, a spiral calendar.
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And in a sense the idea was that
we, we were trying to line up a
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specific anniversary.
So the two thousand anniversary
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of Jesus, the Master's ascension
and the Jubilee of Jubilees and
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the coming of the spirit of
truth.
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So that's happening in 20-30.
So the idea was that we wanted
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to be reading about that and
which is around the end of the
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book, the end of the ranch book
on that date, on those dates.
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So we, we targeted that date and
then, and then decided that, OK,
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well we want to read.
We want this to be a very light
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read, easy reading schedule.
So we do 1 section a day and
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just Monday through Friday.
So we, we don't read on the
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weekends and we don't read,
we're not reading over the big
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hall, the big holidays in
December and January, so between
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Christmas and New Year's.
So we worked backwards from
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that, counted out how many
sections there are in the
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Urantia book, use the calendar
and that's how we got our start
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date.
Got it.
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So essentially we we are
reading, we started just in
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September, around September 18th
I believe and we are reading
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chronologically and we started
with the forward.
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So yeah, that.
So that was how we laid how we
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started.
With the forward boy, that's a
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tough one, right?
Do you all find that the people
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that are attending and your your
idea how many people that you
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think TuneIn or or have been a
part of it Same same group 2030.
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No, there's been people adding
at every meeting.
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Started 20-30, then close to 40,
and we have five and five years
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and eight months to go.
So yeah.
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We have a while, it'll be huge.
Yes.
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Yeah, yes, it's so it sounds to
me like the difference is as
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opposed to say, a regular study
group, and no study group is
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exactly the same.
But there's a general sense, you
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know, people will start like
with the beginning of the life
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and teachings of Jesus and then
they'll go through the end.
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Then they'll maybe start at the
beginning and work their way and
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everybody reads a piece of the
paper.
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Is that sort of the same format
as you guys where you read a
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paper and then everybody
discusses that section and then
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you move on to the next chapter
or or paragraph?
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Is it structured in that kind of
way?
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Maybe this is the proper time to
introduce Conrad and talk about
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what he's doing.
He's our Technical Support for
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the project and he's actually
allowing us everyone, just not
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the the four of us or the three
of us.
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He's allowing everyone who signs
up with him officially with
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their e-mail address to access
the website for the read through
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the UB read through project.
So that 24/7, 365 people need to
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at 3:00 in the morning because
this is a worldwide, a global
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project, Jim.
So there are people that right
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now as we speak, it's night time
for them and vice versa.
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And so anytime they don't need
Conrad or they don't need me or
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Erica or Devin or anyone else,
they can actually zoom in, go
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into the chat, they can review
the video, study what we did, or
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they can reread the chat or
contribute or put comments,
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comments, questions.
And so it's an interactive,
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ongoing project.
And at the same time, again, the
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beauty is to know that anywhere
in the world today, many readers
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and more and more readers, we
will be uniting spiritually in
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energy, reading the same section
and sharing about it and
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contributing.
So it's wonderful.
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So the technology behind it,
Conrad.
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Well, the whole idea is to allow
people to work together during
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the online video conferences,
but also to contribute in
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between the meetings.
As they're going through their
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personal readings, they make
some discoveries.
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They may find the interesting
sites on the web that they may
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want to share.
There's all sort of resources
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that they could bring in.
So what we're trying to do is to
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take Zoom, which is normally
used for video conferencing, but
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the chat disappears.
We use a persistent chat and
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what we are slowly building is a
set of channels where people
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will be able to collaborate in
on a permanent basis.
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So people can go there at the
most convenient time and use
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various resources provided by
those collaborative features.
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For instance, a persistent chat
is one of them.
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But in the channel, they can use
different chats.
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They can use documents, notes,
they can share videos, they can
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do some drawings and share their
drawings or make some diagrams.
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I mean, as they will proceed
with their study of the Urantia
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book, they will undergo a whole
set of new discoveries.
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And that we want to provide them
with the opportunity to share
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those discoveries so that the
whole group will benefit from
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each individual's findings.
And because of the fact, as
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Diane mentioned, that people are
geographically scattered then
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located on different time zones,
it makes it a lot more
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convenient to allow them to to
join in at the their most
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convenient time and contribute
to the whole dynamic.
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So that's an experience.
It's an experiment, so to speak
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of both to foster, to study if
you rancher book and also I
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would say that with the advent
of artificial intelligence in
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Zoom, there are some translation
capabilities in document like
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notes and documents.
Documents within Zoom are
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collaborative and people can
easily convert a text written in
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Spanish or English or Finnish or
name it Japanese.
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00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,440
They can have it translated in
English, French or whatever on
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the fly by the AI system, which
is now providing a crazy
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professional level of
translation, if not squarely to
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say professional translation.
So basically.
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It's a cloud based Urantia
community where the focus is on
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the read through but also in
collaborating and sharing new.
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00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,600
So for as an example, this week
they announced a new theory on
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how the moon came to be.
And I happen to see that.
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And then I of course read it,
went back to read the Urantia
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book and cross referenced and
they up till now they believe
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that the moon there was a
collision or the moon came from
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the Earth.
Well, the Urantia book says
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00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:15,000
something completely different.
So I would naturally want to
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share that with other Urantia
book readers and say, hey, have
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00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:20,880
you heard about this?
They're getting a little closer
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00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:22,839
to confirming what the Urantia
book it says.
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Yeah.
So you could put a link on the
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00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,880
permanent chat and allow other
readers to consult that thing.
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And from that link you can
engage a conversational thread.
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And the nice thing about it, if
you go into documents and put
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the links in a document, in a
collaborated documents, then you
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00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:47,840
have the the fact that people
can engage in a multilinguistic
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00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:49,720
fashion.
So you're breaking, for all
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00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,560
intents and purposes, the
cultural barrier that to
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00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,160
normally separate people of
different linguistic
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communities.
There's a lot of potential there
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when you think about it.
Yeah.
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00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:04,920
What is the ratio you think of
new readers versus say seasoned?
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00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:07,600
Are you more?
Does it seem like more people
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00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,280
this has more appeal to seasoned
readers who are familiar with
286
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,840
the Urantia book or new readers
that are just getting started?
287
00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,920
Just curious.
It's interesting you ask this
288
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,840
question because as call Dad was
just finishing talking, I was
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00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:23,280
thinking, oh, we need to talk
about that.
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00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:25,880
So we're on the same plane.
All right.
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00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:31,120
And I just wanted to share with
you and your audience, Jim, that
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00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:35,000
it's interesting because we
have, I received an e-mail from
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00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,560
a wonderful lady and she wrote
to me and said thank you, Diane,
294
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:44,000
and to all the team at UB read
through because I've read the
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00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:49,800
book more than 50 years ago.
And I am so, so happy to be on
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00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:51,680
this project.
She loved it.
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00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:56,760
And all this at the same time I
participated because Zoom is
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00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:00,680
just about every day now.
So I participated on an other
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00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,440
conference and there was a new
reader, a man who had never read
300
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,080
the book, met through people on
the street and heard about the
301
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,480
name You ran shot.
So he was there.
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00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,000
And as I listened to him, I
said, you're a new reader, Maybe
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00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,960
you would like to be on this new
project of ours.
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00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,200
And he said I told him the
detail.
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00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,920
He said please send me the
e-mail and the invitation.
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00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,480
He responded.
He's part of the group.
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00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:32,480
So we have older people with
more experience and wisdom and
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00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,720
younger people.
We have middle age.
309
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,520
We have all groups.
It's really wonderful to see how
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00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,800
it has a life of its own and
it's growing like a seed that
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00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,480
was planted from above.
And now this, the terrain.
312
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:52,400
The terrain is just.
The time has come for this and
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00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,960
the project is going very well
and I.
314
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:59,200
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I was going to say I think we
315
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,920
have some very seasoned readers
who are getting something new
316
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,120
and different out of it.
And also some, we do have some
317
00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:08,680
brand new readers.
I have a a good friend who'd,
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00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,240
you know, I told her about the
earring book and she'd read a
319
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,000
few papers.
She actually even came to a
320
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,400
conference, but she hasn't read
much at all.
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00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,480
And she's doing the read through
with us and there's a, there's a
322
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:20,840
couple people like that.
So they're pretty much brand new
323
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,040
readers.
Which is really exciting, but
324
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,200
since the pace is slow, I think
it it works for new readers as
325
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,320
well as seasoned readers.
Yeah, I would think so.
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00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,000
How I know I get an e-mail from
you when you guys have a weekly,
327
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,520
but how do, how do people know
about it otherwise?
328
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,480
Are the other agencies like the
Association and the foundation,
329
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,360
are they helping spread the word
that you're doing this?
330
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Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah?
331
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,680
Well, you you can go ahead if
you want.
332
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,240
OK, first of all, the Urantia
Fellowship, Urantia Book
333
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,840
Fellowship, they sent an e-mail,
a beautiful invitation to
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00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,120
everyone.
And then after that we also have
335
00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:03,520
Center for Unity with Gabriel
Rimberg and his team.
336
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,840
And so they've been wonderful.
They wrote a great article about
337
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,560
Erica and Devin and Charles.
And so that was really, really
338
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,720
nice to introduce people and
they have a great list as well.
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00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,720
There's also Urantia University,
it's been announced at
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different.
Then I have my listing from the
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United Urantia family and so I
send the invitation to everyone.
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00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:34,360
Erica has a listing about the
yayas, the young and youth and
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00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:36,920
young adults of Urantia book
readers.
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00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,400
So she has her list as well.
Yes.
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And so it's again, it has a life
of its own.
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00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:50,080
And there's actually a woman who
contacted me and she said Monica
347
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,960
Camp said, hi Diane.
Hi Monica.
348
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,160
She said, I love the meeting
when we launched it on September
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18th and again on September 22nd
for the CFU members and
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00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,320
audience.
And she said, Diane, this is
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00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:10,480
such a great project and so on.
And then after we finished our
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conversation, her, my husband
sent me an e-mail and he said,
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00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,720
Diane, I've already put the ad
on our website.
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So instantly I clicked on the
link and I went to see on the
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00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:28,240
website and they have thousands
of people, not hundreds or
356
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,320
thousands of people that have
already seen the ad.
357
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,520
So it's spreading, Jim.
It's spreading on its own.
358
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,840
Well, you know, that's great.
The Urantia community is
359
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,080
growing, no question about that.
I mean, I could see it more I
360
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,640
think in the last 10 years than
I've seen in the last 30 really.
361
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,480
But maybe it's because of
technology.
362
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,120
What do you guys think about
that?
363
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:54,320
The fact that with Kindle and
the fact here's my phone, I've
364
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,920
got my Urantia book on my phone
that I read every day.
365
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,360
I think before this, how do I'm
trying to remember how I read
366
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,480
the book?
Did I actually pull out a book
367
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,080
and start reading it?
I can't believe it.
368
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,400
Yeah, I'm quite sure that
technology will be a
369
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,440
contributing factor to the
growth of the Urantia movement,
370
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,760
not only from a quantitative
standpoint, but also
371
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,720
qualitatively.
The fact that the Urantia book
372
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:24,600
is available online in multiple
languages free of charge, that's
373
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,600
a major technological
advancement.
374
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:34,680
And also the the collaborative
features and S technology is
375
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,840
evolving.
I mean, there's new affordances
376
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,480
provided to the Urantia
readership.
377
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:46,600
My personal view on that is that
technology is good and welcomed,
378
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,640
and so far as it we can put it
at the service of people, when
379
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,960
it works the other way around,
it ought to be kicked out of the
380
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,760
way.
What do you mean by that?
381
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,360
Elaborate on that.
Well, sometimes technology could
382
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:05,280
become a source of, I would say
dependency can create different
383
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,920
kinds of dependencies, and we
need to use technology in a
384
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:15,640
balanced way.
I mean, otherwise technology is,
385
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,840
and when it becomes addictive,
it's alienating people instead
386
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,760
of liberating them.
So the, the wise usage of
387
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,640
technology is paramount if we
want that to have a, a positive
388
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,080
influence on the Urantia
movement.
389
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,280
And that's what we're striving
for.
390
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,800
But yeah, the the manner in
which we use technology that
391
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,880
would apply for instance, to the
manner in which we would use
392
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,960
artificial intelligence to
support the Urantia readership.
393
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:45,760
AI won't replace the Urantia
book.
394
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,320
It's not a replacement for the
Urantia book, but it can support
395
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,200
the study of the Urantia book in
a variety of ways.
396
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:59,200
But as well as people are at the
cent at the center, technology
397
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,440
revolves around people, not
people revolving around
398
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,120
technology.
If we want to put it that way,
399
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:05,160
we'll.
Put Yeah.
400
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,200
That's all I said.
Yeah, I wrote a couple more
401
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,360
questions and I know that we
have a little bit of a time
402
00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:14,400
limit here, but.
And I, I would like to say an
403
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,240
answer to your question, Part B,
Jim, quickly.
404
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:23,560
But I see, I observed that
there's an interesting phenomena
405
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,200
that's happening and I think
that it's synchronistically
406
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,640
coordinated with this project of
global reading of the
407
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,080
Revelation.
And that is that many we know
408
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,080
that readers of the Bible are by
the billions, OK around the
409
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,680
planet.
And many, many readers seem to
410
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,400
be searching for more, For more
information.
411
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,320
And it's like they have a
thirst, you know, for some kind
412
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,600
of information that we Rancho
Book readers are blessed to know
413
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,480
about.
So with this project and all the
414
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,200
other projects going around the
world, it's helping it.
415
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,120
It's almost like, you know, when
Jesus said my time has come, he
416
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,600
took his apron off and said to
his two brothers, come on my
417
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,520
brothers, let's go to the
Jordan.
418
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,280
I need I will be baptized.
So it seems to me that the time
419
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:20,040
has come now for the Rancho book
to rise up to a new level.
420
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:24,280
We have had all those years to
plant the seeds for the
421
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,360
institutions, for the
organizations, for the printing
422
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:31,440
of the book, for the
translations, for the study
423
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,920
groups around the world.
And now it's time to reach a new
424
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,680
level.
And I see the synchronicity
425
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,400
between the the two.
So not just technology, but also
426
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:47,560
this spiritual thirst, you know,
and hunger to know.
427
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,560
And we have, we have a
responsibility to feed our
428
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,400
brothers and sisters spiritually
with the Urantia book
429
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,360
Revelation.
And and wise guidance too,
430
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,000
because I started reading this
book that a gentleman wrote.
431
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,200
Many of you may know him.
He wrote a book about the second
432
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,360
coming of Jesus and he just
published it.
433
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,400
Do any of you know Soren
Westgard?
434
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,760
I think he's name is.
Anyway, and I'm reading this
435
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,920
book and he gives a summary of
the Urantia book.
436
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,840
And I'm thinking to myself, man,
there's a lot of stuff that the
437
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,000
Urantia book has taught me more
than I ever imagined.
438
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,560
And it's stuff that nobody
knows, you know, And it's like,
439
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:33,440
how do we get this into more
people's presence so that they
440
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,560
could realize, just as an
example, when you're standing in
441
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:41,000
the supermarket just thinking
that every person in that store
442
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,960
has a thought adjuster, how many
of them are not even aware of
443
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,200
the fact that they have a soul
that's in process of formation?
444
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,200
And imagine how transformative
that would be if they had that
445
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,080
piece of information.
And I that's it.
446
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,160
When I realized if you read the
Urantia book long enough, you
447
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,000
forget how much you've actually
learned and how much you know,
448
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,720
or at least you feel that you
know about the universe that
449
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,240
nobody else knows and how
transformative that would be if
450
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,960
they did know that.
I'm hoping that's why they wrote
451
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,120
the Urantia book is to prepare
us so that we could know that.
452
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,000
So the next revelation, when it
comes, we'll know what the hell
453
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,440
a Melchizedek is or a Gabriel
or, you know, something like
454
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,120
that, a magisterial son.
So anyway, I just, I was reading
455
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,720
about the Supreme being today
and this what you're doing
456
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,920
brings us that much closer to
the emergence of the Supreme,
457
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,000
Simply put.
So I just want to thank you for
458
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,720
the.
I want to say, Jim, that I've
459
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,960
been invited to an interview
that I will do in a month.
460
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:52,840
And it's about a concept that I
got in 2008 at UCLA when I was
461
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,520
asked to be part of the Urantia
Book Fellowship Conference.
462
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,600
And just before reaching Los
Angeles, I was at the restaurant
463
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,320
and I saw an ad in the paper.
And in 2008, if we go back 16
464
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,880
years ago, HD equipment was just
about coming out.
465
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,960
So there was a big, almost full
page ad, you know, big sale on
466
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,160
your HD computer or television
screen or whatever.
467
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,280
And it just dawned on me, hey,
you know what?
468
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:27,560
So when I gave my speech at
UCLA, I told the people, if
469
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:32,040
equipment, pieces of equipment
have reached the high definition
470
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:37,440
mode, what about us human beings
reaching our highest definition
471
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:42,440
mode, which is our HD mode?
And that is exactly what the
472
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,880
mission of Jesus was, to reveal
the Father to men and bring men
473
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:50,360
to the Father and he lived in
his human and divine mode.
474
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,200
So to know that we are sons and
daughters of God and to live in
475
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,680
our human divine mode with our
thought adjuster and the
476
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:02,480
conscious of our soul, that
means we can help people to
477
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:08,360
transcend to a level now of
living not just in the human
478
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,880
brutal mode at times, but to
respect God in my neighbor.
479
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,160
You're kind of breaking up there
a little bit.
480
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,200
No, totally agree with that
assessment.
481
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,840
Anything that we can do it.
This is, I think the age of the
482
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,080
the first period was just
getting the book out there
483
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,960
translated, forming groups.
I think we might be in a
484
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,680
position now where more teachers
are needed.
485
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,120
I don't know if you heard any of
that.
486
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,160
I'm curious to know how long all
you guys have been reading the
487
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,280
book.
How long have you all been
488
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,760
readers?
Just curious.
489
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,440
Erica, you want to go ahead.
So my parents were both readers,
490
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:46,480
so I grew up with the Uranch
book.
491
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,720
But and I maybe I started
reading 1 / 20 years ago, but
492
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,760
not seriously until the last.
Like I would say three years.
493
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,720
So what was that like growing up
in a family of Urantia book
494
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,280
readers?
That's pretty special.
495
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,000
Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm very
grateful for it.
496
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,240
Now it they're, you know, it
felt a little weird at the time.
497
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,640
It was like when people asked
what my religion was, most of my
498
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,960
community was Jewish or
Christian, and I would have to
499
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,520
explain what the Urantia book
was, which obviously nobody's
500
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,680
ever heard of.
So, but it, it was great.
501
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,880
I mean it now.
Now I'm very grateful that I
502
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,200
was, that I was raised with it
and that I was given that gift,
503
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,840
you know, to be so, so good in
general.
504
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,720
Devin, what about you?
Are you still with us there?
505
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,640
How long have you been a leader?
I was introduced in 2008 to the
506
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:45,240
book, and then by the beginning
of 2009 I started reading on my
507
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:50,200
own as I was bored with my
college textbook and I thought
508
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,480
that the Your Answer book might
have something better to say
509
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,480
about something in the in the
realm of science.
510
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,880
So I think that was maybe 15
years ago, 2009.
511
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,400
You know, they always talk about
there's a point where you come
512
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,080
like Meredith Springer is one of
the early pioneers.
513
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,920
He always said that there was a
point where you throw in the
514
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,840
intellectual towel and you say,
OK, at what point do I
515
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,480
absolutely believe that what I'm
reading is true?
516
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,000
Do any of you have a memory of
when that point occurred for
517
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,160
you?
Well, I started reading the
518
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:33,080
arranged book when I was 19.
I'm now 71 and I bought the
519
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,720
Urantia book.
At that time I was a Yogi
520
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:41,320
practitioner and I believed in
reincarnation and the teachings
521
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,560
of Orobindo and Chivananda
Sarasvati and Yogananda and so
522
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,160
forth.
And there were some differences
523
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,320
between the Teachings of Urantia
book and those Hindu philosophy.
524
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,160
So it created the state of
cognitive dissonance.
525
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,840
So I sold the book.
Then I regretted it.
526
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,960
I bought it back.
And there was a kind of inner
527
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,640
crisis, a kind of internal
conflict between my former
528
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,360
beliefs and the new belief.
Because the problem I had is I
529
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,760
felt that what I was reading is
real, is the truth.
530
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,120
But it doesn't.
They didn't suit well with my
531
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,000
previous beliefs.
So at a certain point I took the
532
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,640
book, threw them in the drawer
and I asked the father, well,
533
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,080
I'll, I'll stop reading the book
for about two or three weeks and
534
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,120
give me a signal when I'll read
it again.
535
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,520
Give me a signal whether or not
this is for me, This is true,
536
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,480
this is good.
And that's exactly what I did. 3
537
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,920
weeks later, I opened the
drawer, started reading your
538
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,240
Durant book and I felt
comfortable.
539
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,480
I, I liked what I was reading.
That was my signal.
540
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:57,400
Since then, I'm not only a
Urantia Book believer, but I
541
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,640
have faith in the spiritual
teachings of Urantia Book.
542
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,120
And that faith never painted.
Since then, not a bit.
543
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,199
It grew continually, and it's
still growing.
544
00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:12,719
Yeah, I have to say I agree.
Nobody would be able to talk me
545
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,600
out of it at this point.
If somebody said you're a nut,
546
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,480
you know, how do you know all
this?
547
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:21,080
I said, look, I could, I could
sit here and spend 3 days
548
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,600
telling you why this book is
true, and then you have to make
549
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,040
a decision.
And but you know, nobody wants
550
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,520
to ask.
That's what I find most
551
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,560
interesting.
I have this podcast.
552
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,239
Everybody in my family, all my
friends know I read the book.
553
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,719
Anybody's known me for 30 years.
But nobody asks questions.
554
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,199
They never ask.
They they Jesus.
555
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:43,280
I consider Jesus as an avatar,
just like Krishna, Buddha or
556
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:49,000
Pythagora or you name it, the
the great gurus that marked the
557
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,199
evolution of the humanity.
Loud say, or Confucius.
558
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:56,159
But after reading the life and
teachings of Jesus, I remember
559
00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,800
holding the side of a bridge and
looking at the river.
560
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,720
And at that moment, I
acknowledge that Jesus is the
561
00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:09,240
Son of God and Son of man, and I
acknowledge the divinity of
562
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:11,760
Jesus.
But it's through the reading of
563
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,200
your ranch book, the, the life
and teachings of Jesus that I
564
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,240
reached that fate point in my
life.
565
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,520
And that was a a game changer,
to say the least.
566
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,200
It affected it.
It changed the whole life, the
567
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,920
whole perspective on life and my
relation with with Jesus.
568
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,040
And yeah, was tremendously
enhanced.
569
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,800
Feeling the spirit of truth.
There's no words to describe
570
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,240
that.
It leads to spiritual
571
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:40,320
experiences, goes beyond near
intellectuality.
572
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:42,880
It becomes a living experience
at some point.
573
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,320
Yeah, yeah.
Diane, you had an interesting
574
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,040
experience.
Can you share your if you don't
575
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:50,880
mind?
It's such a great story.
576
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,360
OK, I was just leaving it in
God's hands.
577
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,240
If you asked, I'll answer.
If you don't, I was not going to
578
00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:00,080
say anything.
All right, so I'll take my
579
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:05,600
courage and say it.
First of all, I was born in in
580
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,240
Quebec.
And so when I was born and even
581
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:12,880
now, it was a very, very
religious area.
582
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:19,160
So I was born a Christian and
have always loved God and Jesus
583
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,880
and the Spirit and all this.
So it was, it was my world and
584
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:29,360
my whole family of 12.
And I've had many experiences
585
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:34,840
with Jesus throughout my life
and one of them I remember when
586
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,840
I was just starting school 1
morning, my mother being a
587
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:43,560
mother of I have brothers and
sisters who have just months
588
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:48,680
difference not even one year.
And so she was a busy mother and
589
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:53,080
I came downstairs and I was all
happy to tell my mother, Mommy,
590
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,920
I was just probably 6 years old
or something because I was in
591
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,880
first grade, just starting.
And I said, Mama, I just went to
592
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,880
heaven last night.
God took me to heaven.
593
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,120
And I still hear her saying, OK,
OK, that's good.
594
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,240
Diane, go eat your oatmeal and
your eggs because I want you to
595
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,600
be on time for school.
And I look like, no, she doesn't
596
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,040
believe me.
So I kept things silent to
597
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,880
myself.
And so over the years, I have
598
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:26,720
experienced beautiful, beautiful
situations with Jesus
599
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:32,160
personally.
And on December the 14th, 1990,
600
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,880
I had a visitation of Jesus.
And I just want to say I am not
601
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:41,080
on to drugs or alcohol or
whatever, no, but I just want
602
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,360
people to know I'm not
hallucinating.
603
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,640
I'm extremely straightforward
from A to B.
604
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,720
And like I said to people, if
Jesus visited you, just like I
605
00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:56,720
see you, Jim, and the rest of
the group, you would remember
606
00:37:56,720 --> 00:38:00,600
for eternity because it is
something that absolutely
607
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,920
transforms you.
It's unbelievable.
608
00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:06,800
And at the time, I did not know
anything about the Uranchi book,
609
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:11,000
had never heard the word, never
seen the book, never met anyone
610
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:16,760
involved with the Uranchi book.
And at 3, exactly 3:00 in the
611
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:21,240
morning, I looked at my clock.
Jesus visited me, and he allowed
612
00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:27,360
me to experience through
personal religious experience,
613
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:34,760
the reality of many aspects of
creation that I didn't even know
614
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,480
when I came back.
I didn't even know the words to
615
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,680
say or what how to call it or
where I had been or whatever.
616
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:47,600
And a few months later I was
going to a business meeting and
617
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,800
I was in the limousine drawing
with the the man in charge and I
618
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,720
saw him reading this big book.
It was like, wow.
619
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,880
So I looked at him and his name
was Marcel, Marcel Pele.
620
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:02,400
And I said, Marcel, what are you
reading?
621
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,960
As the driver was driving us to
the meeting.
622
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,760
And he said, oh, the livre
durancia, don't you know about
623
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,800
it?
I said, what you leave the what
624
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,240
you, you, you.
He said the Urantia book.
625
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,400
I said, no, I don't know.
And he started to, he continued
626
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,880
to read, but aloud.
And as I heard what he was
627
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:28,120
reading, I went, what is that?
He said that's that's the
628
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,680
Urantia book.
I said, Oh my God, can I have
629
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,200
one?
He said, oh, I buy them, buy the
630
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:37,320
case from the foundation in
Chicago.
631
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,840
He said when I meet people that
are ready to receive the rancher
632
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,360
book, Ioffer them freely, a book
if they want.
633
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,680
I said can I have one please?
He said absolutely when we come
634
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,600
back from the meeting tonight.
So when we came back, I remember
635
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,240
I wrote it down.
I in my journal, I have all the
636
00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:58,240
details and it was past
midnight.
637
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:05,760
It was the 14th of March 1991
and it was at 12:15 AM.
638
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:10,320
And when I I received the book
and I put my hands on it and I
639
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:15,360
knew I was holding something
beyond earth, beyond human, and
640
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:19,160
I said thank you so much.
He turned out to be the man in
641
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,680
helping with the project of IC
93.
642
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,760
And he said you should come to
the conference.
643
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,120
It's going to be here.
And I was asked to be a keynote
644
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:33,040
speaker and I, I did it and
that's how I started on my
645
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,080
mission.
I say on my on a mission,
646
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,960
mission for God.
And when I arrived at about
647
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:44,680
12:30 at my house, I sat, I
opened it.
648
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:49,280
I let God guide me to and I as I
started to read and it was in
649
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:54,280
the first part like the first
five papers and tears started to
650
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:58,320
just drop, drop, drop.
I remember moving away because I
651
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,680
didn't want to wet that
beautiful book and it was
652
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:06,640
describing experiences that I
could finally put words on.
653
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,080
And so that's the beginning and
we are here now.
654
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,000
So it is.
Appreciate you sharing that
655
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,880
personal story and I think you
carry the spirit of what all of
656
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,600
this is about.
And I again, just how can I want
657
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,760
to kind of bring it to a close?
How how can people who are
658
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,960
listening to this podcast become
a part of what you're doing?
659
00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:29,720
Do they need to go to a website?
Do and they need to send an
660
00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:31,000
e-mail?
What's the?
661
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,800
What's the procedure?
Erica and Devin, would you like
662
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,080
to give the different to e-mail
like for symmetry of soul and
663
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,720
your website?
Sure, yeah, the all of the
664
00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:47,000
information about the project
and how it works is on our
665
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,080
website
anditsyoureadthrough.com.
666
00:41:50,080 --> 00:42:00,640
So it's UREADTHRU, so just TH
ru.com shortened.
667
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,640
And so that has that has all the
information about how it works
668
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,360
that you can download a copy of
the calendar there and print it.
669
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,080
You can request a copy from us
if you'd rather have us send
670
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,480
one.
Our meeting Zoom link is on
671
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:20,160
there as well.
And then there is also a link on
672
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,840
there to another website, which
is very helpful.
673
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:28,720
So it's just it's the symmetry
of Seoul website, which is
674
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:35,000
another podcast.
So that one is SYMMETRY of
675
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,960
seoul.org.
And at the very top of that
676
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:43,800
page, it will say that there's a
daily reading going on.
677
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:47,720
And you can click on that and
that will have the date, the the
678
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:51,640
exact text of the daily reading
and and also the audio as well.
679
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,480
And there's a little quiz at the
bottom of of each each section
680
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,120
or each day, which is kind of
fun.
681
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,600
So people have been enjoying
doing that.
682
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:03,120
So if you go to Cemetery of
Seoul and you'll get the daily
683
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:06,840
reading or go to
youreadthrough.com and it has
684
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,720
all of the other information in
the calendar and also the daily
685
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,720
reading on there as well all.
Right, terrific.
686
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,720
Any closing thoughts from any of
of you And just again, I
687
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,520
appreciate you guys very much
anything you want to.
688
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:19,960
Close.
With.
689
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,240
Sure, I'll just if some somebody
else wants to say something too,
690
00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:28,760
but just it's not too late to
join the project if you want, if
691
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:34,160
you would like to or only a
couple papers in and anytime you
692
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,520
want to join would be would be
great.
693
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,320
And at this point we're, you
know, it would be pretty easy to
694
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,560
catch up if you wanted to.
So we'd love to have anyone
695
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,080
who's interested.
OK.
696
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:45,680
And where are you at in the book
right now?
697
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,560
Like where did you, since you're
just starting, where are you
698
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:50,800
starting from the first five
papers?
699
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,440
Yes, yes, OK.
That is a good part to.
700
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,200
Start right from page one of the
introduction.
701
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:04,880
And now we are at paper 5.
And if people want to connect
702
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,360
with us to receive the
invitation, the recurrent link
703
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:12,040
and all this for the monthly
meetings, they can write to us.
704
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:14,720
I can give my e-mail address,
Erica.
705
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:18,800
You can give yours as well.
And my address is my name Diane
706
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:29,480
Diane period Labrecque LAB as
beauty RECQUE Diane dot
707
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:38,440
labrecque at Videotron, the
video Tron T as Thomas RO n.ca,
708
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,960
and they can also have Ericas
address and we will be more than
709
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:48,840
happy to include them in in as a
guest to participate with us.
710
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,520
And I personally want to say
from my heart, thank you so
711
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,800
much, Jim, for one,
congratulations for the great
712
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:59,320
work you're doing to broadcast
the revelation worldwide.
713
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:04,680
And thank you for inviting us to
be part of your wonderful
714
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,920
programs that you record for
people to see, because this is a
715
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:14,480
very important project.
It's meant from above and it's
716
00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,760
going to go far and it's
wonderful that you did this.
717
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:21,840
So I really, really appreciate
it on behalf of the whole group.
718
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,280
Well, same here.
So thank you everyone and.
719
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:27,640
Erica, you want to give your
e-mail address?
720
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:29,400
Thank you.
Sure.
721
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:34,120
Yeah, it's Erica, Erica dot
Montgomery.
722
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:42,240
Montgomery at urantiabook.org.
So you, yeah, you can e-mail
723
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,200
myself or Diane and then also
through the website, you can
724
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:48,360
contact us from the website as
well.
725
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,800
So once again, I want to thank
all these wonderful people for
726
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,360
joining me this time on the
Urantia Radio podcast.
727
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:59,440
Erica Montgomery, Devin Landis,
Diane Labrecque, of course, and
728
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,440
Conrad Levelly joining us to
talk about their project, which
729
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:08,880
is the global Urantia Book Daily
Reading project, otherwise known
730
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,280
as the UB Read through and I
hope you can get involved in
731
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,720
enjoy what they're offering.
And that's going to do it for
732
00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:17,760
this edition of the Rancho Radio
Podcast.
733
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,960
Comments, questions, always feel
free to e-mail me your Rancho
734
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,800
Book radio@gmail.com.
Yours truly, Jim Watkins, thank
735
00:46:25,800 --> 00:47:08,000
you again for stopping by.
Music.
00:00:18,860 --> 00:00:22,860
Welcome to the Your Rancher
Radio podcast where we explore
2
00:00:22,860 --> 00:00:25,940
the 5th applicable revelation,
including the life and teachings
3
00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:31,100
of Jesus, the history of our
planet, and the destiny that's
4
00:00:31,100 --> 00:00:34,680
in store for all.
It's a spiritual and
5
00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,560
intellectual journey, so sit
back and enjoy the Your Rancho
6
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:44,600
Radio podcast.
Here now is long time reader and
7
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,360
student Jim Watkins.
All right, so in with me today
8
00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:53,720
are several great individuals,
Erica Montgomery, Devin Landis,
9
00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:58,040
Diane Labrecque who has been on
our program before and Conrad
10
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,440
Levelly and did I miss anybody?
I don't think I did right.
11
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,640
And you guys have a project
which is officially named the
12
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:10,760
Global Urantia Book Daily
Reading Project, but you also
13
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,280
call it the UB read through for
short.
14
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,640
And so I wanted to bring you
guys on and share because this
15
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,080
is a big thing.
It means a lot.
16
00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,480
We have technology now or you
can be anywhere and you can
17
00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,040
still have fellowship with the
Urantia book.
18
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,440
And I think that's terrific.
And I was honored to sit in on
19
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,320
one of your read throughs.
And I love the approach.
20
00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,240
It's sort of like a study group,
but not really.
21
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,720
I mean it, there's a little
different flavor.
22
00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:42,000
So I guess I'll ask anyone who
wants to answer, how did this
23
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000
project get started and, and,
and who are you?
24
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,440
Who is tuning in every week?
Do you find people that you
25
00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,040
know, mostly strangers?
How did the project get started?
26
00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,000
And tell me a little bit about
your audience.
27
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,240
We want to start Erika and
Devin.
28
00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:58,680
Devin, do you want to start?
Yeah, sure.
29
00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:04,880
The project got started where I
guess come from our desire to
30
00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,840
have a bunch of people reading
at the same time.
31
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,400
So in a way, an international
study group, we each had
32
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,200
independent, I guess, ideas or
contributions that led to the
33
00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,520
same or singular conclusion and
then the details we just hashed
34
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,760
out through logic.
Yeah, sort of a natural.
35
00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,840
Let let it emerge or grow
organically.
36
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:31,560
And have you all known each
other before?
37
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,440
How did you all get together?
How do you all know each other?
38
00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:36,720
Because obviously you're not in
the same spots.
39
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,040
We all read the same book.
How did you find each other?
40
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:41,440
I guess would be the better
question.
41
00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,320
So I guess we all met through,
well, we met through the range
42
00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:50,280
book, of course, but Devin and I
met through like some young
43
00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,800
reader events that happened
maybe over 10 years ago that MM
44
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,760
Macisa kid put together and then
also through other fellowship
45
00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,960
events.
And I guess it was last or this
46
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:08,560
spring, this last spring that we
I had just finished a reading of
47
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,520
the Urantia book and kind of was
deciding about how to undertake
48
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:13,920
the next reading.
And that's when we started
49
00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:18,040
talking about what like an ideal
reading schedule would look
50
00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,720
like.
And we had another friend who
51
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,360
was kind of thinking about the
same thing at the same time.
52
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:30,400
So we ended up talking with him
and developing this idea that we
53
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,080
wanted to read, be able to read
together.
54
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:37,080
But, but knowing that so many of
the younger generation lives
55
00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,920
places where there aren't study
groups at all, we were trying to
56
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,320
think of a way that we could we
could read like at the same
57
00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,200
pace, but not necessarily have
to be in the same location.
58
00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,640
So that's where we kind, that's
where we kind of came up with
59
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:55,280
the idea of the the read through
and then and then the schedule.
60
00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,840
The schedule for what?
What an ideal schedule would
61
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,480
look like for that.
Yeah.
62
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,760
And so the format who wants?
Go ahead.
63
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,000
Go ahead, Diane.
Yes, I wanted to say that this
64
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,760
is the part of Devin and Erica,
how they met.
65
00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,920
And maybe Erica later on you can
explain about the 20-30, how you
66
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,320
coordinated the whole thing.
But the beauty, Jim, is to know
67
00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,440
that this is the hand of God
moving along.
68
00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,560
Because as I told Erica, I said,
Erica, do you realize that when
69
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,120
when we first spoke, I said four
months ago, I didn't even know
70
00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,440
that you existed, neither you
nor Devin.
71
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,320
And now we are going on this Co
hosting project of UB reading
72
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,800
globally.
And this is the hand of God.
73
00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,560
Because when I received their
calendar as a gift for they
74
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,920
contacted me for the Jubilee of
Jubilees and they said, could we
75
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,040
just give a little word about
our project because it's brand
76
00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,200
new.
And I said, I don't know if we
77
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,680
have enough room because we
already have 20 plus guests, you
78
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,200
know, in that little bit of
time, but I'll make sure that I
79
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:06,600
find a spot.
And that's how they announce
80
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,800
their project.
And I thought, wow, this is
81
00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,720
great project.
And then they sent me a calendar
82
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,480
as a gift.
When I received the calendar, I
83
00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,440
thought, holy God, this is
beautiful.
84
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,920
So I called them and I said,
congratulation, all of you
85
00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:25,800
Yayas, you know, you're
brilliant.
86
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,720
This is a great project.
And they said, oh, would you
87
00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:33,480
help us to to to do it?
I said, absolutely, I'd be more
88
00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,840
than feeling privileged to be
part of this project.
89
00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:39,320
And that's how Erica and I
started to Co host.
90
00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,400
So you can see like it's going
click, click, click, click,
91
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,960
click.
And now today you're right on
92
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:50,080
our website interviewing us, so.
Diane, I didn't start the the
93
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,120
recording so far, so tell me
when you want me to start.
94
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,600
It now please write down.
Thank you, Colin.
95
00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,560
Well, it certainly is good to
have you all here.
96
00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,680
Tell us about the calendar
aspect of this recording in
97
00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:07,000
progress, Diane, or anyone who
wants to tell me the format,
98
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000
what what do, what's the goal is
to go through the book in a
99
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000
certain amount of time.
Tell me what your goals are with
100
00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,960
it.
Bevan or Erica would be the
101
00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,240
people to explain it because
they have all the details.
102
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,480
Do you want to go to say it,
Erica, Devin?
103
00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,400
Yeah, sure.
I would say that my experience
104
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:31,760
was such that when I was reading
the book, if I were to ever stop
105
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:36,720
reading, my life would sort of
emulate what I was about to
106
00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,520
read.
And maybe that's like a almost
107
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,840
like a fairy tale experience,
but it really was happening.
108
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,320
And that sort of led me to this
conclusion that we should all
109
00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,640
read together, or that reading
together is power, or reading
110
00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,760
even alone is power.
And that, I think, is the main
111
00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,640
goal.
You know, I find myself, and I'm
112
00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,640
sure many people listening,
reading the book is if you grab
113
00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,680
a paragraph here or there, it
really sticks with you for a
114
00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,360
couple of days.
And the most frustrating thing
115
00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,160
for me is that nobody in my
circle knows anything about the
116
00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,040
Urantia book.
So I might as well be studying
117
00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,560
Mandarin Chinese, you know, and
then not having anybody to
118
00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,880
practice with.
So since you started doing this,
119
00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,440
have you noticed any change in
the way that you read the book
120
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,040
in a group setting versus in a
private setting?
121
00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,520
I would like to say something
because I know the answer that I
122
00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,480
want to say right now.
Yes, Jim, it has changed a lot.
123
00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,440
I told my study group.
I've had a study group for years
124
00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:41,200
and years and years, every
Monday.
125
00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,320
So we begin the week when we
meet from lunchtime to supper
126
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,240
time.
So the whole afternoon we
127
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,840
dedicate and devote to the
arranger book.
128
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,760
And as I said earlier when I
received the calendar and I saw
129
00:07:55,160 --> 00:08:00,160
the program that Devin and
Charles and Erica and others put
130
00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,480
together, what I loved about it
is the fact that the project
131
00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:10,000
says read only one section a
day, Monday to Friday, take the
132
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,160
weekend off.
So if you want to review or
133
00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:16,720
finish your weekly reading, and
then we'll meet once a month
134
00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,760
together to chat, to answer
questions, to make presentations
135
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,720
and whatever.
And I told my study group, you
136
00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,520
know, we, we are very blessed
because right from the start
137
00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,720
when I accepted to join with
them and help them with this
138
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:36,400
project, uh, every Monday now we
devote to doing a pre reading of
139
00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,600
the five sections of the week.
And then after that, everybody
140
00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,960
goes home and we study ourselves
by ourselves.
141
00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:49,200
And the, the, what I would say
the wonderful aspect of this
142
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:54,320
project is that one section is
possible for everyone to do
143
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,760
every day.
And it allows us to, as I tell
144
00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,000
my study group, we deep dive.
So instead of just reading on
145
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:07,800
the surface and hurrying up to
do 1 paper, we do 1 section in,
146
00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,560
in in communion with our thought
adjuster and the spirit of truth
147
00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:16,640
and the inspiration that comes.
And I call it scuba diving
148
00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,480
because it's like going really
deep and getting new
149
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,320
understanding that people have
said to me, Diane, even though I
150
00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,920
had read those parts, it's like
it's brand new or I'm getting
151
00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:29,360
new on.
This time, yeah.
152
00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,280
No, it's fabulous.
How do you decide that the which
153
00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,400
papers or sections you read?
Is that just sort of everybody?
154
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,840
How is that planned?
Is there someone who says, OK,
155
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,160
we're going to start here?
Are you going chronologically
156
00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,600
through the book?
Who determines the subject
157
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matter that you're reading?
Yeah, I can answer that.
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So yeah, you asked about the
organization of the calendar and
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I have it or you're, I'm not
sure if you're watching a zoom,
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you'll be able to see it here.
Yeah, Yeah, I see it.
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We did the we made a visual
which is a, a spiral calendar.
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And in a sense the idea was that
we, we were trying to line up a
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specific anniversary.
So the two thousand anniversary
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of Jesus, the Master's ascension
and the Jubilee of Jubilees and
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the coming of the spirit of
truth.
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So that's happening in 20-30.
So the idea was that we wanted
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to be reading about that and
which is around the end of the
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book, the end of the ranch book
on that date, on those dates.
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So we, we targeted that date and
then, and then decided that, OK,
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well we want to read.
We want this to be a very light
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read, easy reading schedule.
So we do 1 section a day and
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just Monday through Friday.
So we, we don't read on the
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weekends and we don't read,
we're not reading over the big
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hall, the big holidays in
December and January, so between
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Christmas and New Year's.
So we worked backwards from
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that, counted out how many
sections there are in the
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Urantia book, use the calendar
and that's how we got our start
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date.
Got it.
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So essentially we we are
reading, we started just in
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September, around September 18th
I believe and we are reading
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chronologically and we started
with the forward.
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So yeah, that.
So that was how we laid how we
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started.
With the forward boy, that's a
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tough one, right?
Do you all find that the people
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that are attending and your your
idea how many people that you
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think TuneIn or or have been a
part of it Same same group 2030.
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No, there's been people adding
at every meeting.
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Started 20-30, then close to 40,
and we have five and five years
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and eight months to go.
So yeah.
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We have a while, it'll be huge.
Yes.
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Yeah, yes, it's so it sounds to
me like the difference is as
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opposed to say, a regular study
group, and no study group is
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exactly the same.
But there's a general sense, you
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know, people will start like
with the beginning of the life
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and teachings of Jesus and then
they'll go through the end.
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Then they'll maybe start at the
beginning and work their way and
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everybody reads a piece of the
paper.
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Is that sort of the same format
as you guys where you read a
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paper and then everybody
discusses that section and then
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you move on to the next chapter
or or paragraph?
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Is it structured in that kind of
way?
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Maybe this is the proper time to
introduce Conrad and talk about
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what he's doing.
He's our Technical Support for
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the project and he's actually
allowing us everyone, just not
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the the four of us or the three
of us.
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He's allowing everyone who signs
up with him officially with
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their e-mail address to access
the website for the read through
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the UB read through project.
So that 24/7, 365 people need to
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at 3:00 in the morning because
this is a worldwide, a global
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project, Jim.
So there are people that right
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now as we speak, it's night time
for them and vice versa.
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And so anytime they don't need
Conrad or they don't need me or
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Erica or Devin or anyone else,
they can actually zoom in, go
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into the chat, they can review
the video, study what we did, or
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they can reread the chat or
contribute or put comments,
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comments, questions.
And so it's an interactive,
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ongoing project.
And at the same time, again, the
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beauty is to know that anywhere
in the world today, many readers
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and more and more readers, we
will be uniting spiritually in
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energy, reading the same section
and sharing about it and
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contributing.
So it's wonderful.
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So the technology behind it,
Conrad.
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Well, the whole idea is to allow
people to work together during
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the online video conferences,
but also to contribute in
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between the meetings.
As they're going through their
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personal readings, they make
some discoveries.
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They may find the interesting
sites on the web that they may
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want to share.
There's all sort of resources
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that they could bring in.
So what we're trying to do is to
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take Zoom, which is normally
used for video conferencing, but
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the chat disappears.
We use a persistent chat and
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what we are slowly building is a
set of channels where people
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will be able to collaborate in
on a permanent basis.
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So people can go there at the
most convenient time and use
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various resources provided by
those collaborative features.
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For instance, a persistent chat
is one of them.
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But in the channel, they can use
different chats.
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They can use documents, notes,
they can share videos, they can
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do some drawings and share their
drawings or make some diagrams.
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I mean, as they will proceed
with their study of the Urantia
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book, they will undergo a whole
set of new discoveries.
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And that we want to provide them
with the opportunity to share
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those discoveries so that the
whole group will benefit from
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each individual's findings.
And because of the fact, as
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Diane mentioned, that people are
geographically scattered then
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located on different time zones,
it makes it a lot more
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convenient to allow them to to
join in at the their most
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convenient time and contribute
to the whole dynamic.
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So that's an experience.
It's an experiment, so to speak
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of both to foster, to study if
you rancher book and also I
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would say that with the advent
of artificial intelligence in
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Zoom, there are some translation
capabilities in document like
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notes and documents.
Documents within Zoom are
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collaborative and people can
easily convert a text written in
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Spanish or English or Finnish or
name it Japanese.
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They can have it translated in
English, French or whatever on
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the fly by the AI system, which
is now providing a crazy
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professional level of
translation, if not squarely to
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say professional translation.
So basically.
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It's a cloud based Urantia
community where the focus is on
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the read through but also in
collaborating and sharing new.
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00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,600
So for as an example, this week
they announced a new theory on
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how the moon came to be.
And I happen to see that.
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And then I of course read it,
went back to read the Urantia
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book and cross referenced and
they up till now they believe
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that the moon there was a
collision or the moon came from
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the Earth.
Well, the Urantia book says
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something completely different.
So I would naturally want to
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share that with other Urantia
book readers and say, hey, have
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you heard about this?
They're getting a little closer
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to confirming what the Urantia
book it says.
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Yeah.
So you could put a link on the
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permanent chat and allow other
readers to consult that thing.
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And from that link you can
engage a conversational thread.
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And the nice thing about it, if
you go into documents and put
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the links in a document, in a
collaborated documents, then you
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have the the fact that people
can engage in a multilinguistic
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fashion.
So you're breaking, for all
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intents and purposes, the
cultural barrier that to
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normally separate people of
different linguistic
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communities.
There's a lot of potential there
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when you think about it.
Yeah.
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What is the ratio you think of
new readers versus say seasoned?
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Are you more?
Does it seem like more people
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this has more appeal to seasoned
readers who are familiar with
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the Urantia book or new readers
that are just getting started?
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Just curious.
It's interesting you ask this
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question because as call Dad was
just finishing talking, I was
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thinking, oh, we need to talk
about that.
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So we're on the same plane.
All right.
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And I just wanted to share with
you and your audience, Jim, that
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it's interesting because we
have, I received an e-mail from
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a wonderful lady and she wrote
to me and said thank you, Diane,
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00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:44,000
and to all the team at UB read
through because I've read the
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book more than 50 years ago.
And I am so, so happy to be on
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this project.
She loved it.
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And all this at the same time I
participated because Zoom is
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just about every day now.
So I participated on an other
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conference and there was a new
reader, a man who had never read
300
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the book, met through people on
the street and heard about the
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name You ran shot.
So he was there.
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And as I listened to him, I
said, you're a new reader, Maybe
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you would like to be on this new
project of ours.
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And he said I told him the
detail.
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He said please send me the
e-mail and the invitation.
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He responded.
He's part of the group.
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So we have older people with
more experience and wisdom and
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younger people.
We have middle age.
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We have all groups.
It's really wonderful to see how
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it has a life of its own and
it's growing like a seed that
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was planted from above.
And now this, the terrain.
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The terrain is just.
The time has come for this and
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the project is going very well
and I.
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00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:59,200
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I was going to say I think we
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have some very seasoned readers
who are getting something new
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and different out of it.
And also some, we do have some
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brand new readers.
I have a a good friend who'd,
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you know, I told her about the
earring book and she'd read a
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few papers.
She actually even came to a
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conference, but she hasn't read
much at all.
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And she's doing the read through
with us and there's a, there's a
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couple people like that.
So they're pretty much brand new
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00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,040
readers.
Which is really exciting, but
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00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,200
since the pace is slow, I think
it it works for new readers as
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well as seasoned readers.
Yeah, I would think so.
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00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,000
How I know I get an e-mail from
you when you guys have a weekly,
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00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,520
but how do, how do people know
about it otherwise?
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00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,480
Are the other agencies like the
Association and the foundation,
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00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,360
are they helping spread the word
that you're doing this?
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Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah?
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Well, you you can go ahead if
you want.
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00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,240
OK, first of all, the Urantia
Fellowship, Urantia Book
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Fellowship, they sent an e-mail,
a beautiful invitation to
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00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,120
everyone.
And then after that we also have
335
00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:03,520
Center for Unity with Gabriel
Rimberg and his team.
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00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,840
And so they've been wonderful.
They wrote a great article about
337
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,560
Erica and Devin and Charles.
And so that was really, really
338
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,720
nice to introduce people and
they have a great list as well.
339
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,720
There's also Urantia University,
it's been announced at
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different.
Then I have my listing from the
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United Urantia family and so I
send the invitation to everyone.
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00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:34,360
Erica has a listing about the
yayas, the young and youth and
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00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:36,920
young adults of Urantia book
readers.
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So she has her list as well.
Yes.
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00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,840
And so it's again, it has a life
of its own.
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00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:50,080
And there's actually a woman who
contacted me and she said Monica
347
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,960
Camp said, hi Diane.
Hi Monica.
348
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,160
She said, I love the meeting
when we launched it on September
349
00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:02,560
18th and again on September 22nd
for the CFU members and
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00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,320
audience.
And she said, Diane, this is
351
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:10,480
such a great project and so on.
And then after we finished our
352
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conversation, her, my husband
sent me an e-mail and he said,
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00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,720
Diane, I've already put the ad
on our website.
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00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,360
So instantly I clicked on the
link and I went to see on the
355
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:28,240
website and they have thousands
of people, not hundreds or
356
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,320
thousands of people that have
already seen the ad.
357
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,520
So it's spreading, Jim.
It's spreading on its own.
358
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,840
Well, you know, that's great.
The Urantia community is
359
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,080
growing, no question about that.
I mean, I could see it more I
360
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,640
think in the last 10 years than
I've seen in the last 30 really.
361
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,480
But maybe it's because of
technology.
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What do you guys think about
that?
363
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:54,320
The fact that with Kindle and
the fact here's my phone, I've
364
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,920
got my Urantia book on my phone
that I read every day.
365
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,360
I think before this, how do I'm
trying to remember how I read
366
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,480
the book?
Did I actually pull out a book
367
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,080
and start reading it?
I can't believe it.
368
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,400
Yeah, I'm quite sure that
technology will be a
369
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,440
contributing factor to the
growth of the Urantia movement,
370
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,760
not only from a quantitative
standpoint, but also
371
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,720
qualitatively.
The fact that the Urantia book
372
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is available online in multiple
languages free of charge, that's
373
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a major technological
advancement.
374
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And also the the collaborative
features and S technology is
375
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evolving.
I mean, there's new affordances
376
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,480
provided to the Urantia
readership.
377
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:46,600
My personal view on that is that
technology is good and welcomed,
378
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,640
and so far as it we can put it
at the service of people, when
379
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,960
it works the other way around,
it ought to be kicked out of the
380
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,760
way.
What do you mean by that?
381
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,360
Elaborate on that.
Well, sometimes technology could
382
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:05,280
become a source of, I would say
dependency can create different
383
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,920
kinds of dependencies, and we
need to use technology in a
384
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:15,640
balanced way.
I mean, otherwise technology is,
385
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,840
and when it becomes addictive,
it's alienating people instead
386
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,760
of liberating them.
So the, the wise usage of
387
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,640
technology is paramount if we
want that to have a, a positive
388
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,080
influence on the Urantia
movement.
389
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,280
And that's what we're striving
for.
390
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,800
But yeah, the the manner in
which we use technology that
391
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,880
would apply for instance, to the
manner in which we would use
392
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,960
artificial intelligence to
support the Urantia readership.
393
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:45,760
AI won't replace the Urantia
book.
394
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,320
It's not a replacement for the
Urantia book, but it can support
395
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,200
the study of the Urantia book in
a variety of ways.
396
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:59,200
But as well as people are at the
cent at the center, technology
397
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,440
revolves around people, not
people revolving around
398
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,120
technology.
If we want to put it that way,
399
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:05,160
we'll.
Put Yeah.
400
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,200
That's all I said.
Yeah, I wrote a couple more
401
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,360
questions and I know that we
have a little bit of a time
402
00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:14,400
limit here, but.
And I, I would like to say an
403
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,240
answer to your question, Part B,
Jim, quickly.
404
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:23,560
But I see, I observed that
there's an interesting phenomena
405
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,200
that's happening and I think
that it's synchronistically
406
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,640
coordinated with this project of
global reading of the
407
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,080
Revelation.
And that is that many we know
408
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,080
that readers of the Bible are by
the billions, OK around the
409
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,680
planet.
And many, many readers seem to
410
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,400
be searching for more, For more
information.
411
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,320
And it's like they have a
thirst, you know, for some kind
412
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,600
of information that we Rancho
Book readers are blessed to know
413
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,480
about.
So with this project and all the
414
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,200
other projects going around the
world, it's helping it.
415
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,120
It's almost like, you know, when
Jesus said my time has come, he
416
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,600
took his apron off and said to
his two brothers, come on my
417
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,520
brothers, let's go to the
Jordan.
418
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,280
I need I will be baptized.
So it seems to me that the time
419
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:20,040
has come now for the Rancho book
to rise up to a new level.
420
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:24,280
We have had all those years to
plant the seeds for the
421
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,360
institutions, for the
organizations, for the printing
422
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:31,440
of the book, for the
translations, for the study
423
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,920
groups around the world.
And now it's time to reach a new
424
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,680
level.
And I see the synchronicity
425
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,400
between the the two.
So not just technology, but also
426
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:47,560
this spiritual thirst, you know,
and hunger to know.
427
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,560
And we have, we have a
responsibility to feed our
428
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,400
brothers and sisters spiritually
with the Urantia book
429
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,360
Revelation.
And and wise guidance too,
430
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,000
because I started reading this
book that a gentleman wrote.
431
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,200
Many of you may know him.
He wrote a book about the second
432
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,360
coming of Jesus and he just
published it.
433
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,400
Do any of you know Soren
Westgard?
434
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,760
I think he's name is.
Anyway, and I'm reading this
435
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,920
book and he gives a summary of
the Urantia book.
436
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,840
And I'm thinking to myself, man,
there's a lot of stuff that the
437
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,000
Urantia book has taught me more
than I ever imagined.
438
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,560
And it's stuff that nobody
knows, you know, And it's like,
439
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:33,440
how do we get this into more
people's presence so that they
440
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,560
could realize, just as an
example, when you're standing in
441
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:41,000
the supermarket just thinking
that every person in that store
442
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,960
has a thought adjuster, how many
of them are not even aware of
443
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,200
the fact that they have a soul
that's in process of formation?
444
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,200
And imagine how transformative
that would be if they had that
445
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,080
piece of information.
And I that's it.
446
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,160
When I realized if you read the
Urantia book long enough, you
447
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,000
forget how much you've actually
learned and how much you know,
448
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,720
or at least you feel that you
know about the universe that
449
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,240
nobody else knows and how
transformative that would be if
450
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,960
they did know that.
I'm hoping that's why they wrote
451
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,120
the Urantia book is to prepare
us so that we could know that.
452
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,000
So the next revelation, when it
comes, we'll know what the hell
453
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,440
a Melchizedek is or a Gabriel
or, you know, something like
454
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,120
that, a magisterial son.
So anyway, I just, I was reading
455
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,720
about the Supreme being today
and this what you're doing
456
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,920
brings us that much closer to
the emergence of the Supreme,
457
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,000
Simply put.
So I just want to thank you for
458
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,720
the.
I want to say, Jim, that I've
459
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,960
been invited to an interview
that I will do in a month.
460
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:52,840
And it's about a concept that I
got in 2008 at UCLA when I was
461
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,520
asked to be part of the Urantia
Book Fellowship Conference.
462
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,600
And just before reaching Los
Angeles, I was at the restaurant
463
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,320
and I saw an ad in the paper.
And in 2008, if we go back 16
464
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,880
years ago, HD equipment was just
about coming out.
465
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,960
So there was a big, almost full
page ad, you know, big sale on
466
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,160
your HD computer or television
screen or whatever.
467
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,280
And it just dawned on me, hey,
you know what?
468
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:27,560
So when I gave my speech at
UCLA, I told the people, if
469
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:32,040
equipment, pieces of equipment
have reached the high definition
470
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:37,440
mode, what about us human beings
reaching our highest definition
471
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:42,440
mode, which is our HD mode?
And that is exactly what the
472
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,880
mission of Jesus was, to reveal
the Father to men and bring men
473
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:50,360
to the Father and he lived in
his human and divine mode.
474
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,200
So to know that we are sons and
daughters of God and to live in
475
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,680
our human divine mode with our
thought adjuster and the
476
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:02,480
conscious of our soul, that
means we can help people to
477
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:08,360
transcend to a level now of
living not just in the human
478
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,880
brutal mode at times, but to
respect God in my neighbor.
479
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,160
You're kind of breaking up there
a little bit.
480
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,200
No, totally agree with that
assessment.
481
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,840
Anything that we can do it.
This is, I think the age of the
482
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,080
the first period was just
getting the book out there
483
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,960
translated, forming groups.
I think we might be in a
484
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,680
position now where more teachers
are needed.
485
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,120
I don't know if you heard any of
that.
486
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,160
I'm curious to know how long all
you guys have been reading the
487
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,280
book.
How long have you all been
488
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,760
readers?
Just curious.
489
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,440
Erica, you want to go ahead.
So my parents were both readers,
490
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:46,480
so I grew up with the Uranch
book.
491
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,720
But and I maybe I started
reading 1 / 20 years ago, but
492
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,760
not seriously until the last.
Like I would say three years.
493
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,720
So what was that like growing up
in a family of Urantia book
494
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,280
readers?
That's pretty special.
495
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,000
Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm very
grateful for it.
496
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,240
Now it they're, you know, it
felt a little weird at the time.
497
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,640
It was like when people asked
what my religion was, most of my
498
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,960
community was Jewish or
Christian, and I would have to
499
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,520
explain what the Urantia book
was, which obviously nobody's
500
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,680
ever heard of.
So, but it, it was great.
501
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,880
I mean it now.
Now I'm very grateful that I
502
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,200
was, that I was raised with it
and that I was given that gift,
503
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,840
you know, to be so, so good in
general.
504
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,720
Devin, what about you?
Are you still with us there?
505
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,640
How long have you been a leader?
I was introduced in 2008 to the
506
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:45,240
book, and then by the beginning
of 2009 I started reading on my
507
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:50,200
own as I was bored with my
college textbook and I thought
508
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,480
that the Your Answer book might
have something better to say
509
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,480
about something in the in the
realm of science.
510
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,880
So I think that was maybe 15
years ago, 2009.
511
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,400
You know, they always talk about
there's a point where you come
512
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,080
like Meredith Springer is one of
the early pioneers.
513
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,920
He always said that there was a
point where you throw in the
514
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,840
intellectual towel and you say,
OK, at what point do I
515
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,480
absolutely believe that what I'm
reading is true?
516
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,000
Do any of you have a memory of
when that point occurred for
517
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,160
you?
Well, I started reading the
518
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:33,080
arranged book when I was 19.
I'm now 71 and I bought the
519
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,720
Urantia book.
At that time I was a Yogi
520
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:41,320
practitioner and I believed in
reincarnation and the teachings
521
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,560
of Orobindo and Chivananda
Sarasvati and Yogananda and so
522
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,160
forth.
And there were some differences
523
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,320
between the Teachings of Urantia
book and those Hindu philosophy.
524
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,160
So it created the state of
cognitive dissonance.
525
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,840
So I sold the book.
Then I regretted it.
526
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,960
I bought it back.
And there was a kind of inner
527
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,640
crisis, a kind of internal
conflict between my former
528
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,360
beliefs and the new belief.
Because the problem I had is I
529
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,760
felt that what I was reading is
real, is the truth.
530
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,120
But it doesn't.
They didn't suit well with my
531
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,000
previous beliefs.
So at a certain point I took the
532
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,640
book, threw them in the drawer
and I asked the father, well,
533
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,080
I'll, I'll stop reading the book
for about two or three weeks and
534
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,120
give me a signal when I'll read
it again.
535
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,520
Give me a signal whether or not
this is for me, This is true,
536
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,480
this is good.
And that's exactly what I did. 3
537
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,920
weeks later, I opened the
drawer, started reading your
538
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,240
Durant book and I felt
comfortable.
539
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,480
I, I liked what I was reading.
That was my signal.
540
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:57,400
Since then, I'm not only a
Urantia Book believer, but I
541
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,640
have faith in the spiritual
teachings of Urantia Book.
542
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,120
And that faith never painted.
Since then, not a bit.
543
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,199
It grew continually, and it's
still growing.
544
00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:12,719
Yeah, I have to say I agree.
Nobody would be able to talk me
545
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,600
out of it at this point.
If somebody said you're a nut,
546
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,480
you know, how do you know all
this?
547
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:21,080
I said, look, I could, I could
sit here and spend 3 days
548
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,600
telling you why this book is
true, and then you have to make
549
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,040
a decision.
And but you know, nobody wants
550
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,520
to ask.
That's what I find most
551
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,560
interesting.
I have this podcast.
552
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,239
Everybody in my family, all my
friends know I read the book.
553
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,719
Anybody's known me for 30 years.
But nobody asks questions.
554
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,199
They never ask.
They they Jesus.
555
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:43,280
I consider Jesus as an avatar,
just like Krishna, Buddha or
556
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:49,000
Pythagora or you name it, the
the great gurus that marked the
557
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,199
evolution of the humanity.
Loud say, or Confucius.
558
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:56,159
But after reading the life and
teachings of Jesus, I remember
559
00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,800
holding the side of a bridge and
looking at the river.
560
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,720
And at that moment, I
acknowledge that Jesus is the
561
00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:09,240
Son of God and Son of man, and I
acknowledge the divinity of
562
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:11,760
Jesus.
But it's through the reading of
563
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,200
your ranch book, the, the life
and teachings of Jesus that I
564
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,240
reached that fate point in my
life.
565
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,520
And that was a a game changer,
to say the least.
566
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,200
It affected it.
It changed the whole life, the
567
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,920
whole perspective on life and my
relation with with Jesus.
568
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,040
And yeah, was tremendously
enhanced.
569
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,800
Feeling the spirit of truth.
There's no words to describe
570
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,240
that.
It leads to spiritual
571
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:40,320
experiences, goes beyond near
intellectuality.
572
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:42,880
It becomes a living experience
at some point.
573
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,320
Yeah, yeah.
Diane, you had an interesting
574
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,040
experience.
Can you share your if you don't
575
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:50,880
mind?
It's such a great story.
576
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,360
OK, I was just leaving it in
God's hands.
577
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,240
If you asked, I'll answer.
If you don't, I was not going to
578
00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:00,080
say anything.
All right, so I'll take my
579
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:05,600
courage and say it.
First of all, I was born in in
580
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,240
Quebec.
And so when I was born and even
581
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:12,880
now, it was a very, very
religious area.
582
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:19,160
So I was born a Christian and
have always loved God and Jesus
583
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,880
and the Spirit and all this.
So it was, it was my world and
584
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:29,360
my whole family of 12.
And I've had many experiences
585
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:34,840
with Jesus throughout my life
and one of them I remember when
586
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,840
I was just starting school 1
morning, my mother being a
587
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:43,560
mother of I have brothers and
sisters who have just months
588
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:48,680
difference not even one year.
And so she was a busy mother and
589
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:53,080
I came downstairs and I was all
happy to tell my mother, Mommy,
590
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,920
I was just probably 6 years old
or something because I was in
591
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,880
first grade, just starting.
And I said, Mama, I just went to
592
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,880
heaven last night.
God took me to heaven.
593
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,120
And I still hear her saying, OK,
OK, that's good.
594
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,240
Diane, go eat your oatmeal and
your eggs because I want you to
595
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,600
be on time for school.
And I look like, no, she doesn't
596
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,040
believe me.
So I kept things silent to
597
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,880
myself.
And so over the years, I have
598
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:26,720
experienced beautiful, beautiful
situations with Jesus
599
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:32,160
personally.
And on December the 14th, 1990,
600
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,880
I had a visitation of Jesus.
And I just want to say I am not
601
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:41,080
on to drugs or alcohol or
whatever, no, but I just want
602
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,360
people to know I'm not
hallucinating.
603
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,640
I'm extremely straightforward
from A to B.
604
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,720
And like I said to people, if
Jesus visited you, just like I
605
00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:56,720
see you, Jim, and the rest of
the group, you would remember
606
00:37:56,720 --> 00:38:00,600
for eternity because it is
something that absolutely
607
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,920
transforms you.
It's unbelievable.
608
00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:06,800
And at the time, I did not know
anything about the Uranchi book,
609
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:11,000
had never heard the word, never
seen the book, never met anyone
610
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:16,760
involved with the Uranchi book.
And at 3, exactly 3:00 in the
611
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:21,240
morning, I looked at my clock.
Jesus visited me, and he allowed
612
00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:27,360
me to experience through
personal religious experience,
613
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:34,760
the reality of many aspects of
creation that I didn't even know
614
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,480
when I came back.
I didn't even know the words to
615
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,680
say or what how to call it or
where I had been or whatever.
616
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:47,600
And a few months later I was
going to a business meeting and
617
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,800
I was in the limousine drawing
with the the man in charge and I
618
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,720
saw him reading this big book.
It was like, wow.
619
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,880
So I looked at him and his name
was Marcel, Marcel Pele.
620
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:02,400
And I said, Marcel, what are you
reading?
621
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,960
As the driver was driving us to
the meeting.
622
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,760
And he said, oh, the livre
durancia, don't you know about
623
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,800
it?
I said, what you leave the what
624
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,240
you, you, you.
He said the Urantia book.
625
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,400
I said, no, I don't know.
And he started to, he continued
626
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,880
to read, but aloud.
And as I heard what he was
627
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:28,120
reading, I went, what is that?
He said that's that's the
628
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,680
Urantia book.
I said, Oh my God, can I have
629
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,200
one?
He said, oh, I buy them, buy the
630
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:37,320
case from the foundation in
Chicago.
631
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,840
He said when I meet people that
are ready to receive the rancher
632
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,360
book, Ioffer them freely, a book
if they want.
633
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,680
I said can I have one please?
He said absolutely when we come
634
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,600
back from the meeting tonight.
So when we came back, I remember
635
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,240
I wrote it down.
I in my journal, I have all the
636
00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:58,240
details and it was past
midnight.
637
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:05,760
It was the 14th of March 1991
and it was at 12:15 AM.
638
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:10,320
And when I I received the book
and I put my hands on it and I
639
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:15,360
knew I was holding something
beyond earth, beyond human, and
640
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:19,160
I said thank you so much.
He turned out to be the man in
641
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,680
helping with the project of IC
93.
642
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,760
And he said you should come to
the conference.
643
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,120
It's going to be here.
And I was asked to be a keynote
644
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:33,040
speaker and I, I did it and
that's how I started on my
645
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,080
mission.
I say on my on a mission,
646
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,960
mission for God.
And when I arrived at about
647
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:44,680
12:30 at my house, I sat, I
opened it.
648
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:49,280
I let God guide me to and I as I
started to read and it was in
649
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:54,280
the first part like the first
five papers and tears started to
650
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:58,320
just drop, drop, drop.
I remember moving away because I
651
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,680
didn't want to wet that
beautiful book and it was
652
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:06,640
describing experiences that I
could finally put words on.
653
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,080
And so that's the beginning and
we are here now.
654
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,000
So it is.
Appreciate you sharing that
655
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,880
personal story and I think you
carry the spirit of what all of
656
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,600
this is about.
And I again, just how can I want
657
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,760
to kind of bring it to a close?
How how can people who are
658
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,960
listening to this podcast become
a part of what you're doing?
659
00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:29,720
Do they need to go to a website?
Do and they need to send an
660
00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:31,000
e-mail?
What's the?
661
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,800
What's the procedure?
Erica and Devin, would you like
662
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,080
to give the different to e-mail
like for symmetry of soul and
663
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,720
your website?
Sure, yeah, the all of the
664
00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:47,000
information about the project
and how it works is on our
665
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,080
website
anditsyoureadthrough.com.
666
00:41:50,080 --> 00:42:00,640
So it's UREADTHRU, so just TH
ru.com shortened.
667
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,640
And so that has that has all the
information about how it works
668
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,360
that you can download a copy of
the calendar there and print it.
669
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,080
You can request a copy from us
if you'd rather have us send
670
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,480
one.
Our meeting Zoom link is on
671
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:20,160
there as well.
And then there is also a link on
672
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,840
there to another website, which
is very helpful.
673
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:28,720
So it's just it's the symmetry
of Seoul website, which is
674
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:35,000
another podcast.
So that one is SYMMETRY of
675
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,960
seoul.org.
And at the very top of that
676
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:43,800
page, it will say that there's a
daily reading going on.
677
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:47,720
And you can click on that and
that will have the date, the the
678
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:51,640
exact text of the daily reading
and and also the audio as well.
679
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,480
And there's a little quiz at the
bottom of of each each section
680
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,120
or each day, which is kind of
fun.
681
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,600
So people have been enjoying
doing that.
682
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:03,120
So if you go to Cemetery of
Seoul and you'll get the daily
683
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:06,840
reading or go to
youreadthrough.com and it has
684
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,720
all of the other information in
the calendar and also the daily
685
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,720
reading on there as well all.
Right, terrific.
686
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,720
Any closing thoughts from any of
of you And just again, I
687
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,520
appreciate you guys very much
anything you want to.
688
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:19,960
Close.
With.
689
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,240
Sure, I'll just if some somebody
else wants to say something too,
690
00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:28,760
but just it's not too late to
join the project if you want, if
691
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:34,160
you would like to or only a
couple papers in and anytime you
692
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,520
want to join would be would be
great.
693
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,320
And at this point we're, you
know, it would be pretty easy to
694
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,560
catch up if you wanted to.
So we'd love to have anyone
695
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,080
who's interested.
OK.
696
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:45,680
And where are you at in the book
right now?
697
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,560
Like where did you, since you're
just starting, where are you
698
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:50,800
starting from the first five
papers?
699
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,440
Yes, yes, OK.
That is a good part to.
700
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,200
Start right from page one of the
introduction.
701
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:04,880
And now we are at paper 5.
And if people want to connect
702
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,360
with us to receive the
invitation, the recurrent link
703
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:12,040
and all this for the monthly
meetings, they can write to us.
704
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:14,720
I can give my e-mail address,
Erica.
705
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:18,800
You can give yours as well.
And my address is my name Diane
706
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:29,480
Diane period Labrecque LAB as
beauty RECQUE Diane dot
707
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:38,440
labrecque at Videotron, the
video Tron T as Thomas RO n.ca,
708
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,960
and they can also have Ericas
address and we will be more than
709
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:48,840
happy to include them in in as a
guest to participate with us.
710
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,520
And I personally want to say
from my heart, thank you so
711
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,800
much, Jim, for one,
congratulations for the great
712
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:59,320
work you're doing to broadcast
the revelation worldwide.
713
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:04,680
And thank you for inviting us to
be part of your wonderful
714
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,920
programs that you record for
people to see, because this is a
715
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:14,480
very important project.
It's meant from above and it's
716
00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,760
going to go far and it's
wonderful that you did this.
717
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:21,840
So I really, really appreciate
it on behalf of the whole group.
718
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,280
Well, same here.
So thank you everyone and.
719
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:27,640
Erica, you want to give your
e-mail address?
720
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:29,400
Thank you.
Sure.
721
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:34,120
Yeah, it's Erica, Erica dot
Montgomery.
722
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:42,240
Montgomery at urantiabook.org.
So you, yeah, you can e-mail
723
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,200
myself or Diane and then also
through the website, you can
724
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:48,360
contact us from the website as
well.
725
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,800
So once again, I want to thank
all these wonderful people for
726
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,360
joining me this time on the
Urantia Radio podcast.
727
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:59,440
Erica Montgomery, Devin Landis,
Diane Labrecque, of course, and
728
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,440
Conrad Levelly joining us to
talk about their project, which
729
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:08,880
is the global Urantia Book Daily
Reading project, otherwise known
730
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,280
as the UB Read through and I
hope you can get involved in
731
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,720
enjoy what they're offering.
And that's going to do it for
732
00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:17,760
this edition of the Rancho Radio
Podcast.
733
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,960
Comments, questions, always feel
free to e-mail me your Rancho
734
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,800
Book radio@gmail.com.
Yours truly, Jim Watkins, thank
735
00:46:25,800 --> 00:47:08,000
you again for stopping by.
Music.