By Dr. Olga López, Associate Trustee, Urantia Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.
Editor’s Note: Urantia Foundation trustees have had the opportunity to study with readers throughout the world by attending conferences. Last year we attended the Fellowship International Conference in Los Angeles. This year the Trustees attended an UAI conference in Spain.
Because of its geographical location, my country, Spain, has always been a passageway, a bridge between peoples from different continents: between Europe and Africa and—due to historical circumstances – between Europe and America. This is the reason that we chose “Bridging Gaps” for the theme of the 2009 Urantia Association International Conference. This theme can be applied to many concepts. As human beings we must ”bridge” the distance between what we are today and what we are going to be tomorrow. As mortals we must cross the “bridge” from the life in the flesh to the life as morontia beings and later as spirit beings. We may apply the same theme in our daily lives. Today, just like any day, it is necessary to build bridges, to shorten distances between our brothers – particularly those who do not think as we do, nor profess the same religion, nor live in the same culture. The Urantia Book is a powerful tool that helps us negotiate the distances which we must cover en route to spiritual perfection – both in this world and in the subsequent ones.
At the conference, we tried to bridge many gaps, of which the most important was the language gap. There were two very interesting presentations on this subject: one of the presentations was made by Antonio Moya, who proposed that Esperanto be the universal language (did you know that The Urantia Book has been translated into Esperanto?) The other presentation was made by Seppo Kanerva, the former President of The Urantia Foundation and former Manager of Translations, who pointed out the importance of translations to bridge the gap between cultures and to make the teachings of The Urantia Book known around the globe.
We also bridged this gap by translating the presentations from Spanish to English and English to Spanish. One presentation was made in French and was translated into English and Spanish. Attendees who spoke more than one language were in demand! My heartfelt “thank you” to all of you.
Also we Spaniards shared our culture with non-Spanish attendees: We visited Gibralfaro Castle, which is part of our Muslim history; the Cathedral, which shows our Catholic inheritance; and the house in which Picasso was born. As you know, Picasso was one of the artists who contributed so much to Modern Art. These visits also provided conference attendees with a good opportunity to visit and become better acquainted.
We also “bridged the gap” with music. We know that music is “the universal language of men, angels, and spirits,” and we enjoyed the musical presentations, which included some group singing.
Painting was another art expression that had its place at the conference. There were two exhibitions of paintings inspired by The Urantia Book.
I encourage readers of The Urantia Book worldwide to attend a conference of readers—whether it is a local, national, or international conference. The joy of sharing the teachings of The Urantia Book with kindred spirits is extraordinary and cannot be compared to anything else. It is, for a few days, like living in the age of light and life when love and fraternity reign supreme.